Few hours spent in A&E (ER for you guys on the sane side of the Atlantic) and to my surprise have been released home in a splint for the moment awaiting a 'phone call with a date for surgery.  

Not the way I'd planned spending my Sunday afternoon but could be worse I suppose, at least it happened with the rest of the family around so we managed to get the land locked up and me loaded in the car in a half hour or so.  Out of interest, how long do you guys in the US expect to wait on an ambulance generally?  Here, roughly a 20 minute drive from the hospital, on a Sunday afternoon my ambulance ETA was 1hr40-2hrs.  about 15 years ago when I was taken out off my motorcycle & badly fractured my right tib/fib I was sat on the road probably 45minutes before ambulance came. Just curious how your guy's wait times compare (also interested what a 20minute ambo ride would cost you/your insurance)

Cheers, better luck to you all! 

Thanks all, for the well wishes. Certainly won't be aiming for a do over of this performance though Dave!  First job when I get back to the land is rooting out that damned wire at either end & chopping it (and it's conduit) into tiny harmless pieces!  and Dirt Farmer, everything crossed it stays that way with the lack of experience for you.

Shocked at the cost of ambulance for you guys, and already quite some variance in service depending on area. Hate to think what the actual surgery would run me too! How much does decent health/accident insurance cost there?  Can't fault the treatment I received yesterday but have a sneaking feeling it'd be somewhat less than a week's wait for the actual operation had I had some sort of private coverage.