My head went straight into and through this porcelain soap dish and the edge of the dish was so incredibly sharp that it cut into the base of my skull and upper neck so easily that I could barely feel it at all. It wasn’t until I began to come to from the impact that I realized I was bleeding and I suddenly had a burst of adrenaline that allowed me to get out of the bathtub and get myself going to the hospital which I had no choice but to drive myself. Hospital staff were not stoked and when I was released I had to get a ride due to my concussion 🤕 I forgot how many stitches I had but I think it was 36-48 or more external and 9-12 dissolvable internal stitches. I had to wear a neck brace to keep me from turning my head too far and tearing my stitches out. One of my absolute worst nightmare experiences that was totally avoidable because I was standing on the edge of a tub in socks and on a bath mat and a big thick bath towel?! So stupid and I don’t even remember what I was doing or more so what I was looking for in the mirror?! (standing on the edge of the tub looking into the mirror) after a bike ride and at a time of night (actually early early morning) when I was all alone and nobody that I was living with was even in town to help me. I survived and I learned the hard way not to ever do that again!! Surprisingly it was not that painful the stitches definitely hurt more than the hard impact and sharp slicing injuries. (10 years ago)
@HowtoDestroyAngels The most painful part was when I had to get the wound examined by the nurse(s) to remove any of the possible porcelain that fractured off on impact and fortunately very little was found but they had to be certain that the wound was completely clean before they began the process of closing it up with stitches. I had a lot more pain from the way they inspected and cleaned it than from the actual injury itself. I was so concussed that time wasn’t too easily understood so I couldn’t really tell how long it took for them to get me stitched up. I knew it was close to 3 am when I slipped and fell into the tub and it was after 9 am when I was totally stitched up and ready to be released from the ER and that’s when I was told (not for the first time either) that I had to get a ride and that I was not allowed to drive my car because of the severity of my concussion. I didn’t want to be a problematic patient after they had stitched me up and I was able to call the husband of my maternal grandmother’s caregiver and he was able to pick me up with less than a 30 minute wait(so lucky!!) I would definitely rate the situation as fortunately not as bad as it could easily have been had I knocked myself unconscious and not been able to extricate myself from the awkward perpendicular position in the tub. I’m fortunate that I was able to get myself up and out as soon as I was aware that I was bleeding from the back of my neck. I could have fallen in a way that cut more critical areas of my neck. I was able to grab two towels and a hooded sweatshirt and I packed them up against the base of my skull and found my wallet keys and phone and was driving towards the hospital asap and I don’t remember exactly how long but it was pretty much in one continuous motion and effort and it was so early in the morning that I had no traffic and the drive is roughly a 15 min drive to the hospital so I was lucky in that regard. I didn’t have to wait to be seen and I was able to give them my license and insurance information so they were able to pull up my medical records and my extensive history of ER visits to this hospital location alone lol frequent flyer for sure. I don’t think they had any issues as far as needing to do any imaging so it was pretty much right into the process of finding the extent of the damage by using a lot of bright lights and gently moving their instruments around the wound to make sure that it wasn’t full of porcelain flakes or crumbs and there were a very small amount that was easily removed and I believe that they irrigated the wound before they started to get the sutures going. I was in an uncomfortable position for my lower back which is my main problem area and they had records of that and they were interested in making sure that I didn’t do anything to further damage that area as well but it was a lower priority compared to my upper neck and I didn’t have much more pain from it than I would normally have after a multi hour bike ride. I remember being very frustrated with the fact that I was not going to be able to do anything as far as showers go for a while. But I think because I was so concussed I was a little bit “punch-drunk” and loopy and probably just a little bit giggly as compared to a non head injury type serious accident that requires medical attention far beyond what I could possibly provide for myself. I don’t remember exactly but I don’t think I was as angry as I have been before when I have injured myself in a stupidly avoidable accident like this. I wear a helmet for every single activity that I do so it is extremely rare that I have a bare headed impact. I have a fair amount of facial concussions which are not good at all and are very much the same as a no helmet impact. But yeah this was a record breaker as far as the actual amount of force that was applied to the soap dish which was securely mounted to a marble tiled wall surface so nothing was going to absorb the force of my head going down and through the porcelain and I’m pretty sure that the way I slipped my feet went upwards as my head went down with the added force of gravity that made the impact an 11 on a 1 to 10 scale. I think it actually allowed me to see how hardheaded I actually am lol but seriously it could have been so much worse and I have been asked why I didn’t just call 911 and get an ambulance but it never crossed my mind. I know that my medical insurance doesn’t actually cover ambulance services but in a true emergency situation it doesn’t really matter and if I didn’t get the boost of adrenaline I wouldn’t have been able to get out of the tub let alone drive myself to the ER on the freeway for 15 mins and I never felt like I was in a struggle to stay conscious or I definitely wouldn’t have driven myself. I was reminded at the hospital that I was lucky enough not to have a compromised skull or a gash to more critical parts of my neck. It bled out quite a bit in my drive and I was glad that I grabbed 2 towels from the bathroom before I slipped on my sandals and zipped up my hoodie while gathering my wallet keys and phone which I usually have to search for any other time that I’m leaving the house. Everything just fell into place nicely no pun intended lol The recovery process could have been so much worse too. If I had more nerve damage and if I had cut tendons ligaments and muscles in a more severe manner I’d have needed surgery to reattach and repair them and then I’d probably need to have a physical therapy routine for an unknown length of time. None of that was necessary fortunately and I was able to heal up rather quickly and the removal of my stitches was not exactly exciting but I was glad that if I did have much scar tissue my hairline would be able to conceal it and I definitely do have some scaring and it does sometimes get irritated when my psoriasis and overall inflammation that my chronic pain syndrome “gifted” me after several years just to keep me from coasting on my back pain alone. So it’s not all peaches and cream but it’s a lot better than it could be for sure. And I just call it another demonstration of my “human durability testing” that I have extensively demonstrated over the majority of my life… lol 🙃
