Early Saturday morning, I managed to contact the tile floor with the backside of my old noggin. I don’t remember the fall, only the aftermath. Verna called 911 and before I knew it, I was headed to the emergency room in an ambulance. When I got there, the EMTs patched up a one inch laceration on the back left-side of my head and sent me to the CAT scan room where they discovered that my brain was bleeding (not good) and that my neck was not fractured or cracked (better).
The resident made arrangements to transport me in another ambulance to the Trauma Center in far-away Phoenix (~60 miles) for further evaluation. The trauma crew did an appropriate triage which included examinations (both physical and mental) and sent me for another CAT scan where they detected a minor increase in the bleed. The neurosurgeon decided to keep me overnight for observation.
By the time they transported me to the hospital room, it was four PM and I had been on IV with nothing to eat all day. No liquids, no solids and bed confinement was the order. Of course, a hospital room is no place to get any rest with the constant activity including vital signs for me and the hospital roommate.
At 0230 this morning, the head nurse came and got me up to go for another CAT scan. I got to have four CAT scans in one 24 hour picture. The good news is that the bleeding had stopped and they wanted to release me, which they finally accomplished at 12:30 PM. Verna drove the sixty miles to fetch me this afternoon. I am still exhausted from no sleep and wobbly from having no calories, just a saline-solution IV for hydration purposes.
The doctors prescribed an anti-seizure medication, standard practice for head trauma. The side effect of this drug is drowsiness. At this writing, I am fighting the urge to close my eyes and take a little nap. I have to take this medicine three times a day for a week. Don’t be surprised if posting slows down on this blog for a week. The good news is that the prognosis for recovery is very good for cases like mine and I have no pain as a direct result of the trauma.
