The other night, I was in a car with a friend and we were on our way to the market. Just before we got there, we noticed a guy on the ground in the median. We slowed down, to see if we might be able to help him, and the car behind us honked their horn. No one else stopped. While at the light, getting ready to turn around and help him, we saw him get up and finish crossing the street. He was limping but seemed to be okay, so we turned into the market and watched him walk away.
I couldn't believe how everyone was just zooming past this man, like nothing was wrong, like he hadn't fallen and might've needed help. And the idiot behind us who honked their horn, like maybe if they sat there too long, they might have to see that he'd fallen down. I was angry and frustrated at the same time. All these people who drove past this man, just drove past him like he didn't exist. How can anyone see someone fall and not even stop to see if they're ok?
And yesterday in the news, Jeff Conaway died. He was 60 years old, a talented actor who had a drug problem. So many of the comments were just vile and hateful. How can anybody hide behind a computer and be so filled with hate that they can villify a man who died? He was human, like all of us, and he had problems but that didn't mean you should spew such bile.
The thing that separates us from animals, supposedly, is our reasoning ability. Yet I've seen more love, compassion, and empathy from animals than I have from humans in the last few years. We'll send hundreds of thousands of dollars to Haiti after an earthquake and yet we'll turn away a couple of gay men when their home is destroyed by a tornado. We'll clamor for assistance for the Middle East, yet we'll turn our backs on families here who have just lost everything in the floods.
My bottom line: Before you post hate-filled posts, before you drive past someone who has fallen, remember that someday, the one needing help may be you. I hope you find more than impatience and hate at that time.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Cabs and concussions
Sometimes, life decides to laugh and make you ache. Wednesday was that kinda day for me.
I was going to have lunch with D and a friend of his at a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant just up the road from where I'm staying. To get there, I decided to take a cab. Too warm outside for me to walk and I've been feeling just a bit low when it comes to breathing lately. So, I called a cab.
She finally got there and I was surprised to see a female driver. She had this really great hair color and I commented on it. Everything seemed to be ok but she wasn't sure of where the place was. So I told her that according to the map, it was only 1/2 a mile up the road. Going a bit faster than I would have gone for such a short drive, she saw the entrance just as we were passing it. She decided to try to make it and turned the wheel. That's when the fun began.
The cab was still going forward so it started to skid. I went from the passenger side of the back seat to the driver's side like I had wax on my tush. She applied the brakes, too late in my opinion, and the cab finally came to an abrupt stop, sideways, at the edge of the entrance. By this point, I came to a full stop by slamming my head against the metal that separates the front door and the back door of the cab, slamming my chest into the side of her seat, and slamming my knees into the left edge of her seat, where the hard piece is in the seatback. She started it up and pulled in, stopping in front of a side door to the restaurant. "No charge," she tells me.
I'm holding my head. You know how slamming it into anything really hurts? Well, this REALLY hurt and I was already full on into a nasty headache. I moved everything, figured I was ok, thanked her for the no-charge ride, and got out. Had an interesting meal, waited almost an hour for another cab back, and then took some Aleve for the headache once I got back to my room. All was well, I figured.
Well, not really. For the next 3 days, I had this really bad headache that nothing was touching. I felt like my balance was off, more than usual, and I was really having problems with nausea. Finally, my two rocks both told me to go to a hospital, that it sounded like a concussion. To appease them, and to make sure that the closest one didn't drag me to a hospital himself, I went.
After several hours in the ER, I came away with some interesting information. I definitely had a concussion and probably would have the headache for a bit longer. I was told to take acetaminophen for it. I'd had a head CT scan and got to see it. It showed that I definitely had some swelling in there. They wanted to keep me overnight but I said no. I learned that a concussion is a traumatic brain injury and that the swelling had probably been worse the day of the accident. Apparently, it's a lot more serious than I had ever thought.
Beyond that, my knee was swollen a bit, and my chest has a really colorful bruise on it. My weight was both a good and bad thing. It caused me to hit harder than someone smaller might have hit but it also cushioned me enough that I didn't break a rib. My blood was checked, as was my urine. I found out that I'm back to my normal readings. In other words, I'm anemic, and several items are reading lower than normal numbers. I also have a good infection going on, thanks to my white cell count being much higher than normal. I was dehydrated so they filled me up with saline. And last but not least, they're pretty sure I'm still not a diabetic.
So what's the bottom line here? A few things. If you get into a crash and you hit your head, go get yourself checked out because a concussion is no laughing matter. If you feel thirsty and you're in Arizona, it's a really good idea to make sure you drink plenty of water. And last of all, listen to your friends when they tell you to do something. Someday, it just may save your life.
I was going to have lunch with D and a friend of his at a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant just up the road from where I'm staying. To get there, I decided to take a cab. Too warm outside for me to walk and I've been feeling just a bit low when it comes to breathing lately. So, I called a cab.
She finally got there and I was surprised to see a female driver. She had this really great hair color and I commented on it. Everything seemed to be ok but she wasn't sure of where the place was. So I told her that according to the map, it was only 1/2 a mile up the road. Going a bit faster than I would have gone for such a short drive, she saw the entrance just as we were passing it. She decided to try to make it and turned the wheel. That's when the fun began.
The cab was still going forward so it started to skid. I went from the passenger side of the back seat to the driver's side like I had wax on my tush. She applied the brakes, too late in my opinion, and the cab finally came to an abrupt stop, sideways, at the edge of the entrance. By this point, I came to a full stop by slamming my head against the metal that separates the front door and the back door of the cab, slamming my chest into the side of her seat, and slamming my knees into the left edge of her seat, where the hard piece is in the seatback. She started it up and pulled in, stopping in front of a side door to the restaurant. "No charge," she tells me.
I'm holding my head. You know how slamming it into anything really hurts? Well, this REALLY hurt and I was already full on into a nasty headache. I moved everything, figured I was ok, thanked her for the no-charge ride, and got out. Had an interesting meal, waited almost an hour for another cab back, and then took some Aleve for the headache once I got back to my room. All was well, I figured.
Well, not really. For the next 3 days, I had this really bad headache that nothing was touching. I felt like my balance was off, more than usual, and I was really having problems with nausea. Finally, my two rocks both told me to go to a hospital, that it sounded like a concussion. To appease them, and to make sure that the closest one didn't drag me to a hospital himself, I went.
After several hours in the ER, I came away with some interesting information. I definitely had a concussion and probably would have the headache for a bit longer. I was told to take acetaminophen for it. I'd had a head CT scan and got to see it. It showed that I definitely had some swelling in there. They wanted to keep me overnight but I said no. I learned that a concussion is a traumatic brain injury and that the swelling had probably been worse the day of the accident. Apparently, it's a lot more serious than I had ever thought.
Beyond that, my knee was swollen a bit, and my chest has a really colorful bruise on it. My weight was both a good and bad thing. It caused me to hit harder than someone smaller might have hit but it also cushioned me enough that I didn't break a rib. My blood was checked, as was my urine. I found out that I'm back to my normal readings. In other words, I'm anemic, and several items are reading lower than normal numbers. I also have a good infection going on, thanks to my white cell count being much higher than normal. I was dehydrated so they filled me up with saline. And last but not least, they're pretty sure I'm still not a diabetic.
So what's the bottom line here? A few things. If you get into a crash and you hit your head, go get yourself checked out because a concussion is no laughing matter. If you feel thirsty and you're in Arizona, it's a really good idea to make sure you drink plenty of water. And last of all, listen to your friends when they tell you to do something. Someday, it just may save your life.
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