Lessons
I've learned a few things from my patients in recent weeks.
Firstly, dreams can be intense. At 4 in the morning, my patient had a dream that he was under attack. His attackers had left for some reason, but were headed back at any time. The logical conclusion was for him to exit the building. Through the window. This was probably a great plan except that he was on the second floor. No one told his dream self this and by the time he realized it, it was too late. Wide awake, broken, and on the freezing sidewalk below, he had to crawl to a neighbors house, up the porch and knock on the door until they woke up. So, the lesson here is any of the following: Tie yourself to your bed, sleep on the first floor, lock the windows, or carry a cell phone in your pajamas.
Secondly, and this one is a little more obvious, trees are tall. Yes, and sometimes if you climb them, especially using big nails driven into the trunk as a ladder, you cal fall out of them. Worse when you fall out of them, you are quite deep into the woods and not only are you hurt and in the middle of nowhere, no one knows it. Then, when they do figure it out, they have to carry your rescuers to you in an ATV. Subsequently, you get to ride in an ATV in a stokes basket out of the woods which I'm sure is not as fun as it sounds. Lesson here is any of the following: don't climb a tree, use a ladder instead, carry a cell phone, tell your friends where you're going, always have an ATV handy, or buy a rope and take climbing lessons.
Thirdly, dark is dark. This poor guy was staying at a friends house. Early in the morning, like many of us, he needed the restroom. It was still dark out and light can be intense at that hour, so he felt his way down the hall and into the bathroom. Only it wasn't the bathroom. I was the steps to the basement. Then he unfortunately got put on a backboard, splinted and filled with lovely pain medicine on the way to the trauma center. It is easy to say a bone is broken when it is visible from the outside. Lesson here is any of the following: Know the layout of the house your in, don't drink before bed, or turn on the hall light.
Firstly, dreams can be intense. At 4 in the morning, my patient had a dream that he was under attack. His attackers had left for some reason, but were headed back at any time. The logical conclusion was for him to exit the building. Through the window. This was probably a great plan except that he was on the second floor. No one told his dream self this and by the time he realized it, it was too late. Wide awake, broken, and on the freezing sidewalk below, he had to crawl to a neighbors house, up the porch and knock on the door until they woke up. So, the lesson here is any of the following: Tie yourself to your bed, sleep on the first floor, lock the windows, or carry a cell phone in your pajamas.
Secondly, and this one is a little more obvious, trees are tall. Yes, and sometimes if you climb them, especially using big nails driven into the trunk as a ladder, you cal fall out of them. Worse when you fall out of them, you are quite deep into the woods and not only are you hurt and in the middle of nowhere, no one knows it. Then, when they do figure it out, they have to carry your rescuers to you in an ATV. Subsequently, you get to ride in an ATV in a stokes basket out of the woods which I'm sure is not as fun as it sounds. Lesson here is any of the following: don't climb a tree, use a ladder instead, carry a cell phone, tell your friends where you're going, always have an ATV handy, or buy a rope and take climbing lessons.
Thirdly, dark is dark. This poor guy was staying at a friends house. Early in the morning, like many of us, he needed the restroom. It was still dark out and light can be intense at that hour, so he felt his way down the hall and into the bathroom. Only it wasn't the bathroom. I was the steps to the basement. Then he unfortunately got put on a backboard, splinted and filled with lovely pain medicine on the way to the trauma center. It is easy to say a bone is broken when it is visible from the outside. Lesson here is any of the following: Know the layout of the house your in, don't drink before bed, or turn on the hall light.
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