A Very Long Day - Part 1: Jan's Fall

Some days are just longer then others and yesterday was one of the longest days of my life. I swear that by the time we went to bed, it felt like we had lived through several days.

It all started with a loud CRASH, followed by an eerie moaning of obvious pain. I flew out of bed and found my own little nightmare. Jan had gotten up to go to the bathroom around 5 am, felt a little lightheaded, slipped on the rug, tried to catch himself (in the dark bathroom) and landed hard hitting the tub and toilet on his way down. I helped him to a sitting position. He was delirious. "Jan, Look at me." He did not know me, or anything else, he could not focus his eyes or follow a thought, "Do you know where you are?"....."Where I are?".... He started sweating profusely, skin clammy, pulse thready, he kept trying to get up, I made him stay on the floor. The phones were all downstairs. The kids were asleep, three floors down. "Shit" I waited for him to sit calmly and ran downstairs for the phone. I was going to call my neighbor to help me (he is a pharmacist), but I knew Jan would need x-rays so, I called 911 instead. They were on the way, I toweled Jan off and stayed with him. After 10 min (can we say eternity??) from the initial crash, Jan was suddenly back with me. Like a flip of a switch, he recognized me. "Do you know your name?" "Jan (his voice sounded like he thought I was out of my mind)" "Do you know my name?" "Sara" I started to tear up. "Do you know where you are?" "the bathroom" He thought I was crazy. I told him that he did not know the answers to those questions a few minutes ago, that he had fallen. He had no memory of the fall. I told him that 911 was on it's way and that I felt he needed to go the hospital to be checked. He stayed on the floor, while 911 showed up. I ran down to let them in and let them by Kizsie (our rott) who is still on house arrest since her surgery. Emergency personal stayed for about 40min (including waiting for the ambulance to arrive from Missoula) and then loaded him up and took him to the hosp. Auri woke up from the dogs barking and the flashing lights. I gave her instructions for the morning, leaving her responsible for the animals, her brother and getting to school on the bus and flew to the hospital (ok technically I was in my car). CAT scan, xray.... diagnosis: Concussion, poss fracture ribs (x-ray inconclusive), no major head injury, no punctured organs, lots of soft tissue injury. He has an abrasion on his cheek, a small cut on his hip, and multiple aches and pains, but he is otherwise ok.....whew. We were back home by 845am.