A week ago last Tuesday (the 2nd) I cracked my head open on the bottom corner of our linen closet (see culprit below)
I went to get a washcloth and dropped it, so I bet over to pick it up and for some wonderful reason the door decided to close. (Mind you it has never done that before). As I stood up WHAM OH! I immediately dropped to the ground screaming in pain like an irate Wookie. It hurt so bad! John came running in after a couple minutes because, despite my screaming, Jack Bauer was in action on an episode of 24. I'm pretty sure he'd seen it already as it was a re-run. Apparently, on the scale of importance, I rank below 24 and LOTR but just ahead of ice cream.
He said he couldn’t see anything on my head because of all my hair. (I was bent over w/ my head in my hands sobbing.) As John tried to comfort me, the only thing I could think to tell him at this moment was not, "I'm OK, I just bashed my head." Instead my thoughts drifted to another painful subject and I blurted out, "I DON'T THINK I CAN HAVE KIDS!" At this point, John started to be concerned that there may be a concussion at work. So after a few minutes I raised my head only to see blood on my hand! I then looked down and saw a huge blood spot on my pants! How did I not know I was bleeding? Well the blood ran down the top of my and was dripping from my nose…which I thought was tears. John then told me that there was a spot of blood the carpet. That really made me freak out! Who cares about the gushing blood from my noggin’, I’ve stained the carpet!
John sat me in a chair in the office and was trying to apply pressure, although it was causing me even more pain. I told him to phone my on call nighttime RN (his mom.) She told him to check for a concussion, what meds I could take, and what the wound should look like if I were to need stitches.
I started to feel a bit nauseous, so we moved into the bedroom, where I thought I could lay down. Yeah right! What was I thinking? Did some of my brain ooze out along w/ the blood?
John could tell the bleeding stopped, but he still couldn’t see the wound (because of the blood matted hair). I had him get me some ice and Alieve, hoping it would reduce the pain.**
John was really concerned and wanted to take me to the hospital. I did NOT WANT TO GO. I think if it hadn’t have been so late at night I would have been more willing, but A) I was tired and did not want to spend the whole night in the emergency room B) I did not want any more pain to my head…meaning no shots or stitches, and C) I did not want them to shave any of my hair! I also knew I wasn’t in unbearable pain.
After we took the ice off I was able to convince John to wait until the morning to determine whether or not I needed to go to the doctor. The wound wasn’t bleeding; it was just bloody to the touch. So I put a beanie on w/ Kleenex on the inside and went to sleep. How else could I have bandaged up my head?
John set the alarm to wake himself up at 2am to make sure I hadn't bled to death. I knew that if the wound was bloody the next morning it would be doctor time for me, but when I woke up there was hardly any blood. Yeah!
Next we washed my hair in the sink. There was so much blood on my head that John was having a really hard time seeing the actual cut. After the cleaning he thought that it might need one stitch, but I was like ‘it’s not bleeding, I’m going to work.’ So I did. Well let me backtrack. I did have him call my nighttime nurse one more time. (We tried my AM nurse, (Rebekkah), but she was working that morning). He gave her an update and she said it would probably be fine.
I went to work and a few different co-workers checked out my head. Some were more terrified than others, but my boss did tell me that it probably would have needed only one stitch and it’s hard to stitch the head anyway. I’m sure some of you were wondering why I didn’t stay home, which is a very valid question. I don’t have separate sick days, so if I take a day off I’m taking a vacation day. I also knew I could work. John and I were both exhausted the whole day. It was quite tragic… but at least I know what to do if someone gets a head wound!
**Note: Now don’t think John was being mean by taking photos of me while I was in excruciating pain. I was actually working on this blog right before the incident and so like any sane person, this was my main concern. I told him to take some photos of the carnage, as it is so important to have photos w/ my entries! He did take one more photo (that I didn’t post) as the 6 driplets in the above photo look at worst like a very nasty pin pick . It was quite bloody, but I thought I would leave it out in case my sister-in-law checked this entry. Waddup Meese!
5 comments:
Boo
That is a great story. I love John getting up at 2:00 to check on you. He is such a dedicated husband. As you and I know, your pain tolerance is low. You almost passed out on me many times. I still remember that insant PALE FACE. As women have told me (not your mom), having a baby is a piece of cake. At least men think so.
Sorry to hear about this accident, Amber. I'm glad you're all better now:)
So Hurry up & have some kids. I hear if you hit your head twice in the same spot, then you can't have kids.
I must agree with John about staring at Jack Bauer. You can't look away becuase he is so intense and hot. Even straigt men dig 24. It's not like you died or anything. Just a fleash wound. And Jack wouldn't have even batted an eye if it'd happened to him. CHeck out his body count in one eppisode. It's like average of 39 a show. Now that's tough!
nice, I love Molly's comment! So true...
Anyways, I wanted to share a time in Tustin when Jay was doing something under the counter overhang/bar area, and somehow managed to bang his head up into a screw that was protruding out from underneath! That was nasty. It bled a lot, too. I've heard that head wounds do bleed a lot. All I did was give him a towel and told him to put pressure on it. At least Jay's happened mid-day so he wasn't forced to sleep with a tissue-filled beanie!
Hey, Boo! If you get a head wound,
sometimes you can just take the hair from either side of the wound and tie a knot or braid it really tight and that will close the wound. Too bad you didn't call your day time nurse (yours truly).
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