Do you ever wish you could take back the last three seconds of your life? I do sometimes. I’m not asking for a major feat of time-traveling, like taking me back in time 500 years so that I could meet some historical figure. I’m not even asking to go forward in time by a couple of years to help me make better decisions today. I just want to erase a few seconds from my life. That’s all.
I felt this way on Friday, which just happened to be April Fools’ Day. I said that I had no good joke ideas, and it turns out I didn’t need any, because the joke was on me. Only it wasn’t very funny.
Let me set the scene for you. We were packing up to head out of town for the weekend. The car was all loaded, and we were all ready to go, so I sat my 2-year-old Jacob on the potty for one last attempt to go pee before we left. I crouched down beside him to do my “encouraging mom” bit. He peed, things were good. And then as I stood up to empty the potty (because who wants to leave a potty full of pee to stew over the weekend?) I banged my head on a post.
The potty and the post
Now, I don’t travel well, even if it is only a one-hour trip to a cabin that I visit often. I was pretty keyed up and stressed out even before I hurt myself. So when I felt the searing pain penetrate my skull, I went down like a ton of bricks. I yelped. I cried real tears. And then as my husband Jon came running I started to feel a little silly . My kids hit their heads several times a day, and they’re usually far more stoic than I was being.
The post cap that did the damage
When Jon pried my hand off my head, he drew in his breath and said, “You’re bleeding.” Just then, a few drops of blood fell on the floor in front of me. I decided that it was lucky I happened to be wearing a red sweater. I sent Jon for a wash cloth and applied pressure, thinking to myself that it was just bleeding so much because heads bleed, and that it probably wasn’t that serious. Once Jon got a good look, though, he wasn’t so sure.
We talked back and forth for a couple of minutes, and decided that I needed to go to the ER. It was a little after one o’clock on a weekday afternoon at that point, and we knew that if we waited the ER would only get busier. Also, we were about to head into the US for the weekend. At home in Canada I have access to free health care. In the US, I do not. If we played “wait and see” and things went south, we didn’t want to face a medical bill.
In the ER waiting room with dried blood in my hair
Jon didn’t want me to drive myself (probably a good call) so he loaded up the kids, and me, and off we went. Luckily, the ER was pretty quiet. I got checked in and Jon and the kids went home to wait in a more child-friendly environment. I had a bed within about half an hour of arriving, and passed the time by playing around on Facebook and Twitter. I kind of enjoyed myself, in that odd way that only a mother of young children can. I had an hour entirely to myself with nothing at all to do.
Luckily, the guy in the bed next to me was pretty freaking hilarious, so I got to overhear his conversations. But I will admit that after about 20 minutes on my hospital bed with no doctor in sight, I broke my Lenten resolution and played iPhone video games. I decided that waiting for an hour on a bed in the ER is a special case.
Once the doctor arrived, he decided to glue my head shut. It took a couple of minutes, and then I got a tetanus shot and I was free to go. The injury was superficial, and I didn’t have a concussion or any other visible problems, so I got the all clear and we headed off on our getaway directly from the hospital.
On the beach the next day, my hair unwashed because my head needed to stay dry for 24 hours post-gluing
All’s well that ends well, or so they say. But still, if I could have gone back in time to right before I bashed my head, I certainly would have. But as I cannot time travel, not even for a few seconds, I’m stuck with glue in my hair, and yet another story about how I’m not exactly the easiest person to travel with. I guess we all have our shortcomings.
Have you ever had to postpone, alter or cancel a trip because of an injury? And have you ever had a wound glued shut? Feel free to commiserate in the comments.
ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!
Scalp wounds are messy…. may I recommend moving the potty to a less dangerous locale?
I clock myself on the corners of open cupboards all the time, but I had a really thick bunch of hair so actual cuts are rare. I can relate to the searing pain, breath-jarring response and vertigo that comes with a knock on the top all too well. And unless I bite my lip HARD, and hold my breath I always feel like I will pass out swearing the most terrible profanities.
ow ow ow ow ow ow ow OW!
I hope the rest of April is more gentle on you!
Don’t feel too bad….years ago, I had a trip planned to go to Vegas with my new husband. About a week before we left, I broke my ankle. Don’t even have a good story to make it worthwhile…I was simply walking into a restaurant. One small step which resulted in a rolled over ankle. I was horrified that I had fallen in public, so I sucked it up, hobbled in to the restaurant and ordered a drink. A doctor sitting at a nearby table actually came up to us and advised that I make my way to the hospital…by observing me and my ballooning ankle, he felt that I needed an x-ray. This led to me being carried out on my chair by my husband and the owner of the restaurant….so much for keeping things low key. :-/ This story ends with a trip to Vegas in the middle of the summer. A large cast, crutches, wheelchairs and the Las Vegas strip isn’t a pretty picture. Let’s just say it was an awkward and sweaty trip…
Hope you were able to enjoy your weekend away, glued-up head and all. A little Trader Joe’s makes everything better, and remember, it could have been worse…..
ow!
thwacking my head always makes me feel supremely stupid and angry and annoyed (never had glue though)
re: travel with injury
once i’ve got the travel bug it takes a lot to stop me, especially if i have the homing instinct. as long as i’m insured and capable i can fly!
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Awwwwwww… Amber. I’m glad Jon was there & glad you’re okay. ((hugs))
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Those potties are nothing but trouble
! Glad it worked out – but I have a sneaking suspicion that your hospital mug shot will come back to haunt you.
So glad you are OK now! {hugs}
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Ouch! That sucks! My bedroom is in the attic and the ceiling angles sharply towards the walls, so I’m banging my head all the time but fortunately not making actual cuts.
I’ve had some serious cuts in my day, but I never go to the hospital for them. If a bandage won’t do, I super glue them at home. Super glue is one of those things my first aid kit is never without.
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Hi Amber,
Glad that you’re feeling better.
I’ve never had to postpone a trip due to injury, but I have sustained an injury during a trip. Like yours, mine was a head wound. I was on a cruise and something — probably the all-too-available-all-inclusive-drinks — compelled me to dive head first into the ship’s pool. Luckily, my forehead prevented my face from hitting the bottom. (How’s that for looking at the bright side?)
For the rest of the trip, my friends called me by my new nickname — Red Dot Special.
Ray
Glad you’re well. Glue. Glue?! Glue for wounds??? You mean in your futuristic continent you’re above and beyond stitches? No needle and thread anymore over there???
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Apparently glue is better for reasonably superficial wounds that aren’t over a joint. If it had been on my finger, I would have had stitches.
I’m relieved, honestly. This was easier, and they didn’t have to shave any hair off to do it. Although I’m not sure the glue will ever really come out.
Oh no! No wonder you cried… I do hope the glue has come out… it will, right? I do think it’s great they didn’t have to shave your beautiful hair. I’ll bet that would have ruined your trip
And glad to see you smiling at the beach too.
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Ow! If I had hit my head on that thing I would’ve cried and cursed and been the biggest baby. I haven’t personally ever been injured right before a big trip. My dad is the one. Back in 2004 we planned a big beach trip and he became horribly ill. Once they figured out he had Wegener’s (an autoimmune disease) he started treatment and eventually was okay. Then this past summer my mom tried to plan another big beach trip and his Wegener’s came back and he had a minor stroke–both incidences less than a week before we would have left. He is doing well now, and we sort of joke that next time we want to go off together we’ll go to the mountains instead. But seriously, we are afraid to book a beach house ever again!
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This story isn’t my own, I’m afraid, but it fits rather well:
A friend of mine was just leaving for a ski trip in Switzerland (she lives in France), when she stepped on something sharp. It hurt like hell, but her husband was impatient and her three young children were more impatient still — especially as the only visible sign of injury was a small bleeding dot on the bottom of her foot.
They all went skiing and the foot swelled to the point that it was nearly impossible to remove her boot. The pain was excruciating. An x-ray followed. She had stepped on a sewing needle. It was still in her foot.
Here endeth the lesson.
Ouch!
Hits to the head really hurt. No wonder your cried. I would have too.
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I’m glad to hear your brain is intact – we need your daily posts! (The blood and the glue will wash out, but the brain cells, you can’t get those back.)
With all the martial arts I have done over the years, I’ve never had a wound glued shut! That’s kind of miraculous, actually. Of course, now that I’ve put that out there, I am at the mercy of the internet jinx gods…
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The last picture you look beautiful and happy on the beach. Glad everything is OK for you and your brains stayed inside your glued head! lol
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I actually kept surgical glue in the fridge for the last couple years to play “doctor” myself for some superficial wounds. Glue is used on Cesarean incisions here.
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I’m so glad you’re okay! You are luck you have free healthcare in Canada. I think this was a great excuse to play Iphone video games. Dude, you were in the E.R., one of the most boring yet stressful places in the world. You deserve to distract yourself with a little fun.
Where did you go in the States by the way?
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We just went to Birch Bay, Washington. It’s a little beachside town right across the border from Canada.
It wasn’t right before a trip (I was just going over to my moms house) but I cracked my head like that once. I actually felt a pop! I think it might have been my skull because there’s a dent there now. I was afraid to move, so I had 5 year-old Roland yell out the door for his dad, and 2 year-old Caitlin brought me a big ball of toilet paper without me even asking her! The ER didn’t occur to me and no-one else suggested it, so I carried on to moms house and had some Advil and a glass of wine. Are your kids still talking about it?
My 6-year-old is still talking about it, FOR SURE. Because the people at the grocery store REALLY need to know.
Doesn’t sound fun but glad that you’re all patched up!
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Oh my goodness Amber, your head looks soooo sore
I had a lousy April Fools day (long story!) as well and here I was thinking it was supposed to be all fun and games that day!
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Ouch! I hope you’re feeling better by now.
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