No Band-aid Today

It's the 4th of July.

Today I went for a walk to the grocery store and for the first time in seven weeks I did not wear a bandage of any kind on my nose.

As you may remember, I suffered a serious accident on May 16th of this year as I was doing yard work at my daughter's home in Ballard. I tripped over some yard equipment which caused a bad fall, facial lacerations and a badly cut and damaged nose. There was blood everywhere and it was quite a disaster. The good news is that no yard tools were damaged or broken.

I was helped into Christina's car and we rocketed at top speed to Ballard Swedish Emergency where the medical staff immediately set about to clean me up, close the wounds and tack my nose back on. I was poked, prodded and asked a lot of questions. There were tubes and monitors and injections for pain that were directed straight into my face, nose and forehead. Finally - over twenty stiches later and covered with bandages I was released out into the world.

We then went to the pharmacy to pick up some pain medication and then on to the optical shop to get what were once my "new" eye glasses fixed and straightened. At the end of the day I was bruised, broken, suffering aches and pains and feeling very much like the village idiot. No more yard work for me for awhile. I am too old for this kind of stuff.

Here we are in July and all seems to have healed fairly well. My sinus and the areas below my eyes were banged up where my glasses jambed into my face. All of this as well as small facial nicks and cuts have now cleared up. A portion of my nose was actually deeply sliced and diced and hanging before my very eyes but this big hurt has responded better than I expected. At this time, there is scaring, discoloring and a slight dent but time may see these things slowly improve.

Be careful out there! Accidents can happen in the blink of an eye. I feel so lucky and thankful for having caring and supportive people around at the time of my accident. The quick thinking and fast driving of my loving daughter Christina. My good friend Rick Adams who happened to be visiting from Oregon. The Nurses at Swedish Medical Clinic Emergency were fantastic! Elizabeth, Maria and Stacey! Later I had the stiches removed and was examined by my regular doctors at Seattle's Virginia Mason Medical Clinic. I thank my lucky stars for really good medical insurance.

Everyday I brush my teeth and look in the bathroom mirror I am reminded of what happened on that day in May of this year. I fought the lawn and the lawn won!