Monday, June 2, 2008

The Wreck

The Wreck
Nov 25, 2007 11:43 am183 Views
Out of the all the things that have ever happened to me, The Wreck follows only the birth of my son and daughter, and getting married and divorced, on the "what makes me who I am," list.

On September 30, 2001, my best friend Mark and I were on our way back home from a day canoeing Talladega Creek. I was driving my 1972 VW, with the canoe on top. In a sharp curve, at about 50 mph, we were struck head-on by a 1985 Honda Prelude driven by a drunk deaf woman. My car went airborne and landed off the road. I do not remember any of the details; I know only what I have been told and what I have been able to piece together in the time since.

The outcome was predictably calamitous: Mark was killed outright, and I was grievously injured but for some reason, left alive with a traumatic head injury, broken neck, seven broken ribs, pelvis broken in two places, collapsed lung and many, many cuts and abrasions.

One of the witnesses of The Wreck was a college professor who not only knew first aid, but taught it. He rushed over, checked us both, and saw me choking on my own blood and gasping for air. He ever-so-slightly eased my head back, enough to let me breathe but not enough to make me into a quadriplegic. To this day I marvel not only at the fact he not only wanted to help, but that he knew what he was doing.

Soon enough, local EMTs arrived; I have been told that I attempted to fight them off and resist being helped. But quickly I was transported to Citizens Hospital, where a physician summoned a Lifesaver helicopter, which took me a specialized trauma unit at a Birmingham hospital.From there it was a two-week stay in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit.

My broken neck was immobilized with a halo, I was fed by tube, and got air through another tube in my neck. Later, I was moved to a standard room, where I remained until mid-November. From there, I went to a rehabilitation hospital, where I remained until I was finally discharged Dec. 7.

Well, this is hardly the standard fodder for these blogs, that's for sure! But I felt like anybody who has even the slightest interest in me ought to know all that about me, and this seemed like the best place to get it told.All right...I don't plan on making this blog a place for me to get all serious and heavy, honest!

No comments: