Surviving a Collision

07/17/2007 7pm @ 7th street

I was coming home from work in my boss’s car. 
The truck I have been driving was in for service so he let me use his car to get home.

I was doing the speed limit traveling on a narrow country road I used often. 
When I was about 60 feet from the crest of a blind hill, suddenly there were two cars traveling towards me, side by side. One car was in my lane.

There was no where for me to go!...

I pulled the steering wheel as fast as I could to the right, at the same time put my face into my arm and braked. Before I closed my eyes I remember seeing a large tree and thinking “it’s all over now”.
Things seem to go in slow motion after the first and hardest impact from the car that was head-on in my lane.
I felt like I was tumbling, spinning and falling at the same time.
I felt and heard the impact sounds of busting glass and crunching metal.
Eight times I heard, and felt, a loud bang, and was jolted.
When the crunching and banging finally stopped I opened my eyes.
I was hanging Upside down against the seat. The seatbelt was so tight I could hardly breathe. I could feel the blood rushing to my head. I could see the blood dripping off me, and I struggled not to pass out.
I could hear screaming. I heard someone saying “you all right” and, “he’s a live”.
Then I saw smoke, and thought the car was on fire, I thought I was going to burn to death trapped in the seatbelt.
I yelled at a guy by the broken window. I told him “get me the fx&! out of here”. But he wouldn’t help me.
I tried desperately to escape. While hanging upside down I put my arm in the roof full of broken glass. My arm was messed up anyway by the look of the blood on it.
I made several attempts to lift my body into the seat by putting my arm in the glass and pushing. At the same time pushing the seatbelt button as hard I could with the opposite hand.
The guy was telling me come on you can do it, or something like that.
After several attempts the seatbelt finally released and I fell into the broken glass in the roof.

I tried climbing out through the broken window but there was a large picker bush in the way. I yelled at the guy to “step on it”. He did, and I fell out into the long weeds, grass, and debris in the ditch.
Blood was coming out of my head, arm, and ear.
What I seen on the street were car parts scattered everywhere. There were people everywhere. I couldn’t hear from my left ear because the air bag went off in the side of my head.
There was a woman talking to me, she put blankets on me. Another woman was directing traffic. I was confused and hurt. I couldn’t understand how I was still alive. And still don't.

Medical

They strapped me to a stretcher. The ambulance driver noticed my stomach was red, he wanted to cut off my shirt but I told him it was from a bug bite I had from the day before. My whole stomach and right side of my torso was red and hard. I can’t help but wonder if the bite did something to help me survive the crash.
I spent what seemed to be forever in an ambulance on the way to the hospital strapped to a plastic hard board. I was in agony with every bump. Why is there no air ride in an ambulance?
In the hospital a woman came to take a bag of blood from me. She just grabbed my cutup arm without letting me know. I pulled it away from her. Then she stuck the needle in a piece of glass that was still in my right arm. I pulled that arm away from her too. Then she stuck the needle in the top of my hand. She kept taking the needle in and out and poking, grinding the needle around in the top of my hand. I think she was trying to make me pass out.
My body wanted to pass out, but my mind was still on a high from being alive. I was still confused as to why I was not dead.
While I was in the intensive care unit what was left of a woman rolled in on a stretcher. She had tubes comeing out of every orifice and looked almost dead. Shortly after she rolled in they were going to roll her out to the hall. I spoke up and say leave her here and put me out in the hall. Then, another woman took me to an x-ray booth. And they x-ray the aching sh^!t out of me!
Later I ended up in line waiting to use the bathroom. There was only one bathroom in the emergency ward!
When I was finally able to use the bathroom I washed the blood off my arm, and the side of my face, myself.
They finally let me go. I just wanted to get out of there.
I was still on a, I’m still alive high. I was still confused and I felt indestructible. It was a feeling I can’t explain in any words. But I was not fine.
The diagnosis from my Doctor was Severe Whiplash. My symptoms were; headaches, memory loss, trouble Sleeping, neck pain, and back pain, chest pain, head injuries, cuts in ear and arm, trouble sleeping, poor memory and concentration. emotional trauma, fatigue feeling of being very tired all the time, , stiffness in the neck, neck pain, shoulder pain, pain turning head, looking up, sitting or standing too long, reaching over head, nightmares and driver paranoia.

The doctor offered Drugs and suggested Therapy. I couldn’t afford Therapy and as for the Drugs I refused to take pills. On my Second visit again he offered Drugs. He also suggested more x-rays. I told him they did enough x-rays at the hospital. Research has show that ordinary x-rays and even MRIs will not show this type of injury.
When I mentioned to him I was “losing words” he asked me “did you get hit on the head?” I said yes, several times, he said “you must have a Concussion”.
According to my research whiplash is a common diagnosis after a collision.
I finally did try the prescribed pills but they had no effect on my pain so I gave them back to the doctor.

Work

I cancelled my third doctor’s appointment and went back to work. I was off work less than a month when I returned. I was in a lot of pain but I went back anyway. I was worried about feeding my family, and being replaced on my job.
My injuries were causing problems. I was having trouble sustaining my previous level of work and was in a lot of pain. I was let go, laid off. 

Investigation

A local newspaper originally reported that I was at fault. Don’t believe everything you read in the news. The truth was later reported.
Another Newspaper reported “the young man was doing something that all of us do”. (Referring to the guy that hit me.)
This reporter thinks it's alright to speed and pass on a solid double line on a blind hill ! 
Investigation later proved that a Teen-aged boy was driving the vehicle that hit me. He was traveling in excess of 100km per hour speeding well over the speed limit and passing on a blind hill and solid double line. According to sources he liked to race on this Street often and was passing everyone on that road that day. Sources also say he was a Private in the Forces going to Afghanistan.
After he hit me, he then hit the vehicle behind me, and then hit a Cement barrier and hydro pole. He died.
Amazingly his passenger survived, and the guy in the second vehicle he hit survived as well.
According to Media Reports and Residents what is now known as the “notorious Mud hill” there’s always accidents or near misses. The city has allowed a scrap yard to setup shop on the blind hill. The parking lot is too small for customers and they end up stopped on the hill looking for a place to park. One resident's home is right in front of the accident scene said “it’s basically on a daily basis”. The Residence of this Stretch of road have been asking City officials for help. In an email one resident told them “Please don’t let anyone else die!!!
But City officials ignored warnings. They did nothing to remedy the situation of this blind hill. No blind spot sign, prepare to stop sign, reduced speed sign. Not one sign despite documented complaints, accidents and even death.

Insurance

I was told quietly from my Insurance Broker ( I have been with for over 20 years, and no claims ) that if I put a claim in with them, other Insurance Companies might not want to insure me in the future. So I didn’t, at first. After I spoke with a lawyer. He said I must put a claim in with my insurance company, and I did.
The initial application package consisted of five forms totalling twenty pages to be completed by persons claiming benefits, their employer and their health care provider. The insurer’s ability to pick and choose their medical assessor was somewhat circumscribed. An application can be considered incomplete and its processing delayed if an adjuster decides that missing information is needed to determine entitlement to a benefit. There are nineteen current claim forms that could apply to existing claimants. The large number of forms creates a paper burden for claimants, adjusters and other participants in the auto insurance system, and did.
Because the doctor checked off N/A on some questions my Insurance company made an issue of this and it gave them an excuse not to pay some of the Accident benefits required by my policy. It took 6 months for them to start paying some of the benefits I was entitled. Our financial losses were many.
The emotional trauma and stress to my family and I from the Collision have been numerous.
Many, many, activities of daily living, activities I performed prior to the accident have been taken from me. My strength has been taken and replaced with a feeling of pain, stress, and a feeling of uselessness.
I fear degenerate changes which may not immediately interfere with my activities will worsen with age. I fear that damages to me caused by the collision will worsen as I get older, and logically, will multiply exponentially.
Because of the Collision I’ve had to live in constant pain. I am no longer able to do the normal things in my life, fix, clean, clear, pick, ride, teach, run, play, dream, and sleep. Which in turn affects the lives of my family.
I had the ability to do all home repairs. I was a guy that could take a shovel and dig down to the footing of a house by myself. I would workout daily on a heavy bag and double end speed bag at the same time, build and maintain a very large garden daily, and maintain a 1 1/2 acre property with pool. I shingled a roof by myself, dug a 400’ ditch by hand, pile 1000s boxes of glass per hour onto skids, take a motor and transmission out in one day by myself, move tons of stone by hand, work extreme hours, pull 48' drywall tarps, and chain slabs of steel and steel coils.
How do you do, your normal things?
Question from my insurer (disability certificate): "does the applicant suffer a substantial inability to perform the housekeeping an home maintenance services that he/she normally performed before the accident?"
Answer: No, not my normal things.
We paid insurance premiums for over twenty years so we could be protected if anything should happen. 

The rest of this blog explains what happened next...

source:  http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2007/07/surviving-collision.html
 http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca