Monday, I was at work covering an assignment when I slipped on ice and hit my head. Don't be alarmed, this happens a lot. As a photojournalist, you are walking places and doing things that normal people wouldn't normally do given the conditions; and mind you, this is upstate New York.
I take the necessary precautions by dressing for the weather, including my doc martins, and my hot-pink thermals. But no matter how prepared you are for the day, you never know when a thick patch of ice is waiting to meet the back of your head.
After I had fallen, in front of my subject no less, I quickly brushed myself off and came to my senses. I finished my assignment and quickly (and embarrassingly) hurried to my car. As I was driving back to the newsroom I started to get dizzy and felt a little.... strange. drunk strange. When I was talking with my managing editor I could tell I was slurring my words. I wouldn't normally tell them that I had fallen, because that is a lot of paperwork for all of us to deal with, but this fall was obviously different. After having spoken to our HR department and filled out the paperwork, I was on my way to urgent care where they concluded I had two different sized pupils and suffered from a severe concussion. They then sent me to the ER to wait for a cat-scan. As I was laying in my hospital bed drifting in and out of sleep, I awoke to my editor sitting at my bedside. I thought
"This isn't happening. Did I wreck my camera rig? Is he here to fire me?"
and then I thought of:
and it got weird.
What editor comes and visits their photographer in a hospital room while on a deadline? The best kind, thats who. Seriously, I'll be lucky to find another editor as gracious and as kind as Sam in my future.
It's been 4 days, and a case of whiplash later. I realize now that fall was a lot worse than I had originally thought. But I'm taking it easy, as to not really screw myself up the next time I fall on ice (and I will).
I've played, like, 72 games of tetris... Can I go back to work now?
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