Here’s to 2014! It’s started off well, at least compared to 2013. I’m almost pain-free, I’m writing better than ever, and things look good.
2013 started badly. I had been rear-ended on an icy road about a mile from home only a two days before Christmas. The lady in her old Land Cruiser hit the back of my Prius pretty hard, while I had my foot slammed into the brakes so I wouldn’t slide into the intersection myself. I had come to a very rocky stop, the ABS brakes doing their job, and was just catching my breath, waiting for a car to pass, when ca-bam!
Everything you’ve ever heard about slow motion during an accident is true. I remember when, years ago in graduate school, I was hit from behind while bicycling and flew through the air. It seemed like an eternity before I landed, an eternity during which I had time to contemplate many things, including my own likely death. This time, the same thing must have happened. It seemed to take forever for my torso to bend at the waist, my head to hit something, and for me to recoil back into a sitting position. It all seemed rather gentle, just like it did when I landed on my helmet and rolled so many years ago.
Even though I should have known better, I got out of the car, noted the nasty damage to the hatch and bumper, assured the woman who’d slammed her car into mine that I felt fine, exchanged information, and drove home. Why I didn’t get the name of at least one witness, I don’t know. I probably should have waited for a police person, but I felt okay. Luckily, with a rear-end collision at a stop sign, it’s obvious who is at fault.
By the time I got home, I had started to feel some of the injury. It still seemed minor, so I had dinner and went to bed. It wasn’t until the next morning that I knew I had torn something in my shoulder. I saw a chiropractor, who noticed the swelling, and told me to rest a lot. I went home and prepared as much as I could for Christmas dinner, filed a police report, and left a message for my insurance company, before I rested.
Christmas morning, the full result of being whacked hit. I could hardly stand. Exhaustion, nausea, headache and full body pain assailed me. The head stuff worried me the most. What if I had herniated something? I forced myself to finish the meal prep, do the Christmas deal with Albert and my friends, then fell into bed while they slept.
Needless to say, the beginning of 2013 rolled around with more pain, more post-concussion issues, and exhaustion tailing me everywhere. I had sessions with Dr. Vance Bonner, lots of massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, physical therapy, and cranial osteopathy, and I can’t thank my healers enough. Slowly, I improved. Around April, much of the head weirdness and exhaustion cleared up, and mid-summer I started having pain-free days. Now, only a few minor symptoms remain.
I’ll write a post later on about this healing process. For now, I am so grateful to be through all of that. Hurray for 2014!