As some may remember, I built and finely turned my EDC since I was a child. Much of the time my few, select items got me through a lot of situations I faced.

Mom and I returned from a nine-day road trip. I would not say we arrived safely; we arrived in one piece so I would call the trip a success.

Saturday night in our timeshare condo, as she was carrying her laptop, Mom's foot caught the leg of a bar stool. Her computer flies out of her hand and onto the wood floor. Both of her knees, which she had problems with already, hit the wood floor. This would sound like the accident I had in 2007; no, Mom had to make an extra effort to top my fall. As she was heading to the floor, her head makes contact with the armrest of the chair in front of her, causing a whiplash.

I was not there. I was in the bedroom when this happened.

Mom was not able to get up. She sees her, approximately, one-year-old Dell laptop face-down on the floor thinking she may have destroyed it.

Mom gets on her cell phone to call me. I come in with my EDC bag which contains a first aid kit I built using the following as a model:

https://www.chinookmed.com/01423/traveler-kit.html

I start by reassuring Mom that what she dropped was just a laptop. It's replaceable. A possible whiplash or concussion is higher on the priority list. To put her concern to rest, I check the computer. It works. It does not have a scratch.

After I clean and bandage her knee, we focus on her neck. Mom barely moved her neck and it is sore. We have a potential problem.

I read Wilderness and Travel Medicine by Eric A. Weiss, M.D. several times and yet, I did not remember what to do in this situation. We waited. When it seemed safe to move her, I helped Mom up and into bed.

Using her laptop, I looked up what to do. One website says to take her to the E.R. Another says to monitor her over 24 Hour period.

Mom suggested a 24 Hour minute clinic. This is the first time any of us has been to Williamsburg, Virginia. I googled "24 Hour minute clinic Williamsburg, Virginia." I get a map with a red dot at each location. At first, this was not helpful [after all, none of us has ever been there]. I pull up another tab and google the address of the timeshare. A hospital is three blocks away.

Now we know where to go if we need to. Mom is in no shape to drive; neither am I. I had taken my Mirtazapine before Mom fell.

Mom is starting to feel better and is moving her neck some, a combination of time and Alive [no afiliation]. Still, I check on her every thirty minutes until I needed to sleep.

First lesson: include a copy of Wilderness and Travel Medicine by Eric A. Weiss, M.D. in my EDC.

It's late. I'm sleepy. I'll tell you about my other adventures and opportunities to add to my EDC tomorrow when I wake up.

Jeanette Isabelle
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I'm not sure whose twisted idea it was to put hundreds of adolescents in underfunded schools run by people whose dreams were crushed years ago, but I admire the sadism. -- Wednesday Adams, Wednesday