My Salute to the men and women in white...and you, too, God!!

As a 50 year old, I have never had any stitches or broken any bones from accidents.  In fact, the only time I have ever had an overnight stay in a hospital was to have my three boys.  I don't know whether to say I've lead a dull life or have always tried to be safe in my everyday endeavors.  But either way, I have been able to avoid emergency rooms.....until last weekend. 

All I did was go outside to make a few pictures of the 3 inches of snow that is rarely seen in Georgia. This means, of course, that I don't have all the necessary equipment for snow, like a good pair of boots that will prevent me from slipping on the icy spots.  Yep!  You guessed it.  I slid on my concrete drive and did a number on the back of my head when I hit.  For the next 10-15 minutes, my memory is rather vague on exactly what happened.  But I did go back in the house, awoke my youngest son who went and found my husband, Steve.  A trip to the ER was determined necessary when I kept repeating the same questions over and over, besides the obvious cut to the back of my head that would need some stitches.  

Once in the ER, a catscan was ordered once my confusion was discussed.  Once the results came in and after I received 5 staples to the back of my head, the ER physician explained that I had some bleeding in a couple of places around my brain and they were going to ship me off to one of the hospitals in Atlanta if my brain decides to swell and a little drilling is required. While a helicopter flight is not considered necessary, a trip via ambulance is.  OK...wake up call!  I thought I might have a slight concussion, but a trip to a trauma center in Atlanta, drilling into my brain....am I dreaming?!! 

I am so very grateful for the years of education, training, and dedication that the medical profession must pursue so that they can help save lives and this time, possibly my own. They have the procedures down pat as they begin hooking you up, checking your vitals, someone is usually shouting orders, and you feel pretty good that they know what they are doing.  We give our salutes to the men and women who wear military uniforms on a regular basis.  We even have a couple of holidays where we honor them.  But without a doubt, we don't give our men and women in white the same kudos often enough. We pull up to emergency rooms and expect that the doctors, nurses, and various technicians, including EMT's, are going to help us.  We never consider that help won't be there.  We expect it.

I ended up spending 24 hours under observation and getting a couple more catscans.  But thankfully, no drilling into my skull became necessary.  I did have two areas of bleeding, but it was from the covering between my brain and skull and not my actual brain.  I have had headaches this week and I was instructed to avoid anything strenuous for about a week, including work.  But other than that, I will be fine.

Of course, I will hear all the jokes for a while about how I was crazy before, so I will definitely be crazier now; or, did it knock some sense into me, and everyone knew I was "hard-headed," and various other head jokes.  But that's ok.  I'm glad I'm around to laugh about it, too!!

I'm also grateful that the medical profession was ready to assist me in my hour of need. Thank you, Tanner Medical Center!  Thank you, Atlanta Medical Center!  Thank you, God, for allowing me to keep using this old noggan for a while longer!!