Not a good start to the break…
Okay, wow, how do I even begin to explain what happened. I’m still trying to grasp it, not to mention piece the moments together.
A colleague called in a favor Saturday afternoon. He needed some help in the lab thisweekend, with his deadline quickly approaching. What can I say… we’re grad students. The fact that it’s winter break and the weekend before Christmas is irrelevant. Really, it’s sad. So, I agreed to chip in on the workload because I didn’t have anything else going on. Go me.
He stopped to pick me up on his way to campus, not that I really needed a ride. Our building is maybe a mile or so away, but it seemed to be his way of making things ‘easier’ on me, so I just went with it. No big deal. Well, we never made it to campus. That five minute drive (at most, due to traffic and/or lights) was four minutes too long.
As we drove through a major intersection between my neighborhood and campus, we were hit by a speeding SUV. I don’t remember much about the accident itself. We were hit on the passenger-side of the car and I only caught the movement out of the corner of my eye. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital.
I’m out now, but in a lot of pain. I’ve broken a few ribs, meaning breathing HURTS, which is no fun since I have to do it… constantly… to live. I can barely use my right arm (shoulder injury) and leg. My head hurts from hitting the side window. My face is roughed up because of the airbag, which feels like a bag of bricks hitting you. My neck hurts a bit. Well, really, I just hurt. I’d say almost everything hurts in some way. I’m simply in a lot of pain.
Walking is difficult. Getting up and down my stairs feels near impossible. Obviously I have to climb the steps, since my bedroom is on the third floor and everything else is below me and I will do it, but only when absolutely necessary. The doctor said I need to take it easy and to let people take care of me, but I don’t really have that luxury right now.
My friend/colleague has been to visit. He and his wife actually brought me home from the hospital. Physically, he’s relatively okay, but mentally, he’s a mess over the incident. He’s started to fill in some of the gaps for me. Apparently, the SUV driver was drunk (at 3:30 in the afternoon). He also struck another car, traveling in the opposite direction of us, as he sped through the red light. The accident totaled all three cars.
Maybe at some point I’ll be able to share a bit more, but for now, I’ll leave it at this. I’m getting a headache looking at the computer screen and I need to rest. I’m sure I’ll be back on soon, considering I can’t do much else.
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