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.

Tidbits

I haven't been posting much since NaBloPoMo got over, but it's not for lack of interest. I have been in this crazy little busy period. I say "busy" because it feels busy. I don't really see where I have accomplished much lately. It's like I'm in this little whirlwind and all it's doing is blowing the dust around. When the dust settles everything is still the same except that it's covered with dust.

Here's a couple of tidbits from the last couple of weeks:

1. I saw a falling star on my way home from work one night. I know that may not be big news to some of you, but I always think it's very special to see just one shooting star fall from the sky. I love to watch meteor showers where they are darting everywhere and there are lots of them, but when you see just one it's just different. You have to be looking at just the right spot at just the right time. So that's very special to me. I guess it's somewhat like an affirmation from God.

2. I learned to eat cheese and crackers. That may not seem like big news either, but to me it's an accomplishment. Most of my life I have hated cold cheese. I loved macaroni and cheese and cheese melted on hamburgers, toasted cheese, and cheesy broccoli or cheese soup but to take a piece of cheese out of the refrigerator and just eat it bare and cold and alone...ewwwww! I couldn't stand the texture. Then I worked for Dave and Louise. Louise used to like to pack a lunch for me when she packed lunch for herself and Dave. She was quite fond of making meat and cheese sandwiches. I am a polite person and so I would choke them down followed by large gulps of whatever drink I had. I never had the heart to tell her I hated cold cheese because she was always so sweet to bring me a lunch when she didn't have to do that at all. I eventually learned to really like cheese on a sandwich. I think I was about 37 years old at the time. I started letting them leave the cheese on my tacos and actually ordering sandwiches with cheese on them. I learned to love parmesan cheese sprinkled on everything. And I don't mean the powdery Kraft version but regular shredded parmesan. I made a lot of progress in the cheese world and ventured out and tried different kinds of cheese. I still hate American cheese, squeeze cheese, and most cheese spreads and I still hadn't learned to eat cheese on crackers. I have grown quite fond of Swiss cheese. It's one of my favorites. The other night I had some whole wheat Ritz left over from a party and I decided to try the Swiss cheese with salami on the crackers. Then I got really brave and ate a cracker with just the cheese. It was actually quite delicious and I feel accomplished that I can now attend a party and actually eat the cheese and crackers. I'm not sure if I could handle it cut thick, but thin slices are a go! Yay!
I know. I'm weird.