SLEEP INJURIES

This is a problem that has occurred many times in the past and most recently Sunday, November 22nd at I a.m., November 28th at 7p.m. and the very next day in the afternoon around 1. This has been an extremely bad and weird and painful time for me. Not saying it’s over either because, as I write about these days another one tends to happen which makes me throw in another part of my story, although, this is quite different!

After I came out of the shower all fine that night and Michelle in on the 22nd, she comes to bed where I am in the center of and tells me that she heard a big bang and that it could only mean one thing, that “You must have fallen off of the bed, again”. I told her that “how could that be, I’ve been here the whole time and wouldn’t it make sense if it did I would feel something, like an injury perhaps”. Well when morning came about the injury on my head, right side as before, two, one on my forehead and one below near my ear. I asked “How could this be, Michelle I didn’t even feel a thing last night and yet today I have this rug burn on my face”. I would have gone on and on about my accident but being epileptic it was no surprise at all!

Michelle said that she jumped out of the shower when she heard the bang, almost hurting herself running out of the shower and that she could have hurt herself, but I was right there in bed under the covers which makes it even more difficult to figure out and believe. Michelle got into bed and I kept my distance because I could have grabbed her with my left or right arm and tucked under her and flipped her over with me easily, with me then on top. I would have stood up, walked back into bed easily over her body without the slightest recollection of what had happened and woken up to an injured or worse wife. So for that matter I kept my distance on the bed and yet not far because the last place we wanted me to fall asleep was on the edge.

Monday morning came and at first didn’t feel another thing until I got to my parent’s house for the day when I found a pain on my inner left leg from my knee to my foot, and the only wise and proper thing to do was to call Michelle. I asked her if I had gotten into any other injuries over the weekend because of the pain that occurred and she had answered me “No, not a thing, it had to be from the accident off of the bed”. I looked down at my sore leg with my one jean leg pulled up and started to laugh at myself as my mother walked in saying what’s so funny until I showed her and laughed as well. I told her “Apparently nothing can hurt me, I fall all over the place and yet I’m still here, can’t wait to see what’s next” still laughing at myself.

My mother had not known because I forgot myself to tell her what had happened when she asked me her usual question, “How was your weekend”. I answered as usual “Just fine, no major issues” forgetting what had happened until this reminded me so. I told her that it is very, very odd and would have been worse if Michelle was there but luckily she was in the shower and yet I’m not saying it was smart to run out and possibly slip and thank God she didn’t. I say this to you, not my mother, so that you do not, we don’t need more cracked skulls abound!

If this is an issue that may occur to you there is something that can be done to help the easy way, get yourself if you do not already carry a large body pillow and place it on the floor you fall on if it happens as often as that in your sleep. I did myself but stopped using it once it stopped because it is not something that occurs as often plus I have a cushioned rug on my side, a much bigger side to fall onto as well!

So in the past these injuries occurred on the bed just the same as well as on the couch by myself during a nap as well as on November 28th. A seizure will throw yourself off of any sleeping/napping position you may find yourself in as, say, on the floor of its choice over the arm or as others make mistakes in, rolling off of a couch, but there is a difference in them from us. They may find themselves getting up from, a stupid accident on their shoulders, arms or legs fallen on. We on the other hand do not see it nor take it as easily as that. Not every time, but mostly, we find ourselves on our heads flipped upside down or over from a couch two feet off of the ground and it pain!

I would not write about it otherwise! Someone will find you on the ground in very awkward places or just right there on the floor where a pillow was put under our heads because we were not able to get up, not just yet, but when the time comes to get up you will hate yourself for what has happened again. Now awkward places are truly awkward places to be found. I would not believe it if I was normal, but since I am not I actually cannot complain or argue about the incident that occurred. I have found myself, my head per say mostly, lodged into every unordinary place, living rooms, family rooms, kitchens, but mostly and actually daily it has become, the bathroom. For that matter, I try to stay away from going as un-normal as possible, because who of us would like to find their heads lodged between a toilet-bowl, counter or garbage can. Surely not I!

Seizures are so strange as I have already said, you don’t know when or why they will attack! November 29th was no different than the previous two, but yet, this time I was already on the floor in the same spot where I had fallen off of the couch. I laid myself down on the rug with a pillow and a blanket that Michelle had put on top of me as I napped and about an hour later, although already on the ground a seizure caused my body to shoot-up and slam me back down onto the floor like a bomb had just exploded. My entire body shook as well as I lost both my speech and movement. My body laid there half dead for an hour afterwards!

So as it seems for an Epileptic, there is no safe place, whether it is the bed, couch or floor, seizures will prevail! Sad but true and sometimes it is worse for the other person watching!           

Sleep injuries will happen, sometimes often, so stay safe, keep your body centered on whatever you are sleeping on and make sure you have the ground cushioned so you are protected!

WAKING IN A POOL OF BLOOD

Not something that I wished to be talking about, but coming close to death on so many events has caused me to be more cautious than a regular human being.

Cancellations are something that Michelle and I know well. Our honeymoon was a cruise, the Allure of the Seas by Royal Caribbean and the following year on our 1 year anniversary we did an Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Oasis of the Seas owned by the same company. In May of 2013 we needed to cancel our 3rd Anniversary cruise for the week of June 4th because of all that had happened to me that May. We haven’t been on a cruise since or a vacation at all for that matter. Michelle and I do take out insurance on everywhere we book, otherwise we would be charged for the whole trip even though we were not there - every airline, every hotel and it costs us each an extra hundred dollars. The cruise ships that we had chosen to take are too big to travel to New York with all the low bridges so they need to be taken out of Fort Lauderdale, FL. There are ships that can make it up to New York which docks in Bayonne, New Jersey which we will be taking in 2016 if that is possible.

Yesterday was no different, I had bought tickets to go see Steve Jobs the movie that just opened in theatres and the following day we had tickets to a Ranger game which all came to a deadly halt.

Michelle with her jacket on ready to go at 3:45pm for a 4:20 flick had me go to the bathroom one last time so that I’d be okay for the movie which we have done so many times already. I went to this place which seems to want me dead for some reason I’ll never know. As I stood up, pants down, 6 feet tall I came crashing down again face first smashing against the bathroom door side slicing my face beside my right eye (saving it once more) and my upper lip, same side along with my elbow and knees.

A river of blood came shooting out of the top of my face gushing out as I lay there, naked from top to bottom - face, arms, hands and legs covered in blood. Quickly Michelle put a towel for me to hold over my face to stop the bleeding, but because I was still in an epileptic trance, I didn’t hold it well as the blood kept running down. A forehead and face are not the parts of the body you want sliced. As I laid there I lost the second most amount of blood to the train tracks incident (that will be a future blog). I finally came to and held the towel over my face because I had not yet known where the blood was coming from and eventually I noticed.

As I opened my left eye and looked down at myself and the ground it was all red and the blood had even trailed into the hallway and onto the rug. Michelle had called my parents over which had taken more time than usual because my father had just came home from work and had to quickly change. Well Michelle started cleaning me and helped me get my pants up as I sat and waited in the bathroom chair. Amazingly though the bleeding stopped for the most part, so I did not need stiches. Michelle is very good at many things and one of them is being my nurse away from a hospital. As my parents waited for me in the kitchen Michelle and I went into the bedroom to get all of the blood wiped away from my body and I changed my clothes being very careful of all my wounds. My parents waited and were happy to see me return once more okay and almost totally normal again. The only good part of this true story is that it had happened on a Saturday which meant for me that Michelle would be home to take care of me, much better than my mother so that I wouldn’t have to bring cleaning products along with me but I would still wait for Michelle’s return.    

Michelle is very good with band aids and lucky for me she’s not afraid of blood or vomit like most wives are and that’s why I have her for a wife, nobody could do a better job of taking care of me when it is needed. God knows!

Although the question is “When will this stop?” You can say only God knows because there is no cure for Epilepsy, not yet anyway. I was so frightened last night that I don’t know how much more I can take so I started ordering books on Amazon just because for some reason it makes me feel better to read books all written by my epileptic friend, Fyodor Dostoevsky as well as I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring. Does anyone?  

My grandparents early that morning before this incident had called over my parents, godmother and my Aunt Lisa over to come at 7:30p.m. and they were calling us down for cake and coffee around 9. I said to Michelle “they must be crazy if they think that we are going down to visit too, I don’t want to be seen covered in bandages”. Michelle agreed. My Aunt Lisa came up, who I always have a fun time talking to, no one else came up until my mother had brought up a slice of delicious cake that grandma had made that looked like the entire cake. After my mother left, they kept calling Lisa back down, bugging her to have coffee and tea. She finally went back down to them, but gave me a hug like no other because nobody knows if they will see me again. I promised her that I would stay strong for her and the rest of the family.

I had Michelle go into our bedroom closet and grab my baseball helmet which is big , strong, new and cushioned, which I believe will work well for keeping my face from ever bleeding again, at least in our bathroom. More easy said than done, but I can at least try not waking up in a pool of my own blood!