"Mama Said" (and Mama was Right!)

Falling is one of the biggest fears most people Craig's and my age have. And in a sense, it is rather inevitable, whether it's because you slip, take a wrong step, or trip over your pet. It's probably going to happen sooner or later.

Well, yesterday Craig had his first really bad fall, and boy howdy, it was a doozy. Just before lunch he stepped out onto the front porch to let Pepper out, hit some ice under the snow, and down he went.

A face plant right on the concrete - he couldn't get his hands out fast enough to break his fall or protect himself. 

I got him inside, grabbed towels to staunch all the bleeding, and had him lie down as he was very shaken up. Putting a bag of ice on his face, I called an Urgent Care facility a few miles from our home and let them know what had happened and that we were on our way.

Just like our front porch, the roads had patchy ice, and I did some sliding - not good when your hands are shaking and you are not thinking clearly. Still, I avoided an accident with a neighbor who suddenly backed out of his driveway without looking. It was a close call and not what we needed at that time.

Urgent Care did a quick triage and with that huge goose egg on his head and concerns about other head injuries, alerted the Emergency Room and said that we were on our way. 

I was calming down a bit, enough to call Lisa and ask her to come get Pepper and take her to her home - I had no idea how long we would be at the hospital. Then I texted Curt to tell him where we were headed and why, and that I doubted we would be able to attend Mila's baptism that was scheduled later that afternoon. Mila had asked me to say a prayer and Craig to speak; that clearly was not going to happen. 

After a slippery drive to the ER on the far side of town, we were immediately admitted and taken back for care.

It was a long couple of hours of cleaning all the blood off of his face and out of his ears, then an initial assessment of his injuries, a CT scan of his head, face, and neck, and finally treating the big cut on the bridge of his nose. (There was not enough skin to stitch so they used glue and steri strips.)

We were all surprised to find that his nose was not broken and although he has a huge goose egg over his left eye, the occipital bone was not fractured as feared. There was concern over his neck as it is painful, but that checked out as nothing serious and will heal.

Craig does have a concussion (accompanied by a very bad headache) and his front teeth appear to have been knocked out of alignment a bit (he will see our dentist this week.) His face is swollen and he has abrasions in a variety of spots so he looks pretty rough. 

And he is exhausted. The experience simply wore him out, enough so that he (who rarely allows injuries or illness to sideline him), asked if I would make him some soup. I put it in his favorite mug, one that Julie made him for Christmas years ago, knowing that that would make him smile.

I'm not posting pictures of Craig's face as they are pretty shocking. And oh my gosh, our front porch is a mess! (No photos will be posted of that, either!) It is covered in blood that is now frozen in place. 

The temperature as I write is -4 with the wind chill at -34. I won't be able to clean that blood away until we have a thaw, and that is going to be a while. 

(A friend made us laugh with his tongue in cheek suggestion about all that frozen blood. "You could put a note of warning to any would-be porch thieves: this is what happened to the last guy who tried to steal a package!" Oh, how Craig and I needed that laugh!)

As for Mila's baptism, we did not make it in person, but we were able to watch via Zoom.

Ironically, she had a head bump, too!

It was fun to be a part of her big day, even if we were unable to join her in person.

Lisa is fixing dinner for us all tonight, so we will get our hugs in then. (I think I will ask Curt and his family to come into the house through the garage; I really don't want the kids to see that front porch.)

Today we are staying home and catching our breath. Because he has a concussion, I don't want to be away from Craig, so I won't go church or head out to the barn. Tim will be checking Abby and if she needs anything, he will take care of it and let me know.

Finishing off with a song that's been running through my mind since yesterday. 

Mama Said by The Shirelles

And Mama was right!