Post by Ninara Poll on May 18, 2009 4:39:58 GMT -5
I want to kill someone.
A particular someone.
I want to vivisect said person.
Without anaesthesia.
Why?
On the morning of May 7th, my dad was driving my mom to her workplace (she doesn't drive), after which he was going to go administer his last final exam of the semester (he's a college professor). Traffic was light, and he was driving along as he usually does -- no speeding, defensively, watching out to make sure he's safe, especially since his usual route now takes him through road construction -- when some sort of truck on his left decided to switch lanes without bothering to check to see if anyone was in the other lane.
To call what happened a sideswipe collision is an understatement. The impact sent the remnants of the car across his side of the road, down a median (causing the car to flip), across two lanes of oncoming traffic, and onto an embankment (more flipping and rolling ensued), where it came to rest upside down. My father took most of the impact, as it was on the driver's side, and almost died. He suffered a 4 centimeter scalping, compression fractures to various thoracic and lumbar vertebrae and to C2, a broken rib (1st or 3rd rib, I'm still unclear), a severe concussion, temporary paralysis, cuts and bruising all over (one cut near the corner of the right eye had to be stitched) and the dens of the C2 vertebra was sheared clean off the body of the vertebra -- this is what almost killed him. (Go look this up in an anatomical reference. I'm too agitated to explain the injury right now). My mother has a severe concussion, cuts and brusing bodywide, strained neck and shoulder muscles and tendons, and a possible injury to the articulation of the jaw (and she already suffers from TMJ).
The best part?
The driver of the other vehicle drove off.
I was notified on the 9th, when my dad was still in ICU, and needless to say I was terrified. I got to my parents' house and then the hospital as quickly as I could (I live a little over 90 minutes away). I found out my mom had been evaluated and discharged the day of the accident, as she had no life-threatening injuries, and that my dad had declined emergency spinal surgery to avoid the possible complications of said procedure (such as paralysis). I also got to hear for the first time the story of what happened. Apparently after the accident, my mom immediately started screaming for help and evaluating my dad as best she could (she's a retired nurse), and once she noticed the missing scalp, applied pressure to slow the bleeding (head wounds BLEED A LOT). The accident was close enough to the construction zone that the workers called 911 immediately and tried to help as best they could, and once paramedics and police were there, my mom was cut loose and both she and my dad were transported to hospital. She got home from the hospital via taxi after being discharged.
The next few days are a bit of a blur for me. My dad had to have a skin graft (taken from his hip) to cover the scalp wound. I took care of my mom the best I could and took her to the hospital as often as I could.
My dad was discharged from the hospital last week in a neck brace that looks like a modernization of late medieval neck and chest plate. Both he and my mom are healing well (their black eyes are vanishing extremely quickly), and he's walking, but there is still a chance he will need surgery to reattach the dens to the axis, in which case he will lose quite a bit of mobility in the neck. Considering how devestating the accident was, and how awful the potential injuries are, they both are extremely lucky to have the injuries they have. As I've been telling everyone I know irl, "It shouldn't have happened, I hate that it happened, but since it did, it happened in the best way possible, and considering their injuries and the fact that the car crossed oncoming traffic, it could have been so much more worse." I'm so grateful and happy that they're alive, and I hope the bastard who caused this accident is caught. I fear, though, that he never will be, and I am terrified that he might cause another, fatal accident. But for now I am rejoicing in my parents being alive.
NP
P.S. Said desire to vivisect is not to be taken literally, but instead as an expression of my rage.
A particular someone.
I want to vivisect said person.
Without anaesthesia.
Why?
On the morning of May 7th, my dad was driving my mom to her workplace (she doesn't drive), after which he was going to go administer his last final exam of the semester (he's a college professor). Traffic was light, and he was driving along as he usually does -- no speeding, defensively, watching out to make sure he's safe, especially since his usual route now takes him through road construction -- when some sort of truck on his left decided to switch lanes without bothering to check to see if anyone was in the other lane.
To call what happened a sideswipe collision is an understatement. The impact sent the remnants of the car across his side of the road, down a median (causing the car to flip), across two lanes of oncoming traffic, and onto an embankment (more flipping and rolling ensued), where it came to rest upside down. My father took most of the impact, as it was on the driver's side, and almost died. He suffered a 4 centimeter scalping, compression fractures to various thoracic and lumbar vertebrae and to C2, a broken rib (1st or 3rd rib, I'm still unclear), a severe concussion, temporary paralysis, cuts and bruising all over (one cut near the corner of the right eye had to be stitched) and the dens of the C2 vertebra was sheared clean off the body of the vertebra -- this is what almost killed him. (Go look this up in an anatomical reference. I'm too agitated to explain the injury right now). My mother has a severe concussion, cuts and brusing bodywide, strained neck and shoulder muscles and tendons, and a possible injury to the articulation of the jaw (and she already suffers from TMJ).
The best part?
The driver of the other vehicle drove off.
I was notified on the 9th, when my dad was still in ICU, and needless to say I was terrified. I got to my parents' house and then the hospital as quickly as I could (I live a little over 90 minutes away). I found out my mom had been evaluated and discharged the day of the accident, as she had no life-threatening injuries, and that my dad had declined emergency spinal surgery to avoid the possible complications of said procedure (such as paralysis). I also got to hear for the first time the story of what happened. Apparently after the accident, my mom immediately started screaming for help and evaluating my dad as best she could (she's a retired nurse), and once she noticed the missing scalp, applied pressure to slow the bleeding (head wounds BLEED A LOT). The accident was close enough to the construction zone that the workers called 911 immediately and tried to help as best they could, and once paramedics and police were there, my mom was cut loose and both she and my dad were transported to hospital. She got home from the hospital via taxi after being discharged.
The next few days are a bit of a blur for me. My dad had to have a skin graft (taken from his hip) to cover the scalp wound. I took care of my mom the best I could and took her to the hospital as often as I could.
My dad was discharged from the hospital last week in a neck brace that looks like a modernization of late medieval neck and chest plate. Both he and my mom are healing well (their black eyes are vanishing extremely quickly), and he's walking, but there is still a chance he will need surgery to reattach the dens to the axis, in which case he will lose quite a bit of mobility in the neck. Considering how devestating the accident was, and how awful the potential injuries are, they both are extremely lucky to have the injuries they have. As I've been telling everyone I know irl, "It shouldn't have happened, I hate that it happened, but since it did, it happened in the best way possible, and considering their injuries and the fact that the car crossed oncoming traffic, it could have been so much more worse." I'm so grateful and happy that they're alive, and I hope the bastard who caused this accident is caught. I fear, though, that he never will be, and I am terrified that he might cause another, fatal accident. But for now I am rejoicing in my parents being alive.
NP
P.S. Said desire to vivisect is not to be taken literally, but instead as an expression of my rage.