Bob and I went to do some shopping in Glendale and Surprise, AZ, today and ran across this colorful trailer with the dark “Day of the Dead” paint job. Click on the image to enlarge.
Weirdness
Channeling Humpty Dumpty
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.
Valentine’s Day Coincidence
Yesterday, Verna fixed our favorite Tex-Mex chicken chili verde. She also baked some cornbread muffins. One of the muffins had a heart-shaped hole in the top – a very weird coincidence on Valentine’s Day!
Holy Cell Tower, Batman
We have seen cell phone transmission that have been disguised as conifers, palm trees and who knows what else, but this is the first time we have seen a church steeple (or whatever) with cell elements strewn on it. Seen on I-57 near Fullerton, CA. Click on the image to enlarge.
Healing Up
Yesterday, I went to the clinic where I had the minor surgery performed two weeks ago. The surgeon removed the stitches from the incision he made to remove suspicious tissue that may have contained additional carcinoma. The lab report was good. They found no more basal cell tissue.
The surgeon brought a student in the treatment room to observe the suture removal and to discuss the technique used for the procedure. He referred to the process as subcutaneous suturing. The Better Half was in the room and told me that he clipped off a knot at the bottom of the incision and then pulled the knot at the top to remove the remaining suture.
You can view the incision with the sutures at this post. You can view the “after” result by clicking in the rectangle above right. Voila! the subcutaneous technique left very little scarring. It is nothing like the spiderweb scar that a former surgeon left on my back a few years ago.
Put On Your Sunscreen, Kids
A couple of weeks ago, I had an appointment with my medical caregiver to remove a dime-sized growth on my right shoulder. I went home with a little round bandage on the excised area.
The lab at the clinic performed a biopsy on the removed tissue and it turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma – skin cancer in other words. I got a call last week that they wanted to schedule a second procedure that would remove additional tissue that would “get it all.”
On Monday, I went in to have the second procedure performed. After it was all finished, I had a two-inch gash on the shoulder held together with a bunch of sutures.
This is actually the second time I have gone through this; the first basal cell removal and follow-up occurred before I retired in 2009 and left a nasty, jagged scar in the middle of my back.
This time, this surgeon did a much better job of stitching me up; if you’re inclined to view my new nice, straight incision, you can click in the rectangle above and to the right.
