Guardian Angels work overtime

When life throws you a curveball (be grateful it didn't hit you in the face) and get creative

This is tasting really good given the circumstances!

So this last year I have fallen or almost fallen several times.. randomly. I know I am uncoordinated at times but this is out of the ordinary. In most of the cases, I didn't trip on anything or slip on something. No clues. I was a bit tired but that was all.

However, a few falls have resulted in some minor injuries, bruised knees, split lip requiring stitches, skin scrapes, bruised hand, sprained finger and so on.

My guardian Angel caught me on this one.

This week was a close call.

I was walking from the side of my bed to answer the front door when all of a sudden I lost my balance and began to fall. I reached out trying to stop my fall by grabbing the bookcase or anything. My finger ended up in the fan stopping it and I hit my knees on the ground and fell forward and clobbered my neck right across the back of a folding chair. Basically a karate chop to my neck.

It knocked the wind out of me, to say the least, and I felt like I was choking. I disengaged myself and managed to get up. The shock was starting to hit me, but just then my apt neighbor missionaries came over and saw my white face, and asked me how I was doing. Which helped me pull it together.

I was able to have enough sense to grab a frozen bag of spinach to apply to my neck over a towel. My knee was bleeding, nothing too major but I felt like I had a rope around my neck and swallowing was difficult.

I called security here on the temple hill and they came and checked me out. They have some EMT like training. Anyway since I was breathing ok and no blood was coming up, I figured it was all right to go to bed.

So Thursday am I went to instacare. After two hours there and being examined, the Dr there sent me to the ER because I hit very close to my juggler vein, carotid artery and tip of my jaw bone. He said I needed a CT scan to be sure there was no internal damage.

So off to the UCLA trauma center up the street for another 12 hours. I explained at the desk what happened and gave them the Dr 's note. Apparently, they misunderstood and wrote neck instead of throat injury which slowed down my entrance to the ER room. OF course, it is flu season here and naturally, heart attack and breathing issues go before others.

Finally after a three-hour wait a ( which I spent looking at possible retirement places on my computer) I was taken back. Of course, the Dr examined me and Ct scan was ordered along with the usual blood tests, urine etc. Of course with my I.V. luck it had diffused before I got to the Ct scan, so they had to start another one which didn't work. Then stick me again a third time. Fortunately, I was praying that one would work and it did.

Then the wait for results began, meanwhile, they finally called an ENT up (who was rather upset they had called her so late in the diagnosis,) as my injury she said ,could have been a lot more serious.

As it was, she went down with a scope and discovered my vocal cords were all bloody. No wonder my voice dropped lower, was hoarse and scratchy and it hurt to talk. It felt like having strep throat x 10.

Apparently, I could have been killed, had I hit my juggler vein, or carotid artery, or bleed to death or suffocated had I fractured? my vocal cords and or esophagus. They would have filled with blood closing off my airway.

I was thinking that sounded maybe a little over the top until she told me that the exact thing happened, just two weeks ago to a young man who was not so lucky. They had to rush him into surgery to operate and drain the blood sacks? building up in his vocal cords. He survived but it was a close call.

Needless to say, they then had a slew of Drs. coming in asking me questions. All after I had just been banned from talking for a whole week( until I see the ENT again this week).

They ruled out a stroke. I am pretty sure that with all the exams that they did two months ago (when I was having chest pains*) that it is probably not arrhythmia. Although they are going to retest me anyway.

* It turned out to be an expired inhaler and I just needed some albuterol treatments.

However, they let me out of the UCLA hospital on the condition that I followup with more testing with the heart Dr. a Neurologist, the ENT and a sleep Dr. this week.

They feel there is a reason I am falling and they want to get to the bottom of it. I would like to know too.

Needless to say, my brother Andy, commented on how Steven Hawkings speaks using a keyboard type thing to speak. It gave me the idea to switch my " Say Hi " translator app to just English to English. So I could use it to type and have it speak English out loud for me. It worked! It has come in really handy!

Now if only we can find the cause of these falls. Hoping it is nothing serious. I will be working on my own family history this week at the library since it is kind of hard to answer phones or help patrons without a voice.

Oh and prayers would be so much appreciated that my vocal cords will heal well and that I won't lose my singing voice either.

From your temporarily mute friend. Adriana Cassani