First, there was a car crash

Greetings. I have decided to make a blog because I will be spending a lot of time in the hospital and I need something to do!

I figured most people that are reading this know why I am in the hospital, but if you just happened to tune in, here's what happened (caution: details may be very graphic):

My friend Sarah and I were in Cleveland driving back to pick up my car from where we work when we crossed through an intersection and we were hit by a drunk driver who ran his red light. He was going very fast and he didn't seem to slow down at all before "T-boning" us on the passenger side (aka my side). Our car went flying to the other side of the road and almost into a brick building, lucky for us the car had both front and side airbags or we would have been a lot worse off.

I didn't pass out at all during the entire incident. I saw his silver-white car approach us from the right and had enough time to take a breath in, I might have screamed, I don't recall, before the impact. I felt the car lurch to the left, just as the airbags deployed, hitting me in the face and neck at a crazy speed.The noise was deafening and it seemed like forever before we stopped, when I'm sure it was only a few moments, and I had my eyes closed the whole time but I remember thinking "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"....

When the car stopped and I opened my eyes I took in my surroundings. The car's windshield was badly cracked and the smell of steam, smoke and burnt rubber poisoned my lungs. The airbags blocked my view of most of the outside of the car and I saw that my door had been crunched in and was touching my right leg, which was on fire with pain. I heard Sarah calling my name and I managed to suck up enough air to tell her I was alive, and I heard witnesses around the outside of the car calling in asking if I was ok, but I couldn't breathe enough to reply to everyone.

I focused on keeping my breathing steady, as difficult as that was to do, and I began testing parts of my body to see if they would work. Wiggle my left fingers, check. Wiggle my toes, check. Move my left elbow and shoulder, check. Lift my left leg, check (with some difficulty). Then I tried to move my right shoulder and pain flushed through my body like a tidal wave, and I couldn't will my right leg to move at all. The only part of my body that I didn't try to move at all was my neck, I had seen enough movies to know never to try to move your neck after a trauma.

The shouting on the outside of the car continued for what seems like hours, Sarah called my mother to tell her what had happened, and then the ambulances showed up, their wailing sirens bringing me both relief and fear. An EMT climbed into the back of the car and clamped me into a neck brace, explaining that they needed to cover me up and cut off the car door to get me out. Conversation resume:

EMT: "Okay darling, I'm gonna put this fireman's coat on you to protect you, sorry it smells like smoke."
Me: "It's ok, I can't smell well right now."
EMT: "You're gonna hear a lot of noise because we have to cut open the car to get you out, but I promise you're not going to get hurt it will just sound loud."
Me: "Ok..."

So once they got me out onto a board, and I was screaming with pain, they managed to wheel me over to the ambulance. The rest of these events are kind of a blur because I was so focused on the pain but highlights:
**they had to cut off all of my clothing to examine my body so say g'bye to my: cargo crew pants (*sad*), long-sleeved Wicked t-shirt from 2006 (*very sad*) and my black Old Navy winter pea coat (*sad sad*).
**the EMTs were trying to make me feel better by making me laugh which didn't help because my ribs were cracked. But they were having a "Who is prettier" argument which I ended when they got me to the hospital and I said to them "You're both pretty. It's ok."
**Being moved when you have a lot of broken bones REALLY REALLY sucks.

So after about 5 hours of tests at the hospital, and lots of excruciating pain, I spent one night in the ICU under constant supervision. My injuries were thus:
**Right Collarbone: broken
**Right Rib #s 1-7: cracked
**Right Pelvis & Hip: broken in several places
**Small puncture in right Lung
**Small laceration in Liver

I had surgery on Monday April 4th to repair the Pelvis & Hip, and I now have a titanium plate in there and some screws, also. I will have to do a lot of Physical Therapy, and I also won't be able to put weight on my right leg for at least a few months.

Here's to being alive and to recovering. On y va!

B