Accidents happen, life moves on.

It was Father’s Day and a beautiful day it was too.  I was just settling down to watch the final round of the US Open (a Father’s Day tradition for me) when my cell phone rang.  It was Marilyn, obviously shaken up telling me she had just been in an accident two blocks away.  I ran for my truck.

When I arrived I found a much shaken woman with no apparent life threatening injury.  Thank God!  A young girl driving an SUV loaded with tires of all things; nevertheless a very heavy vehicle had turned left right into Marilyn’s car as she crossed the intersection.  Marilyn’s car lost the battle and was dragged clean out of the intersection.  Both vehicles had pulled to the curb and the police had just arrived.

It took about 45 minutes for the police officer to take information for his report.  When he asked Marilyn to fill out a basic information form we realized that her hand had been injured a little more severely than we initially thought.  I had to fill out the form and sign it for her (this was to become a recurring theme).  The officer indicated that the other party was obviously at fault and asked me to pull Marilyn’s car around the corner into a subdivision which I did.  He then asked if we wanted him to call an ambulance which we declined.  I would drive her to the emergency room myself.

When we got to the emergency room we realized there would be a little bit of a wait, even on Sunday morning and since we thought that only her hand was the issue, we decided that I would leave her there and go try to salvage the car load of groceries that were starting to bake in the 105 degree temperature.  While I was doing this, Marilyn called our insurance company, reported the accident and arranged for a truck to tow her car.  Back to the vehicle for me and the tow truck driver advised me to empty the car of all personal belongings which I did.  The car was obviously totaled.

At the hospital I found Marilyn with a large bandage on her hand waiting to be discharged.  The physician explained that her hand had indeed been broken and advised us to see a hand surgeon as soon as possible.  After another half hour wait we were on our way to the pharmacy for medication and home.  Marilyn seemed to still be in shock so we made her comfortable in a recliner and she took a nap.  I of course, took a dip in the pool and watched the final couple of holes of the US Open; don’t remember who won though.

Later, our girls came over for dinner as was our Sunday night tradition.  We joked with Marilyn a bit because she seemed a little out of it which we all thought was due to the pain medication she was taking.  The girls left early and we settled down for what was an uncomfortable night.

The next morning, Monday, Marilyn was in a lot of pain up and down her back, especially in the neck area and her hand ached considerably.  Before dealing with anything else we took her to her physical therapist.  After about 30 minutes he told us both that Marilyn was going to be very stiff and sore because she was suffering from a bad whiplash injury and her neck was really out of alignment, he encouraged us to get her to a chiropractor as soon as possible.

Back home we dove into a whirlwind of phone calls to work, the insurance company, the tow yard, the chiropractor’s office, finding a hand surgeon and by early afternoon we were fielding calls from Marilyn’s office, clients and a bevy of concerned friends. 

That afternoon we made an appointment with a hand surgeon for the following day (apparently a hand injury should be addressed as soon as possible) and made arrangements for Marilyn’s business calls to be handled by her office manager who would then contact me if necessary.  Many wonderful friends wished to drop by and bring food for us which was both good and bad.  The food was appreciated but Marilyn was in no condition to receive many visitors, she simply needed to rest so we arranged to funnel all calls and food through a good friend who would schedule and limit the visits.  Thanks Herme!

The insurance company calls and questions were becoming difficult to deal with and we were receiving what we believed to be irrational requests; it was time to hire an attorney to deal with this.  We were becoming overwhelmed.  The attorney we were referred to arranged to meet us on Thursday but in the meantime suggested a physician to manage the case.  We saw him late Monday afternoon.  From the physician’s office we went directly to the imaging center for a complete set of back and neck X-Rays and to the hospital to pick up her hand X-Rays.  Whew!  We returned home to a wonderful meal prepared by one of Marilyn’s friends and tried to relax.

Tuesday began with more physical therapy and a trip to the hand surgeon’s office.  I had an engagement that couldn’t be broken that day so our friend Brit drove Marilyn to her appointment where she filled out all of the paperwork (thanks Brit!).  The surgeon spelled out the choices and it was decided that Marilyn would have surgery in order to save as much use and capability in her hand as possible.  The surgery, to rebuild the shattered knuckle at the base of her index finger and hold it together with 4 pins was scheduled for Friday.

We did find time for an hour with the chiropractor Tuesday afternoon (more forms for me to fill out and sign on Marilyn’s behalf) who took the time to discuss the ramifications of whiplash.  As it turns out, the brain is concussed during a severe whiplash injury and doesn’t process information as quickly or as well for a couple of weeks and the chiropractor strongly recommended that Marilyn make no important decisions for at least week or two.  She also informed us that Marilyn’s short term memory would probably be pretty lousy for the same time period, which meant that I needed to be the one listening to instructions. 

Thus began a seemingly endless series of trips to the chiropractor, physical therapy, the surgeon’s office, the case management physician and the lawyer.  Marilyn couldn’t work and was on short term disability, living on pain drugs and anti-inflammatories.

For 6 weeks Marilyn pretty much stayed on the couch and slept, if she wasn’t with a doctor of some kind or a physical therapist.  Rehab for the back and neck were ongoing two or three days a week and then after the hand surgery, rehab for the hand was needed three times a week.

Our daughters were wonderful and my clients were patient since my travel schedule was completely disrupted.

We cannot begin to explain the value of having a qualityattorney to assist us through this time.  He allowed us to focus on Marilyn’s health and try to straighten out our suddenly disrupted lives.  We did not have to take one more phone call from an insurance company!

It was the middle of July before we knew it and we were unsure just how badly our Peace Corps timetable had been interrupted.  There was some good news however:  Frannie and Nathan, two of our friends from the TEFL training class were going to come and visit us in August!