Five years ago today
Dec. 30th, 2010 09:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchYep, it's that time of year again... hard to believe the car accident was five years ago, and I definitely think it's the sort of anniversary that needs to be remarked upon at least a little bit.
Once again, for those who are new to my LJ, it was five years ago today thatrackham and I were on our way back from visiting my grandmother in Idaho Falls after visiting his parents in Utah for Christmas. We'd left Idaho Falls and it was wintry, but not too bad... but by the time we passed Pocatello and headed across the state toward Burley it had gotten downright scary: ice on the road, snow blowing and high winds. Thankfully, Rackham wasn't driving all that fast, so when the wind hit us and pushed us sideways off the road, we only rolled four times. We were also very lucky that the entire accident was witnessed by two wonderful gentlemen who pulled over immediately and apparently were already calling 911 before we'd even stopped rolling.
When we were loaded up in the ambulance, I was asked if there was anything I wanted them to find from the car... and I asked for my laptop (I later realized I didn't even have my wallet, but by gum I could get on the internet!). Turns out, in addition to the standard bruising and cuts, I'd broken my shoulder in three places and torn the crud out of the other shoulder (something that didn't become apparent until later). It also led to the weirdness of having the worst and best New Year's Eve of my life -- worst because I was in horrible pain and drugged to the gills, best because it simply felt so good to be alive.
Here's the surprisingly coherent entry I made about the accident the night it happened (typing with the only two fingers that weren't sprained or attached to a broken shoulder).
And the next few entries from later that week:
January 3 has some photos of the car.
January 7 has more details about the accident and the first week of recovery.
And if you want to read more, I've got most of the earlier posts tagged for easy perusal.
And now for the update on the state of things today...
Honestly, it's going really well. Certainly better than I thought it would, five years ago today. I'm still making occasional trips to the physical therapist, but for the most part I'm mostly working on things myself. My shoulders are both still weaker than they should be, still get tired way too quickly and I still have to be somewhat careful not to over-do it, because it would be way too easy to damage them again... but they're so much better than they were even a year ago. Case in point, I was able to ride my bicycle several times this summer for the first time since the accident. I do sometimes wonder if they'll ever get back to being completely normal, but I keep thinking back to how bad it all was and can't help but be happy with my progress.
And it's also amazing to me how much good has come out of this accident. I've lost another 85 pounds since then and I've become a fairly active person, something I never really was before. I mean, I even have an REI membership! And I'm involved in a sport! Sure, it a geek sport, but it counts. I go walking every day, we go bike-riding and hiking and I've seen things and places I never would have gotten to see, I'm healthier and in better shape than I've ever been in my life and I'm trying new activities I would never have even thought about doing before (because there's no way I would have been *able* to do them).
So, still not completely where I want to be... but everything is so much better than it was!
And one of these days I really do need to get around to "re-reading" Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I read it out loud to Rackham on that road trip and finished it the day before the accident... but it occurred to me last year that even though I'd been recommending the book to tons of people and had given copies of it as gifts, I didn't actually remember it. At all. (I didn't have a head injury, but it's more that some things became incredibly unimportant and never made it into long-term memory.)
Hmm. Might have to make it my first book of the new year!
Crossposted from my LJ
Once again, for those who are new to my LJ, it was five years ago today that
rackham and I were on our way back from visiting my grandmother in Idaho Falls after visiting his parents in Utah for Christmas. We'd left Idaho Falls and it was wintry, but not too bad... but by the time we passed Pocatello and headed across the state toward Burley it had gotten downright scary: ice on the road, snow blowing and high winds. Thankfully, Rackham wasn't driving all that fast, so when the wind hit us and pushed us sideways off the road, we only rolled four times. We were also very lucky that the entire accident was witnessed by two wonderful gentlemen who pulled over immediately and apparently were already calling 911 before we'd even stopped rolling.When we were loaded up in the ambulance, I was asked if there was anything I wanted them to find from the car... and I asked for my laptop (I later realized I didn't even have my wallet, but by gum I could get on the internet!). Turns out, in addition to the standard bruising and cuts, I'd broken my shoulder in three places and torn the crud out of the other shoulder (something that didn't become apparent until later). It also led to the weirdness of having the worst and best New Year's Eve of my life -- worst because I was in horrible pain and drugged to the gills, best because it simply felt so good to be alive.
Here's the surprisingly coherent entry I made about the accident the night it happened (typing with the only two fingers that weren't sprained or attached to a broken shoulder).
And the next few entries from later that week:
January 3 has some photos of the car.
January 7 has more details about the accident and the first week of recovery.
And if you want to read more, I've got most of the earlier posts tagged for easy perusal.
And now for the update on the state of things today...
Honestly, it's going really well. Certainly better than I thought it would, five years ago today. I'm still making occasional trips to the physical therapist, but for the most part I'm mostly working on things myself. My shoulders are both still weaker than they should be, still get tired way too quickly and I still have to be somewhat careful not to over-do it, because it would be way too easy to damage them again... but they're so much better than they were even a year ago. Case in point, I was able to ride my bicycle several times this summer for the first time since the accident. I do sometimes wonder if they'll ever get back to being completely normal, but I keep thinking back to how bad it all was and can't help but be happy with my progress.
And it's also amazing to me how much good has come out of this accident. I've lost another 85 pounds since then and I've become a fairly active person, something I never really was before. I mean, I even have an REI membership! And I'm involved in a sport! Sure, it a geek sport, but it counts. I go walking every day, we go bike-riding and hiking and I've seen things and places I never would have gotten to see, I'm healthier and in better shape than I've ever been in my life and I'm trying new activities I would never have even thought about doing before (because there's no way I would have been *able* to do them).
So, still not completely where I want to be... but everything is so much better than it was!
And one of these days I really do need to get around to "re-reading" Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I read it out loud to Rackham on that road trip and finished it the day before the accident... but it occurred to me last year that even though I'd been recommending the book to tons of people and had given copies of it as gifts, I didn't actually remember it. At all. (I didn't have a head injury, but it's more that some things became incredibly unimportant and never made it into long-term memory.)
Hmm. Might have to make it my first book of the new year!
Crossposted from my LJ
