Emergency room, take 2.

Apparently my family's new hobby is to visit the emergency rooms on or around the nearest holiday. Thanksgiving night my sister phoned me from work to take her to the hospital for a suspected broken wrist. You can read about that in this blog
.

My sister's visit to the emergency room took place in room 3B as you can see by the following picture.



My mother, not wishing to be left out, decided she had to have a turn, too, so on the morning of Christmas Eve I got a phone call at 7am. Jeren answered the phone and then came to my room to tell me I had to take my mom out to the emergency room because she had fallen and gashed her head. I didn't look forward to having to drive her car and was a little cranky about it so Jeren offered to come along. Her hospital is on the military base, so it was easier to drive her car than have to wait while I got a visitor pass on mine. The back of Mom's shirt was covered in blood and she was a little shaky but otherwise seemed ok so we got in her car and headed out to the hospital.

On the way she told me what happened. She had decided to replace a light bulb in the kitchen while her dough was mixing in the bread maker. Rather than get a stool or step ladder she had decided to use an office style chair with a cloth seat. (More of a waiting room chair than an actual desk chair.) The seat was unstable since it was unsupported fabric so she was trying to balance on the edges where the wood frame is.

Hey Mom...here's a reality check for you. You are 80 years old. LOL.

Well, it's not really funny but we were laughing about it. She, herself, admits she was being an idiot, which is what she told the doctors and nurses when they asked her what happened. ("I was being an idiot!")

So apparently she lost her balance and fell backwards off the chair. She isn't really very clear about that. She doesn't remember the actual fall, but she does remember laying on the floor thinking about that commercial in which the lady says, "Help!!! I've fallen and I can't get up." She said all kinds of crazy thoughts kept running through her mind (I'm thinking the life passing before your eyes scenario, but she doesn't say that) and she kept thinking, "I need to get Sheila."

My step-dad appeared at some point and she asked him to come across the street and get me, but he couldn't figure things out. He said, "I'm in my pajamas. I'm wearing my slippers. I'd have to change clothes." in that rambling way he does when he has no idea what to do. (He has mild altzheimers.) So somehow he helped her up or brought her the phone. I'm not sure which. Maybe both. That part is a little fuzzy.

At any rate, we made it to the hospital. I was surprised the way they question you if you are "elderly". The questions they asked mom were so different than the questions they asked Krys. I think she had to tell the story of what happened approximately ten times. I lost count. They asked about her heart, did she lose consciousness, was she light-headed before she fell and more. Finally they were satisfied that she actually just fell and sent us to wait. Bleeding from head wounds is priority over flu and such, so we were quickly called back to a room and she was instructed to remove her top and put on one of those lovely hospital gowns. She climbed on the bed and we waited. I had forgotten my camera, but I did have my phone, so I proceeded to look around.
Can you guess what room we were in?


Yup! You got it! Room 3B. What are the chances?

So here is mom's lovely Christmas outfit after her visit.


It turns out she didn't need stitches but they wanted the gash protected while it healed. I told her she had her holidays mixed up...the mummy costume only works for halloween. Laughing was quite painful for her, however. Seems that her main injury seemed to be her ribs. They x-rayed, but it was inconclusive whether or not she had cracked, fractured or just bruised her ribs. They sent her home with pain medication and we were out of there at 9:4U. Yes, you read that right. Here it is on the clock.


In all fairness I felt I had to snap some photos and write a blog since Mom went to such great lengths to be included in this new family pastime. So enjoy the somewhat cheesy photos from Emergency Room 3B, Version 2.

Getting her holiday cap on.


Yellow plate covers in the wire maze behind her bed.


Her shoes.


Red, white and blue.


Jeren.


Mom always asks for a blanket FIRST thing.


If anyone is anywhere near a hospital over New Year's Eve it had better be Nikki having her baby. I already told them I don't intend on partaking in this particular family hobby.

Hobbies

In the old days, before there were home computers, I used to have loads of time. I was a stay at home mom and I had HOBBIES. By hobbies, I mean real hobbies like oil painting, sewing, making stained glass pieces and making little tiny things out of fimo clay. I have a whole gallery of tiny little fruits and veggies, bowls, vases, cups, plates, etc. I planned on someday making myself one of those really nice dollhouses and using my little fimo pieces as furnishings. I still have boxes and boxes of do-it-yourself doll house furniture in the garage to put together just for that elusive doll house that I never got.
Well, actually I got one and it was already put together. It just needed to be finished. (much like my real house, haha). However, the siding had been put on upside down by the first owner/builder. I thought everyone knew that siding overlaps from the top so as to keep the rain from getting in between, but apparently some people don't. I tried for years to pretend it was on correctly, but my perfectionism just wouldn't accept it and finally I gave it away. So now I have boxes of dollhouse furniture to be built for a dollhouse I don't have. It's ok. Maybe someday I will get one.
In the meantime, they invented and supplied the world with home computers. Home computers are wonderful, but they sure do suck the time away. I find myself with one hobby now, and that is falling asleep while playing, working and browsing on my computer. I'm going to work on that, though, and try to get back into accomplishing some other things with my time. Wish me luck. My first step in doing that is to clean out my garage from top to bottom so that I can put a studio in the attic. Yay! A studio is a good step toward making hobbies happen. So wish me luck on that, too!
Today was spent putting down gravel at the gate area of the dog's yard. That in itself felt like a great accomplishment. Tomorrow I will get back up in the attic and throw, throw, throw stuff out the window so we can take it to the dump. Fun times!
I will leave you with and idea of just how much free time I actually had before computers. Here are two of my Fimo creations from way back when.


This is a model I made of my son, David, when he was a baby. I love this little guy because he really reminds me of David.



This is a little gingerbread house. I made this and the model of David in 1983 so they have discolored just a little, but they are still in pretty good shape. There used to be a tiny little snowman in the yard. He was an eighth of an inch high and even had a tiny little carrot nose, but he broke off one time when I dropped it and I never found him. I used toothpicks to help create the detail. I used to love working with Fimo clay. You just create and then bake.