“HOSPITAL ARRIVAL”
My wife and kids arrive at the hospital before I do, and finally are brought through to see me, I’m laying on a hospital trolley, covered in track bite and grit, wearing a neck collar and staring at the ceiling – I’m high as a kite on something (morphine) and mention to the children I’ve seen rabbits on the roof… my son looks worried and starts to cry... OMG... How did I get here??? Hospital staff inform my wife they need to take me for a CT scan, it’s almost 6pm so she takes the kids home and gets them fed and in bed, organises a friend to stay with them and gets back to the hospital as soon as she can, she walks up to my bed (I’m still in Emergency) and when I hear her approach I manage to mumble “Fractured skull”. It’s probably a good thing I couldn’t see her face. I spent that night in the Emergency ward and nurses assessed me regularly through the night, I was hooked up to all sorts of things, fluid, antibiotics and oxygen… Dr’s came and went and spoke with my wife, she discovered that under by bed (where they place the patients belongings, there was my neck brace – which had been cut off by paramedics- and my helmet – scarred but not as damaged as one might have anticipated) she took these home when she left in the early hours of the morning but I recall a Dr coming by while she was looking at them and commenting that ‘if he hadn’t been wearing those, he wouldn’t be here right now”
“TRAUMA PAN, CT AND MRI”
The next day, with less of a morphine addled brain I learned that the scans revealed a “significant base of skull fracture” and an MRI was performed (I do not ever want to have one of those again! – horrible) this focuses more on the soft tissue than on the bones and it showed bruising on the sixth nerve facial nerve which was what was affecting my left eye’s movement – The Dr’s seemed to think this would resolve in time but of course they can offer no guarantees.
Some time on the Monday afternoon a nurse came by to ask if I needed to wee…. I said I had to no urge to but, a quick ultrasound revealed a full bladder so I was told I needed to wee… still unable to sit up I was presented with 2 options, start weeing into a bottle or we will insert a catheter into your penis, OMG what? that didn’t sound like fun! I was going to take the bottle option…. I’ve never in my life had to concentrate so hard to pass urine…. But I did it! Phew, avoided catheter! Later in the ward I heard a guy scream as one was inserted, so glad I avoided that!
“WEEING INTO A BOTTLE”
Now this sounds easy. But when you have only one arm and one eye patched whilst your back is strapped to a board with your head looking up… it isn’t that easy. Add the fact your blocked up with all the crap the hospital is pumping you full off and you have a problem. I can say it gets easier the more you do it and after about a week I could even pee whilst holding a conversation
I was still wearing the neck collar and their main concern was the base of skull fracture, after all tests were performed the Dr came to see me and I will never forget the doctor’s words, he said, “WE NEED TO FIT A HALO DEVICE to brace the head and neck in position, I’m not going to sugar coat it. It’s going to be hard, it’s positively medieval, yet there is no other option unless we surgically fuse your neck” (this is still a possibility if the brace doesn’t work…. But it will, it will work) It’s hard to measure someone for a vest type thing when they’ve got tubes coming out of them and you can’t ask them to sit up, but between my wife and the registrar they managed it and sometime later that day (Monday) I was moved to a high dependency ward. I spent 24 hours still wearing my neck collar but I had my own room and my own nurse and finally I was given a wash, which felt fantastic but it’s odd being washed by a stranger while lying flat on your back immobile.
The HALO brace was fitted on the Tuesday (11th August 2015) at 5pm in the afternoon… I spent another 24hrs in the high dependency ward before being wheeled off to an orthopaedic ward for the rest of my hospital stay.
Top Photo - Mark in first neck collar.
Middle Photo - Doctor describes Mark Break - Fractured left occipital condyle (Marks Helmet in background)
Below Photo - Beats having a catheter put into your penis but still quite hard to master early on :-)
My wife and kids arrive at the hospital before I do, and finally are brought through to see me, I’m laying on a hospital trolley, covered in track bite and grit, wearing a neck collar and staring at the ceiling – I’m high as a kite on something (morphine) and mention to the children I’ve seen rabbits on the roof… my son looks worried and starts to cry... OMG... How did I get here??? Hospital staff inform my wife they need to take me for a CT scan, it’s almost 6pm so she takes the kids home and gets them fed and in bed, organises a friend to stay with them and gets back to the hospital as soon as she can, she walks up to my bed (I’m still in Emergency) and when I hear her approach I manage to mumble “Fractured skull”. It’s probably a good thing I couldn’t see her face. I spent that night in the Emergency ward and nurses assessed me regularly through the night, I was hooked up to all sorts of things, fluid, antibiotics and oxygen… Dr’s came and went and spoke with my wife, she discovered that under by bed (where they place the patients belongings, there was my neck brace – which had been cut off by paramedics- and my helmet – scarred but not as damaged as one might have anticipated) she took these home when she left in the early hours of the morning but I recall a Dr coming by while she was looking at them and commenting that ‘if he hadn’t been wearing those, he wouldn’t be here right now”
“TRAUMA PAN, CT AND MRI”
The next day, with less of a morphine addled brain I learned that the scans revealed a “significant base of skull fracture” and an MRI was performed (I do not ever want to have one of those again! – horrible) this focuses more on the soft tissue than on the bones and it showed bruising on the sixth nerve facial nerve which was what was affecting my left eye’s movement – The Dr’s seemed to think this would resolve in time but of course they can offer no guarantees.
Some time on the Monday afternoon a nurse came by to ask if I needed to wee…. I said I had to no urge to but, a quick ultrasound revealed a full bladder so I was told I needed to wee… still unable to sit up I was presented with 2 options, start weeing into a bottle or we will insert a catheter into your penis, OMG what? that didn’t sound like fun! I was going to take the bottle option…. I’ve never in my life had to concentrate so hard to pass urine…. But I did it! Phew, avoided catheter! Later in the ward I heard a guy scream as one was inserted, so glad I avoided that!
“WEEING INTO A BOTTLE”
Now this sounds easy. But when you have only one arm and one eye patched whilst your back is strapped to a board with your head looking up… it isn’t that easy. Add the fact your blocked up with all the crap the hospital is pumping you full off and you have a problem. I can say it gets easier the more you do it and after about a week I could even pee whilst holding a conversation
I was still wearing the neck collar and their main concern was the base of skull fracture, after all tests were performed the Dr came to see me and I will never forget the doctor’s words, he said, “WE NEED TO FIT A HALO DEVICE to brace the head and neck in position, I’m not going to sugar coat it. It’s going to be hard, it’s positively medieval, yet there is no other option unless we surgically fuse your neck” (this is still a possibility if the brace doesn’t work…. But it will, it will work) It’s hard to measure someone for a vest type thing when they’ve got tubes coming out of them and you can’t ask them to sit up, but between my wife and the registrar they managed it and sometime later that day (Monday) I was moved to a high dependency ward. I spent 24 hours still wearing my neck collar but I had my own room and my own nurse and finally I was given a wash, which felt fantastic but it’s odd being washed by a stranger while lying flat on your back immobile.
The HALO brace was fitted on the Tuesday (11th August 2015) at 5pm in the afternoon… I spent another 24hrs in the high dependency ward before being wheeled off to an orthopaedic ward for the rest of my hospital stay.
Top Photo - Mark in first neck collar.
Middle Photo - Doctor describes Mark Break - Fractured left occipital condyle (Marks Helmet in background)
Below Photo - Beats having a catheter put into your penis but still quite hard to master early on :-)