Aftermath of the Really. Bad. Day.
Oct. 26th, 2012 03:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
monkey5sSo, Wednesday afternoon was when I sustained what the emergency room defined as "head laceration, complicated".
That evening, the s-i-l did what she could to get the blood out of most of my hair, where it had bled constantly while they were trying to get it contained, and see what they had to deal with.
**
[press call button in my little ER room] "Yes, what can we do for you?"
"Um, hello, can you ask the nurse to bring me another gauze pad? This one is so saturated that the blood's running down into my eye again. I can also feel it trickling behind my ears."
[pause] "I'll get someone in there right away."
"Thanks."
**
Finally, after a good re-wrap of the area (turns out the only way to keep the bandage on where the stitches are is to wrap it around the head and then over the head and under the chin), the family all left and I tried to go to bed. That's when I found out I had definitely had a jarring impact to my head- because my neck was so tight it took a lot to relax it when I lay down.
But, I did sleep.
Thursday the s-i-l came back to take me on the errands that I had to do (because I had to get money out of one bank to pay the credit card at aonther bank). She offered to stop at Meijer's and have me take the electric cart and get my shopping. So we did. And then she got the groceries in the house for me and mostly put away, and she left again.
I realized then that, despite being exhausted from the trip, I was just past my 24 hours of keeping the incision dry, and therefore was allowed to wash my hair. So I did- leaning over the sink, because going upstairs for a shower was not happening that late. The first washing helped a lot, but there was still dried gunk above both ears. I ended up washing it a total of three times. Still lots of dried blood around the incision area, so the hair is all stiff and spiky there, but most of the rest of my head feels much better. Because dried blood stinks, in addition to making my scalp itch.
The more exciting part of the day, though, was the fact that my hematoma (or, as the patient information sheet explained, "it is a very large bruise"- I do so love patient information sheets) was taking gravity seriously, and draining away from the injury site. As in, down my FACE. So yesterday my right eye (the right side of my forehead had the larger bruised area) was swollen shut- first from over the eye, then the eyelid, then under the eye. Time lapse photography would have been awesome. But it's disconcerting to have an eye swollen shut- particularly since the eye wasn't damaged at all. The stretched skin feels weird.
Last night the left eye began to show some swelling, too.
This morning, the right eye was able to open a little bit- which helped because the left eye was closed to a narrow opening, too. Once again, I am so sorry there was no time-lapse photography of my progression. Very dramatic. Also, difficult to wear my glasses over it. So, yeah, back to radio silence on the computer- it's really difficult to focus when my eyes can't open all the way, so it's challenging to find the right area of the glasses to see through.
Sitting and looking out the window, though- that's good. Distance vision correction is easy. So that's what I'll do.
That evening, the s-i-l did what she could to get the blood out of most of my hair, where it had bled constantly while they were trying to get it contained, and see what they had to deal with.
**
[press call button in my little ER room] "Yes, what can we do for you?"
"Um, hello, can you ask the nurse to bring me another gauze pad? This one is so saturated that the blood's running down into my eye again. I can also feel it trickling behind my ears."
[pause] "I'll get someone in there right away."
"Thanks."
**
Finally, after a good re-wrap of the area (turns out the only way to keep the bandage on where the stitches are is to wrap it around the head and then over the head and under the chin), the family all left and I tried to go to bed. That's when I found out I had definitely had a jarring impact to my head- because my neck was so tight it took a lot to relax it when I lay down.
But, I did sleep.
Thursday the s-i-l came back to take me on the errands that I had to do (because I had to get money out of one bank to pay the credit card at aonther bank). She offered to stop at Meijer's and have me take the electric cart and get my shopping. So we did. And then she got the groceries in the house for me and mostly put away, and she left again.
I realized then that, despite being exhausted from the trip, I was just past my 24 hours of keeping the incision dry, and therefore was allowed to wash my hair. So I did- leaning over the sink, because going upstairs for a shower was not happening that late. The first washing helped a lot, but there was still dried gunk above both ears. I ended up washing it a total of three times. Still lots of dried blood around the incision area, so the hair is all stiff and spiky there, but most of the rest of my head feels much better. Because dried blood stinks, in addition to making my scalp itch.
The more exciting part of the day, though, was the fact that my hematoma (or, as the patient information sheet explained, "it is a very large bruise"- I do so love patient information sheets) was taking gravity seriously, and draining away from the injury site. As in, down my FACE. So yesterday my right eye (the right side of my forehead had the larger bruised area) was swollen shut- first from over the eye, then the eyelid, then under the eye. Time lapse photography would have been awesome. But it's disconcerting to have an eye swollen shut- particularly since the eye wasn't damaged at all. The stretched skin feels weird.
Last night the left eye began to show some swelling, too.
This morning, the right eye was able to open a little bit- which helped because the left eye was closed to a narrow opening, too. Once again, I am so sorry there was no time-lapse photography of my progression. Very dramatic. Also, difficult to wear my glasses over it. So, yeah, back to radio silence on the computer- it's really difficult to focus when my eyes can't open all the way, so it's challenging to find the right area of the glasses to see through.
Sitting and looking out the window, though- that's good. Distance vision correction is easy. So that's what I'll do.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-26 09:07 pm (UTC)Heh. If anyone asks, just explain that librarians are tough, and they should see the other guy.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-26 10:18 pm (UTC)*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 10:21 pm (UTC)Which probably shows that it was self-evident what happened, even to small children. AR AR AR!
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 05:27 am (UTC)I'm glad you made it through that first night OK, and hope the aches and bruises and yuckiness work their way through quickly. <3
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 10:24 pm (UTC)