During the course of tackling my chores yesterday, I slipped on a patch of snow covered ice and fell. The fall wasn’t one of those pinwheeling-arms-try-to-regain-balance types of falls. It was one instant I’m walking, the next I’m looking straight up at the sky. I remember landing on my back and then my head snapping down onto the ice, bouncing and then coming down again.
One instant, I was looking at white flakes and grey skies, the next everything was black.
I don’t know if my eyes closed or if I was temporarily blinded. Regardless, it only felt like a couple of seconds had passed when my vision returned. I was flat on my back with my feet flat on the ground and pulled up towards my rear, and my knees pointed skyward. My arms were out to my sides, my forearms were also straight up and my hands flopped over sort of aimed at me. My head hurt. I tried to roll over to my side so I could get up and get in the house.
I couldn’t move.
Easily the scariest part of the experience. For about ten seconds, I couldn’t move my hands or arms or body, despite my commands that these things start working. Then I got a flood of sensation down my arms and into my hands and fingertips. Imagine when your arm falls asleep and the numbness and then the feeling of the your arm waking up again. That’s what was happening to me.
I finally managed to rollover, though my left hand still wasn’t working. I had intense pins and needles in it- it was taking awhile to come back online. As I rolled over, I noticed some blood in the snow. I got up on my feet and picked up the ash pan that I’d been carrying. It had landed about 5 feet behind me. By the time I got to the door, all of my limbs and extremities were under my control again. None the less, I motioned for the lass, who was inside finishing up her lunch, to open the door for me.
I put some ice on my head and asked the lass to go tell Mom I’d fallen and wanted her to take a look at me. When she got down, I was lying on the floor with the ice on my head. I told her what had happened and it was off to the ER.
I was very slow and deliberate about everything. I didn’t trust my sense of balance or reflexes. The ER took me right in and started asking me questions about what had happened. Because I had been temporarily paralyzed, they put a neck immobilizer on me. Eventually I got a CAT scan and was told that I didn’t have any bleeding or brain damage. The diagnosis was mild concussion. Then the neck immobilizer came off. Shortly after that, it was time to go home.
Thinking back on it, the only thing I can’t figure out was how long I’d been unconscious. As I stated, it didn’t feel like more than a moment or two. But I had the chills- my temp at the ER was 97. And I remembered the snow on my hands when I was able to see again. I also remember my hands being chilled and red. Little details which I just can’t quite reconcile.
Regardless, I’m back and OK. Just a nasty headache for the now.