Good girl on the way to see ortho surgeon for post femur surgery check up.   And then, crash. Big crash and good girl is on the way to ER at Sherman Oaks with 2 more fractures, concussion, and lots of pain.

I go back in my mind’s eye and see that I am having an intimate moment with some car that wasn’t there a moment ago. Where was it? Oh, yes, it was going down another street and some doofus hit me, spun me around and put me in a head on collision.

I have some version of PTSD. I keep seeing a car connecting with me and not comprehending because I was going straight on Riverside , no one in front. Suddenly I’m not on Riverside. Reality changed and at that point I don’t know how. But I am soon to process. As time goes by it is made clear to me: “you were in a severe crash.”

This column is for me. Only one other person has so changed the trajectory of my life  – that was Jim. I wrote a book about that (a 6 year divorce which ended up me co-writing a winning brief in the 6th District Court of Appeals even after my attorney went MIA as the brief was due. Judgment in my favor as it was in trial court.)

But for now, this time is not like that. My body falls into the rhythm of injuries present and those yet to reveal themselves: sudden – fractured sternum (sitting up causes me to scream and as I remember what the ER nurses taught me, I learn to help it heal and reduce the shrieking pain.   But first they send me to another hospital because the fracture is complex, not simple. (If life was simple..oh wait, I dream.) I am transferred from Sherman Oaks to UCLA Hospital (Reagan).

I’ve never been in a car accident before. I did not know one can pass through stages but as the sternum healed, MRI’s and x-rays and CT scans  explained the new pains: compression fracture in vertebrae (walking with pain and limp.) Lower back pain that sends out messages, “Don’t forget this.”  The concussion causes sinus congestion. I deeply want oxygen therapy (HBOT) and the sinus issue makes it impossible to withstand the pressure. My tinnitus spiked and stayed. (Surely this is a plague – with sometimes an afternoon of respite.)  I lose track of time: I awake thinking it is morning and find out it is only an hour since I fell asleep.

My life is small: a tiny apartment with too many stairs, a walk to Ralph’s and a Starbucks.  2 blocks to Ralph’s and I need to sit down – NOW.  This is my universe now.  A painful romp through to Ralph’s. The gas station does me no good and sits there as if to mock me.

But the staff at local Starbucks is nice, fun, and knows my drink (double espresso) and so how can things be really bad when I have that!!  I would really like to sit and chat with my doctors and go over the MRI and x-rays I sent to an online AI to read. Cool we have that, but I need an interpreter. (Thx Larry for what you have done in that area.)

I am the gray Prius, turned into oncoming traffic by the blue car. I was on Riverside Drive, going straight (same direction as the school bus). I lost consciousness as I was hit and came to heading down another street entirely (Fulton) The blue car is the one that made a left turn into me and spun me around. I haven’t been the same since.

AMEX and The Crash

 

Still seeing doctors from crash – here’s from AMEX – do not have physical copy.