A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT

On June 24th, on my way home from picking up my two little girls from the babysitter (I had to attend my grandmother's funeral) I was struck in the front of my car by another that had mistakenly gone through her red light. The hit was hard. Both airbags deployed. My two girls quickly unbuckled and got out of the car. As I watched them I realized they were in the busy intersection where this had happened. One of them is 11 yrs old the other is 4 yrs old. They were screaming in fear. It was around 10 pm at night. I was stuck in the car. I was in horrible pain. Quickly and out of nowhere, people began helping. A crowd gathered my girls and brought them to safety in front of me. A woman climbed into my car stating that she was a nurse and that they were ok and I would be too. Help was coming. The fire department was only a few minutes away. Police arrived. I turned and saw the driver of the other vehicle. She was upset but walking around. I'm glad she was ok. My right foot was in so much pain. I reached down and my hand became slimy with blood. It was dark but for one moment I was able to see my foot--it was barely attached. I tried hard not to panick. I had to use every ounce of my energy to hold my leg up in my crushed quarters. I prayed for unconsciousness to come. The nurse was getting phone numbers from me to contact my family. Suddenly a fireman was at my side. He was cradeling my head and telling me to "stay with him". I begged him to let me sleep. There was so much commotion and lights. I saw people lined up on the streets. Horrified looks on their faces. My girls were ok. I didn't know how much longer I could hold up my leg. They tried to get me out. Tried to open the door. Nothing was working. I was told they would have to remove the top of the car and bust out all the windows. They told the fireman next to me to get out. He refused. He said he wasn't leaving me. They covered us in tarp. The noise was horrendous. Glass breaking everywhere. It was hot and hard to breath. Finally the tarp was pulled off and the air felt so good. I continued to beg to sleep. My fireman wouldn't let me. They broke the steering off. They told me that I would have to be lifted straight up. I was so scared. My fireman told me to look into his eyes. "Do you trust me?" he asked. I did. As gently as they could they put a brace around my neck and a board behind my back and lifted me out. Oh, the pain! The fear! I was placed on a stretcher and my foot had to be stabilized. I begged, prayed for unconsciousness. As they started to push me they told me to keep my eyes and mouth shut. Whatever for I asked. I was being put on a helicopter. I started crying. Never in my life did I want to ride in one. I remember grabbing on to the nearest fireman's jacket with a death-grip. They had to pry my hand off. The helicopter was so cramped. My mangled foot was pressed up against the seat in front and my head was pressed up against something in back. I was right on the door. I think it was the longest 15 minutes of my life. I arrived at the hospital. I was told my girls were already there and they were being checked out. The confusion made me lose my sense of time. I heard my family. I was quickly being assessed. My clothes were cut off of me. I remember telling them they cut my favorite bra. I was being hooked up to IVs, poked, proded, asked a million questions, my foot was once again moved and I screamed. Somebody informed me my girls were ok and were being released. Oh Thank you Universe!! I had to be xrayed and have a CAT scan. That was horrible too. I was begging for pain meds. Finally, they were given and what a relief. I remember my husband, daughter, son, sister and brother-in-law coming into the room to look at me. They told me they were taking me to shock trauma in Baltimore (2 hrs away). Apparently my injuries were beyond what they could take care of. I was going alone. At this point I was pretty drugged up so it didn't matter too much. The ambulance ride was no fun. It was bumpy and I was strapped in. After that I don't remember much. The next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery and my husband, sister and brother-in-law were there. They told me I was so swollen and really looked bad. I was in no pain. Finally after I really started to wake up I started looking around. I was alone. I looked at my foot and noticed a mechanical contraption surrounding my foot and bottom part of my shin. I had seen these things on people before. I watch a lot of medical shows. Now I wanted to know what was going on.
I had broken both the fibula and tibia in my ankle area and had totally shatterd my small bones and even had some bone fragments missing. On the inside of my ankle area was many metal plates and screws. Basically they put my ankle back together. I have an 8" piece of metal going up along one of the shin bones. The metal fixture on the outside of my leg (called and X-Fix) has pins (screws), two of them, that are anchored in my shin bone, two that are anchored in the top part of my foot bone, and two that go directly through both sides of my heel bone. The is to keep my foot totally stable. Right where the foot and leg meet I have sutures that start in the middle and circle around to the back in the middle. I also have to cuts on the outer part of my leg where the surgeon must've had to get in to put some metal on the inside. I was told I nearly lost my foot. 50/50 chance they told my husband. I also had to be given two units of blood. There is someone out there I thank for that.
I stayed at shock trauma for three days and was then moved to a rehab. I heard it's one of the best. I have to admit, after the first week my pain was pretty much gone so I quite all pain meds. I was determined to go home. My therapist's were impressed with my work and I was allowed to go home a little early.
I still have the X-Fix on but it is coming off on the 6th of August. I will be fitted with a boot and will have to once again have physical therapy. Hopefully my foot has healed enough on the inside that I can start to slowly put weight on it. I have been wheel-chair bound and bed-bound.
I am not complaining. Too much. I believe I know why this happened. I know, for the most part, how I'm supposed to handle it. I know it could've been a whole lot worse. I am so forever thankful it wasn't.
I will walk again and with any luck I will walk even better. This was always a foot that gave me such pain!
The girl who hit me was only 16 yrs old. She was unhurt. I am thankful of that. I know this is a hard thing for her too.