Saturday, October 11, 2008

Time to Stop Taking my Brain for granted!


Hello from the couch! So I was rear ended on Wednesday on my way to school. The guy was going about 45 miles an hour and I was stopped in traffic. The headrest of the Bronco I was driving is low, so when I was hit, my neck hyper extended, my head went over the top of the seat, wrapped around and hit the metal frame of the seat on the back side of the headrest. OW.

The guy who hit me totaled his Subaru into the back of the Bronco, they had to tow it away. The hitch on my bumper is a little crooked. Nice to drive a tank! Too bad the headrests are so low.

They took me in the ambulance to the hospital to do xrays, because I was feeling really bizarre, I had a huge metal bar shaped lump on the back of my head where it hit. I don't remember a lot about being in the hospital, eventually Tom showed up, and they gave me some drugs. When my x-rays were clear, they let me go home, and I went and got in bed.

I slept for the next 22 hours on and off, and don't really remember much about that, either, except that Bodhi was home with me and Tom was at work. I called David, our neighbor at about 4:30 because I was super nauseous and walking in circles. It took me about 1/2 an hour to make Bodhi chocolate milk because I kept forgetting why I was holding the milk, and couldn't find his cups.

David came over, and I threw up and fell back asleep. Apparently, i called the ER again, and talked with them, they gave me an antinauseant, I remember tom putting it in my mouth, but not calling him or waiting for it. I fell back asleep and slept on and off till the next morning, which was Thursday. Bodhi was home with me again this day, and it was okay, except that I took a shower and almost fell because the shower wall was further away than I thought it was. For the rest of the day, I just felt out of it, confused, forgetful, headache, off balance, uncoordinated, and pretty freaked out.

I was nauseous all day, and I went back into the ER at about 5:30 that night, where they decided to do a CT Scan to rule out bleeding, because I had this tremendous sense of pressure in my head, which increased every time I got off my ice pack.

I was okay about the idea of the CT scan, until the nurse said, "to rule out emergency brain surgery." OH. Right. Well, I guess that's the reason you do a CT scan, right? I remember, though, visiting my dad in the critical care unit after he was in a motorcycle accident and they did emergency brain surgery on him. Scary to see.

Liat came to keep me company while I got the CT scan, and brought me a Fanta and a Toblerone, which was LOVELY, and then she drove me home in a drugged out haze and we watched a movie (what it was escapes me entirely...) and got to chat about life and love and friends, which was fantastic.

Anyhow, my CT was clear, no fractures or bleeding, just smacked it good, concussed myself, and have what they call "Post Concussion Syndrome" which can last for months. I am having trouble retaining things that I am reading, like reading a story to Bodhi makes me confused after about 15 pages, watching TV seems to be okay, but talking on the phone or trying to track what someone is describing to me is intensely difficult, it makes me feel confused, distracted, out of time and disoriented. Which is concerning, because I have a physiology exam on Monday!!

I went to see Dr. Litel, and he said he's not going to touch me till next week when all the insane inflammation all over my back, neck and head goes down, he sent me home with some ice packs and an admonition to get back in bed and chill out for the next week or so.

Went to my check up at Bozeman Creek Family Health (THEY ROCK!, Dr. Cady just got 26 stitches in her forehead crashing her mtn bike in British Columbia, Dr. Burton was the one that got my cast fit so I could ski with it. YEAH!)

It was tough to follow the conversation, it gets harder to concentrate later in the day, and Dr. Cady basically told me the same thing, chill, relax, take the meds (Valium, percocet, ibuprofen, and whatever else helps...) which I am happy to do, but am trying to keep off of until my back and neck and head pain are close to unbearable, so that I can track my confusion and make sure it's not related to the meds.

So here we are, its snowing outside, I seem to be able to write, okay, except I was texting with Elizabeth from the hospital and thought it was Tiffany for like 15 minutes... whoops... I'm hanging out with Bodhi and watching Sesame Street videos, drinking hot chocolate, Tom built me a fire before he went to do his stuff today, and all is well.

I still feel confused, lost, spaced out, but my balance seems to be coming back. I'm not retaining anything I am reading, so I guess I'll have to just keep trying! Thanks for all your well wishes and for the support, and for checking in, its been lovely to feel you out there! I'm sure that I am fine, its just going to take a bit longer to recover than I thought, as it's not so much the whiplash (which sucks) as it is the bonk on the noggin that's got me layin' low.

In the meantime, it makes me feel good in my soul to see it SNOW BABY, SNOW! 60 days to Bridger, 2 weeks to bootfitting with Brent in my NEW Proton 12 with ID Liner by Dalbello, 4 weeks or so to skiing with the PNW, and we're off! Lets get HEALTHY so we can make some TURNS!!

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