The Accident (or, I Love Parentheses)

So I queried if anyone even cared to know what happened to me on the 15th of April and two people said yes and two is enough for me so here is a post on that. Anyone who is sick of hearing about it (and I don't blame you :P ) may read this and feel sick or go and do something else and avoid the sick feelings. It's completely and totally your choice. I, sitting before my computer, will have nothing to do with it. Only the words I write.
So, I shall try and make this short-ish and only elaborate extensively on the things that happened to me because not only didn't I get permission (and I never do so beware!) but the things that happened on that day may be personal to some others and so I shall try and flutter over them for their sake(s).

Some of you may know, and some of you may not know, that I, with the assistance of various siblings, interview one family, couple, or individual every month for my church's newsletter. I've been doing this for something like a year. It used to be the secretary who set up the interview and picked the interviewees and etc. but a few months ago a young man by the name of Scott took over. Our church's service is about a hour and a half long and there are two of them every Sunday morning. Generally we (my sister(s) and I) do the interview between services or after the second service but since we were interviewing the pastor and his family Sunday mornings just don't work.
Scott called ("rung") me up at the beginning of that week and asked if we'd be available on Wednesday afternoon. He said he'd pick us up about 11:30 and take two or three people to do this interview. Technically the job is Kelslynn's and mine but Kate often drops in. She enjoys listening and she sparks conversation and makes people give more detailed answers--not everyone can answer interview questions well on their own. And he said three so the obvious result was Kels, Kate, and I in his car on Wednesday afternoon.
When we got in he had the local Christian radio station playing and, lone behold, He Reigns was playing. Love that song.
My house is half a hour from church, and our half hour ride was both delightful and uneventful. I enjoy people who love to laugh and Scott is one of those people who loves to and laughs often. He spent about the entire ride either talking to and teasing my sisters or laughing.

Our interview went well, if I do say so myself. Kelsey asked the questions and I wrote down the answers. Fast and furious and messy was I. I love interviewing people because I learn so much about them. (Another girl in church wants to get a team and do interviews too. Which means that instead of interviewing every month I'll only get to do it once every other month. I'm rather disappointed, I'd rather do it every month, but I shall survive. She wants the job and I'm sure she'll enjoy it.)

We finished the interview and here comes the exciting part. So, we get back into Scott's car and prepare to drive home. Interview over already, sadness. Anyway. Scott was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and Kels and Kate were in the back. Kate was sitting behind me and Kelsey behind Scott. Kelsey's buckle was twisted, has she untwisted it Scott began to get a little antsy, like some drivers do when their passengers aren't buckled. As she fixed it she told him, "I'm trusting you not to get in an accident until I get this fixed" and he told her that he couldn't promise anything but he would do his best. (Just so everyone is clear on this point: I view that statement as honest and true. He did.)

We almost missed our turn. Not that it's important, but we almost did. That turn is the one that brings us to the big state road. 55 speed limit, fields on both sides. We road that road for maybe three minutes when we came to where another street (a county road) crosses the one we're on. There was, like, a total number of three cars on the road right then. A car in the "I want to turn left!" lane and us in the "I ain't turnin'" lane and a pick-up coming the opposite direction in his "I want to turn left!" lane. Left for him, right for us.
Now, I have said a few times --ignorantly and incorrectly-- that all cars have to stop except for the ones coming the way we were. So, correction, the country lane people do, the state people don't. The person in the car was turning to our left and the person in the pick-up was turning to our right. The pick-up must not have seen us (or wasn't paying attention, or was talking on his cellphone--the horror!) and just figured he was okay to do his thing. He turned directly in front of us.

Now, I have done very little driving in my existence and never at 55mph but I am told that you can't just slam on the brake. You're going too fast, apparently, for such an action to be remotely sane. However, in the slow-motion before we made contact with said pick-up, Scott made the car slow to 45-50mph and turned so that we didn't hit him head on. Kelsey and Kate remember Scott saying, "Woah," as he did this and I half remember that utterance. (If he hadn't turned then Kate would probably be in much better shape but Scott and I would probably have been in much worse. She sacrificed her arm for us. How nice.) There wasn't time to turn very much but we did slightly. I, being in the passenger seat, had an excellent view of the side of the pick-up as it neared us (still in slow motion) and filled the windshield with its dark shape. (I think it was a black pick-up, or dark blue.)
Interestingly enough, I wasn't nervous as I watched this truck turn in front of us. I knew we were going to crash but felt next to nothing. It's really hard to explain. I think it was one of those "I'm going to die now" moments like people get in books. My sister had much more interesting thoughts than I did, hers were quite simply "I'm going to Heaven now."

And then we crashed. Most of the actual crash is blacked from my memory. I remember the truck in front of us, a blurry bit where I was thrown forward, some of us sort of remember someone screaming and Scott and I think it was Kate but Kate doesn't remember screaming and Kelsey thinks that it was me (*gasp*), and then the next thing I know is we find we're still alive. At this point I should have said something deep and theological and probably unappreaciated about how great life and existence is but the entirety of my utterances were "Is everyone alright?" "I think so," and "Oh my gosh." (The last one I am rather saddened with. I would have rather not have taken God's name in vain right then. Or any time for that matter.)
The inside of the car was very different all of a sudden. There was a shattered windshield, a deflated airbag in front of me (I'm so glad I wasn't wearing glasses when it hit me!), a detached rearview mirror, Scott's seat had been thrown forward so the steering wheel was basically in his lap. The car was filled with foul smelling smoke/steam that made it hard to breathe.
We began asking each other if they were okay. Kate was wailing that her arm was "gone" and I got the fright of my life thinking she meant it was detached...amputated. I twisted around and saw that it was still there, breathed a sigh of relief, and decided she was in a state of shock. :P Then Scott asked if everyone could get out and I tried my door and it wouldn't open but gave at the second try (Scott's was rather ornery at first, too--I half-remember him kicking at it but my memory of those moments can't really be trusted). Scott and I got out, Kate and Kelslynn just opened their doors but didn't get out.


It was rather like the last time I stood waiting for the ambulance (except that this time I was glad to see them when they arrived, I wasn't all that pleased last time). People appear out of nowhere. They're mostly very kind and concerned and request if there is anything they can do. One of them was an EMT and I saw him talking to Kels. She was telling him her stomach hurt really bad and I saw blood around her waistline which gave me another fright. For the most part, though, I stood near Kate. She was complaining that her arm was hurting and would I please fetch her her shoes (one of them was rather mangled --I'm not sure if they fell off or she'd been riding without shoes, both equally logical) and would I please button her skirt, and yes, I would, if she would please just sit still and not move and I know, yes, your arm hurts, it'll be okay. Just wait, they're coming. And I stood there and cradled my right hand (which hurt like the dickens--worse, in fact) and talked to Kate. She told me, in an attempt to calm herself down, "I'm so happy, I get to go to the hospital now." (She'd never been there for herself before.)
The EMT was the one that summoned the 911 peeps, I believe. And Scott lent his cellphone to Kelsey and she called home but didn't get through so she called The Store and got Heather. I didn't hear the conversation between them until it was retold later but Scott said it was rather detached. :P

After what seemed like much too long the ambulances and fire engine and police finally arrived. I was brought upon to answer a bunch of questions and give the names and birth dates and residence of all the members of the car. I got asked if we were buckled and how fast we were going over and over. One bit I remember...
Policemen: And who was driving?
Me: Scott.
Him: Your boyfriend?
Me: No.
Him: Your brother?
Me: No, just a friend.


When the ambulance people arrived two of them came over to our side of the car and questioned "How are you today?" and Kate and I both thought that was quite amusing. I'm sure it's a great question to ask it's just a rather odd one. The ambulance people what's-their-face decided they'd need a second ambulance so they summoned another and then strapped Kels and Kate to boards and put them in neckbraces and all this plastic and styrofoam and Scott and I moved out of their way. Scott came over and asked how I was doing and if his nose was bleeding. It wasn't until he asked, then it decided it aught to bleed a little. They put the girls in the first ambulance and then got to work at strapping and tying Scott up.

Well they did that I was able to get a really good look at the car. I wandered aimlessly around it, I think. It had been thrown/pushed into the county road and was quite a picture. Parts of it covered the street, one guy was beginning to sweep it up. The whole front of the car was gone, or so it seemed, and there were engine guts ( :P ) spilling out onto the street. At this point I remembered the interview questions were still in Scott's car and I went to fetch them but the door wouldn't open and I didn't feel like fighting with it so I left them. They probably would have got lost or misplaced in the hospital anyway.

Eventually I got tied up as well. I got put in a neck brace and then was made to lie on a mat and got strapped to the mat and my head was strapped up with tape and styrofoam and then I got buckled into the second ambulance. After a moment Scott was carried in on a stretcher and wanted to know if I thought my parents would kill him. Of course not, sir! n
There were about six people in the ambulance besides the two of us. It's probably just a Owan thing but I felt really good when they started joking about who was going to drive! :P Anyone who laughs and is pleasant is immediately liked by me. Finally one guy said, "You two take her and you two take him and I'll drive."
I ended up with a man in his early twenties sitting by my head and another in his late twenties standing next to me. I got my blood presure taken and my wrist squeezed to figure out my pulse and...yes, indeed.
It was interesting, through this whole event I had no idea that Scott is a medical technician and works at the very hospital we ended up at! I had no idea 'til a little over two weeks later. Yes, I'm slow. So that's why the guy in the ambulance had the chutzpah to guess at his address! :P (No, I didn't actually think that then. I thought nothing of the fact that he guessed. Something else, later on, I thought something of.)

I'm told that Heather called home and got through and talked to Mom and told her and she informed all the little kids that we'd been in a car crash and that Kate couldn't move her arm and they prayed together. I'm also told that two of my sisters cried over Kate's arm for a very long time. After Mom left two of them made cookies and the rest made "Get well soon" cards for Kate. Sweet children. :D

Back to us and the ambulances...
The first time we came to a stop I slid forward (I was on a mat buckled to a bench, remember?) and, of course, the natural reaction to such a thing is to splay your arms. I jerked/stiffed and was told, "You're buckled in. You aren't going anywhere." :P
We arrived, and they carried Scott out and I waited for my turn under the care of one of the ambulance people. I think he said something to me but I've forgot.
Then I got carried out and placed on a stretcher and was wheeled into a room where I was poked and prodded. I got my blood pressure taken atleast half a dozen more time, was given a hospital bracelet to wear, had my right hand squeezed and pinched and prodded, got three x-rays, was wheeled about, got my temperature taken by mouth and then my ear, got asked if I was pregnant about a dozen times, got a bright light in my eyes, and did a whole lot of waiting. Some nurse or doctor would come in and do something and then make sure I had my call button near myself and they'd tell me I was welcome to watch TV and then they'd leave and someone else would come and do the same after a long while... Not like I cared about the TV! All I wanted to do was be given a really warm blanket and have all the lights turned out and go to sleep! I was so cold and my head hurt abominably. (Blah, I really am not partial to headaches.)
Finally they had me walk around out by the desk so that they could feel certain I wasn't going to pass out or anything. I took the blanket with me (I was wearing a hospital gown and cold, thank you very much) and I passed around that room once and they decided I was fine and so made me sign some papers and then I was released from their clutches! Hooray!
Just as I was about to be wheeled to my x-rays Scott stopped in the doorway and asked if my parents had been called and I said, yes, Kelsey called them and he said, "That's what Scott said."

Woah! Rewind. What?! That means--you're not Scott, you're Paul! *major shame* Yes, they're identical twins and yes, I should have noticed but...I didn't. I will say though that I had been in an accident not an hour earlier and he was standing across the room (I didn't get my glasses 'til two weeks later, you'll remember) and I didn't expect to see him there (yes, I didn't know he works there, either) so I think I should be given atleast a little slack. Did any of you think it was weird when I said that Scott asked me if my parents had been called after Scott was the one who lent his phone to Kelsey for just such a reason? I'm normally quite good at telling them apart, really, I am! And, for your information, Paul has forgiven me.
I haven't told Scott either this episode or the boyfriend one and, to tell the truth, I don't think I want him to know. :P (Only those of us who know Scott will understand this statement.)

On the way back from my x-ray I met Mom in the hall. She wanted to know if I was alright and I said yes and she wanted to know if I was sure (she knows me too well! :P ) and I said I was sure. She told me she had found Scott and one of the girls and she was off to find the other one. After I was released I went and sat with Kelsey and waited with her well she waited for the doctor to get back. Her foot was swollen and she had blood splatters all over the place (we finally decided that those were due to her smashed finger). They thought for a bit that she had a broken rib but after her x-rays they decided that she had just got smashed up a bit (lifting things, like Gun for example, proved painful for the first while) and her neck hurt (and still does--whiplash can last for years). I sat with her and Mom came in and sat for a few minutes and said stuff and then she'd go back out to Kate's room and then she'd come back and see Kels and then she'd go back and see Kate. Finally Kelslynn was released and was just told to wear the neck brace for awhile and see if that did any good (which it didn't :P ).
During Mom's first visit she said, "I'm glad God still has a plan for you" or something. Which brings various thoughts to my mind....yes, hmm.
During another one of those first visits she told us that Scott was quite officially depressed. :( Just think how you'd feel if you'd been the one driving when three teenaged girls were in an accident that left them all with minor injuries! I felt so bad for him. :( Later on he came and said that they'd seen something amiss with his heart in the x-ray so he was being hauled off to get a CAT scan. Mom said that since he was up and walking around he was probably fine but I got a bit worried anyway.
After Kels was released we went and sat in Kate's room (she had one of the special horribly-injured-person's room) and had been given who knows how much morphine by this time so didn't prove much for conversation. She just splayed around on the mat and talked about how she had a kink in her neck and things like that. :P Kelsey and I said random things to each other and I moaned about how my head hurt and she moaned how her neck hurt and I moaned about why must he be so long with his CAT scan and other random things... Nurses and doctors came in occasionally and took Kate's blood pressure about a zillion times and gave her more morphine another time and who knows what. They thought at first her arm was dislocated but then they decided it was broken (the nurse said it was one impressive x-ray and she'd been a nurse for eight years or something). They decided she would need surgery so they assigned her a 6PM turn in the operating room.

After nothing short of forever one of the nurses came and told us she was sorry but Scott was bugging her to come ask us how we were doing and Mom asked if we could "see" him (*snickers*) and she said yes so we went down the hall and visited Scott. He had about six different wires taped to him and a arm pressure cuff and those finger-pincher-things on his...finger, surprise surprise.
The CAT scan proved that nothing was amiss with his innards (whew). Kelsey and I sat with him in his room and talked to him for a great long while until he was finally released. (I daresay we all have a special bond now after being in an accident together and then spending several hours in the hospital worrying about each other off and on. Nothing quite like that.)
When the nurse came to release him Kels and I went out into the waiting room and waited. After awhile he joined us and we half talked and half watched Chicken Little 'til Dad came. And then Scott took us upstairs (here's what I thought something of: how on earth can he find his way through this maze and how does he know that guy's name?! :P ) and we went and looked at Kate's arm and Scott told Dad where the accident was and we messed with Dad's phone trying to get a photo of Kate's arm/shoulder (which we did get) and various other things like unto that.

Dad took Kelsey and I home at this point. I was a little sad to have to leave (nothing quite like having a sibling in the hospital and not being there--nothing like having a family member, really) but was so tired and my headache was so horrible that I didn't mind too much. When we got in Dad's van he had the radio playing and the song was Majesty by Delirious? and the second one was He Reigns. I still love that song. Both of them, really. We got home at six after having spent nothing short of 4 hours (actually more than that) in the hospital. I ate some three green beans and a cookie for supper and that was more than enough for me and then I laid on the couch and got on Facebook and saw that Heather had updated Facebook right after she'd heard about The Accident asking for prayer for the four of us and she ended up getting thirty-two comments on that status. All those who left comments of various kinds: thank you.

Kate went into surgery at about 6:45 and got out again at about nine. They knocked her out, painted her arm yellow, straightened her bone, put wires in it, sewed her up, and released her from the OR and back into her room. Or so I'm told. I wasn't actually there, you remember. I'm also told that Scott stuck around until after she got out of surgery and when he left he told her he would check in on her before he went to work. (I'm not the only one who worked the next day, you see.) May I be allowed to state that Scott was unbelievably good and kind and sweet all that day? I felt like I could give him a hug but I figured it he probably wouldn't have appreciated it so I didn't. :P
Scott's roommate: Did you hear the ---'s were in a car accident today?

That night I didn't sleep well. I had playback visions of the pick-up filling the mirror. Something like a skipping CD were the same bit played over and over....

The next day was really odd. I crawled out of my room like I'd just got beat up or something and then went around like I do on every other day which was really odd. It's not natural after being told "you're lucky to be alive" by various nurses and doctors and knowing that Scott had friends who died in a car accident a few years ago in that same spot, and things like that. Going to work and eating meals and doing various things like that was just plain odd... Anyway.

When Scott came to work the next day and stopped in to see Kate he brought her flowers and a stuffed animal and who knows what else. :) I assume at about this time in the pastor's home...
Mrs: Did you know the ---'s were in an accident yesterday?
Mr: No.
Mrs: Come look at Facebook.
So then Scott got a call on his cellphone which resulted in Kate getting a hospital visit by the pastor. How nice. (I believe this also resulted in a mass prayer request email going out from the church to all the attendees.)

Kate got home at about noon on Thursday. That night I bawled for a bit. Rather unimpressive, that. Atleast I managed 'til the next day. The last time (when one of my sisters and a moving car made contact and she was rushed off in an ambulance and I'd seen it all happen I only managed a few hours :P ). So, yes, then I called Kiwi on the tellphone and talked with her for awhile since I really wanted to talk to someone and talking to Kiwi is very nice. We talked for a whole two hours about a whole bunch of random things. She said all she heard at first was "car accident and ambulances" which resulted in her being rather worried. Aww! :)
That night Kate didn't sleep well and I was awoken at midnight or so by my mother and older sister. Apparently Kate had been sick and was as a result being fed Advil and being given more pillows.

On Friday Scott came by and asked us how we were doing and gave Mom various insurance related materials. His laptop and car were being covered by the other guy's insurance company (he, the other dude, was the one in the wrong, after all). Se showed us pictures that he took of his car in the car lot. He'd taken a video which showed in through wear I was sitting. It was...wow, we're really alive? :P The outside of the car was completely ruined but the inside was...it looked like us four had been surrounded with a protective hand well everything outside of that was completely ruined. Or, atleast, that's what it looked like to me.

I was glad when I saw Scott on the following Sunday and he'd returned --mostly-- to his normal self. That was really, really good to see. He told my sister's he was thinking about getting a mustang. That pleased the and was a bit of an inside thing. (He got a grey mustang sometime that week and on the next Sunday he said he'd take us for a ride in it once he got a seatbelt put in. Such hasn't happened yet and if he's forgotten about that then I am most seriously displeased. Anyways. Yes. He's so very pleased with his new car.)

And Kate got her wires out of her arm about two weeks later and got her sling off last week and will have therapy for a week or two and then she'll be pretty much on the last leg to normality.
I do wish Kels's whiplash would hurry up and go away. That'd be nice.

And I would say more about all the lovely things that people have said to me and things like that but then this blog post would go on for even more of an eternity and since when is that encouraged? Everyone has been so unexpressibly perfect. One big and major thank you to everyone. :)

And...if you read that all then you get the trophy for wasting the most time. Ha!