That sound was quite possibly me falling of the end of my rope and the final thud of my 400 mile bike ride dreams coming to a crash!
In reality, the noise was my head banging on my living room floor as I blacked out/passed out and fell. I was experiencing one of the symptoms of a concussion (insomnia). I had only gotten maybe about 3 hours of sleep when I decided to get out of bed and stop fighting the insomnia. I turned on the heating blanket and laid on the couch and watched some TV. I got up to turn off the heating blanket. The controls were on the floor. I picked up the controller, looked at the clock and saw it was 6:00 AM and turned off the heating blanket.
Then I woke up to a loud noise and my living room shaking. I awoke with a start and had no clue where I was. I felt the floor beneath my arms and hands. Had I had one of those crazy falling out of the sky dreams and fell off of my bed? My head was hurting and my ears were ringing and my elbow was hurting. I realized I must have hit my head. But how? Was I sleep walking? I thought I was on the couch; how did I get here? Then it all came back to me. I looked at the heating blanket controls; they were off. I looked at the clock it still said 6:00 AM so I hadn't been unconscious for more than a minute so I must have just blacked out and not caught myself which resulted in a fall.
Great. Now I know what happened and how I ended up on the floor, but what has this done to my recovery progress? Do I need to go to the hospital now? Everyone is still sleeping, but Omi's alarm is going off. Omi needs to get to school. Tracy didn't sleep last night either. I have an appointment with the physical therapist today, can it wait until I see them? I looked through my Elks Rehab book for guidance, there were no answers. At 7:00 am, I ended up calling the doctor and leaving a message. I am still waiting on a call back. Once Naomi was up and out of her room, I could test my speech and cognitive abilities. Indeed the bonk on the head this morning has brought back some symptoms that had gone away. My speech was slow and slurred again, and I had difficulty finding words. I woke Tracy up at 7:50 and explained what happened and asked him to stay home today and keep an eye on me.
I have been feeling so much better. My regular speech had returned. My thought processing was almost back to normal. I have been able to follow recipes, words were coming to me easier again. The fogginess was even decreasing. I was really beginning to feel like I was coming out of the concussion and getting back to normal, even if I hadn't been symptom free for 24 hours yet; I was getting better. Now this. Between the insomnia and this new head bonk, I think this may be my time to "call it" on this year's Ride. I originally decided to wait until I heard from the doctor next week, and I was totally at peace with whatever she decided to do. I had already talked to Melissa at Fuller Center for Housing about the situation. They had agreed that I could ride as support only or if need be, make the exception and allow me to ride next year using the same registration fees and the money I have raised this year. Knowing I had options gave me a huge release of stress and I was able to focus on healing. But I believe today is the day that *I* am calling it. My sleep schedule is not back to normal. So I am lacking rest and now the new bonk with symptoms returning.
While typing this, I realized I want to do this ride this year. No, I am not going to go on the Spring Ride and ride my bike. I can't do this summer's ride because my summer is already booked. Instead, what I will do is ride 400 miles here this summer. I will continue to raise money to reach my $2000 goal AND I'm going to plan for a ride around Idaho this summer. I'm not entirely certain what it will look like yet; let's face it, I JUST bonked my head and symptoms have returned complete with headache, so don't ask me to plan that right now. But I WILL get this done, and there will be pictures to prove it! *laugh*
Thank you for supporting me and for your continued prayers. If you have not donated yet, but would like to help me reach my $2000 goal and help the residents of the Silver Valley Idaho Area have safe and decent housing, please click on the following link: https://www.fullercenter.org/civicrm/contribute/pcp/info?reset=1&id=176
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