Living in Toronto, we were subjected to a terrible ice storm before Christmas where hundreds of thousands lost power for more than three days. We were among those affected. Not fun, let me tell you.
Just prior to the blackout, on a Friday night while my husband was out playing hockey, I got a hankering for some Chocolate Peanut Butter Haagen Dazs ice cream. It was around midnight, but the tummy wants what the tummy wants!
I bundled myself up warmly as it was darn cold outside, and set off to walk the whole 5 minutes to the 24 hour convenience store basically across the street. As I was walking out of my complex's driveway, my feet flew out from underneath me and I fell. I fell hard. Flat on my back and my head hit the pavement.
Next thing I know, there is a man standing beside me helping me up and I'm reaching for my glasses that flew off my head. Battered and bruised, the ice cream would have to wait. I made my way back up to my apartment and grabbed some ice. I quietly chastised myself and nursed my bruised ego and head.
I was sore from head to toe, but pushed through the pain. Not really thinking too much of it. Christmas holidays and New Year's came and went. Midway through January I started getting really bad headaches. I'm prone to migraines, but these were totally different. It was as if there was a screwdriver in the top of my head and someone was turning it trying to dig deep.
I turned to the medical opinion of the masses on Facebook. The response was fast and furious. "Get to emergency!!!" "You can't fool around with head injuries!" So off I went to North York General hospital. The triage and admitting staff all got a good chuckle at my ice cream jonesing story. I could tell that the examining doctor wanted to laugh too, but luckily he was professional enough not to. I suspect there were giggles after I left.
I had my head examined. (Keep your comments to yourself.) I really thought I was going to pass out when Dr. Krishna was feeling my head. I was scared I had cracked my skull, the pain was so unbearable.
Diagnosis: Post concussive syndrome
Treatment: no computer. No TV. No iPhone. No reading. No beading! No crochet! No visual stimulation.
One unhappy Stephanie.
It was nuts! I cleaned. I listened to podcasts. I listened to audio books. I was bored out of my mind and I slept a lot.
I was dizzy a lot. I had to move from a sitting to standing position slowly or the world would spin.
I had to get better fast as I was traveling to Tucson the first week of February for the gem shows. I had commitments!!! I went to work for a day and couldn't make it through without nearly passing out.
I took more time off and was serious about my recuperation. I now know how Sidney Crosby and anyone else with a concussion feels. It ain't fun!
I'm thanking my lucky stars that I was able to fly down to Tucson. I think I scared the bejeebus out of the flight attendant when I told him I had PCS and I had no idea how it would manifest during the flight. Just a heads up, I said. I was alright.
Next post will be about my Tucson adventures.
