Things That Go Bump In The Night

October 22, 2019 by kmabarrett

Last night, as I was finishing brushing my teeth / getting ready for bed, my wife comes into the bathroom saying she’s banged her head and she’s bleeding. She was holding her left hand behind her ear and I could see blood pulsing down the front of her nightgown and bathrobe from her throat. I asked her to move her hand so I could see and, when she did so, there was a pulse of blood down her head, the back of her neck and onto her robe. I grabbed some toilet paper and held it up against where I thought the blood was coming from, but it was coming from slightly higher up and the blood pumped between my fingers, down the back of my hand and to my wrist. I grabbed a bigger wad of paper and pressed against the (slightly) higher location and it seemed to pause the flow. I told her to press the paper firmly and I was going to get some sterile bandages from the first aid kit then take her to the ER. As I started to the hallway, she shouted at me to just wet a face-cloth and she would use that. I was almost to the kit when she yelled again, “Just get me a wet face-cloth!!” Rather than argue, I came back down the hall, reached into the linen closet and grabbed a face-cloth. We walked back into the bathroom and I wet the cloth in the sink and applied it while taking the bloody paper and throwing it in the bin.

To make a longer story shorter, we went to the ER (a five minute drive), and, after a four hour process (interview / CT / tetanus shot), my wife got four staples and a tetanus shot for her trouble… (See image below.)

A four(4) staple OWIE…

So, what happened? My wife went to sit in a “computer” chair (with wheels) and she didn’t see it had a backpack on it. When she tried to sit, she slid straight off the front of the seat and the chair shot away (on the hardwood floor). We believe she must have caught the edge of one of the wheel case struts and she got an “L” shaped laceration requiring the four staples. Fortunately, the blood only made it look a LOT worse than it actually was.

We were home by 3:30am and she has been resting all day. And, in one week, (on her birthday), she can have the staples removed!! To paraphrase a famous movie line: “I’m getting too old for this sh##!“

.
On This Day In:
2021	Press On
	Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This
2020	AMA
	Still Shiny
2019	Things That Go Bump In The Night
	Hoping I’m Careful
2018	I Must Be Truly Wise
2017	My Sensei
2016	The Worst Sin
2015	Rules Of Thumb
2014	A Prayer
	Orange October (IX) – Giants Lose Game 2 In Bullpen Collapse
2013	Complacent Reality
2012	Two-minute Sex
	Just Staring, Why?
2011	A World Of Difference

Posted in Faith Family and Friends, Family and Friends, Health | Tagged Family Stories, First Aid, Four Staples, Head Laceration, Health Care, Hilary Barrett, Nighttime Scares, Trip To ER | 7 Comments

7 Responses

on October 22, 2019 at 7:27 pm | Reply Jerry Brotherton

I am glad that she is okay. I’ve had a few cuts and bumps on the noggin a few times and they do bleed twice as much as a cut any where else. Good thing the ER was close.
- on October 22, 2019 at 10:18 pm | Reply kmabarrett
  
  Hi Jerry,
  Yes. I have AFib and being close has saved my life more than once in the last 10 years.
  Kevin
on October 22, 2019 at 4:41 pm | Reply beth

wow, I’m glad you were there and that she is okay
- on October 22, 2019 at 5:47 pm | Reply kmabarrett
  
  Yes! We can laugh about it now, but my post didn’t adequately convey the fear that gripped me seeing her blood pulse down the side of her neckline or the warm / wet feel of it between my fingers and on the back of my hand. Pretty close to absolute terror! But, it sure focuses the mind…! One step at a time… What do I do next? (And all the while praying…)
  - on October 22, 2019 at 7:32 pm | Reply beth
    
    I can’t even imagine the terror of it all. It was shard to give your post a ‘like.’
    - on October 22, 2019 at 10:27 pm | Reply kmabarrett
      
      It sounds strange, but I’ve had that experience loads in the 10yrs I’ve been doing posts and the odd reply.
      
      When someone posts about being bullied or raped or illness or the pain of losing someone, it’s difficult to say you “like” the post.
      
      Those are the times I tend to leave a brief “reply” expressing my support that I “like” their overcoming the event, not that I “liked” it happening to them.
      
      It’s simply the systemic communication failure of the medium and it falls to the reader to communicate support. But, we are all busy and some of us are less motivated than others to express support…
      - on October 23, 2019 at 2:59 am | Reply beth
        
        yes, I understand this