Staples!? I guess they ran out of duct tape and bailing wire. Couldn’t tell if they used spit to put me back together but I wouldn’t be surprised. I lost my balance and fell the other day cracking the back of my head open. In the emergency room they stapled me back together. Ironically all this happened just after I’d posted an article describing had well I was progressing on my recovery. Well it was good news at the time but I spoke too soon. Clearly it doesn’t do to get too cocky.

What happened? You ask.

I was on the stairs doing one of my physical therapy exercises when I let go of the rail, lost my balance, fell over backwards and cracked the back of my head open on the corner of a concrete step. I wish I could blame someone else but it was my own stupid fault. Unlike my last falling episode I was conscious throughout the whole process this time. In fact everything seemed to unfold in slow motion.

Grandma Oddball had just gotten out of the shower and came running down the stairs yelling at me, “Don’t move! Don’t move!” I, on the other hand, wasn’t to concerned until I tried feeling the back of my head which only resulted in a bloody hand. As I inspected my blood covered hand I decided that perhaps it was prudent not to move while she called 911 for help.

I’ll skip over the ambulance ride which transported me to the hospital emergency room except to say that being strapped to a stiff board in a neck brace was not only uncomfortable but painful too. I couldn’t wait to get rid of these encumbrances! However, I do have to praise the 911 emergency response team. They arrived quickly and were very competent and kind.

At the ER I went through the usual procedures. First I was examined and then shipped off for a CT scan of my head where they found a very small subdural hematoma. Returning to the ER my head wound was then cleaned up in preparation for closing. The person cleaning the wound had a trainee with him so I got a blow by blow account of the procedure as he instructed the trainee what to do including all the corrections that she had to make. I remember all this because I never lost consciousness throughout the entire ordeal. Lucky me! I got to be a Guinea pig.

After cleaning the wound the ER doctor came back and inspected the wound commenting that it was bigger than she expected (actually a gash 2-3 inches long). That was when I first heard the word staple mentioned. I was expecting perhaps a suture but hadn’t realized that they stapled heads back on nowadays.

Stapling me back together was the second most painful part of the process. First they attempted to numb me up with lidocaine. The injections were somewhat painful then the doctor called for the staple gun. I could feel the staples go in but they didn’t hurt until she got to the far right hand side of the gash. I guess the lidocaine didn’t work there because it really hurt for those last two staples to be shot in my head. In all I now have six staples in my head.

After that things went along in a straightforward manner. I spent the night in the hospital, got another CT scan which only marginally showed the subdural hematoma and was sent home. I’m fairly weak right now what with my head injury and the record heat wave here in the Seattle area (103 degrees and heat is not kind to people like me with multiple sclerosis). I’m just resting today, taking things easy (no therapy exercises for a few more days) while I recover and deal with the pain in my head.

When grandma Oddball informed my nurse/case manager she mentioned something about doing an evaluation because of my recent falling episodes so I was expecting a lecture (actually a balling out) but she was kind and sympathetic. I must have still looked pathetic. Instead she and grandma Oddball had a private discussion concerning my fate (what were they talking about? Must have been significant, my ears are still burning!).

I have another CT scan scheduled in about 10 days at which time I’ll also get my staples removed. Hopefully that will be the end of this portion of my medical Odyssey. In the meantime maybe I’ll start wearing a helmet while doing therapy.

Tags: medical update

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 10:49 am and is filed under Grandpa Oddball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

this article with others.