[tcb] Re: I am alive
- From: Sharon Chamberlain <iluvvws@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2010 18:20:11 -0500
We are very happy you are doing well Denis- you scared us all.
So take care of yourself and go slow, really slow.
Rest and then rest, it takes time to heal- do not rush it, I know you will
want to
do stuff but Don't. Just don't.
And your postings are always a treat-I missed them.
welcome home.
On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 4:34 PM, Denis Dodson <coocoo@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> I just read what I sent and I am sorry for it’s scattered nature. I am
> probably still more screwed up than I know.
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> *From:* tcb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tcb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
> Behalf Of *Denis Dodson
> *Sent:* Sunday, September 05, 2010 4:32 PM
> *To:* tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* [tcb] I
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> I am home after 7 days, 6 in ICU. I have some pills and I am toting around
> an oxygen hose and I have the most amazing pain. I have six stitches over my
> left eyebrow that I guess I need taking out or they will fall out on their
> own.
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> There is a strange sheen between me and the computer monitor and I need to
> really concentrate to read. I think that this is a combination of drugs and
> oxygen. I am low on oxygen because it hurts to breathe, much less deeply. I
> say this so that you all will know why I didn’t post anything before this. I
> just couldn’t.
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> OK, here is the real story, as I saw it.
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> I had come home from Eureka Springs after stuffing registration bags for
> the show. We ate sandwiches and I had some beers, maybe 4. I had another
> when I got home. It was a beautiful evening with a nice breeze, the
> temperature, just right. I got a quilt and my pillow and was soon happy
> asleep. Some time before 4 AM The Hounds, Lilly and Howie, woke me up to say
> hello and I got up to pee. After peeing, I turned around to pet them, or
> whatever, and stepped off the deck and in to a tale of 911, blood,
> ambulances, ER, broken bones, intensive care and hospital rooms.
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> Many of you know that I have had a history of the city boy moving to the
> mountains and getting stung on the forehead by a wasp that made my head
> swell and look like a catcher’s mitt, and bitten by a Copperhead that made
> my leg look like a ham. On the other calls there were 3 or 4 pickups with
> good ol’ boys from the local Nob Hill Volunteer Fire Department, a fire
> truck and an ambulance. There was lots of laughing but I always felt that I
> was in good hands. This time there was nothing funny.
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> After crawling (or dancing or doing cartwheels… I’d be lying if I told you
> II remembered remember) across the yard between the lake and the house,
> somehow getting up the stone staircase, in to the house, up the kitchen
> staircase and in to Jan’s bedroom, where I thought , still, that I had just
> taken a hard fall, and yes, I was hurting, but I have hurt myself before and
> shook it offwhere I was telling the 911 dispatcher that I could not stay
> conscious, that the dogs won’t bite, that I could not get across the kitchen
> to the front door and that I couldn’t breathe. In my tunnel vision I saw a
> young guy with a radio get through the door, reach out, touch me on my head
> and told me that he had me now. They worked quickly, quietly, decisively. I
> remember little, moving in and out of being there, but the quality of their
> care was outstanding.
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> As the ER people were doing whatever they were doing all around me a doctor
> looked close to my face and said that I may think that I have simply fallen
> down, but that he could see, just by looking that I had, at least, four
> injuries that could be fatal and for me to trust them and do as I was told.
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> It was two days before they took off enough braces and restraints to wash
> off some of the blood.
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> I had a clip on my finger, a hose though my nose and into my stomach, a
> tube up my wiener (which you CONNOT remove by yourself!), a high pressure
> oxygen mask (just like Mark’s) on my face, IVs in one arm and blood monitors
> and a morphine injector in the other. I had four “things” glued to my chest
> and belly with wiring running in bundles like a splitty bus wiring harness
> BUS CONTENT!!!
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> I was not allowed even ice chips for three days. I begged and argued and
> negotiated (no more blood until I get a half cup of ice) and I always lost.
> When I was finally allowed SOME ice, I would smuggle it off to a corner of
> my tables and ask for more and then…wait for it…..(tense music)…when the ice
> almost all melted…you have to time it just right…you could use your sippy
> straw to get… the most perfect and valuable substance on Earth…a tiny
> swallow of…ICE WATER!!!! NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAS THERE A
> BETTER THING!
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> OK. There it is. The first attempts to communicate. If it rambles and/or
> makes no sense, well, there it is.
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> Thanks big big big for all the contacts. The personal visits were amazing,
> both for who showed up as well as when they showed up. The nursing staff
> made comments about the volume of people and calls. They actually brought
> the phone from their stations, since there was not one in my room and they
> had to show me on a monitor how my oxygen intake went down when I was on the
> phone. The Eureka Springs Show brought me a huge (4x6) card of a cartoon
> Splitty with lots of get wells.
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> I got text messages on my phone the whole time. That was great.
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> More soon
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