Head on collision
I remember seeing a car being completely in my lane of traffic and thinking what in the world is that car doing. I tried to get off the road as far as I could and succeeded in moving almost all the way. The Butler Twp. cop said there was only about 18 inches of my car left over the white line on the side of the road upon impact. The next memory I have is opening my eyes and looking down at my sneaker. There was sun shining on my sneaker and there should not have been. I was in my car, wasn’t I? I looked up and kneeling on the side of my car was a fireman. He said, “You were in an accident, but we’re here and going to take care of you, don’t worry.” He had a helmet and turnout pants on, but no turnout coat. I have no idea who this angel in fire gear was, but he calmed me. The next thing I remember was not being able to move my left arm, I wasn’t even sure it was still there. I moved my right arm over and felt for my left arm. I was relieved to feel it there. I don’t remember much more while I was in the car. I have fleeting visions of being transferred to the ball field in the ambulance. I have very clear memories of talking with my 9-year-old son before they put in the chopper. I very clearly and distinctly remember telling him that I WOULD see him at the hospital, and that he should not worry, listen to his dad and be good and I would see him later. I have a few more memories of the flight over. The scary vibrations of the chopper. The flight nurse pulling off my jewelry. My wedding bands, my bracelet, my earrings and my mother/child pendant were all taken off by them. I just kept repeating to them that my stomach hurt. They asked me where, I pointed to my mid-section. It wasn’t until much later I learned that I had a 10-inch laceration in my diaphragm. No wonder my stomach hurt. The only other thing I remember with great clarity was locking eyes with a face at the head of the litter and staying calm by watching him. I found out later he was a med student and eventually got to talk with him and learned that because of the experience he had with my accident, he decided to concentrate on Internal Medicine later was working at the Cleveland Clinic. They tell me that once I got into the ER was I was very calm and continued to tell them where I hurt. They tell me that they had no idea how badly I was hurt internally at first because I was conscious and talking and telling them everything that was wrong with me. From there I don’t remember anything until almost 4 days later when I woke up on a vent with my family watching worriedly from around the room. Unable to talk with them, I tried sign language, which my poor nephew tried to translate. He had trouble, I got frustrated, my BP spiked, and they asked him to leave. It was three more days until they took out the vent and 49 more days until I would be able to come home. For the 23 days I was in the ICU I had to listen to Life Flight come in and out and every time it did, I was taken back to the horrible flight. It wasn’t until many months later, when I finally decided that I wasn’t going to upset by that sound anymore and pushed myself to get over it. There have been many more side effects to this event, too many to mention here. I was the victim of a drugged driver. This happened almost 11 years ago, and I am still paying the price. I have undergone 46 surgeries since then and am permanently disabled. I will most likely have to have more surgeries and will always suffer the effects of this trauma.
