My Black Friday Trip to the ER

I'm a tad bit accident prone...ok I'm super accident prone. I've been told my more than one person that I should "live in a bubble". I don't really disagree.

My mom and I were at Home Depot on Black Friday picking out our Christmas Tree and some other decorations. The Home Depot people had tied the tree on top of my car. I snapped a quick pic with my phone (to Instagram later). 

I opened the back hatch to put something in the back and the door didn't open all the way because of the tree. I leaned in and hit my head. Hard. Probably harder than I've ever hit my head. It instantly hurt in the back of my neck also. I could barely turn my neck on the drive home. Thankfully I was already going super slow because of the tree on top. 

The pain got worse and then I was a little dizzy/woozy after we got home. I have to be pretty desperate to go to the ER. One reason is the $150 co-pay and the other reason is no one understands the unicorns. And it's hard to expain the unicorns to someone who has never heard of them. But, I was hurting pretty bad so off to the ER we went. 

There was a long wait. And when the triage nurse heard what happened, she gave me this collar to wear. 

As strange as I looked, it did help my neck feel better. It reminded me of the "mask of shame" that I'd worn at the doctor on Monday because of a fever and the threat of flu. I now had a "collar of shame". What a week. 

After more waiting and more waiting they called me back. And then they asked if I had any medical conditions. Ha! Do I have any medical conditions? Don't make me laugh. The nurse made me slow down and repeat Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria Angioedema so she could try and figure out how to spell it. Typical. 

The doctor came in and asked what happened when I hit my head. And then he asked what medical conditions I had. I was FLOORED when he nodded his head and said he knew about the unicorns. I didn't have to explain it. He had a friend that has it too! It was so nice and unexpected to meet someone who knows about my condition. He ordered X-rays. And we waited again. 

The X-ray technician and the insurance lady both asked me if I'd been in a car accident (the collar must've given them the idea). I tried to explain that I hit the car but wasn't in a car wreck. They were super confused. I'm probably the only person who can injure their neck by hitting their head on their car. 

After the first set of X-rays, they took off the collar and took more pictures. Thankfully, I learned that I had not broken any bones in my neck. Just got some whiplash that they defined as a cervical sprain. They sent me home to rest. 

After constant Tylenol for 2 days, it is finally starting to feel better. Which is good because I go back to work tomorrow. And the next three weeks are CrAzY busy at school!!