Hospital

I am taken in the back seat of a squadcar by the responding officer to the ER.  He walks me in and takes me to register, Ive never seen an empty ER waiting room before, but every seat was empty. The staff took me, accompanied with the officer to the back to take my medical information, etc.  All hospital staff I came in contact with were kind and compassionate.  I was shaking...but not crying.  The sympathetic looks on everyone's face that I encountered made me want to. I just kept telling myself to breathe.
I am taken back to the room, the officer stands outside with the curtain drawn so I can change into a gown. The nurse comes in, sweet as can be, makes sure im comforable, tells me there is going to be a bit of a wait, the SANE nurse is processing another rape victim.
The responding officer stays in the room with me, laughs at my stupid jokes im making so I dont cry. The nurse returns with some Ativan to calm my nerves. I turn it down. Im ok as long as the responding office is with me. The nurse then comes in and moves me to a more quiet area of the ER and I continue to wait. I tell the officer how we nick-named one of the men  Chuck Norris because he had the beard, he breaks out in an honest laugh. He asks me, "women do that all the time dont they?"  I told him more than he could imagine.  Its been hours and I hadnt been able to use the rest room, I really had to go. The responding officer finds the nurse, she finds me a cup tells me to go but don't wipe.  I'm afraid to go, I hadn't been examined yet and I didnt want any chance of destroying evidence.  I couldn't hold it any longer and did as I was told.... for any men reading this, for a woman to go to the bathroom, have no underwear and not be able to wipe....pretty uncomfortable.  The responding officer gets called back to the station.  I thank him for staying as long as he did and I thank him for not being like that detective.
I am alone. Silence. I break. I hit the call button and ask the nurse for that Ativan that was offered, I cant stop crying, i can't breathe.  She brings the half a pill of Ativan but before i can drink, from a straw only, she has the SANE nurse come in and swab my mouth. I take the pill  begin to calm down. I get pretty tired. All I can do is lay there. 
A new Detective comes in. By far more open minded and informative than the first one. I cant remember his name, he left no card, no contact information.  I call him Detective Snazzy Pants.... he was wearing pin striped pants.  He basically makes me repeat my story.  I let him read my phone messages as my friend and I had been texting since we met. He now has an idea of the background of how I ended up where I did.  He also tells me that in the state of Louisiana my friend can also be charged as it is illegal for a man to have sex with a woman that has consumed alcohol. ( I researched this and its right there in black and white) I tell him the sex with my friend was consentual and I had told my friend prior to drinking that I was ok with it. He tells me it still may not matter.  He says he will contact me and update me with whats going on and leaves as quickly as he came in.... did i mention he left no contact information....did i mention I never heard from this man again?
A few minutes later a young woman, a hospital caseworker comes in. Just having someone else in the room with me made a huge difference. She was kind and respectful. One of the first questions she asked was how long had I been waiting. I told her over 3 hours, her next question was did I have anything to eat....I hadn't thought about that. I told her no, and within minutes she had someone getting food for me. She asked me the necessary questions, talked with me when I wanted to talk, but also just sat there in silence when she could tell that was what I needed. I tried to eat a bite of bread, pulled it right back out of my mouth.  I couldnt eat. She stays with me, finally the SANE nurse comes in and I am taken to a different exam room.