Keeping Life Exciting ~ ~ ~

Try this one on for size. . .

exactly 1.5 weeks after getting married

walk into what is now home. . .

and announce to your step-children. . . 

um . . .

your dad was Life-Flighted to UofU Neurological Critical Care Center,

we are going there now. . .

in a nutshell. . .

. . . just a little bit awkward

It all started here on March 9th

A bump on the side of the head from the camper shell that fell while getting some tie-downs out of the back of the truck. . 

. . .  Fast Forward to two weeks later

what appeared to be an ordinary thump on the head turned out to be life threatening

. . . literally

Bryce Canyon. . .  Beautiful Place on Earth

after the thump a few days later the head ache came on. . .

ibuprofen seemed to keep it in check

But the persistence of the aching head became worse as time moved on.  We got married on Wednesday and off to our honeymoon the headaches were becoming more persistent and severe, we graduated to the migraine strength Excedrin, Ibuprofen, Naproxen to bring relief, and they that were bringing less relief as time prattled on

a classic picture of sightseeing. . . we had such a good time!

We went sight seeing on Thursday. . . all was good.

Kodachrome Basin. . . This is an awesome place

and only 23 miles from Ruby Inn, Bryce Canyon

Friday, we went for a ride. . .

                                                all was not so great . . 

Superman kept saying that his head felt like it was on crooked. . .

or . . . someone slipped Superman some Kryptonite in his Kool-Aid....

a picture together  on our Honeymoon

23 miles into our ride which was mostly down-hill

(the climbs were waiting to greet us on the way back)

This is our valiant effort to get both of us in a picture together when there was no one around to take a picture for us I then turned it into a feeble attempt of merging the two photos into a single picture without using photoshop

Superman lost energy, we stopped, refueled and rested for a few minutes, the as we came to the small town of Tropic we topped of our water bottles and once again began our trek onward.

Superman on a HUGE Sandstone Rock

It was a beautiful day and I was actually out-climbing superman!  I always love it when that happens. . . somehow it makes me feel, well, sort of amazing or something

A Beautiful sight of our first Day Sight seeing in Bryce Canyon

but as I looked behind me on a short easy 2% grade, superman wasn’t doing so well.

This is when I came onto the scene. . . 

They were trying to get Superman’s BP down to a minimum of 140/???

he was off is bike and stretching, after waiting for a couple of minutes I went back to check on the pour soul and we decided that he was severely depleted of electrolytes because the symptoms were all evident.


I have been there before. . .

• disorientation
• headache
• blurred vision
• thirst that cannot be quenched
• muscle cramps and fatigue
• reduced/loss sense of balance,

                          (balance is kind of essential to ride a bike)

It took three guys to move superman onto the gurney that would take him to the helicopter

If you have never had the privilege of experiencing this before, it IS NOT a happy place. 
I took possession of the keys to both the hotel and Jeep and sped onward to come and rescue superman. . .

Then they made sure he was all buckled in . . .

. . . This contraption would have given me claustrophobia!!!

Let me just say it’s not very often I get to save someone, Kind of a cool place to be!  I always sort of thought that Superman was the one to save the damsel in distress. . .

but not today. . .  today it was the other way around.

Superman looks pretty happy about his upcoming flight. . .

he was actually pretty drugged up though, so his apparent joy doesn’t count

I expected to find him at a little pull-out/rest stop only a short distance from where I left him but he managed to almost make it to the top of the 8% grade hill. . .

Macho Superman. . . 

going out to Life-Flight Chopper

I had with me an electrolyte drink consisting of a grapefruit fizz tab. . . 

my personal favorite. . . 

and an electrolyte gel tab, as he guzzled the fizz water and instantly began to feel better we determined that the problem was discovered and he would be fine.

getting ready to load. . .

This was not the case.

They had to load up the patient onto the little silver tray thingy .  . 

you can see it there inside the helicopter

Saturday, before returning home, we went back to Kodachrome Basin for a short hike . . .

Way awesome place. . .

Because Superman is so tall they had a difficult time fitting him in. . .

They asked for my assistance. . . I feel like a professional. . .  I was left in charge of holding the machine that showed how alive superman was. . . 

                                              heart rate, BP, O2 levels. . . 

all of that techie stuff . . . 

I felt so smart for just a moment

and Superman seemed to be faring well, kind of tired and fatigued, but we didn’t think much of it and we concluded that he had overdone it on the ride the previous day, and just needed more time to recover.

They finally got him to fit and are making final preparations for lift off

we arrived home happy and in love

Almost ready

. . . Monday, the headache continued

It was a chilly day, but when the helicopter began ramping up for lift-off

the temperature dropped significantly, due to all the wind it produced

Tuesday, it seemed to be getting worse and Superman left work early and went for a head adjustment, he said it hurt pretty bad but was happy that his head was again screwed on straight and we hoped that it would make a difference.

they are finally taking off. . .

reality began to settle in. . . This is where I entered “crisis-composure” mode and my brain took over to what had to happen next.  Falling apart would wait until I knew more details. . .

                                                       hopefully in just a short time. . . 

. . . meanwhile

Thursday, getting Superman’s head adjusted wasn’t proving beneficial and he decided to get a massage to loosen and relax the neck and shoulder muscles. . . that wasn’t such a great experience either.  I was working my last day at my job and we had planned to go to Cache Valley and spend the night to do some packing, go to lunch, and spend a minute just enjoying our old stomping ground. 

We had two cars at the hospital and it’s obvious that I cannot drive two cars at the same time and the ballerina certainly wouldn’t be able to drive. . .

Thursday night was not a good night for Superman and his headache was getting worse.
On Friday the plan was to go to lunch at about 12:30 and I had previously arranged to leave early since it was my last day anyway. . . no big deal.

The first task on the agenda is to home and tell Yamaha Boy, and Big Sister what was happening

Big Sister was actually getting engaged and, was already gone.

This is where the spirit spoke to my heart and I had this overpowering feeling that everything would be alright. . . so I opted to let her get engaged as Yamaha Boy went with us to the hospital to get my 

 Van and bring it home before we would actually go to the UofU Medical Center.

It’s no exaggeration that feelings were running a little on the overwhelming side . . . for everyone.

maintaining composure was the order of the hour.

Work ended up be one of my busier days as I was wrapping up loose ends and getting things organized to pass on to the person who was going to replace me.  The first time I checked my phone was at 12:15 when I went to call Superman to see how he was doing and to see if he was still coming to meet me for lunch.  This is when I saw his text sent at 10:30 telling me that he was headed for home, his head was not doing well and he needed to go to the doctor.  He had an appointment set up for 3:00 that afternoon.  

Allow me to introduce you to the ballerina, and Yamaha boy

They are taking Superman for an Angiogram so they could more clearly discern what was happening,

It was a welcome relief to see that he was alert and happy to see his family.

He also informed me that on the way home, as he would look to his right he was feeling like he was going to blackout. . .

mmmmm . . .

I don’t think we are dealing with a simple headache. . .

to kill time the Ballerina decided to play on the escalator . . .

she would pose in different poses like a mannequin just for fun.

I didn’t get out of work until 3:40. . . I have decided I am much to dedicated to my job. . . but it was my last day and stuff HAD to be done. . . it was a highly productive day and I can honestly say I went out in a non-trunky state. . . happy day!

Yamaha Boy was a little more adventurous. . .

. . . he ran UP the DOWN escalator. . . 

. . . I remember doing this when I was younger. . . it was always a lot of fun!

In my defense of the current situation. . . 

How was I to know that Superman was

blacking out and could have potentially died from a headache???

Even Superman didn’t realize this or he would have called me when he left for home.

This is day two of our adventure. . .

I think. . . well on second thought, I’m not quite sure what to think. . . 

but I’m pretty sure if we stay much longer,

Superman may be transferred to the psychiatric wing!

As I was approaching Ogden I tried calling Superman

. . . no answer

then the ballerina called me and tried explaining that they were doing a MRI on Superman. . .

oh. . .

that doesn’t sound so good. . .

The line-up of wheelchairs at the Hospital. . . 

                                                                                              it was 11:30 pm when this was taken.

I finally was able to talk to Superman who after going to instacare and his BP read 191/110 was then immediately fast tracked into the Hospital and they were waiting for the results of the MRI. . .  When your BP reaches 200 it is usually begins to be fatal. . .  this was something serious.

Day 3

We just learned that we are being allowed to go home. . .

Superman looks more like a little school boy that is waiting for recess!

They brought us both lunch. . .

Room Service deluxe!  We didn’t even have this on our honeymoon. . . Such great service

and . . .

the food was actually pretty good too

by the time I got to the hospital with a hamburger and fries for the ballerina, and they were preparing Superman for LifeFlight

. . . that absolutely does not sound good at all

apparently the bump on the noggin two weeks previous had caused two veins to hemorrhage and so there was some bleeding on the brain going on

. . . Definitely not good

                    as you can see. . .

Superman appears to be back to Normal

will someone help me with the definition of normal. . .

 I think I need a vacation. . .

                                 The moral of the story is this:  

                                                          take my advice. . . 

you want to avoid such adventures, they are a tad bit on the stressful side.

if you receive a good thump on the noggin and it is followed up by PERSISTENT and SEVERE headaches 

. . . even a week or two  later. . . 

GO GET IT CHECKED OUT!!!

  IT JUST MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!!

.