Catching Up, Part 2

One of the biggest things that’s happened since I saw you last was a car accident.

Headed to work one morning on icy roads (very rare in this city), I was sitting waiting at a red light. A car going too fast skidded on the ice. Even before he started to skid, in slow motion in my mind I could see the trajectory. Then he started to skid and I knew that I was trapped, that he was coming right for me and I didn’t have time to do anything to stop it.

He hit me head on. While I was sitting at a red light. Talk about being easy to prove fault to the insurance companies.

My bumper was cracked, but you couldn’t even see it from some angles, and no other damage to my car. It was the teeniest, tiniest car accident. Seemed like not a big deal. We exchanged insurance info and went on our way. Staying in the same spot where someone else might possibly skid into me seemed unwise.

By the time I got to my parking lot a couple of blocks away, I was a little woozy. But well enough to call the insurance company.

By the time I finished the call and walked into the building, I was very woozy.

I sat for an hour at an annual performance review. The reviewer offered to reschedule for a day when I wasn’t woozy, but I was already there.

Then I decided I should go home and lie down. So I did. As the day progressed, not only was I super woozy, but my neck was seizing up.

The next day I drove myself to the chiropractor. She said, “You have whiplash, plus a closed head injury.” I did not realize that a closed head injury is a concussion. I did not realize I should not be driving myself around. I did not realize I should have gone to the emergency room immediately after the accident. I did not realize I should not have gone to bed when I was woozy the day before, even though throughout my childhood whenever I’d bump my head my mother refused to let me sleep in case it was a concussion… because I did not know I had a concussion.

My neck took many, many months of chiropractor, acupuncture, and massage visits to go remotely back to normal.

The car was fixed a couple of months later, on the other guy’s insurance company’s dime.

The concussion was back to normal in a few days.

Except that it wasn’t.

Another cliffhanger for you. Tune in tomorrow.

🤐