Accident Stories and Laying Low

I wore a sling at work today.  That drew quite a lot of attention to the fact that I'd had an accident yesterday, meaning I told the story of what had happened over and over and over.  I now officially don't ever want to tell it again.

I've discovered, too, that when you are hurting from a car accident, everyone on the planet suddenly has advice for you, or a horror story about some injury or other that got missed because the person "thought they were ok".  This was rather disconcerting.  I spoke briefly with EMS at the accident scene yesterday, and saw my mom (who is a natural health practioner) and was feeling pretty good about the decision to not see a doctor.  I was quite confident that I was ok.

Until I heard all the stories.   And the many incredulous, "you didn't see a doctor's??"

I came home at noon, slept for a couple of hours on an ice pack, and then phoned my mom to discuss the situation, feeling rattled and generally exhausted.  We agreed that if for nothing more than my peace of mind, it would probably be a good idea for me to get checked out, and then spent the next 20 minutes calling each other back and forth while we tried to locate a walk-in clinic where I wouldn't have to wait for hours. (My family doctor now does mostly maternity care, and is notoriously hard to get hold of, and get an appointment with, so we decided that rather than wait until almost a week post accident - Monday being likely the earliest I could get in - I'd just go to a clinic, giving me peace of mind much sooner.)

She picked me up around supper time, dropped me at the clinic, and a few hours later, when I was finished, I called home and my dad picked me up from the clinic and drove me home.

The doctor informs me that nothing is broken, that I will hurt for 5-6 days or more, that I likely don't have a concussion, but that those can take up to 6 weeks to appear, so just keep an eye on things and get myself to a hospital if I start having weird symptoms.  He wrote me a presciption for painkillers if I need them, and a referral for physio if I need that, and informed me that if I was smart, I'd stay home from work for the rest of the week (he gave me a note for that as well) and just lay low.  His exact instructions for tomorrow were to "sleep all day."

If you had told me last night that I needed to stay home for the rest of the week, I'd have laughed at you, and told you that I was just a bit sore, and would tough it out.  After the half day today, I was more than a little relieved to hear that I had medical permission to just lay low, not move too much, and take care of myself for a few days.

So, that's the plan.  Sleep, ice, maybe a little swimming in a couple of days (the doc recommended swimming a bit if I'm feeling up to it, just to gently move the sore muscles).  A treatment from my natural health guy on Saturday, and then I'll head back to work on Monday.  At this point, that plan is such a relief, and I'm also feeling much better knowing I'm not needing (thanks to all the "horror" stories I heard) to obsess about random undetected serious injuries.  It's like I thought - I'm sore and will be for a while, but nothing is broken, and I'll recover.  And for those blessings, I'm thankful.

The Day After

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good.  Not too sore after a night of relatively decent sleep and relaxed, unused muscles.

Then I started moving around.

I made it into work, but I think I'm only going to stay for half a day.  After that, the plan is to head home and hang out with an ice pack again.

My left shoulder, which caught the brunt of my fall a few weeks back, caught the brunt of my seatbelt and the impact yesterday.  It hurts badly.  However, I've improvised a sling (a new useage for my favorite white scarf!) and that is making it somewhat doable.

Daily 5 - Day 167

Today's Daily 5 (the mostly accident edition!):

1. I'm thankful that the driver who I hit was very kind.  We waited nearly an hour for the police to arrive (EMS and Fire had come and gone in that time), and it was cold out this morning.  He welcomed me to sit in his truck (which was warm, since George really wasn't).  We chatted and made sure each other were okay, traded insurance information, and just generally managed to stay calm and make the necessary phone calls.
2. I'm thankful that though George is no more, I am not seriously injured.
3. I'm thankful that the fire after the accident was quickly put out by a passing motorist who stopped, and had a fire extinguisher in his vehicle.  That also could have been so much more serious than it was.  I'll be carrying a fire extinguisher in my vehicle from now on I think!
4. I'm also thankful for the quick thinking motorist who stopped and put out my fire!
   
5. I'm thankful for a generous policeman who kindly warned me to leave more following space, instead of issuing me a very expensive ticket.
6. I'm thankful for the tow truck arriving quickly (they said expect it in an hour, but it arrived in 20 minutes!) and for the tow truck driver being friendly and efficient, and willing to ferry me along with my car to the mechanic.
7. I'm thankful for my dad, who took numerous calls from me as events progressed, and then met me at the mechanics, showing up with a hug for me, questions for the mechanic as we quickly made the decision that George was a goner, and then took me home to my mom.
8. I'm thankful that I live in the same city as my parents, and that when my dad asked if I wanted to go home or to their house, I could go to their house.  
9. I'm thankful for my mom who greeted me with another hug, let me cry a little, gave me a short treatment to immediately help with healing, brought me painkillers and an ice pack, fed me lunch, and let me lay on her couch and soothe my jangled soul with dozing to the Food Network on their satellite television.
10. I'm thankful for both of my brothers and T's fiance who in their own ways let me know that they were concerned about me today, were praying, and loved me.
11. I'm thankful for all the friends who sent notes and left facebook comments, or sent text messages or emails, telling me they were praying, and making sure I was okay.
12. I'm thankful for lasagna for supper - I actually cooked, but also for a roommate who was more than willing to do the cleanup as by that time my left shoulder was letting me know that movement was no longer a good option.  I'm also thankful that she is more than willing to do the cooking tomorrow night.
13. I'm thankful that my work was very understanding of the fact that I was not coming in today, and that I can be confident that if I wake up in the morning too sore to move, they'll give me another day or so to recover as well.
14. I'm thankful for the incredible peace that I've felt today.  That's really unusual for me after an accident (I've had a couple previous ones, as well as some very scary near misses, mostly involving ice and snow).  I feel like I've been buoyed by Jesus' love and the prayers of so many, and I'm really grateful for that.  Especially since I've been struggling for the last several days with anxiety again, and working on getting the supplements evened out again.  It's been such a blessing to not be feeling that today.
15. I'm thankful that tomorrow is another day, and one that won't hold a car accident!  :)
    

A few links

As the day continues to go on, I'm becoming more and more sore (duh!).  I can't move my left arm/shoulder much at all.  So, I'm propped against pillows on my bed, doing a little bit of typing with both arms, but mostly using my much less sore right arm to work the mouse and catch up on various blog reading and news articles.  Here are a couple of links worth checking out.

I've never read anything by Seth Godin, but after reading his guest post at Anne Jackson's Flowerdust blog today, I put a few of his books and audio books on hold at the library.

Also, I was both stunned and thrilled to hear that another person was pulled alive from the rubble in Haiti today.  You can check out the BBC article here.

That's all for now folks!  I'll be back a bit later with the daily 5 - and you can believe that I have a lot that I'm thankful for today!

Bad Start

So, I talked myself into getting out of bed this morning.  I wasn't feeling great, but definitely not bad enough to stay at home.  I'm wishing I'd stayed at home.

I never made it to work.  I was one exit from my stop when I got into a pretty bad car accident.  George (who used to look like this) now looks like this:

The airbag deployed and hit me in the face, so my nose and lip are pretty sore, and all of the aching muscles that had just sort of nicely returned to normal after my fall down the stairs a couple of weeks ago are now in much worse pain, but I'm okay and really grateful to be that way.

I'm also vehicleless, which will bring some unique challenges into my life for a while, but I'll figure those out as they crop up.

And, I've got to say that if you're going to start the morning by destroying your car and slamming into someone's rear end, it's nice if that person is really nice about it.  The guy I hit was really nice to me, and while we waited the hour or so for the cops to show up, we sat in his warm truck, (which I was thankful for, since my car had no power - the firefighters disconnected the battery after making sure that the flames - oh yes, it was on fire, did I mention that? - were out.)

So, not the best start to the day, and if I'd taken that sick day I considered this morning, I probably wouldn't have spent it talking to policemen and mechanics and insurance adjusters, but hey - they were all very nice to me.  And my dad, who I shocked into awakeness with an early morning phone call met me at the mechanic's after I'd been towed (Oh - another blessing - because of my old car, I have AMA and pay for the membership with towing - so no tow bill!)  Dad took me back to their place where mom was waiting with a hug, and a brief treatment to help with some of the muscle trauma, and food and prayers.  I made all my calls from their house, and dozed on their couch for a bit watching the Food Network (fun, since I love to cook and don't have cable at my house), and then they brought me home.

So, in general I'm thankful, if a little shaken up still.  It could have been so much worse, and it wasn't.

Now that I'm home, I'm comfortably in sweat pants, wrapped in a blanket, and planning to spend the rest of the day moving fairly little, and in the company of an ice pack.  My left shoulder in particular (took the brunt of my fall a few weeks ago, and the brunt of the seatbelt etc. today) is quite sore, and I don't think I'll be doing yoga again anytime soon!