My Beautiful Mom

Last Thursday, my mom had an accident. Nothing super serious, she didn't total a car or wet her pants or anything.

It was 8:00 last Thursday morning. I was asleep in my bed, because I don't have to work until 1:00 on Thursdays. There I was sleeping peacefully, probably dreaming of something really weird, when I hear Mom yell really loud. Being half asleep, I wasn't thinking. "Mom?" I yelled. Hearing no answer, I promptly fell back asleep. Probably 15 minutes later, Dad walks into my room.


Dad: Your mom fell on her face.

Laura: What?

Dad: (louder) Your mom fell on her face.

Laura: (louder) What?


Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I went to the living room where Mom was laying on the couch with a washcloth full of ice on her right eye.


Laura: Mom, what happened? (Mom lifts the washcloth to reveal a large circle shaped scrape on her right cheek and a yellowish, swollen black eye.) Awww Mom! Look at your face!

Mom: I know.

Laura: What happened?

Mom: I was going to turn off the water from the hose. It's supposed to rain today. And as I was walking from behind the bush, I tripped on the other hose and fell on my face.

Laura: Oh no!

Mom: I was able to catch myself with one hand, but I was not fast enough. I just laid there in the driveway for a while because the pain was so excruciating.

Laura: Awwww! My poor Mommy! Are you going to work?

Mom: No.

Dad: Do you want us to take you to the emergency room?

Mom: No. I just want to lie here.

Laura: Oh, okay.

Mom: Why don't you go back to sleep.

Laura: Are you sure? (Mom nods.) Okay.


So I went back to sleep. When I woke up at 11:00, I checked in on Mom. She was asleep in her bedroom in front of a blaring TV, her face still red and puffy like my beautiful balloon. I got dressed as quietly as I could and went to work.

She was still sleeping (but in a different place) when I got back. I guess I made a lot of noise coming in, because she looked up from the couch and asked me how work was.

Fast forward to 11:00 at night. Dad comes home and says he talked to Dr. K, Mom's physician. He hadn't made an appointment for her yet, because he didn't know if she'd be up to going. When Mom said she thought she could go to the doctor, Dad called Dr. K at that moment (11:05pm) and made an appointment for Mom for the following day.

Well, Mom went to see Dr. K, who ordered some CT scans of her face. It must have been pretty serious, because the reports, which usually take the hospital 5-7 days to prepare if everything is normal, were ready the next day.

Mom had fractured her right ethmoid bone (I think...). It's the bone that is the floor of the eye socket. It's eggshell thin, so when she broke it, she shattered it.

Fast forward to earlier today. Mom has an appointment with Dr. H, the face surgeon. Mom wanted to meet at Dad's office at 8:30 in the morning, only she didn't tell me she wanted to meet at 8:30. She only told me her appointment was at 9:15. I got ready the way I normally do, and left at my usual time so I could be at work at 9:00. I just figured she'd be waiting for me when I got there.

As I turned down the drive that the office is on, I saw a white truck pull out of the office driveway. It's Mom! Damn, damn, damn, I'm gonna be late! With a quick call to the office to let them know what was up, I started following her. Whenever we stopped at a light or a sign, I'd start waving and bouncing up and down like an idiot. The other drivers must have thought I was crazy. I managed to get her attention though, and we went to the appointment as planned (whew.)

So, after filling out some forms and waiting 20 minutes, Mom gets called in. Dr. H, who is a 6 foot, 240 lb guy, walks into the room followed by a resident who is job shadowing (he was pretty cute...teehee!) Anyway, we talk to Dr. H, and his main advice is to wait and see how it feels in a week. If she still feels discomfort when she moves her eye in 7-10 days, then he might have to put a metal plate in her eye socket to help support her eye.

As we leave the office, I, being the clumsy oaf that I am, accidently step on the back of Mom's shoe, and she almost trips and falls again!

Mom: Laura, you're going to make me fall and break my face again, and I'm going to have to go back inside!

Mom scolds me, and we both laugh like idiots.

My mom is so pretty :-).