Good morning,
On the 13th October, I watched family and friends complete the Bournemouth half marathon, with mixed feelings. I was supposed to be running the event myself, so felt sad that my body had let me down, and, I also had an immense feeling of pride, watching Jack and Cloe and other family members) completing and hitting PB’s ❤️.
After the event, we all gathered back at our house for a BBQ and a few drinks to celebrate everyone’s achievements, which was really nice. Once our guests left, we started to tidy the house and get ready for bed. I went upstairs and picked up 2 laundry baskets from my bed (Put there to get them out of the way) and proceeded to take them downstairs.
Unfortunately, one of the baskets hit the hand rail and knocked me off balance. I couldn’t let go of the baskets and therefore couldn’t grab hold of anything to stop me flying down at high speed. I hit the floor and smashed into one of the laundry baskets, with my head. I ended up, face down in a pool of blood and with a nasty cut on my head and cheek. not great!
I could hear my kids and wife screaming and rushing around to check my status. Blood was oozing out onto the floor but I hadn’t hit my head, on anything hard, so hadn’t been knocked out, just cut by the broken plastic. I sat upright and immediately had a pair of socks (a nice clean pair of white ones from the basket) put on my head to compress the cut and stop the flow of blood.
So, off to A&E we went! Jack came with me for the first couple of hours and then Sandra came over and spent the next 8 hours with me 😩. 10 hours from start to finish. I transferred from A&E to minor injuries at 0800 and left at 10:30am fully stitched up. The doctor did an amazing job and the ‘before and after’ pictures are crazy, but it was a terrible experience – not recommended.
This fall had an impact on me, that I wasn’t prepared for. I could suddenly see my old age being a burden for my family. The voice in my head was doubting my ability to be able to look after myself, in 20 years time, if I fall down the stairs now! I don’t want to be that person, I want to be safe, self sufficient and NOT a burden.
I know my Mum had falls and we had to respond whenever something happened, but I didn’t think of it happening to me, just yet! With my logical head on, I know it was an accident and I will be more mindful when going down the stairs ‘fully loaded’, but, it did knock me mentally and made me think of the future through a different lens.
The takeaways from this accident are:
- Keep going to the gym – I think this could have been a lot worse if I wasn’t training on a regular basis
- Be mindful that i am getting older and need to make adjustments – so, no more laundry for me 🤣
- Be grateful of the family around you and never take them for granted
- As much as it was a long wait to be seen, the end result was worth it, so be appreciative of the NHS and the amazing people who work there
Have a safe week 💪🏼 stay strong……