Over a week ago I thought I would have spent this past weekend hanging out and getting to know some great new guy and going to see my friend Andy's band play on Saturday. Well, the great guy was not so great, I did see about 30 minutes of Andy's show, and I was in a pretty ugly car accident with Andrea. We're both okay. Meaning I guess that we're alive and nothing is broken or bleeding. But we're pretty bumped and bruised.
We were on our way to Andy's show. Neither one of us was really feeling it. We went out Thursday and Friday night, spent Saturday evening at the pool, the band was playing at a bar that is hated by most people, and were just in a state of exhaustion. But, Andy's a friend, so we got dressed, and headed out. We were running late...as usual. We took Andrea's PT Cruiser. She pulled up to an ATM backwards for me to get cash. When I leaned out the window the seatbelt tightened up on me and I cursed it. Then we headed downtown.
On the way there Andrea was in one of her moods where she gets really bitchy and grumpy, but it's hilarious because she's basically laughing about it, too. She started to curse the seatbelt because between her necklace, the collar on her shirt, and the seatbelt she felt like she was being choked.
We excited 35N to turn left on McCullough. At the light, Andrea was singing in her Aaron Neville voice and making up new words to the Plain White T's song "Delilah". Light turned green. We turned left under the bridge of 35. The light on the other side was green. We started to go. In about the middle of the intersection, Andrea said something that alerted my attention, and I looked up to see this car plowing into the side of us. On my door. (Realize this may be a much more dramatized recount of the events, but it's all the way that it seemed to happen.)
At the moment of impact it felt like there was 2 or 3 minutes of a kind of "black out", but I realize it was only maybe 2 or 3 seconds. When I "came to", the scene was straight out of a movie (my version is slightly different from Andrea's). The windows were kind of foggy, the windshield wipers were going (it wasn't raining), and I realized that I was not okay. It felt literally like all my insides (stomach, intestines, what have you) had been twisted up with a knife and shoved up inside my rib cage and the knife pierced my heart. I thought immediately that I had broken or cracked my sternum. I said to Andrea, "I'm not okay, dude!" And she said, "I'm not okay either!" I kept saying it, I'm not okay. I'm not okay.
Then were two shadows outside the door on her side. She seemed to start feeling a little better...or at least getting her wits about her. I still sat there saying, "I'm not ok!", feeling like a knife was in my chest, and not being able to breathe...I think I went into freak out mode for a second. And then these two guys...our little angels...started to open her door. She said, "I think I'm going to try to get out" and did.
I sat there, still freaking out, but the pain was starting to get better, and I realized I needed to calm down because I was okay...or at least I was alive and I was going to be okay. I said, "I don't think I can open my door". So, Andrea went around to my side and tried to open it for me. This part is kind of funny to me. She said, "Dude, could you unlock it please!?" Like I was a dumbass...but in all actuality, the door wasn't going to open. Our little angels that stopped to help were already calling the police and the older guy leaned in to ask if I needed EMS, I declined...I decided I was going to live. And a few more minutes later decided I could try to get out. I had to climb out on the driver's side.
Then we were both out of the car and doing all the regular accident stuff like giving information, etc. Those two little angels were so nice. They witnessed the whole thing and stayed to make sure we were okay and to give their information to the police. I kind of just stood around holding onto my chest, which was still feeling in quite a state of brokenness. But, we were for the most part okay. The PT Cruiser, however, was not. It was towed away.
It felt like hours for all the "police stuff" to be done with. All of our friends were at the White Rabbit for Andy's show, so we called Russell to come get us. I think our adrenaline was pumping and we were in a weird state of euphoria about being alive that we had Russell take us the White Rabbit. It was shock. We were both in complete shock. My head was killing me. But, we went and watched the show for its remaining 30 minutes. After that, I think the adrenaline wore off, and we had had it. Russell left to go somewhere else, but we called and said, "Please come get us. We need to go home." He was there in minutes. He was an angel that night, too. Everyone kept asking why we were there in the first place after the accident. Well, EVERYONE we knew was there! How else would we get home? Also, like I said, I think we were in shock and not thinking straight. It wasn't till the adrenaline and endorphins wore off that we started to feel the pain.
We went back to my house and watched a horrible movie, The Confessor, don't ever see it. But we were making fun of it and laughing uncontrollably. Again, I think in a state of shock. The next day we were hurting pretty bad.
Those seatbelts we complained about saved our lives, but tore up our insides. Andrea has a seatbelt bruise from shoulder to waist. She has another giant bruise with a knot on the inside of one arm, plus aches and pains everywhere else. She also has a spot on each foot from where her shoes cut into her from hitting the clutch and brake so hard. Also, LOL, she lost half her pants. She came to a realization at the White Rabbit that the seatbelt had ripped off the zipper and the button on her shorts. A friend of hers told her she should claim those shorts in the accident report, too.
Me? Well, surprising enough, even though it was my side of the car that got hit, I have not one bruise. But, then again, I don't bruise very easily at all. Especially when I'm really tan like now. But, I was in pretty bad shape. My calf, knee, and elbow on my right side are pretty swollen up and sore from the door slamming into me. My neck is quite sore. And my right shoulder blade isn't really working that great. My greatest pain and fear though was coming from my abdomen. Everything in there still feels like it's just not fitting in there the way it used to. Like it's all swollen and bruised. My boobs hurt from the seatbelt. But, I think my boobs are what saved me from getting a bruise like Andrea did. However, I had clothing damage, too. That seatbelt split my bra right down the center!
Yesterday I spent nearly 12 hours in and out of doctor's offices. I had X-rays and a CT scan to make sure I didn't have internal bleeding. Well, everything checked out fine. Apparently, I've just bruised my organs and they might be a little swollen, which is why they don't feel like they "fit". I took yesterday off from work, and the doc said I can go back on Wednesday. Andrea's doc said the same.
And now she's getting dicked around and dealing with bullshit from the insurance companies. They still have to "investigate", which I know they HAVE to do, but it's crap. This young kid came flying at us. He ran a red light doing about 60mph. Yea, that fast. AND, he never once hit his brakes. They can't tell how fast he was going because he didn't leave any skid marks. But, we know. Plus, we have our two little angel witnesses. The older said to his son before we were hits, "That guy's going to run that light." Plus, I'm a witness, and the police said the other driver admitted fault. The cop said it was clear he was at fault. And, yet, the insurance companies want to debate it. I guess Andrea just has to wait till the police report is filed to prove everything. It makes me really mad at that kid, though. He wasn't drinking...he was just being reckless. I think he got a ticket for running the light, but he should have gotten one for speeding and reckless driving as well.
We never saw him. There's a giant barricade on one side of the highway and you can't see around it, and he was driving a dark car, so he literally came right of nowhere doing 60MPH!!! And there's no way he even had a yellow light. Our light was clearly green and had been green for more than a couple of seconds, which means his light was very much RED!
I know this is overly dramatized, but I've never been in an accident like this before. Hurting so bad, being so freaking scared. And, if he had been driving a truck instead of a Chevy Malibu? I might not have lived, and Andrea could have been severely hurt. The first thing that was in my head at the moment of impact was simply my daughter's name..."Gabby". It makes me really angry the way these insurance companies try to find loop holes to make the other party at fault. We did nothing wrong. We weren't drinking, we were following the rules of the road, we were even being cautious...Andrea kept her car in a low gear, as you should to make sure the light is green when you go under an underpass...and it WAS!
Things you have to laugh at or you'll go crazy thinking you could have died:
1. The accident happened right in front of a Mortuary.
2. Our clothes were ripped apart. Andrea had to hold her pants up at the White Rabbit.
3. The car was actually not silent as I thought it was after impact. Andrea said "Delilah" was BLARING the minute we stopped.
4. The windshield wipers were really creepy.
5. Andrea yelled at me to unlock the door because she thought it would open.
6. I had to drink nasty, nasty stuff and be injected with iodine for that CT scan.
7. Andrea wrote a great blog about "Mexican Angels", and how in San Antonio, there's always some little Mexican Angel that comes to help you out when you have automobile trouble. We had one. AND, we had his son, too...the Mexican Angel in training.
8. Can you imagine Andrea and me claiming her shorts and my bra on the accident report? Hilarious! "Um, yea, that will be a $40 bra and a $10 pair of shorts."
We were on our way to Andy's show. Neither one of us was really feeling it. We went out Thursday and Friday night, spent Saturday evening at the pool, the band was playing at a bar that is hated by most people, and were just in a state of exhaustion. But, Andy's a friend, so we got dressed, and headed out. We were running late...as usual. We took Andrea's PT Cruiser. She pulled up to an ATM backwards for me to get cash. When I leaned out the window the seatbelt tightened up on me and I cursed it. Then we headed downtown.
On the way there Andrea was in one of her moods where she gets really bitchy and grumpy, but it's hilarious because she's basically laughing about it, too. She started to curse the seatbelt because between her necklace, the collar on her shirt, and the seatbelt she felt like she was being choked.
We excited 35N to turn left on McCullough. At the light, Andrea was singing in her Aaron Neville voice and making up new words to the Plain White T's song "Delilah". Light turned green. We turned left under the bridge of 35. The light on the other side was green. We started to go. In about the middle of the intersection, Andrea said something that alerted my attention, and I looked up to see this car plowing into the side of us. On my door. (Realize this may be a much more dramatized recount of the events, but it's all the way that it seemed to happen.)
At the moment of impact it felt like there was 2 or 3 minutes of a kind of "black out", but I realize it was only maybe 2 or 3 seconds. When I "came to", the scene was straight out of a movie (my version is slightly different from Andrea's). The windows were kind of foggy, the windshield wipers were going (it wasn't raining), and I realized that I was not okay. It felt literally like all my insides (stomach, intestines, what have you) had been twisted up with a knife and shoved up inside my rib cage and the knife pierced my heart. I thought immediately that I had broken or cracked my sternum. I said to Andrea, "I'm not okay, dude!" And she said, "I'm not okay either!" I kept saying it, I'm not okay. I'm not okay.
Then were two shadows outside the door on her side. She seemed to start feeling a little better...or at least getting her wits about her. I still sat there saying, "I'm not ok!", feeling like a knife was in my chest, and not being able to breathe...I think I went into freak out mode for a second. And then these two guys...our little angels...started to open her door. She said, "I think I'm going to try to get out" and did.
I sat there, still freaking out, but the pain was starting to get better, and I realized I needed to calm down because I was okay...or at least I was alive and I was going to be okay. I said, "I don't think I can open my door". So, Andrea went around to my side and tried to open it for me. This part is kind of funny to me. She said, "Dude, could you unlock it please!?" Like I was a dumbass...but in all actuality, the door wasn't going to open. Our little angels that stopped to help were already calling the police and the older guy leaned in to ask if I needed EMS, I declined...I decided I was going to live. And a few more minutes later decided I could try to get out. I had to climb out on the driver's side.
Then we were both out of the car and doing all the regular accident stuff like giving information, etc. Those two little angels were so nice. They witnessed the whole thing and stayed to make sure we were okay and to give their information to the police. I kind of just stood around holding onto my chest, which was still feeling in quite a state of brokenness. But, we were for the most part okay. The PT Cruiser, however, was not. It was towed away.
It felt like hours for all the "police stuff" to be done with. All of our friends were at the White Rabbit for Andy's show, so we called Russell to come get us. I think our adrenaline was pumping and we were in a weird state of euphoria about being alive that we had Russell take us the White Rabbit. It was shock. We were both in complete shock. My head was killing me. But, we went and watched the show for its remaining 30 minutes. After that, I think the adrenaline wore off, and we had had it. Russell left to go somewhere else, but we called and said, "Please come get us. We need to go home." He was there in minutes. He was an angel that night, too. Everyone kept asking why we were there in the first place after the accident. Well, EVERYONE we knew was there! How else would we get home? Also, like I said, I think we were in shock and not thinking straight. It wasn't till the adrenaline and endorphins wore off that we started to feel the pain.
We went back to my house and watched a horrible movie, The Confessor, don't ever see it. But we were making fun of it and laughing uncontrollably. Again, I think in a state of shock. The next day we were hurting pretty bad.
Those seatbelts we complained about saved our lives, but tore up our insides. Andrea has a seatbelt bruise from shoulder to waist. She has another giant bruise with a knot on the inside of one arm, plus aches and pains everywhere else. She also has a spot on each foot from where her shoes cut into her from hitting the clutch and brake so hard. Also, LOL, she lost half her pants. She came to a realization at the White Rabbit that the seatbelt had ripped off the zipper and the button on her shorts. A friend of hers told her she should claim those shorts in the accident report, too.
Me? Well, surprising enough, even though it was my side of the car that got hit, I have not one bruise. But, then again, I don't bruise very easily at all. Especially when I'm really tan like now. But, I was in pretty bad shape. My calf, knee, and elbow on my right side are pretty swollen up and sore from the door slamming into me. My neck is quite sore. And my right shoulder blade isn't really working that great. My greatest pain and fear though was coming from my abdomen. Everything in there still feels like it's just not fitting in there the way it used to. Like it's all swollen and bruised. My boobs hurt from the seatbelt. But, I think my boobs are what saved me from getting a bruise like Andrea did. However, I had clothing damage, too. That seatbelt split my bra right down the center!
Yesterday I spent nearly 12 hours in and out of doctor's offices. I had X-rays and a CT scan to make sure I didn't have internal bleeding. Well, everything checked out fine. Apparently, I've just bruised my organs and they might be a little swollen, which is why they don't feel like they "fit". I took yesterday off from work, and the doc said I can go back on Wednesday. Andrea's doc said the same.
And now she's getting dicked around and dealing with bullshit from the insurance companies. They still have to "investigate", which I know they HAVE to do, but it's crap. This young kid came flying at us. He ran a red light doing about 60mph. Yea, that fast. AND, he never once hit his brakes. They can't tell how fast he was going because he didn't leave any skid marks. But, we know. Plus, we have our two little angel witnesses. The older said to his son before we were hits, "That guy's going to run that light." Plus, I'm a witness, and the police said the other driver admitted fault. The cop said it was clear he was at fault. And, yet, the insurance companies want to debate it. I guess Andrea just has to wait till the police report is filed to prove everything. It makes me really mad at that kid, though. He wasn't drinking...he was just being reckless. I think he got a ticket for running the light, but he should have gotten one for speeding and reckless driving as well.
We never saw him. There's a giant barricade on one side of the highway and you can't see around it, and he was driving a dark car, so he literally came right of nowhere doing 60MPH!!! And there's no way he even had a yellow light. Our light was clearly green and had been green for more than a couple of seconds, which means his light was very much RED!
I know this is overly dramatized, but I've never been in an accident like this before. Hurting so bad, being so freaking scared. And, if he had been driving a truck instead of a Chevy Malibu? I might not have lived, and Andrea could have been severely hurt. The first thing that was in my head at the moment of impact was simply my daughter's name..."Gabby". It makes me really angry the way these insurance companies try to find loop holes to make the other party at fault. We did nothing wrong. We weren't drinking, we were following the rules of the road, we were even being cautious...Andrea kept her car in a low gear, as you should to make sure the light is green when you go under an underpass...and it WAS!
Things you have to laugh at or you'll go crazy thinking you could have died:
1. The accident happened right in front of a Mortuary.
2. Our clothes were ripped apart. Andrea had to hold her pants up at the White Rabbit.
3. The car was actually not silent as I thought it was after impact. Andrea said "Delilah" was BLARING the minute we stopped.
4. The windshield wipers were really creepy.
5. Andrea yelled at me to unlock the door because she thought it would open.
6. I had to drink nasty, nasty stuff and be injected with iodine for that CT scan.
7. Andrea wrote a great blog about "Mexican Angels", and how in San Antonio, there's always some little Mexican Angel that comes to help you out when you have automobile trouble. We had one. AND, we had his son, too...the Mexican Angel in training.
8. Can you imagine Andrea and me claiming her shorts and my bra on the accident report? Hilarious! "Um, yea, that will be a $40 bra and a $10 pair of shorts."
Comments
It's really scary when something like this happens. It makes you stop and think about your life, and how completely precarious it really is. I'm so glad you guys are okay!!
CYBER HUGS!