HARD HEAD 2

Sunday, February 20, 2011 3:14:52 PM

I staggered back a step or two as my brain tried to figure out what the heck was happening. I took a knee but realized that I wasn’t going to be able to even hold that position as tunnel vision ensued. Even worse, I couldn’t see out of my left eye and I had a panicked thought that it had been smashed. I could feel blood on my face and I afraid that my eye was a bloody pulp. I went to my hands and knees.

I fought to stay conscious. My body just wanted to lay down but somewhere deep in my brain a thought seeped forth. I was alone in the woods, bleeding, and it was almost dusk. I couldn’t let go. But at that moment, I couldn’t get up either. I gently touched the back of my hand to my eye ... I could feel blood but not much else. I was able to open my eye just a bit ... at first there was nothing. I blinked ... and it was blurry but I could focus a bit. OK ... whew ... the eye, at least, was functioning. I’d worry about how well later.

By now I was down on my elbows. I had to get up. I looked over and saw the cut branch up high. Now I knew what had happened. The branch had snapped not only upward but backwards as well and caught the left side of my face. Later I would figure out that it had gone from a height about my knees to my chest in a fraction of a second. And since I had been leaning over to the right it caught the left side of my face. Had I just been standing straight up, it would have caught me in chest around the sternum ... and probably would have cracked it and/or a couple of ribs.

Not that any of this was comforting to me at the time. At that moment, I was just staring at the branch while my brain tried to make sense of things. I grabbed the branch and pulled myself up. The world spun again so I went back to my knees.

I took a couple of deep breaths and kept telling myself that I had to get up. I could not stay there. I had to check to the wound. The dog whined and looked at me. She wasn’t sure what was happening ... She wasn’t alone. I wasn’t sure what was happening either. I gave it another try and got to my feet. I wasn’t very steady. But I knew that I had to move. It’s odd the things we do at times like this. In the Army it was drilled into you that you never left your weapon behind and always wore a hat outdoors. So I picked up my boonie hat and the machete. At this point, I didn’t want to waste the effort for the backpack and ax. I would just have to come back for them.

I started down the track to the gate. Fortunately it was indeed slightly downhill. I staggered a bit the first few steps but my body seems to realize what I wanted to do and began to help in the effort. I paused at the gate to lean on the post for a bit. The rest of the way to the cabin seemed so far. I could feel my energy just seeping away. I trudged on. I wanted to take a knee about half way but kept going. I didn’t want to risk not be able to get back up.

I practically fell thru the front door as I stumbled in. I sat in the rocker for a moment and took a few deep breaths. I had blood on my shirt and on my pants. I got up. Went to the cabinet and took out the mirror I use for shaving. I looked like something from a bad horror movie. My left eye was swollen shut, there was a nasty cut on the left eyebrow just above the nose, I was black and blue ... and bloody. I splashed water on my face ... that felt good. I took a roll of paper towels and started wiping the blood off my face. The cut was still bleeding but not badly. I didn’t have any ice or anything cold to put on the swollen eye. I sat back down in the rocker, tilted my head back and put some pressure on the cut to stop the bleeding.

Then my nose started bleeding as well. I hadn’t been hit in the nose so I knew that it was coming from inside somewhere. Not a good sign. I could also see that I was getting a dark circle under my right eye as well even tho it hadn’t been hit. A bloody nose and raccoon eyes are indicative of a skull fracture or a fracture to the sinus cavity ... as if I needed any more bad thoughts.

It took a cooking apron and folded it lengthwise. I used the paper towel like a bandage and the apron to hold it in place. I needed to free my hands up. I knew that the next 24-48 hours would be critical. At a minimum I probably had a concussion and possibly a fracture. I need to let someone know. The cell phone doesn’t usually work here so I couldn’t call out. But, oddly enough, I do have an internet connection. I sent an email to an acquaintance in town to make sure that he heard from me before Saturday. If he hadn’t, then he should come out to check on me and that he’d have to come in the back way.


Late the next day ... Eye still swollen shut; still a little seepage from the wound.

The bleeding seemed to be under control so I took a couple of Excedrins. Excedrin contains aspirin which thins the blood so I didn’t want to thin my blood until the bleeding had stopped. My head was pounding so I took a couple. I knew that I needed to stay awake for a while.

I felt a chill come over me. Maybe a little shock was settling in. I threw on a long-sleeve shirt. Later I would get the chills again. During the night I went thru a round of fever as well.

I found a needle and some thread. I disinfected both with the intention of stitching the cut. I took the bandage off. It was still seeping but not bad. I should have left well enough alone but I tried to put a stitch in ... a very awkward angle and my own hand was blocking my view as I looked in the mirror. To make things worse, the wound reopened and was now bleeding rather profusely. I couldn’t even glue it together because the blood was washing it out. The good thing is that it probably cleaned itself out while doing so.

So I spent quite a bit of time before I was able to get it to stop again. I put some garlic/olive oil on a paper towel and rebandaged it. I had no appetite. But I was constantly thirsty. I sat in the rocker and drank water. In addition to a multivitamin, I also took a couple of tablets with calcium, magnesium, and zinc. They all promote healing.

I dozed for a couple of hours in an almost upright position. That helped. The next morning I took the bandaged off ... painfully ... and took a look. I looked even worse! I’m not sure which was worse ... How I looked or how I felt. Both were bad. I had to hold pull down on my left eye to get it to open. I could barely see thru a slit if I did that. So I spent the whole day with one eye closed most of the time (the next day I was able to open it effort) I did put more garlic and then some glue on the cut to keep it from reopening again. There was some seepage but it was mainly serum.

I’ve already written about the trip to town a few days later that caused a bit of a relapse but I’m improving. It will just take a while. I’m still at the stage that I feel like I have a bad hangover ... all day! Bending over can make the world spin if I’m not careful. Even the dog barking makes my head hurt! But it is getting better. I just have to not rush it.

So that is how my face came to be in the way of 5” branch travelling at high speed! The thing is ... I still have a few branches to cut before the track is usable!

Later!