Accidents and help

Today we arrived back in Shetland after a week away. The journey north went perfectly, we had enough time in Glasgow to get Julian a haircut, and in Aberdeen to do some shopping before getting on the overnight ferry.

The bus north from Lerwick arrived in time for us to catch the ferry from Toft to Yell with time in hand, and we knew the one scheduled bus of the day would be waiting to take us to Burravoe when we got to Ulsta. That was where it all went wrong. Getting off the ferry, with my head full of the next step in the journey, I tripped over one of the metal loops on the car deck, and fell flat on my face.

I rolled myself round to a sitting position on automatic and was immediately surrounded by helpful people. Within moments I had a paper towel in my hand to mop up the blood dripping from my cut lip, and was given the helpful advice to lean forward so the blood did not go on my clothes.

The actual discussions about what to do went a bit over my head as I sat on the deck, but the upshot of it was that Julian and I acquired a personal chauffeur/local guide. Graham Keith, one of the deckhands, spent the rest of his day driving us where I needed to go. First stop was the local doctor’s surgery in Mid Yell. My left arm began to hurt on the drive there, and the doctor decided I needed an X-ray. That meant heading back to Ulsta and on to the ferry, this time in a landrover, not as a foot passenger.

The doctor had notified the hospital, so I walked straight past the triage station and into a cubicle. By ten to two I had 3 stitches in my lip, codiene, paracetamol, and ibuproffin in my bag, and my arm in a nifty sling. I have a very small break in the radial head/neck of my elbow which should heal in 3-6 weeks without needing treatment. The sling should only be used for a few days, but at the moment any twisting of my wrist causes pain in my elbow, so I am keeping my arm still.

I also have a painful tooth (the one that went through my lip) so the nurse said we should see a dentist. The earliest appointment was at 15:50, so Graham drove us to Sandwick where Julian got something to eat at the visitor centre and Graham and I had a drink. The dentist took an x-ray, but could not be sure if the tooth was damaged because of the swelling. She advised checking for damage again in a week.

Graham then drove us back to Toft, and straight onto the ferry, then took us all the way to Robinetta at Burravoe.

Many thanks to all the medical staff who saw me today, and especial thanks to the Yell ferry manager and Graham, who supported us all day way above the call of duty.