Friday, September 27, 2013

Evading Death, Blowing Minds

I awoke the other day in a not so good place, i was anxious and depressed and just wanted to be dead. Well, it apparently just wasn't my turn to go yet because I should have died in a series of terrifying events and when all was said and done I got away with just a body of bumps and bruises.

There are several things that I have taken from this experience:\
1. God has a sense of humor. I am certain that he said, "serves you right for even thinking about being dead when it isn't your turn"
2. Angels are strong and definitely protected me.
3. I am surprisingly calm in life or death situations.

OK, so for those of you who don't know what happened, I was in a car accident. I wasn't just in a fender-bender or even a t-bone, I was in a serious, airborne rollover.

For work, one of the things I do is pick up cars from the dealers and bring them back to our lot, Tuesday was just like any other day, drove down to Infiniti in Fife and picked up a G37 I had brought down the day before for a blinking tire pressure light. I was on my way back and for some reason decided to go a little different of a route than I usually take, never will I do that again.

I was following a large O'Reilly semi and as we got off I-5 to 518 he got over so I continued straight ahead and that's when the truck started heading back at me, I had no other option but to try and speed up a bit and maybe get by...I didn't. Almost, but the semi ended up clipping my back passenger side. The only thing I thought was, "I am in so much trouble", then I realized I had no control and fishtailed toward the side barrier.

Between the East and West bound traffic is an embankment, in the end, that was my resting place. I flipped over the barrier, just scraping it on the way, and then rolled/bounced three times until I was sideways at the bottom of the hill. No airbags went off and no glass broke, it was kind of a miracle.

Anyone who saw it thought I was dead, but I felt completely fine, just a bit shaken up, mostly in shock. A man ran down and kept telling my I should be dead and I had him help me hold the door open so I could climb out. I unbuckled and turned off the engine and then we started the pokey climb back to the road through sticker bushes.

My first thought, obviously, was to call my boss. (that obviously was sarcasm). Then I called the police and then my dad who doesn't work too far from where it all happened. The state patrol came, the ambulance came, I sent them away, and I slowly came down from my adrenaline high in the front seat of my dads van.

As it stands, I am back at work, light duty, and have some major bruises from the seat belt (thank GOD for those) and the steering wheel and a sore shoulder and head where I hit the window a couple of times. I am doing pretty well and I am the talk of the town at work.

I don't expect to forget that it happened or feel completely fine, I mean it was a traumatic experience, but I do wish I could stop thinking about it. It has been three days and still its all I can think about. I refuse to be scared to drive, but that doesn't mean I am not anxious when I get in a car. I am anxious, very anxious, but I don't think I have ever been so glad to be alive. God definitely was looking out that day and made sure to send some angels my way.

The Car

Front Drivers side

The Roof

 The back drivers side

Passenger side

Back Passenger Tire

This is where the semi hit me

The bumper inside the car

Front drivers side again

The inside pretty much looked like nothing ever happened



2 comments:

  1. Dear Ms. S-Benz:
    (Are you still monitoring this post?). I was in a roll-over car accident 10 years ago. The seat belts failed and I took out the left driver's side window with my head. The violence was shocking. When it finally stopped I remember not knowing whether I was dead or alive. So I held my hands in front of my eyes which to me meant I was still in my body. (How I have wished so many times since that I wasn't). I woke up in the hospital ER. Had surgery the next day to put screws and micro hinges in the left side of my face. I have never been the same since I looked at my hands. Every single day I think about death and how close it is to all of us. I am not the same. I can't relate to anyone who has NOT gone through something like this. Everything seems so banal, so devoid of substance. There's more to tell but I don't want to write if no one's minding this site. I hope you are and I hope you are adjusting to being different for the rest of your life as a result of your TBI. Michael

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Michael, I still do monitor this blog. I have found myself with a bit of ptsd recently and struggle mentally everytime I get in the car. I agree that you're never the same, the moment all stops and you question if you're dead or alive, it changes you.

    ReplyDelete