A Little Terrifying…

…but just a little! Who am I kidding? It was A LOT!

We went to a Charlotte Hornets game versus the Chicago Bulls!

I should have known upon entering the stadium that disaster awaited me.

Went through a medal detector and straight to the gift shop! All of our boys received great souvenirs that we know they’ll use a lot! So that was the highlight of my night. Getting gifts for my younger guys.

We then walked to the part of the stadium that we needed to go up! Escalator it is. Boy did I wish it was a broken escalator so we could use them as stairs! I death gripped the side railing as it was very slowly taking me up. I couldn’t even move. It truly took us up to the equivalent of MANY flights of stairs. Once we finally made it my knuckles were white and I had my husband’s hand on my back to gently coax me off the escalator. I was a statue; I could not move my legs. A little nudge and I was finally able to get off this death ‘rollercoaster’!

We then walked to the area where we had to go for our seats. Walked out onto the platform and was sweating when I saw we had to go up even more STEEP steps! I hugged that railing like a koala. Went up some steps, then had to turn to go up even more steps.

Nosebleed seats? More like death row seats!

You may think I’m exaggerating; but when you have a traumatic brain injury or know someone who does, you know how intensely terrifying this is.

If I thought going to a middle school basketball game was bad; this exceeds that by hundreds of thousands!

We finally get to our seats as I death gripped my husband’s hand. I sit and look down and this is what I saw 👇🏻

Terrifying!

Not only do those with TBI have problems with large crowds, but those like me who are deathly afraid of heights find this to be awfulness!

I clenched my seat handles for the entire game. I was so tense.

Especially when The Amazing Sladek performed at halftime!! This man is 66 years old, balanced on 15-20 chairs and did a beautiful handstand on the top two chairs and all without any safety nets or anything! If this man fell, he would have been gone from this earth. I can assure you that this man will live to be 100 easily.

In six minutes of the 4th quarter, we were able to dip out before the large masses. My husband walked in front of me while I held his hand and I death gripped railings again with my other hand. We made it down successfully!

Can I just say that I spent this entire game praying to God for His comfort to calm me and to guide my husband and give him the understanding he needs.

We got out from the stadium portion and then it was the dreaded escalators again! My husband held my hand and stood in front of me on the escalator while I held tight to the rails. As I’m typing this I know the old me would never touch a handrail to save her life! But with a TBI the handrails are what’s saving my life. The germs don’t even cross my mind!

I saw my boys nonchalantly using the escalator as stairs but I stayed put. There’s no way I’m moving while the escalator is still moving!! No thank you; I value the life I have been given!

We very slowly made it down and I was able to step off since I’m on the ground floor. We left the building and walked to our garage where we parked. We took the glass elevator up to the eighth floor and not once did I peak out.

I just took a picture 🤣

We made it to our car and I double checked I was in one piece!! Now I can relax. Once we got to the AirBnB, I stuffed my face with some much needed ice cream and to the bed I went! Those two hours at the game alone was enough to exhaust my brain!!

Just a tiny peak into the brain of someone who had suffered a severe TBI. My brain never stops. These feelings that I have do not pause or shut off.

All I can do is keep praying to God. 🤲🏼