Horses and Hospitals

I went away for a week!

Flew out west to visit my two other sisters, brother, and Mom. I left last Saturday, and arrived in Edmonton late, so I got to where my Mom lives early Sunday morning. She was SO surprised to see me! She didn't know that I was coming, and when she saw me, she just kept staring, as if trying to determine whether I was real or not!

So, on Sunday, we got up, went to meeting, and after meeting it was off to the ranch to have lunch and ride horses! My bro Terry and I have been talking about riding horses on the ranch for, oh, about four years, and we finally got to do it! Terry, Jenn and I set out on our horses for a good old western prairie horseback ride. Rebecca doesn't enjoy riding so she didn't come with us.

It was a gorgeous ride, rolling golden hills, sun in the west, water sparkling to the right, and then we turned down a tree- lined lane about a mile from the ranch.

My horse decided to run away. My bro chased me, and I finally got my horse stopped just around a corner in the road, when we heard a scream from my sis Jenn, and we found her on the ground, unconscious, and her horse making for home.

A very tense time followed, with us not knowing if she'd live or die, trying to get medical help for her. The ranch is pretty remote, so it took about an hour and twenty mins from the time she fell until the ambulance finally got there. I learned alot about my brother and my sister Rebecca in that time! Terry is a doer. He sees what needs doing and gets it done immediately, and he is an AWESOME cowboy! Rebecca has nerves of steel and was so calm and strong in the face of an emergency. I, on the other hand, was a complete wreck, sobbing and feeling completely helpless. I did remember some emergency training, though, so I guess I know now that my brain still works in emergency situations!

Jenn finally woke up after two hours of being unconscious, which made us all breathe a HUGE sigh of relief!

She was bleeding in her brain in two spots, and was kicked by the horse on her hip, so she was in ICU for six days, but she is so much better now. She's out of the hospital and home, sore, but in one piece.

This is her hip:
On a bit of a side note, when she was transferred from ICU to a normal room, the nurse was REALLY pushing her to get up and go. I looked at her and said "What about the bleeding in her brain? is it OK for her to be up?" and the nurse looked surprised and said "There's no bleeding in her brain"

and she PHONED THE DOCTOR and told him in a "these people are so stupid" voice what I had said, and then she ARGUED with the doctor when he told her that there was in fact bleeding in her brain! I wan't very impressed with that nurse, especially since the DAY Jenn went into ICU the same nurse was trying to make her get up and walk when Jenn hadn't had any x-rays or a cat scan yet so we had no clue if her hip was broken or what. Rebecca came in just as the nurse was making Jenn get up and yelled at the nurse. I figure that maybe that nurse needs to read her charts instead of just guessing LOL.

I am so glad that she is home now and is alright!