It was January 23 ... a usual Sunday, nothing out of the ordinary. We'd had a family breakfast. I'd baked bread and delivered it to a few families. Gray had made a yummy dinner. I was doing some kitchen cleanup, and I did feel a little off. The next thing I remember was waking up in an ambulance and feeling more than a little off. I was taken to the ER for some tests and staples in my head.
I've passed out a couple times before in my life, and both times I felt it coming on. This happened so fast and without any warning, I must have just dropped and hit my head on the way down. Head wounds can bleed, and apparently there was blood (both from my head, and I bit my tongue). Cooper had been in the family room just off the kitchen and heard the thud. Generally, when I drop something and Cooper is close by I'll jokingly say "Cooper, don't drop things" ... and when such a rejoinder didn't come, he came to investigate. So he was the one who found me, bleeding and unconscious, and possibly having a seizure. The rest of the family was around, so Gray, Keaton and Colton all came when he called out.
At the ER, they did a CT scan and EKG. I had thrown up before leaving the house, in the ambulance, and the nausea was continuing in the emergency room, despite several anti-nausea medications. The world was spinning at the slightest movement. Grayson and Keaton had come and were sitting with me in the emergency room. My dad came and sat in the waiting room too, but with Covid protocols they weren't letting additional people in (Mom was home ... positive for Covid, Dad had just recovered). It was a long night. The fall happened around 9:30, so much of this was happening when we would have been home asleep.
The scans didn't show anything of concern (no brain bleed) and I could have been discharged around 2:00 am ... except that I still didn't feel like I could move. Any attempt and I'd be hit with a spinning world and nausea again. Despite the discomfort of an ER "bed" I slept some ... which is more than Gray and Keaton were able to do in the chairs in the room. Keaton ran home to gather some clothes (what I'd been wearing had been cut away) and around 5:30 I figured I'd push through - I just wanted to be in my own bed. Wheeled out to the waiting car, barf bag in hand, we made it home.
Despite the mess my head was in (blood and vomit in my hair) I went straight to bed and slept for about nine hours (they'd taken my Fitbit off at the hospital, but my Oura ring tracker was still on and provided some data). I then got up and showered (Gray had installed two handles in the shower, and had pulled out the shower bench from Cal's broken foot days), then threw up again, and went back to bed and slept until the next morning.
All the family took Monday off from school and work. It had been a long night for everyone. Landon and Sol and Cal and Kate had come over to the house to stay with Colton and Cooper while we were at the ER. Tuesday, it was back to normal for everyone but Grayson. He worked from home for a few days, making sure I was okay, and getting Cooper to/from work. Colton had JUST gotten his license (seriously, just a couple days before) so that was one less uber service needed - as I didn't get back to driving for a couple of weeks.
I took it slow for the recovery, just resting and watching a few shows, listening to my audiobooks (my ears were bothering me a little). I got back to bread making. After a couple weeks, we went back to the ER to get the staples out. Back to driving. I tried a walk on the treadmill. Back to Zumba on Valentine's Day. Pretty much back to normal ... still get a single slow spin as I move from a vertical to a horizontal position.
Now for the bills ... Ambulance ride was just over $2,400 for the 12 mile ride. The ER billing is around $28,000. I'd always thought I was such a good deal for insurance companies, as I very rarely went to any appointments. Time to collect now. Waiting to see how the insurance handles it all.
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