The Accident

 

I have gone back and forth about whether or not I wanted to blog about this... I eventually came to the decision that to be true to this blog (which is about my life, marriage, and me) it is something that happened and I can do it and be done with it. Mostly. I will not discuss the details since the investigation and evertrhing is still pending but the basics can be known.

 

Labor Day Weekend was going to be a big weekend out for Ryan and I. His SDA starts at the end of September (something else I have yet to blog about) and I am currently cast in another show (ditto to previous parentheses) so we knew we would be entering a chaotic time and wanted to use this long weekend to spend time together. We had plans to go places in North Carolina we haven't visited yet and just spend it working on our relationship and stockpiling the joy for later use. Friday night after I got home from work we decided to go out for a drink, play some pool and then call it an early night... which we did. Saturday we wanted to wake up early and hit the road. Neither of us set an alarm and we woke up later than we planned, around ten am.

 

We got up, got dressed, packed a bag and got in the truck to drive about an hour to our first planned day trip, Fort Macon State Park. Well, we never made it to the state park. On our way we had a rather awful car accident that left our truck totaled, another truck damaged, and a car slightly damaged. We were the most hurt out of everyone and we were fortunate that our injuries were not severe. Looking at the truck at the accident and at the storage place later I cannot believe we walked away as unhurt as we did. Ryan's arm wen't through the driver's side window and left cuts up and down his left arm. The airbag burned his wrist (friction burn) and nearly cut his other arm. His toe was jammed/possibly broken and his leg was bruised. All of my injuries came from the airbag or the seat belt, which both did their jobs and saved our lives. Both my knees were badly bruised from the airbag deploying and the cover whacking into me, and my seatbelt left a string of bruises across my stomach, chest and shoulder.

 

But, like I said, we are so lucky that we walked away with just minor injuries. I debated posting the pictures of our truck but I will, just so I remember how awful this accident was and how lucky Ryan and I truly are.

 

At the scene.

At the storage facility later on.

Some of you may know this truck once belonged to Ryan's grandfather. After he passed away we purchased the truck from his grandmother. Ryan was very, very proud of this truck and took really good care of it and this accident was awful in every way, but adding the fact that it was his grandfather's truck on top of it all really hurt. I am convinced we had a special guardian angel watching over us.

 

My friend Donna picked us up after the accident, which I am very grateful for, and took us home. The rest of the day was spent mostly on the couch, icing our bruises and watching Star Wars.

 

 

One of the few strokes of luck we did have was that my parents happened to be nearby when this all happened. They decided to take a random, last minute trip to the beach for the weekend and we were able to meet up with them for dinner that evening. Ryan and I made sure we both took a turn getting into a vehicle and driving again even though we were a bundle of nerves. My parents offered to let us keep their minivan (since they have four cars for three people at home, the van has been kept for long road trips basically) until we get a new vehicle. We agreed and my parents rented a car to drive home Monday... a red Mustang that went my parents pulled up to meet my brother had him green with envy!

 

 

 Sunday we decided to go to the ER on base to get checked out... and by we decided I mean Ryan had to for work and said if he was getting checked out I had to be as well. It was a long, long visit, nearly seven hours but we both checked out alright. We had to be seen in separate rooms but we passed the time texting eachother, watching TV (Alton Brown and then Indiana Jones) until we got to be sent home.

I never knew how sore you could feel after a car accident. Sunday, when we woke up, my entire body ached. It felt like I had done a strenuous, full body workout the day before... every muscle and joint was just aching. Ryan and I were limping around for a few days following the accident as our bodies turned multi colored from our various bruises.

My big seatbelt bruise

Like I mentioned, we were very very lucky to walk away in the state we did. I have never been in an accident like this before and it was the loudest, most terrifying thing. We knew it was happening and there was nothing to be done at the time to stop it. All I could do was close my eyes and hold my breath and pray in my head until it was over. Our weekend did not turn out at all like we expected. Since then it has been nothing but talking to insurance companies, figuring out our next steps, looking for another vehicle, and waiting to see what the next step is. Our nerves our frayed and our tempers are a bit shorter than usual, but we will get through this. This too shall pass.

Thank you to everyone who checked in with us, asked if we were alright, and sent good karma and prayers in our direction. We really, really appreciate it.

Sick Week

On Monday I woke up feeling a little, well, off. I didn't have to work so I slept in until 9:30 but I woke up feeling like I barely slept at all. I had things to do so I did laundry, scrubbed the bathrooms and the kitchen and then went to go drop off Ryan's uniforms for dry cleaning and alterations. Once I got in the car I could not cool off. Yes it was hot out but even with my air conditioning blasting I still felt way too hot. My head started aching and my neck felt stiff and I was just exhausted. 

By the time I got home I went to lay down and by the time Ryan got home I felt positively awful. I had no appetite and everything just seemed to be making my body hurt. I started running a fever so I took four Advil, ate dinner and then felt a little better. We went to sleep that night and I woke up at 3:30am freezing cold. I woke Ryan up solely to use his body heat and finally fell back to sleep. In the morning I took four more Advil and I was suddenly too hot again. The whole drive to work I had the air conditioning blasting while Ryan diverted the vents and wisely said nothing about it.

I worked half a day before my manager told me to leave. I knew getting an appointment with my PCM would be impossible to I went to Urgent Care. They were not that helpful, diagnosing me with gastritis regardless of the fact I had no stomach symptoms aside from lack of appetite. The doctor told me if I had a fever again Wednesday to come back.

All night I was taking Advil and alternating from chills to sweats with a pounding headache. Wednesday I woke up with a fever of 101. Urgent Care didn't open until 10am so I dragged myself in there and when the doctor heard my symptoms he told me to go across the street to the ER. I wasn't thrilled about it but he said they could do blood work and diagnose me better, so off I went.

In the waiting room I got this stylish mask to wear since I had a fever and other "flu like" symptoms. Man those things are uncomfortable! Within an hour I was in the back seeing the first doctor who reminded me a lot of Doctor House from TV, very blunt and who, according to a nurse I later spoke to, gets at least three complaints a day! He looked right at me and said, "I think you have a viral infection. We will do some blood work and then you should be good." So I get my blood drawn and then the nurse asks me if I am ready to go to my room.

My room? I thought it was blood work then going home?

The next thing I know I am in an exam room in a hospital gown in a bed freezing my behind off.

Over the next several hours I spoke to another doctor and many nurses and basically got told they were worried I had meningitis. That was when I started to get scared. I knew Ryan had been busy at work and I didn't want to bug him (yea yea yea I know) and I was very happy when he walked into my room a few hours into my stay. It definitely made me feel better to see him, especially since I had no idea he was coming. They ran a CT scan, more blood work and started talking about the possibility of a lumbar puncture. Noooo thank you!

Luckily my CT scan looked normal and they hooked me up to an IV and many antibiotics. I was told I had to be hooked up to it for three hours or so and I felt pretty much ready to jump out of my skin at this point. I wanted to go home! Anxiety was hitting me pretty hard and Ryan was doing his best to make sure I didn't cry or jump out of that bed and run.... ok, roll out and try and low crawl probably would have been more accurate at that point! Well one Valium later I was calmed down and finally able to doze a bit with Ryan providing extra body heat in my uncomfortable bed as Friends played in the background. 

After an hour or so I woke up and sent Ryan to get some food since I knew he was hungry (I was but not allowed to eat) and tried to doze a little more. People kept coming in and checking things so that didn't work out too well but I was beginning to feel better with the medicine and the fluids. My CT scan came back looking good and the doctor essentially told me he didn't think I had meningitis. Now was he 100% sure? Of course not, Doctors can never claim such a thing, so he said if I wanted the lumbar puncture they'd do it. Since I obviously did not want a giant needle in my back I declined. He told me then once my IVs were done I could go. If my fevers were not under control with medication, the headache got worse or I had confusion, blurry or double vision or a rash then I had to come back to the ER and get the lumbar puncture done. Deal.

My blood pressure was low at this point so they added more fluids while I watched Thor as Ryan returned. We watched the movie together until my IVs finished and my blood pressure went back up to normal... ish.

My husband never, ever takes pictures, so I do not know what possessed him to want to take one at this moment, but his comment while doing so made it, "You're gonna get discharged from the ER, but first, lemme take a selfie..." And although you can't see it through the mask very well, he definitely had me smiling.

Which with everything else considered, is pretty amazing.

How could you not love someone like that? I love him for showing up, unasked, taking care of me (I don't like to make a fuss but within ten minutes of him being there I had a pillow :P) and making me laugh. We went home with four prescriptions of what I like to call 'loopy drugs' and me looking forward to my own bed. And food since I thought I was hungry. Ryan got me some of my favorite Japanese food and after a few bites I was full, IVs will do that to you, and I happily passed out in my own bed.

Thankfully today I feel much better. For the first time this week I do not have a fever, which in itself is heavenly, and my headache and neck pain are getting much better. The loopy drugs are helping and I hope after today I won't really need them. I have a follow up appointment with my PCM tomorrow, which I in some miracle managed to book after only five minutes on the phone, and I am finally hopeful things are on the up. I am even looking forward to hopefully going back to work Saturday, something you never normally expect to hear ;)

If I can go the rest of my life never being in an ER again, I will be a happy camper. The nurses and doctors were great, but the waiting and waiting and worrying was exhausting!

Ok, back to my chick flick movie marathon. Thank you to everyone who reached out to me with well wishes, I really really appreciate them more than you know.