How do I process this? (warning-explicit)

Tonight I went to Countdown with my friend and her twins to get some baby food (and before my anti-consumer buddies start shouting it was for her!).

Anyway, I left the gremlins and Maya in their trolley with my friend and her girls by the baby food and dashed across a few aisles to get some rice crackers. I came back, came in the other end of the aisle and there was a man lying on the floor with blood pouring out of his head (and I'm not exaggerating, it was literally gushing). Before I could even register what was happening one of the Countdown staff ran past and threw a phone to me and said "here, talk to the ambulance".

So I talked to the ambulance call centre and passed on instructions to a few other people who were helping, we put a packet of nappies under his head and the trolley boy was holding some paper towels over the mans head which was totally ineffective till someone appeared with some towels off the shelf still in their packaging and opened them and they held it on his head.

I'm not sure whether he slipped and hit his head on the freezer as he fell, or if he had a stroke/heart attack coz he was quite elderly, but he was unconscious and a customer who was a nurse took his pulse. Then I had to go out to meet the ambulance and I asked the checkout superviser to make a space for the ambulance people to get thru with the stretcher, the store was so busy the checkout staff had no idea what was going on.

Then the ambulance people basically told us all to sod off and they got him on the stretcher and out of there real quick with the sirens going etc. There would have been I'd say close to half a litre of blood on the floor.

So we came home, and my friend went home and now I'm feeling a wee bit shell shocked. The wound on his head was like someone had bashed him over the head, when I first saw it I thought he was dead.

The whole time Maya was just sitting there watching, afterwards she asked me if the man had died and I explained that he was fine and the ambulance was taking him to hospital so the doctors can fix his head, and she seemed OK with that, but how traumatic is this for her? Should I be worried?

I left my name and # with the staff at Countdown (they know me and the girls anyway) and they're going to call and let me know if they hear how he's doing. Mum suggested I ring the hospital, but I'm not sure I really want to know. I mean, what if he dies?

Sorry for the ramble, I just really needed to get this out. Feeling rather wired, this is soooo not good for my already-anxious, highly strung self!

Wow, what a big thing to have on your mind tonight! Probably it will hit the papers sometime soon, just because it was a public place, so you'll know eventually. It sounds like you've done really well with Maya, little kids are great at this stuff and you'll probably find she has no problems with it because she knows the man is "getting his head fixed". Hopefully you're a words processor and now that you've put this out in cyberspace you're feeling a bit better. Now, go grab some chocolate

Oh man, I hope you feel better for writing it all out, what an unexpected and scary thing to have happen. You sound like you handled things really well, stayed calm and helped the ambulance, not everyone can do that.
I remember a few years ago I was in Taupo and saw an older guy on the sidewalk take a fall. He just lost conciousness and fell heavily onto the footpath and cracked his head - it sounds very similar to what you experienced. We stopped and helped, ambulance arrived and took him off...he was ok and released a few days later I heard. I hope the same result happens here. Head wounds bleed really, really heavily, so sometimes look very bad but can be a treatable cut. The underlying cause of the fall is out of your control and hopefully something they can also manage and help him with. He is lucky the fall happened in such a public place and not when he was alone.
Not much more to say except and well done for how you have dealt with it all and with Maya, you're a

Maya will be so impressed with her mummy helping out the old man. A very positive image for her! But thats life and she will probably deal with it easier than we do asshe doesnt really know too many details.

hope you are feeling better after a nights sleep...you did sleep I hope?

 Huge hugs Ems. I just cant imagine the horror of coming upon a scene like that.. Big up to girl for helping out and what a fantastic job you did dealing with Maya. Like everyelse has said, kids are really resilient. It would all be pretty simple for her  "man hit his head and was bleeding and ambulance came and took him to hosp to get fixed". Great that you are aware tho if she did exibit any signs of worrying over the situation as some kids are more sensitive and prone to take on more than their fair share of empathy.
I hope your feeling much better today!!

Hey there Emma.
I hope you're feeling better today.
I would have found it very upsetting too, and you did really well keeping it together and explaining it to Maya the way you did!
Huge to you.

Chances are Maya will remember the day she saw her mum being a bit of a hero... so unless she develops new fears, there should be nothing to worry about.  The man might like to see the people who helped him that day, so if it's really playing on your mind, would it be so weird to ring the hospital and visit him?  If he's OK it could be good for Maya to see him in a better state, too. 

I performed CPR on a workmate who sadly died at the time, so I know that a trauma like that does impact you and you've just gotta talk about it at some point.  And the Countdown episode sounds like a scary time, so good on ya for hopping on here and getting it out.  Are you still shaken up though?  You're not a wuss if you are!! 

Thanks for all your kind thoughts
I'm okay today, nothing like the cold light of day to give you a bit of clarity huh? But I did get a bit spooked when I was talking to a friend this morning and she said "what a horrible way to die" and I kind of wish she hadn't - I'd like to think he's ok! Not brave enough to ring and ask tho, might just check when I go in to Countdown next to see if they've heard anything.

I rang and left message for the girls mother after i saw the girl get hit by a car a few weeks back...and never any response...and i explained on message who i was etc too....guess I wont know....

Emma forgot to tell u that somethings stay with us...but maybe not how u think...for years i had a recurring dream about carrying an arm thorugh corridors...I was a child or an adult dependdng on when i dreamt it. I didnt tell anyone til years later and mum laughed at me....turns out while nursing she took me on occcasion while she was studying etc and i demanded to carry a parcel she had one day, through the corridors of greenlane tunnels....and yes it was an arm in a bag...she hadnt thought i had realised what it was and had given it to me cause i was throwing a paddy!!!......obviously affected me at a very very deep level somehow...

once i told her i never had the dream ever again! seriously!!!

Maya may have similar in time....who knows....

Wow Emma! What a scary thing to happen in front of you all. I think you handled it very well... and like the others said, unless Maya starts to ask questions or develops strange fears that seem to be linked to what she saw then don't worry!