Coincidences

I have had a week of weird coincidences.

On Monday, I was talking to another mum, telling her how much trouble I was having finding a swimming teacher for BC who has some training teaching kids with physical disabilities.

She told me how great her son’s teacher was. How she had some training in special needs swimming education and what a difference she’d made to her son’s confidence and ability in the water.

I had a pen ready before she’d even finished. What’s her name? Where does she work? We’ll travel to the other end of the city to see her.

Only to discover, she has just started working at a little pool less than a 15 minute walk from our house.

(We’re arranging to meet her next week).

Then on Wednesday when I was having a grown up day working in the city, I ran into a friend of my husband’s. Not so uncommon you might say. Except for the fact that he’s from a small Sumatran village and last we heard was living in the Solomon Islands.

On Thursday morning when I was still working, I needed to stop in at an office in the city to sort out a personal business matter. I only had a 1300 number, so I rang them from the building I was working in and asked them where they were located – it was THE BUILDING NEXT DOOR. I got the job  done in my morning tea break!!

Then, on a more serious note, on Friday, the day after the tragic death of Natasha Richardson  from what had seemed, at first, like a minor head injury, I  slipped over and fell heavily, giving the back of my head a very good thud on the floor.

Like Ellen over at ‘To the Max’, these days I take a lot of interest in brain injuries so I had been reading a lot of the media covering what happened to Ms Richardson, including this article about ‘Talk and Die syndrome‘ (who names these things??).

So, whereas a week ago I would have just popped a panadol and probably not given the consequences of the fall much more thought, I took myself to the doctor.

I did feel a little foolish going there, seeing as apart from a headache and a sore neck, I felt fine. But they were great. They got me in to see a doctor straight away and took my concerns very seriously. The doctor even told me he’d been speaking to a colleague and they’d been discussing how they hoped the tragic incident might encourage people to take head injuries more seriously in the future.

It’s a shame that’s often what it takes.

He checked my pulse, my pupils, my balance, my left eye/right eye vision, my sense of touch and of course the part of my head that hit the floor.

He gave me a list of warning signs to look out for over the next few hours/days, but told me the odds were that I would be fine.

I still have a bit of a headache and a sore neck this morning (apparently common from jarring of muscles) and a bruised ego – I can’t believe I slipped over on the kitchen floor.

I feel fine, although very grateful I am alright and that I have such a good, caring medical clinic nearby. Mostly though I just feel humbled yet again by the precarious and delicate nature of the human brain. And the randomness and unexpectedness of a fall.

My thoughts are with the family of Natasha Richardson. She has two young sons. She was young. She had a lot to live for. Sometimes life is very unfair.

And yes. I will be more careful in the future. No more running in the house .

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