21 October 2007

spoke too soon

Tonight I was driving to meet up with Jen and Aileen for sushi, when the car to my right swerved into my lane without looking. I swerved to avoid hitting it, tried to correct my car, but ended up losing control. The last thing I really remember in sequence is seeing sparks fly and almost hitting a semi. Then it was a whirl, a huge bang, some more whirling and more bangs... then stopping. Then, "Oh yeah I should probably brake."

I'm sitting there, coughing and choking on whatever comes out when airbags deploy, shaking, trying to realize that I'm perpendicular on the freeway, blocking two lanes of traffic. I roll down the window to breathe, put the gear in Park with some difficulty, and a gentleman in a truck slows down and asks if I'm okay. I can barely choke out, "I need help."

He runs up, pries the door open and about this time, another car pulls up in front of me and a man gets out, calling 911. Then I turn around to look at my car. The entire front end is smashed, fluids are leaking out and my front bumper is on the shoulder a few feet away next to a very large black mark on the concrete barrier. Cars are slowing down behind Pedro.

Everyone's asking if I'm okay, and I'm freaking amazed that I'm unhurt as far as I can tell. I ask the man what happened and he said I lost control, crossed three lanes of traffic and slammed into the concrete guard, spinning around a couple of times.

At this point I run back to my car and find my phone, everything's a mess. I call my parents and then start to survey the damage. It's surreal. I'm standing in the middle of the freeway looking at pieces of my car scattered about. At some point I realized my glasses were not on my face, so I had to root around and find them. I guess the airbag hit my face and knocked them off... I don't remember. They're bent and scratched.

Tow trucks arrive, the man with the truck leaves, and the other man who called 911 [Ike was his name, bless him for stopping] stayed and about that time I really started to freak out. Things were absorbing. I just walked away from an accident where I plowed into a concrete barrier going 70 miles and hour and I managed not to hit anyone else. He was kind enough to put his arm around me and let me freak out on his shoulder until the paramedics showed up.

When they did, they told me to calm down and said I was hyperventilating and didn't want me passing out. Only then did I realize I was feeling faint. I was NOT going to pass out in the middle of 59, thank you very much. So I started forcing myself to calm down even though inside I was frantic. Every time I looked at my car I couldn't imagine that it had happened.

They directed me into the ambulance and proceeded to take my blood pressure and pulse, asked if anything hurt, poked and prodded a little bit. They made me sign something saying if I felt bad I'd go to the hospital. I had calmed down considerably, and I started to notice the paramedics were pretty dreamy, haha. Also, the inside of an ambulance is fairly unremarkable.

By that time they had Pedro hooked up and I rode in the back of the police car to a gas station, where my dad, uncle and Frank showed up. The look on Frank's face upon seeing my car was... frightening.

I tried to rummage through and take a few things out of my car, and it looked like a bomb went off or something. Stuff was scattered everywhere, the glovebox would not close, the doors were not opening well. My rearview mirror had fallen off and I started searching for the St. Christopher medal that I kept hanging off of it. My dad always insisted that I keep one there for protection. We found it on the floor, bent.

All of the neccessary paperwork was done, and my uncle drove me home.
I walked into my room and with a horrible, sickening thought, realized that I very well could have never returned to that room. I am incredibly lucky to be unhurt. My mom proceeded to squeeze me for the next 45 minutes or so, crying and squeezing me some more.

I have some seatbelt burn on my chest and some bruises on my thighs. My entire right side is sore and so is most everywhere else on my body.

Even now, hours later, I keep remembering the sensation of spinning out of control and the huge bangs, and praying I wouldn't hit anything else. It's terrifying and haunting.

Now I have to deal with the insurance. I wonder what will happen?

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