Beyond the broken skull - and Life will go on

 

Rector de Somerplein, Leuven

Sometimes life tests us and yet protects us at the same time. It makes us go through a difficult moment and at the same time there is a life saver, a beacon of hope or a light at the end of a long tunnel that's been handed to us. One evening I found myself on my couch in a dark room unsure where I was and what had just happened to me. This is the story of that evening. 

I had dropped my young girls for a free concert in the middle of the city. Not a fan myself, of this kind of event, I hadn't wanted to allow them to participate either. However, since my elder daughter Satya had got permission from her father to attend the concert, I didn't want to counter his decision. She was not going to be alone as her school friends would join her. In fact, one of her friends would spend the night at our place once the concert got over. My younger daughter Sanaya was also a fan of the star singer, Angel and had begged her sister ceaselessly till she said she could go along with them. So, I dropped both the girls at the concert area. I ensured my daughters both knew which bus they needed to take back and double checked by then that their phone batteries were charged and they could call, in case of a problem.

It was a Saturday and I'd not planned anything else. I came home and watched TV. I guess I dozed off while doing so. Just before falling asleep my phone showed me a message saying that they were waiting for the bus to come back home. I also knew that my elder daughter had her key to the house.

The next thing I knew was that the front door opened and my daughters entered the front room which was dark. Unusual, they thought. I always kept at least one light on in the room while watching TV. They called out "Maman" and I replied, " I have blood on me and a hole in my head!". My younger daughter ran towards me and tried to look at my wound. The friend accompanying them and my elder girl stood frozen at the front door, not yet understanding what had just happened. Estelle, Satya's friend, said " call the emergency number". I think I passed out at some point for a few minutes again. However, I heard sirens and a few minutes later there were two medics in our front room with a foldable wheelchair. Everyone was trying to garner information from me. What had happened?

I was not in any state to give a coherent answer but I tried. I replied that I had fallen asleep and then for some reason remembered crawling from the kitchen floor towards the sofa. I just knew I had hurt my skull. But I didn't know the sequence of the events or how long I was sitting on my couch. The medic mentioned that he was going to poke my finger and then asked if I could stand. I stood up and immediately felt my head spinning and said that I'd rather sit as I was dizzy.

In the meantime I heard Estelle gasp loudly as she had gone into the kitchen to get a glass of water. There was a huge pool of blood on the floor. That's also the moment I realised where I must have hurt myself. She came back into the living area and my daughters said they had called their father and he was on his way home. The medics were doing their work and I was sitting on the wheelchair and they told me that I was going to be taken to the hospital. I had a moment of feeling queasy and the medic asked my daughters to search for a plastic bag as I had just thrown up into the bag that he'd had with him. To this I  asked him if he thought I was vomiting a lot. Though they all laughed, I was actually very serious about my question and felt judged. I guess the impact on my head had all sorts of side effects. 

Once in the ambulance, I was taken to the hospital and they did a head scan. The doctor in charge arrived next to me in the Emergency Room and repeated the same questions asking me about how I had fallen or hurt myself. He said that I had a huge impact and would need several staples to close the gaping wound. I was suddenly more concerned about the clothes they had found me in. I was happy that that evening I was wearing something nice. I guess I was already feeling better :)

Getting the staples were not as painful as I thought it'd be and I think I had about 12. After a few hours of waiting, I was told that I could go home. 

It took me about 24 hrs to remember the whole sequence of events that must have happened. My understanding was that I was sleeping on the couch and I woke up and walked into the kitchen to drink water. I lost consciousness and tripped or fell and hit my head hard on the floor. Then after getting back to my senses I probably crawled till the couch. Some moments after that I must have gone to the washroom as there were blood stains there too. Then I guess I just returned to the couch. All this without a clue that I had hurt myself. When I tried to remember the parts in the kitchen and washroom, it all seemed like a dream sequence. 

This incident is one of those that remains strong in my memory. Despite being alone when I got injured, destiny had it that my kids came back in time and called for help. Everything worked out in the end and I was fine.