Roller Coaster From Hell – My Accident

So I was in a car accident last Thursday afternoon, approximately 3:15pm EST.

It’s actually a little more complicated than “a car accident.”  I guess I should just start at the beginning.

My car was a 1998 Chevy Monte Carlo, which my dad bought new and drove up until a few years ago, when he gave it to me.  I didn’t want it, it was big and heavy with no turn radius to speak of and each door weighed like a thousand pounds.  Oh, and I suppose a black car with black leather interior is fine for Iowa (which is where my dad bought and drove it), but Florida – no, not so much.  On the other hand, it got me from A to B and it had working AC as well as a radio (I gave up on CDs a long time ago).  And since both of my jobs require me to have my own vehicle, I couldn’t complain too much.

So last Thursday I finished up my High Hopes groups in Fellsmere and headed home (which is about 25 minutes).  I usually take I-95 but I needed to stop at the VNA so I headed for US-1 instead.  I was on CR-510, which I am on every week for work, when I notice the cars in front of me stopping.  I applied my brakes and initially started to slow, when suddenly I had no brakes.  My foot was pressed down and nothing.  I had about three seconds to decide what to do, and I decided to swerve to the right and go off the road, I didn’t want to hit the person in front of me.  Unfortunately for me there was this wire thingy that helps support one of those huge wooden power line poles (scientifically speaking), and I drove up it.  Yep, I drove up the wire thingy until I flipped over and landed on the hood of my car.  I remember seeing the wooden pole as my car headed upward, and then the blue sky with puffy white clouds, and then I was upside down… and then slammed to the ground.  I don’t do roller coasters as it is, but this was like my worst nightmare, my roller coaster from hell.  Possibly the more terrifying thing I have ever experienced.  I was literally suspended upside down by my seatbelt maybe a foot off the ground once the dust settled, so to speak.  I was definitely disoriented but I never blacked out.  My purse landed right next to my head, right side up and I instantly wondered where my phone was.  My first thought was I have to call Zach (my fiancé).  And then I started to panick.

There I am, suspended by my seatbelt… I’m crying, I notice my hand is bleeding, and I am terrified.  I start calling for help, first timidly (I don’t know why), and then I was screaming.  Quite quickly a man appeared to my left, I think he opened my door, he asked if I had turned off the car (which I hadn’t even thought about) and I told him I couldn’t reach it.  So he reached in and turned off my car, undid my seatbelt and pulled me from my car.  I do not know who this man was, but he was very brave and I wish I could thank him.  Next came the off-duty EMT, Ellis.  Ellis held my head in place until the ambulance came, he asked me questions and kept me talking, he was kind and gentle – though I was borderline hysterical.  When the ambulance arrived I refused to go to the hospital.  I know, totally crazy.  Why did I refuse?  I was afraid I would have hospital bills that I could never repay.  It sounds so stupid to say it out loud, but that is what I was worried about.  A glimpse of my mind at that time, “This can’t be happening, I can’t afford for this to be happening, I can’t afford a new car, or to miss time from work…”  That is what I was worried about, I mean really?!  So the EMT assured me this is why I have car insurance, to pay my hospital bills in case of an accident.  Duh!!!  Then I agreed to go to the hospital and they strapped me down on one of those keep-your-spine-in-place boards.

Joey and Brandon (or was it Bradley?) are the EMT/firefighters that drove me to the hospital. Brandon was in the back with me and I kept insisting that my fiancé had to know what had happened, I needed him to meet me at the hospital and that was all that mattered.  So Brandon kindly pulled out his cell phone and dialed Zach’s cell on speakerphone, which I knew he wouldn’t answer because he was at work and it was a number he wouldn’t recognize, but I wanted to leave a message.  You should hear that message, Zach played it for me later that night, it’s intense.  Zach arrived at the hospital just a few minutes after I did and I was still strapped to that board, but I was so happy to see him.  They scanned my neck, my back and my right leg, thankfully nothing was broken.  Four hours after I arrived they discharged me with a script for pain killers.

Such a lovely picture of me, haha.  I truly am lucky to be alive, it’s a good thing I always wear my seatbelt!  I’m sure I will do some more in depth writing about this experience, so keep an eye out!  Thanks for reading, glad I’m still here to write!

xoxo