Well, every scar deserves a story. That’s mine and I’m stickin’ to it. As usual, the real story isn’t too exciting, but it’s why I’ve been AWOL for a few days.
TL;DR I got sick from some toxic grain dust, had a drug interaction issue, blacked out when my BP dropped and face planted on a hard surface floor.
Last week we were delivering some wheat from our farm to a grain elevator about 25 miles away. The wheat had quite a few seeds from a particular weed species which, in most years, is pretty easy to control. The weather during the growing season last year just happened to be favorable to this weed which enabled those plants to emerge later in the season so, some of the weed seeds ended up on the crop. After harvest we ran the aeration fans in the bins continuously, to keep the temp of the grain as close as possible to the outside air temp, to minimize the possibility of condensation from temp differential creating wet spots within the grain which could cause spontaneous fermentation.
Because the wheat which had some weed seeds in it went into the bin on top of previously harvested, weed free wheat, the weed seeds were near the top of the column of grain in the bin. The bins unload from the bottom. The grain on the top is pulled down through the center of the column of grain to the conveyor which empties the bin. The weed seeds had dried in storage but had formed clumps within the mass of wheat. These clumps would collect just above the gate through which the grain enters the conveyor stopping the flow of grain.
We devised a temporary discharge gate in the access door at the bottom of the bin so the grain would exit at a point where we could control the flow and also pull the clumps of weed seeds out of the way to keep the grain moving. This slowed the process down, and involved standing beside the discharge to drag the clumps of weed seeds out of the way with a hook made from a piece of steel rod. It also meant being exposed to the dust. My son and I were joking about not having access to dust masks because Coronavirus. I already had a cold and after loading two semis in this fashion I inhaled more than enough of the dust to do my lungs no favors.
Long story short, by the weekend I knew I needed to see a doc so we came to the city Saturday night. I was able to get a Sunday morning appointment at Billings Clinic, saw an NP, was diagnosed with a respiritory inflammation and given a breathing treatment, an inhaler and a script for Prednisone to reduce the inflammation. The NP said “I should test you for Coronavirus but we still have no test kits. We see thousands of people a day here, and should test each one, but we can’t”.
Went home, had lunch, took the Prednisone as directed, and took a nap. Woke up a few hours later, got out of the recliner and the lights went out. The BP meds I take and the Prednisone didn’t play well together. After an ambulance ride downtown, two CT scans, some other tests and 21 stitches later I got back home about 11PM. I didn’t have a TIA, have no blocked arteries, no brain bleeding or facial fractures. Oh, and on his way out of the room, after discharging me, the ER doc said “I should test you for Coronavirus but we have no test kits”. If anyone wants to see a large group of pissed-off professionals, visit your local hospital.
So I have some scars, and a story to tell. Oh, anybody wanna buy some TP?
