Remember, my husband is in the shower--naked and soaking wet. I sleep in the buff. He hears a thud. A very loud thud. He said later, "I just reached over and turned the water off. I knew you were hurt." He steps out of the shower, soapy and wet to find me sprawled, naked on the floor with blood rushing from my forehead. Have you ever seen a facial wound? They bleed very easily and profusely, even minor cuts. This, however was no minor cut. Me, my head feels like it has literally been split in two. Cleaved. My eyes are still shut and I see total darkness dotted with what I thought were tiny stars. And I hear in my head a chalphony of voices, all in unison, screaming, "NOOOOOOO!" I gotta tell you, that will stay with me forever! I know now that it was the council of the Universal Consciousness and even they feared I was dead. (Amazingly enough, from time to time I still doubt my own value, get a clue!) I open my eyes to see a very wet naked man bending over me. (He is one of those guys who is quite hairy, sorta Robin William-ish, so wet is really wet on him!) He takes my shoulders and says, "Stay there, I'll get help." I didn't realize it but I was attempting to sit up. When he said that I laid back down and waited. He said later he knew then that I was in serious shape--I'm not very good at being given guidance much less being told to "stay put." So the paramedics are on their way. They're close, 3 blocks. So by the time he could dry off and pull on a pair of pants, they're at the door. Did I mention I'm naked? Blessedly, the first person to me was a female paramedic. She immediately put a bath towel over me, Goddess bless her! I was sooo grateful for that one. They put me on a board, stuck me in the ambulance and less than 12 hours after I left, I'm back at the hospital where I had the surgery. I have a gash on my forehead and a cut under my left eye. The bruising, gee I wish now I had pictures, it was amazing. Stand in front of a mirror. Draw an imaginary line from top to bottom exactly through the middle of your face, down the center of your nose. Turn to see your right profile--perfectly normal. Now, turn to the left--rainbow colors! It looked like someone hit me across the face with a cast iron skillet! It was technicolor for several weeks! (Try going to the grocery store like that!) So, now I have a concussion. I have 10 stitches in my forehead and another 20 in my groin. They have to hold me there half the day until my surgeon can get out of surgery to come check to make certain I didn't damage anything. And, for the next eight days I cannot be alone for even a moment because of the concussion.

But we have a business to run. I was planning on going to work this day and now I have 8 days mandatory bed rest. (Welcome rest but a helluva way to get it!) No one we know can come stay with me so we have to fly my parents (in their late 70s) up from Dallas, TX to Dayton, OH in February. My mom is terrified of heights (not to mention planes) and hates the cold. They have to change planes in St. Louis so that's two take offs and landings. But, of course, they come. (I am very blessed in that area--great parents. They have their issues but overall I knew what I was doing when I picked them.)

So, just in this one surgery did you see all the warnings I ignored? There were lots of them. But this isn't anywhere near the end of it! We're just getting warmed up. There's more to come!