When a Trip Goes VERY Wrong

Warning: Pictures of an injury are included in this post.

You know those trips where everything goes well? They are lovely. Sometimes though, you get a trip like this...

Between our last two locations we decided to take trip to my hometown and avoid some of the worst of Oman summer heat. I loaded up myself and the kids and flew to Texas after wrapping up all the things in DC. That was on June 5th. In the early morning of June 7th (our second night there) I was awoken by my youngest screaming in another room. I ran to her, picked her up, and was rocking back and forth. Next thing I know I'm on the floor and my Mom is yelling for my Dad.

I felt a lot of pain on the left side of my head, but didn't understand how I got to the floor. My Dad rushed in and let me know that I had fainted and cut my ear and we needed to go to the hospital. Thankfully my mom had also been awoken by my little one and had caught her when I fell. My Dad grabbed a ziploc bag of ice and we were on our way.

During the ride I kept telling him how much my ear hurt and he shared that a piece had come off and that's what he had placed on ice. I think I was in such shock that I just agreed and went along with it. I didn't ask questions or even look at my ear, assuming I had just knocked it. The triage nurse escorted us in and asked what happened. I explained the story and she didn't seem phased so I didn't stress. Then she opened that bag and said "Holy crap! That's a big piece!" Uh oh. Things are more serious than I thought. Not cool, nurse. I still didn't look.

The doctor came quickly and the nurse kindly hooked me up with pain medicine. I felt bad doing it, but I asked for a little more. He obliged very quickly. Maybe things are really bad. I know they don't just give that stuff out. They ran all sorts of scans and tests for the fainting, all was fine. Now what to do with my ear injury?

Readers, I had fainted (never before, never since) and hit my head on the kitchen counter, cutting off half of my ear. On the freaking kitchen counter. Half my ear.

Yeah. That's not a good start to a trip.

They couldn't handle such a large injury at the small hospital so I was to be sent via ambulance to downtown Houston to see a plastic surgeon. He said they would reattach my ear, but as they were loading me in the ambulance he said they actually probably wouldn't be able to and, for the first time, I cried. This was really really serious.

The medic in the ambulance was kind and helped me to take a photo so I could finally see what I was dealing with. More tears. I CUT MY EAR OFF ON A COUNTERTOP. How does that even happen?! He assured me that he had seen new ears grown on the backs of rats and I shouldn't worry. So reassuring.

The big hospital nurses greeted me with lots of questions. They had been taking bets. Bar fight? Dog bite? Was I pregnant? Nope. I cut my ear off on a countertop while holding my kid, obvs. So then they brought all their friends around for me to show and tell. Must have been a slow night. Did I mention that my husband was on another continent? Because of course!

Is this really happening?

Once the plastic surgeon arrived (I LOVE her, and truly can't say enough about her excellent care.) things got even weirder. She wouldn't be able to reattach the ear, so she was going to put the piece IN MY ARM (In. my. arm.), and let it heal before trying to attach it in a few weeks. I was awake with local anesthetic while she stitched up my ear and added the piece to my arm. Talk about weird. So, I go home with an ear inside my arm and a giant bandage on my head. The pharmacist at CVS moved real quick like when I rolled in asking for meds.

The arm-ear.

So fashionable. Hurry up with my meds.

A few weeks later it was determined that they wouldn't actually be able to use the ear piece because it was so large and cartilage blood supply is small. Could this get any weirder? Yes, yes it could. She's going to cut out a piece of my rib and make me a new ear. Then she will take blood supply from my head and skin from my scalp and cover it up. And in a years time or so when it all heals? I get to have laser hair removal on my ear because it's hairy scalp skin.

It's sharper than it looks.

All because I fainted and cut my ear off on a countertop.

So the short trip turned into an all summer one. A summer where I couldn't be in the sun, or water, or pick up my kids, or wear sunglasses. Because have you tried wearing sunglasses with one ear? Super fun. The 9 hour surgery was a success, and I'm on the road to recovery, but I still can't believe it. How does this even happen?! If you see me out and notice my arm scar, now you'll know where it's from. I'm thankful for the doctors, family, and friends who pitched in to get me through a rough summer with my husband on another continent. I'm thankful for my friends who are still checking up on me. I'll have another trip to Texas and a surgery this coming summer to help shape the rib ear. I'm practically the bionic woman.

The new ear right after surgery.

What's the craziest thing you've had happen on vacation?