Connecticut - My Life: The Night-Time Launch (cont)

I pulled myself up into the bed and got under the covers...all of them...still shivering.  I stayed there until I heard Joe coming down the hallway towards the room.  When he came into the bedroom, I said, "Joe, can you look at something for me?"  "What" he said.  I explained, "I got up to pee and hit my head and it really hurts.  Can you take a look at it?"

Thank God he was a fireman and trained in emergency procedures!  He turned on the light and as he came closer to the bed, I saw his eyes widen.  He then said, "I've got to get you to a hospital and quickly.  You have a hole in your head, right above your eyeball."  

What I thought was sweat, was really blood and sweat mixed together.  Yep.  Emergency Room via wheelchair once we got to the parking area because they were afraid I was too weak to walk, loosing all that blood.  I was still shivering so much even though I'd asked Joe to get me my favorite "snow coat" to help keep me warm.  He thought I might be going into shock from loosing all that red stuff.  Oh, the doctors cleaned me up, questioned me as to what happened and stitched my eye socket back together.  I was really lucky that I didn't loose my eye they said.  Actually they did a great job...you can hardly notice the scar.  But let me tell you, my face...the whole left side of my face blew up like a balloon and turned all those pretty shades of black and blue and green and yellow and swollen?!?!  Oh, I sort of looked like one of those aliens with a mis-shapen head!  My split lip healed the quickest.  Thank goodness because it was really hard to talk!

What I did find so interesting was that, at the hospital, the orderly, the nurses and the doctor each "interviewed" me as to exactly what happened.  They'd ask Joe to leave the room and have me tell the story over and over again while I was shivering under those nice warm blankets.  You know the kind that they can put in the microwave.  Apparently they wanted to be sure that I wasn't a victim of spousal abuse.  At first I couldn't understand why they kept asking me to repeat the story again and again.  However, then I understood where they were going.  To tell you the truth, I am glad that they treated me with such diligence.

  Anyway, in my family, that adventure became known as "the night-time launch."

Oh...what caused it?  Something the good doctor referred to as "vertigo." No big deal.  It can be quite common in tall slender women.