Sunday, October 7, 2007

A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Maiden Season Part 10



Part 1 of the Baby Boomer Series

Part 1 of the Maiden Season

I raised my hands up into the air to protect my newly repaired nose and screamed, "OH, S _ _ _!"" just as the young Arabian horse plowed right into me. I went flying through the air, sailing backwards for forty or fifty feet before I hit the ground smack dab on the back of my head. Then I skidded for another forty feet, or so they tell me.

I struggled to get up as Dave came ripping across the field. He tried to get me to stay down but I insisted on getting up. But about that time I was overruled by the Fire Marshal who just happened to be driving by when the whole accident happened. He'd seen the horse hit me and immediately turned into our farm dialing 911 for further backup.

The next thing I know there are fire engines, aid cars and what seemed like a zillion people in my pasture. I had no idea where the horses were with all this commotion in their field.

The people were all huddled around me as I lay on the cold damp ground. It seemed like everyone was asking me the same questions over and over. It was making me crazy that they kept repeating those questions like I hadn't already answered them already a dozen times!

One of the questions they asked me is what happened. I kept answering I didn't know. It wasn't that I didn't know I'd been knocked down by a galloping horse, what I didn't know was how it happened, knowing what I know, that I got knocked down by a horse. They didn't understand the nuances of my normal every day thinking.

They also asked me who I was, what day it was, if I was OK, that kind of stuff. The bad thing about the last question about being OK is this. With a history like mine, OK is anything that means I'm not dead or dying any minute. It's just automatic, I'm always OK no matter what kind of condition I'm in. It's a defense mechanism, don't let anyone know that you are vulnerable. They just didn't ask me the "right" questions.

They did however, put me on one of those boards and put a thing around my head and neck. It was awkward and confining and I wasn't very happy about the whole thing. After all, I was OK and these were strangers tying me down.

The next indignity was they put me in that darn aid car and transported me to the hospital with the sirens blaring. I was really mortified but no one seemed to care. Not even Dave. He followed behind in the truck to meet me at the hospital. I was alone and vulnerable with people I didn't know. My internal children were frightened about what was happening to us.

It was on the way to the hospital, that I realized I was in a cloud. Unless a person was right near my face, their voice seemed far away. I could barely hear the attendants as they called in my status to the hospital. I tried to listen to what they reported but had trouble hearing between the noise of the vehicle and the far off sound of their voices.

My sight was affected too. All around the edges of my vision was white and almost fluffy looking almost like a fog, with only the part right in front of me being like my normal sight. That worried me a little but was forgotten by the time I got to the confusion of the hospital.

Once at the emergency room, I was rushed into a cubicle, no waiting for me, I was given priority treatment. I've never had, nor want to again, that kind of treatment before.

Once in the examining area, the nurses asked me all the same questions that the guys in the field had done. Then they asked about my medical history including previous injuries.So I told them about a car accident I had recently been in and the "lateral" whiplash I was dealing with.

Somehow by the time the doctor came in to see me, he thought I was restrained because of the former whiplash and he set me free. Literally, he sent me home with a serious concussion. There was no further examination and no instructions for a person with head trauma. He just sent me on my way.

I didn't realize until my thinking cleared up several days later how seriously I had been injured and that this is NOT how my treatment at the hospital should have gone.

I decided I better check in with my regular doctor. He about had a stroke over the events in the ER. I was past the time frame when I should have been hospitalized so he sent me home. But I was ordered to bed for over a week with a huge list of symptoms to watch for. At the first sign of any one of them, I was to get to the nearest Class One Trauma Center ASAP.

I must have had an angel on my shoulder. This had been a serious accident which had been incorrectly treated. I was lucky I didn't develop a bleed and die. Despite that bit of luck I was really beginning to wonder about this new life of mine with a breeding stallion.

To be continued.........

Part 11

9 comments:

  1. OM Gosh MiKael, you really do have to write a book, I can't believe all the trials and tribulations!!!!Wow, I have been so lucky to get away with minor mishaps!!

    Hope you had a good day (((Hugs))))

    Lori
    xx

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  2. YIKES! That's scary! Since you're typing on this blog then you must be alright. I hope you don't have any ongoing troubles related to that accident and being sent home without the appropriate medical treatment!! ((HUGS!!))

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  3. O.M.G I thought our Accident and Emergency services were poor. At least they tend to just keep people waiting for ages. And the doctor would have taken a full history from the paramedics not relied on a patient who was more than likely concussed!

    Glad you're still with us!

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  4. You poor woman! What can possibly happen next? And, your beautiful stallion must have been a bit worried, too.

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  5. lori, I too think you've been lucky with only minor mishaps with the number of horses you had starting out and you having little experience.

    equinespirit,I am all right. I was lucky.

    ro, yes, our EMS leave something to be desired. The only ones really equipped to handle horse related accidents are Class One Trauma Centers. Obviously the fire department didn't know enough to take me to one of those.

    molly, friends at the time said the same thing. I have no idea how the horses reacted or where they even were, I was too out of it.

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  6. Wow, that sounds very intense. I am glad that nothing went truly wrong.

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  7. Your stories are really intriguing! I've also loved Arabians since I was a little girl, but never fortunate enough to own any horse. I attend shows and ride rentals, when I can. Would you mind putting the names of the horses below their photos on the posts so we know who they are?

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  8. Wow! That was a close call. Like equinespirit said, since you are typing you must be ok. But, still...

    You really have been through a lot to realize your dream.

    Jolynna

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  9. Everything about that story is scary. I'm so sorry about all your mishaps -- and so glad you are okay!

    By the way, I thought I had you on my blogroll. I'm so sorry. Maybe you got accidentally deleted. Anyway. I'll put you there -- if you promise to be more careful!

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