The Doctor Is In

Last night I was walking Becky and Jordan home on Wertland Street when all of a sudden we heard a loud THUD and the sound of moaning. Across the street, a drunk girl had fallen down the stairs and, unable to react, landed on the side of her face. We quickly ran over to see if she needed help, and we found that she had cut the side of her face and was bleeding next to her eye. I learned from my POM mentor that you should always assume the worst, so the first thought that came to mind was that she must have fractured the thin bones forming the pterion and ruptured the anterior branch of the middle meningeal artery. If the ECA Blue Boxes were right, then this could result in a hematoma that would exert pressure on the underlying cerebral cortex, leading to death in a matter of hours! (Thanks, Gross Anatomy Learning Objectives!)

I knew it was probably nothing more than a superficial cut, but we called 9-1-1 just to be safe. The EMTs eventually decided that she was fine, even though she initially told them that the date was September 20 and that the current president of the United States was "[pause] Jefferson?". One of her housemates walked her back inside, and I went home to sweet dreams of cranial foramen and venous sinuses.