That which does not kill us.....

Well, I’m alive. I keep saying that, I guess to reassure myself or to make me feel better, since things could have been worse. So, car accident; two, sort of.
This was supposed to be my month to relax. I had just gotten my last Lupron Depot shot and I was on my way to see a friend in the Boston area. I had just made it through NYC and was on my way up 95 north. It was bumper to bumper, stop and go, awful traffic, but it was also 5pm on a Friday leaving New York so it wasn’t a big surprise. So, I was just noticing the message boards saying that there was 11 miles left of congestion and I felt this jerk. I kind of picture it in slow motion, the glass flying at me, me hitting the car in front of me…I remember that there was water all over, from the bottle I had been drinking. I didn’t realize the back window was actually gone until I got out of the car. I called the d-man and I called the friend I was going to see. The guy whose van was now in front of me (who had actually hit me from behind because he had “dozed off”) seemed to be limping and dazed. I was more or less just shocked that this had actually happened. My next call was to the insurance company..then the police.
From there it gets worse, at least from my perspective. The cop was a really nice, super jacked up state trooper who let me make my phone calls from his air conditioned car. The d-man was kind of freaking out, especially since he was about to embark on a sailing race but got off the boat in Annapolis and into his car after I called him. Thankfully I convinced him not to come all the way up! I had the car towed to the nearest garage; it was a mess-totaled for sure. I opted to go to the hospital since I had numbness down my arm and was sore. I figured I had a few hours to kill anyway waiting for my friend to get there from Boston. So, they made me get on a stretcher-protocol. I didn’t realize this would be my position for the next seven hours.
Once at the hospital, I was basically in line with like three other stretchers. I saw at least one other accident, worse-looking than ours, and it was a Friday in New Haven, so probably a typical hot weekend. I eventually got into a room and asked about the accident by about four people at this point. Then someone asked if my arm still felt numb. It did, so I said yes. Mistake. I was then elevated to trauma and moved to the trauma unit. I was warned that I would be examined by a lot of people but that is NO warning.
I found myself under a light in an area with a curtain being pulled. I couldn’t tell you how many people were actually in there. One doctor introduced herself and said that they were going to take my clothes off and examine me. Then some nurse started cutting my shirt. Okay, taking off and CUTTING off? Different things. I at least got to take my shorts and underwear off myself and keep them. The other stuff was apparently not important. Then they said I had to lose the necklace. I pitched a fit here, but they weren’t actually going to cut it. Another nurse grabs my arm and says she needs to start an IV. I fought this and asked why. Her response was, “You’re in the trauma center, sweetie.” Nice. She of course hit a nerve and a sharp pain went down my arm to my wrist. Still bothers me a little five days later. Then I had people touching me and sticking things on or in me, I guess. Finally, I had a gown half on and a blanket over me and my friend came in.
Now, from there I had an MRI, a CT scan, and an x-ray. Fine, those make sense. The workup I got by all of those nurses, doctors, med students I’m sure, does NOT. I mean, I wasn’t unconscious. What the hell? I felt totally violated. Strong word maybe but for real, I was more upset about that experience then the actual accident, and still am. I ended up having no abnormalities, except they did find a nodule on my thyroid (which may screw up my IVF cycle by pushing it back another month). I just hope this didn’t happen so we “caught the cancer early.” That’s what I keep thinking, even though my GP said the nodule is most likely nothing and not to worry about it. Anyway, it took forever and we didn’t leave until one in the morning.
So, after all of that, and getting rental car, we visited a car dealership about a used car. I still don’t know what we will get but my car payment of nothing is most definitely going up. This with the IVF bill looming. So awesome. BUT, it gets even WORSE..
I was on my way to the doctor to ask about the thyroid and a freaking DEER ran INTO the RENTAL CAR! WTF???? Now I am dealing with four insurance companies, two cars, one car dealership and two hospitals. Needless to say, this is NOT the month of serenity it was supposed to be.