I love to travel. I get excited over packed suitcases, travel size shampoo and words like itinerary, journey and adventure.
But there are some trips that just aren't fun. Last week a good friend of mine and I decided to take our dogs and go for a walk along the railway tracks (yes, another exciting word!) I had Hogan, my beautiful, sweet, yellow lab/retriever, on a very long rope that I could step on if he got too far a head. He isn't very good at just staying around like his dear friend Rosy, who sweetly runs along beside us. But I have discovered that if he feels a leash on his neck he doesn't go too far. We, my dear friend and I, were getting along quite nicely talking and laughing. Until...at the end of the trail Hogan decided it was time to play and ran quickly a head before I could get a hold of the leash. The further he away he got, the more I panicked. We were not in my neighbourhood and I had visions of lost dog posters and a staple gun. I wasn't in the mood. So I took off running after that crazy animal and before I knew it, I was looking at a sheet of ice and thinking 'this can't be good', then I was looking at the sky!
Apparently it is not a good thing, after hitting your head on a very hard surface if you can't put a sentence together or remember what you've just said. And people, even or maybe especially, family look at you funny when you repeat yourself too many times. So off to the emergency I went to see if the memory lapses and throbbing head was anything too serious. Of course it was now hours later. I had made a call to my husband, my mother and the tele-health nurse to get a second opinion to make sure I wasn't going to be wasting my time. I know, I know...if it had been one of my children, I would have been there before we could check to see how dilated their pupils were! But when it comes to myself, I tend to take the wait it out and see approach.
Well after 31/2 hours in the waiting room, an x-ray of my neck and correctly answering questions like, 'what is your name' and 'do you know what day it is', I was sent home with a diagnosis of a slight concussion and list of symptoms that would require a return visit to the doctor.
But wait, I did learn something through all of this. If Hogan runs away again, all I have to do is fall down and he comes running right to my side!
Oh the joys in the journey!
I hope you have a great day and keep your feet securely under you. I know I hope to.
