Johnny Stephens
Well-known member
Well I had a good birthday earlier this week, but the couple of days since are not among my fondest memories.
Thursday morning here was cold and icy. I was entering my building at work after having gone to get a cup of coffee, and slipped on the ice. I went down on my butt HARD - it happened so fast I didn't even have a chance to recover. It knocked the wind out of me and stunned me a bit.
I was a true Seattle trooper, though, I didn't drop my laptop or spill my coffee
Over the course of the morning, the pain got better, and I seemed to be pretty much OK. I called my wife and let her know what had happened, and she asked me out for lunch (I think she wanted to see that I really was OK). We were walking up to the restaraunt, and I slipped AGAIN. This time, I don't even remember hitting the ground.
I woke up with my wife screaming in my ear "Johnny! Don't move!" and noticed that I was laying in the mud next to the sidewalk with my face in the grass. I asked her "did I black out?" I was very confused for several seconds and couldn't piece together where I was or what was going on. I wasn't going to lay there in the mud, so I got up anyway - to my wife's dismay. She told me I was out for about 30 seconds, my eyes were rolled back in my head and I was gasping for air. Oh, and by the way, the paramedics are on the way.
Sirens wailing and lights flashing, the paramedics arrived and checked me out. They found nothing wrong with me except for the fact that my heartbeat felt irregular the first time they checked it. BP, pupils, all the signs pointed to being "alert and oriented," with no signs of stroke. They didn't want to transport me to the hospital, but I had to commit to getting immediate attention from my doctor.
I am absolutely positive I didn't hit my head in either fall.
We saw my doctor about 90 min later, and during a rushed appointment he found nothing wrong but still wants to check me out. He ordered blood work which has since come back normal, except for showing that I was dehydrated. Potassium, electrolytes normal. Walked out with appointments for more tests and a prescription for Tylenol 3/Codeine. Slept very poorly that night, as my back was k i l l i n g me.
Yesterday I had an ultrasound of my carotid arteries, since he heard "bruits" (even though I've had them since before my valve surgery). My dad has 2 dacron grafts there, so there's family history of blocked carotids. The technician told us they looked good with no blockages (yay).
I also had a CT scan of my noggin, but don't know what that shows - will probably hear from my doc on Tuesday. Not worried about it as I don't have any neurological symptoms.
Monday I go in for an EEG. Unless that or the CT scan show something, I'm thinking we may never really know what caused all this. My money's on the dehydration, but who knows. I guess the question is, were the falls the cause or the result? My wife says I seemed to be steady on my feet before the 2nd fall.
I'll let you know once I hear something, but for right now, I'm just nursing a very stiff back.
Sorry this came out so long -
Thursday morning here was cold and icy. I was entering my building at work after having gone to get a cup of coffee, and slipped on the ice. I went down on my butt HARD - it happened so fast I didn't even have a chance to recover. It knocked the wind out of me and stunned me a bit.
I was a true Seattle trooper, though, I didn't drop my laptop or spill my coffee Over the course of the morning, the pain got better, and I seemed to be pretty much OK. I called my wife and let her know what had happened, and she asked me out for lunch
(I think she wanted to see that I really was OK). We were walking up to the restaraunt, and I slipped AGAIN. This time, I don't even remember hitting the ground.I woke up with my wife screaming in my ear "Johnny! Don't move!" and noticed that I was laying in the mud next to the sidewalk with my face in the grass. I asked her "did I black out?" I was very confused for several seconds and couldn't piece together where I was or what was going on. I wasn't going to lay there in the mud, so I got up anyway - to my wife's dismay. She told me I was out for about 30 seconds, my eyes were rolled back in my head and I was gasping for air. Oh, and by the way, the paramedics are on the way.
Sirens wailing and lights flashing, the paramedics arrived and checked me out. They found nothing wrong with me except for the fact that my heartbeat felt irregular the first time they checked it. BP, pupils, all the signs pointed to being "alert and oriented," with no signs of stroke. They didn't want to transport me to the hospital, but I had to commit to getting immediate attention from my doctor.
I am absolutely positive I didn't hit my head in either fall.
We saw my doctor about 90 min later, and during a rushed appointment he found nothing wrong but still wants to check me out. He ordered blood work which has since come back normal, except for showing that I was dehydrated. Potassium, electrolytes normal. Walked out with appointments for more tests and a prescription for Tylenol 3/Codeine. Slept very poorly that night, as my back was k i l l i n g me.
Yesterday I had an ultrasound of my carotid arteries, since he heard "bruits" (even though I've had them since before my valve surgery). My dad has 2 dacron grafts there, so there's family history of blocked carotids. The technician told us they looked good with no blockages (yay).
I also had a CT scan of my noggin, but don't know what that shows - will probably hear from my doc on Tuesday. Not worried about it as I don't have any neurological symptoms.
Monday I go in for an EEG. Unless that or the CT scan show something, I'm thinking we may never really know what caused all this. My money's on the dehydration, but who knows. I guess the question is, were the falls the cause or the result? My wife says I seemed to be steady on my feet before the 2nd fall.
I'll let you know once I hear something, but for right now, I'm just nursing a very stiff back.
Sorry this came out so long -
