I’ve not written Wake up call number 1 yet – I’m saving that for the future :-). This one is number two cos it was potentially the most serious of my two major life changing events. In the end, I got away with it due to sheer luck.
The scene – late summer day and we’re playing cricket as our office vs our contractor. It wasn’t going too well because our bowling had been thumped around a bit and we had a huge total to chase with not too much batting to do it with. That put a lot of pressure on me, as I was the most experienced batter on our side and I’d dropped a couple of catches behind the stumps earlier on. I held a really difficult one but missed a couple of simple ones.
So what happened to prompt the life changing event ? The bowler runs in and gives me a ball I think I can do something with. So one of my riskier shots comes out of the bag. It’s a bad shot to play because I don’t think I’ve ever got anything out of it (technical term – a wipe across the line) and that proved true today. I got a top edge and the ricochet sent the ball on a direct line to my head. At pace.
The ball caught me on the only piece of protective gear I was wearing on my head that day, my glasses. This is where I get the luck I didn’t deserve, my glasses held out and spread the blow around my eye instead of the ball contacting on my eye socket. If I’d been wearing contacts, I may have ended up with a fractured skull or worse instead of the collateral damage of a smashed nose. The ghoulish thing here is that my head technique had been perfect, I’d watched the ball all the way as they teach you to.
Anyway, ball hits me and I put my hand up to my face and feel blood (and a nose that’s a little deranged). I go down, because (hell – this is my logic at the time !) I don’t want to make a bloody mess on the wicket and I know there will be a heap of people running over to help out. And they do help out, the mopping rags came out and we did all we could to stop the bleeding. Think of a bad nosebleed and you’ll get the picture.
I then get taken off to hospital and get seen to relatively quickly in A&E due to mine being a head injury. I’m glad they first took the little fella who came in after me, he also had a head injury and didn’t look too well. There was no way I was going to be able to get back to the game and it would have been highly dangerous for me to bat anyway as the shattering of my nose meant my glasses wouldn’t have been straight.
I had the next day off work but was able to pick the car (and some of my kit) up from the ground thanks to El Diablo from work giving me a lift. The nose got on the way to being fixed about a month later when I went in to get it straightened. The fortnight after was great fun, as I was able to chase some of the more squeamish people around and scare them with Vampire Bloodshot Eyes.
Even though I can still remember most of what happened on the night, there were a few consequences. My memory over that time and the next couple of months is patchy. I could remember doing things and later finding out that I didn’t. And the opposite, I did a few tasks and a week later I did them again because I had no memory of doing them.
Head injuries and amnesia are funny things – if someone you know has received a head injury, keep an eye on them (without them thinking you’re mothering them !). They may have things going on inside their head that they aren’t aware of, plus a Concussion (not really dangerous) can turn into a Compression quickly, which is a lot more dangerous. Lol – I still remember some of the first aid training I did many years ago.
This wake up call was a very useful one. I’d had a near miss at the start of that season in the nets, when the exact same shot ended up with a ricochet off my shoulder. Next year, I played the same shot and the ricochet hit me on the temple in front of my right ear. This would have been a lot worse, I’d probably have been knocked out. However, I was wearing a helmet and it went TING! off the grill. I felt really ill for the rest of that game and nearly threw up in the dressing room afterwards. I stayed out there though and anchored our innings until we won the game. I only got 26 out of about 130 but I was quite happily rotating the strike around and watching the bloke at the other end hit it to all parts. It didn’t help seeing the opposition’s wicket keeper stumble off with smashed fingers (not seen that before!) after an awkward take from the same bowler as hit me on the head. After one glance, I literally couldn’t look at that fella’s hand.
In the end, the only consequence is a nose that’s only slightly harder to breathe through, plus the broken bits itch occasionally. I think I’m free from the amnesia. I definitely got away with it this time and the Wake Up Call warning got me buying a helmet which allowed me to avoid a potentially far more serious injury during the next season.
PS I won an award at the annual Xmas dinner due to this event. It was the award for “Unnecessary Surgery”. A token gesture but offered in the spirit of genuine concern and relief that a potentially serious injury turned out ok. The contractor doesn’t see me too much and this really brought home how worried they’d been about me. It’s really nice to know that there’s people around who get that concerned over your well being.