Joyce and I were staying at the Downstream hotel in Oklahoma. I got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. While standing there using the facility, I passed out and fell. The right side of my face scraped along the bathroom wall racking off some skin and then fell over and hit the concrete with my head. I felt horrible and barely made my way back to bed.
We went home the next morning with a huge headache. The headaches went on and by December, I was losing my ability to walk in a straight line, my equilibrium was off. By Christmas eve I could no longer hold a spoon to eat my soup. I went to the doctor after Christmas and she scheduled an MRI test for me on the 11th of January. I could no longer drive, so Joyce was at the wheel. I had the MRI and the nurse came back and told me to go to the hospital immediately. I asked why and all she could say was, "You need to go there."
Joyce and I were in a panic at that point. We got to the hospital and they immediately took me to a bed in the emergency room. After a long 2 hour wait a surgeon walked into the room and said, "You need an operation." I asked when they could do it? He said. "Tonight!"
That evening I was anesthetized and the operation began. The surgeon drilled 2 5/8 inch holes in my head and pulled the flesh open across my skull. They stuck 2 tubes under my skull and one between my flesh and my skull. They then stapled the skin back together.
I had a subdural hematoma, "bleeding inside my brain." It took 5 days for all of the blood to be sucked out of my brain. I asked the surgeon if they would have to put plates on my skull to cover those holes? He replied, "No, the skull would grow back and close up in a couple of years." Well that was 12 years ago and while the holes have diminished in diameter, there are still about a 25% diameter opening of those holes. That leads me to wonder if they will ever fully close in the time I have left in my life?
Brother Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment