Tale of a Head Banging...Part II
Well, it's Trevor here, to share a recent tale of Brenda's life. In fact, it was just
a week ago Sunday, that Brenda once again banged her head. The first incident
was several years before her brain surgery, when she bumped it inside the fridge,
as she was looking for something. This was long before I came along and you
can read all about that, in her previous blog post, "How It All Began."
This time she treated the situation much differently, as she ended up going to the
ER this time and not waiting.
Again she was looking for something, but this time it was her cubic freezer. She
didn't realize that the lid was not pushed all the way back and when she put her
head in, it whacked her pretty good right down the middle of her head, below where
the scars for her craniotomy are.
It hurt quite a bit and she just thought, she would ice it and take Tylenol and see how
things were in the morning. The next morning she went to work, but it really started
hurting, so she contacted her nurse, got a recording and left a message.
After lunch she had a message stating, that her doctor was out of the office and that she
should contact another doctor on call and make an appointment. She decided to tough
it out for the remainder of the day.
She got home and did a few things and it was really getting bad now. She decided to
maybe think about going to the ER and perhaps they would at least do a CT scan, to
make sure there was no brain bleed or something else going on.
She called her friend Nyla, and explained what had happened and she said she could
take her in. This was around 5:30 p.m. on a Monday evening, so they both figured it
would be a long night, but more on that later.
She got to the ER filled out a paper and Nyla sat with her until she was called back,
which turned out to be a little after 6:00 p.m.
She was taken to the nurses station where they asked her questions, etc. One being
all of her surgeries. She knows she forgot some, but she was there for a head injury,
so that is life.
She was taken back to a room, where she had to put on a gown. At least she was told
how to wear it, so no guessing.
She was there for maybe less than an hour before the ER doctor came in. She was
really nice and extended her hand towards Brenda and that impressed her right off.
She asked her questions about if she had blurred vision, was dizzy, did her neck hurt, did
she pass out, etc. Everything was negative except, that she was starting to feel nauseous
and her head really hurt. She rated it a 7 when she came in.
The doctor was pretty sure it was probably a mild concussion, but to be on the safe side
and knew Brenda probably wanted this too, a CT scan was ordered.
So she waited not too long before a technician came in and took her to the imaging room.
She doesn't mind having these, because they are open and no feeling of being trapped in
a cone, etc.
She got her results back in about 10 minutes, when the doctor came back again to report
all was well. It was most likely a mild concussion with bruising, which would not show
up on a CT scan.
She was told to go home and rest, probably not to go to work the next day. She ended up
taking the next 2 days off, as she was actually feeling worse on Wednesday and just
slept a lot.
She is doing much better and I know she did the right thing this time. The first time as
you know, she did not go to the ER. It was much later that her pain returned and a
brain tumor was found. It was not related, but it was a wake up call and so was this
time also, to be more proactive.
She is really going to be much more careful when it comes to having to bend her head
and making sure, nothing will be banging it in the future.
Being a hard rock fan, songs were coming into Brenda's head all week. "Bang Your Head"
being at the top of the list.
She also said at the ER, that her brain tumor friends would have her head, if she wouldn't
have had this checked out.
The funny thing about this recovery time, was that her RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) was
fairly quiet. I guess the body really does know what the weakest point is at any given
time. Maybe, that is why Brenda was able to get more sleep.
So here we are one week later and Brenda is doing much better head wise, but the RA
has once again kicked into full force.
I saw how Brenda handled all of this like a trouper. She came home Friday night from
work and just sobbed. It had been quite the week.
She also was dealing with her fridge not working and she was nervous about her Enbrel
being in there. So her cousin was kind enough to store it for her, until she got that problem
solved. She ended up getting a new fridge. It is working out beautifully.
Her friend Nyla, really helped out a lot, by taking her to the ER and they kept in touch
several times while she was there, as she had to leave.
Brenda's whole experience at the ER was less than 3 hours. That was pretty amazing,
considering the fact that they had car accidents come in and she was told when she
was taken to her room, that they would get to her as soon as possible.
Nobody likes these things to happen. They are called accidents and there were some
people that were really concerned and Brenda really appreciated that.
Until next time, this is Trevor, The Tell Tale Dog, wishing you all great JOY!
a week ago Sunday, that Brenda once again banged her head. The first incident
was several years before her brain surgery, when she bumped it inside the fridge,
as she was looking for something. This was long before I came along and you
can read all about that, in her previous blog post, "How It All Began."
This time she treated the situation much differently, as she ended up going to the
ER this time and not waiting.
Again she was looking for something, but this time it was her cubic freezer. She
didn't realize that the lid was not pushed all the way back and when she put her
head in, it whacked her pretty good right down the middle of her head, below where
the scars for her craniotomy are.
It hurt quite a bit and she just thought, she would ice it and take Tylenol and see how
things were in the morning. The next morning she went to work, but it really started
hurting, so she contacted her nurse, got a recording and left a message.
After lunch she had a message stating, that her doctor was out of the office and that she
should contact another doctor on call and make an appointment. She decided to tough
it out for the remainder of the day.
She got home and did a few things and it was really getting bad now. She decided to
maybe think about going to the ER and perhaps they would at least do a CT scan, to
make sure there was no brain bleed or something else going on.
She called her friend Nyla, and explained what had happened and she said she could
take her in. This was around 5:30 p.m. on a Monday evening, so they both figured it
would be a long night, but more on that later.
She got to the ER filled out a paper and Nyla sat with her until she was called back,
which turned out to be a little after 6:00 p.m.
She was taken to the nurses station where they asked her questions, etc. One being
all of her surgeries. She knows she forgot some, but she was there for a head injury,
so that is life.
She was taken back to a room, where she had to put on a gown. At least she was told
how to wear it, so no guessing.
She was there for maybe less than an hour before the ER doctor came in. She was
really nice and extended her hand towards Brenda and that impressed her right off.
She asked her questions about if she had blurred vision, was dizzy, did her neck hurt, did
she pass out, etc. Everything was negative except, that she was starting to feel nauseous
and her head really hurt. She rated it a 7 when she came in.
The doctor was pretty sure it was probably a mild concussion, but to be on the safe side
and knew Brenda probably wanted this too, a CT scan was ordered.
So she waited not too long before a technician came in and took her to the imaging room.
She doesn't mind having these, because they are open and no feeling of being trapped in
a cone, etc.
She got her results back in about 10 minutes, when the doctor came back again to report
all was well. It was most likely a mild concussion with bruising, which would not show
up on a CT scan.
She was told to go home and rest, probably not to go to work the next day. She ended up
taking the next 2 days off, as she was actually feeling worse on Wednesday and just
slept a lot.
She is doing much better and I know she did the right thing this time. The first time as
you know, she did not go to the ER. It was much later that her pain returned and a
brain tumor was found. It was not related, but it was a wake up call and so was this
time also, to be more proactive.
She is really going to be much more careful when it comes to having to bend her head
and making sure, nothing will be banging it in the future.
Being a hard rock fan, songs were coming into Brenda's head all week. "Bang Your Head"
being at the top of the list.
She also said at the ER, that her brain tumor friends would have her head, if she wouldn't
have had this checked out.
The funny thing about this recovery time, was that her RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) was
fairly quiet. I guess the body really does know what the weakest point is at any given
time. Maybe, that is why Brenda was able to get more sleep.
So here we are one week later and Brenda is doing much better head wise, but the RA
has once again kicked into full force.
I saw how Brenda handled all of this like a trouper. She came home Friday night from
work and just sobbed. It had been quite the week.
She also was dealing with her fridge not working and she was nervous about her Enbrel
being in there. So her cousin was kind enough to store it for her, until she got that problem
solved. She ended up getting a new fridge. It is working out beautifully.
Her friend Nyla, really helped out a lot, by taking her to the ER and they kept in touch
several times while she was there, as she had to leave.
Brenda's whole experience at the ER was less than 3 hours. That was pretty amazing,
considering the fact that they had car accidents come in and she was told when she
was taken to her room, that they would get to her as soon as possible.
Nobody likes these things to happen. They are called accidents and there were some
people that were really concerned and Brenda really appreciated that.
Until next time, this is Trevor, The Tell Tale Dog, wishing you all great JOY!
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