Nice Stitches
Jan. 6th, 2019 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackWe all had a holiday in Nice for Rachel's birthday, doing various tourist things. It was very pleasant. There's a mention of most of the activities on my twitter (https://twitter.com/CartesianDaemon) or facebook, along with some comments on our new board game Scythe which we've barely managed to stop playing.
However, I did have one minor injury.
We went ice skating. I really wanted to try it, despite being embarrassed that I'd never practised at any point. I was really bad at keeping my feet even for a bit, but gave it a go and took a tumble or two that I recovered from ok.
But then I fell over again which I don't remember at all, which for those of you keeping track at home is strongly consistent with the evidence that I hit my head on something. As best as I can tell I hit my temple, on the ice or on something else, and got a tiny cut which bled quite a bit, and was out of it for a bit.
People helped me off the ice. I hadn't realised how much blood I was so I was sure I was fine and just didn't want to trouble anyone, but people sensibly didn't listen to me. The first aid tent people were incredibly helpful, and after sitting down a few minutes I felt mostly myself. Fortunately Rachel had been there and was able to tell the others what was going on, and come sit with me and make sure I could handle conversations in French.
They wanted me to go to the hospital, and I was basically myself, but I certainly didn't have the attention for judging if that was over-cautious or not so I just let myself be herded around, which was probably the correct thing.
They let Rachel come with me, and she was very helpful getting forms etc filled out. Fortunately I had ID and my EHIC card on me; I think it would have been fine if I hadn't, but I think it made the forms simpler.
Then I was whisked away to ER where I felt guiltily surrounded by people with much more reason to be there. A resident came and dealt with most things, and his English was pretty good although not complete. He gave me a couple of stitches in the forehead. Based on what they told Rachel (and when I finally saw it under the dressing a couple of days later) it was a really tiny cut I wouldn't have thought anything of most places, but on my temple it wasn't going to heal without because the skin just moves too much there.
His boss said I needed to get a brain scan just in case -- I think we were pretty sure I was fine, but if they want to make sure I didn't have any injury inside I assume that was sensible. And then after a bit of waiting, I was able to escape to meet Rachel who'd been waiting so patiently and get home for supper.
I was really glad I'd had my phone with me, waiting for an hour or two is so much easier when you can just read kindle app, rather than sit and do nothing.
Although, while everyone I spoke to was ever so helpful, I wish there'd been an introductory leaflet describing "is it basically safe to use mobile phones in hospital now?" and "if you're cold, is it ok to put your clothes back on?" and "is it ok to go find a toilet or not?" and "how many stitches do you need before having some anaesthetic is sensible?" for anyone who arrived in a condition to move about. I'm pretty sure of the answers, and pretty sure that if anything were really bad they would warn people about not doing it, but I don't think it's a given that everyone is just born knowing this stuff and never gets it wrong.
They said to get the stitches taken out after a week, which was exactly the day I was flying home, so I ended up with a GP appointment for Monday morning to get it taken out. I wasn't even sure what the right way to do that was, but as we thought, it's routine for GP practice nurses (and also hence, I was able to make an appointment, not have to play phone roulette every morning)
However, I did have one minor injury.
We went ice skating. I really wanted to try it, despite being embarrassed that I'd never practised at any point. I was really bad at keeping my feet even for a bit, but gave it a go and took a tumble or two that I recovered from ok.
But then I fell over again which I don't remember at all, which for those of you keeping track at home is strongly consistent with the evidence that I hit my head on something. As best as I can tell I hit my temple, on the ice or on something else, and got a tiny cut which bled quite a bit, and was out of it for a bit.
People helped me off the ice. I hadn't realised how much blood I was so I was sure I was fine and just didn't want to trouble anyone, but people sensibly didn't listen to me. The first aid tent people were incredibly helpful, and after sitting down a few minutes I felt mostly myself. Fortunately Rachel had been there and was able to tell the others what was going on, and come sit with me and make sure I could handle conversations in French.
They wanted me to go to the hospital, and I was basically myself, but I certainly didn't have the attention for judging if that was over-cautious or not so I just let myself be herded around, which was probably the correct thing.
They let Rachel come with me, and she was very helpful getting forms etc filled out. Fortunately I had ID and my EHIC card on me; I think it would have been fine if I hadn't, but I think it made the forms simpler.
Then I was whisked away to ER where I felt guiltily surrounded by people with much more reason to be there. A resident came and dealt with most things, and his English was pretty good although not complete. He gave me a couple of stitches in the forehead. Based on what they told Rachel (and when I finally saw it under the dressing a couple of days later) it was a really tiny cut I wouldn't have thought anything of most places, but on my temple it wasn't going to heal without because the skin just moves too much there.
His boss said I needed to get a brain scan just in case -- I think we were pretty sure I was fine, but if they want to make sure I didn't have any injury inside I assume that was sensible. And then after a bit of waiting, I was able to escape to meet Rachel who'd been waiting so patiently and get home for supper.
I was really glad I'd had my phone with me, waiting for an hour or two is so much easier when you can just read kindle app, rather than sit and do nothing.
Although, while everyone I spoke to was ever so helpful, I wish there'd been an introductory leaflet describing "is it basically safe to use mobile phones in hospital now?" and "if you're cold, is it ok to put your clothes back on?" and "is it ok to go find a toilet or not?" and "how many stitches do you need before having some anaesthetic is sensible?" for anyone who arrived in a condition to move about. I'm pretty sure of the answers, and pretty sure that if anything were really bad they would warn people about not doing it, but I don't think it's a given that everyone is just born knowing this stuff and never gets it wrong.
They said to get the stitches taken out after a week, which was exactly the day I was flying home, so I ended up with a GP appointment for Monday morning to get it taken out. I wasn't even sure what the right way to do that was, but as we thought, it's routine for GP practice nurses (and also hence, I was able to make an appointment, not have to play phone roulette every morning)
no subject
Date: 2019-01-06 08:25 pm (UTC)glad you're OK, but eeep
no subject
Date: 2019-01-06 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-07 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-10 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-10 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-10 03:09 pm (UTC)