Just when I thought I had everything under control and would accomplish a lot during the week, I had a disaster. This is about all I've gotten done this past week.
I had the book on the shelf. It's Patricia Cornwell's Body Farm in German. I read it years ago, but pulled it off the shelf to read because things happened, and I will explain. I had the quilt inner borders ready to sew on. I planned to make bread and do some knitting. I would need to go to the fabric store to get backing for Johan's quilt. The best laid plans….
We decided on Tuesday to take the pups to Alpenglow, because there was a short break in the rain expected. (Short = about two hours.) we let them play in the play yard for a while, then we left there and were ready to set out on the off-leash part of the trail. While we were standing there, watching the dogs play and talking to some other people, a big dog ran into me and knocked me down backwards. I hit my head on the asphalt. Blood came out of one ear and my nose. Before I knew it (and I never lost consciousness) the ambulance was there. The owner of the dog that knocked me over had called them. They helped me get my jacket off, put some stickers on my chest and abdomen and did a quick exam. You know the kind: What day is it, where are we, how many fingers am I holding up, do you remember what happened, shining the light in your eyes, having you follow their finger, etc. I was expecting them to ask me to start reciting the Presidents in order. (I wasn’t sure I could do that.) They were prepared for me to barf as soon as I moved and had a bag handy. They put me on the gurney they had brought, and I was carted away to the hospital in a real ambulance. Charlie took the dogs home, put Sandy in his crate and drove to the hospital. The lady who owned the dog also came to the hospital and waited several hours to see how I was. It wasn’t her fault. The dog wasn’t misbehaving, just playing. Amazingly, I thought to turn off the Walk for a Dog app while they were strapping me in to the gurney.
I can't believe I had the wherewithal to do it, but during the quick ride to the hospital, I told them I had medical information on my phone. I opened up my phone and showed them. I never thought I would need to have this on my phone, but thought why not. It has a rundown of health conditions, my medication, allergies, blood type, height and weight and emergency contact people.
At St. Charles Medical Center, they had the information when I arrived. Technology is great when it works.
They had me in the emergency room for several hours. I had two CAT scans (no cats were harmed) while in emergency. I think the second one was because they hadn’t figured out how come I had lost my hearing. Bottom line: skull fracture with bleeding in the brain. On top of that, some bones in my ears were broken. (I don’t know which ones—they didn’t tell me, or if they did, I didn’t hear—but I suspect the little hair-like ones that are so delicate.) Also a crack in the TMJ. I was admitted as a patient and taken to a room (#8223, which I remember because they asked me so many times). I had a heckuva shiner, not because I hit my eye, but because the impact had sent blood to that area of my head. All in all, I’ve had better days. Here's what my shiner looks like now. (I should have gotten a photo when it first appeared.)
Later that night, they took me for another CAT scan. Peter and Alexa called on FaceTime, but I didn’t hear the phone. One of the nurses was in the room and told me it was ringing. We had a nice chat, but it was my first look at my shiner. It was a shock! Almost everyone who came to care for me shone a light in my eyes, asked me to follow their finger with my eyes and put me through a list of questions similar to the questions the paramedics asked. They also wanted to find out if I had a walker at home, a grab bar in the shower, stairs, if I did my own cooking and finances, and if I had someone to look after me. About the walker, I said I don’t have a walker, I’m a hiker! About the grab bar…without it, where would I put my washcloth? Stairs everywhere, yes, yes and yes. I thought they didn’t believe that I only take one prescription regularly. I must have looked ancient!
Wednesday I had another CAT scan. It showed no change in the bleeding, so they started testing me to see if I was well enough to go home. I had been to the bathroom several times with the walker, because they insisted. After about the third time, I noticed they folded it up and put it in the corner. I only needed it for balance in the beginning, and someone's arm would have been easier. My balance was completely back to normal by Wednesday. They tested my ability to take a long walk holding the IV stand. By "long walk," I mean once around the nurses' station. While doing that, I had to count backwards from 20 to one. I passed. I think that was the physical therapist. Then the occupational therapist came to accompany me to a room with some special equipment. There was a flight of stairs. I had to go up and down the stairs several times. Next the cognitive therapist came. I had a more extensive set of problems than the one I get from my doctor every year. One new one was to name as many animals as I could in 60 seconds. She told me I got 150% on that one. I didn’t make any mistakes on anything, so at least so far, my brain seems to be functioning.
While I was in the hospital, I received this lovely arrangement of little plants with an artificial but realistic-looking dragonfly hidden inside from Peter and Alexa.
I'm supposed to have only soft food or food cut up into tiny bites for now, because I shouldn't open my mouth too wide. I went nearly two days hardly eating anything because of lack of appetite and occasional nausea, so I've lost a couple of pounds. That will come back.
I had planned to go to the Red Door Marketplace at the church on Saturday, to sell my books to benefit the church, but that's out now. I can still donate the books, and they can sell them along with all the other things they have to offer, mostly handmade items, baked goods and gently used hand-me-downs. I'll sign plenty of copies, and someone will pick them up on Friday. I plan to spread it out over the next three days.
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Get well soon!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness Peggy! That was a tumble! Hope you are feeling better soon!
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