The car accident happened on Labor Day weekend around 11pm at night. Like most car accidents, it came as a complete surprise and dramatically altered the following days, weeks and months.
Immediately after the collision, I couldn’t breathe. I was in the backseat, unbuckled my seat belt, opened up the car door. The next thing I remember was waking up, face down, on the double yellow lines to flashing blue lights, my friend crying, and soaking wet pants.
We spent hours in the emergency room in Asheville, NC into the early morning on a holiday weekend where many people were vacationing to get away from coastal hurricanes. The hospital staff discharged me, but my friend was being held longer for observation.
We had no place to go, with no vacancy in every hotel we called. My husband had enough forethought to snag some blankets and found me a couch in a dark room to sleep on for the next few hours.
I ended up with severe costochondritis along my sternum from the impact of the seatbelt on my chest. My husband, in the front seat, went for a mountain bike ride when we got home the following day.
I couldn’t sleep, push myself up, or easily breathe. At times it felt like the pain was too much to handle. I took only a week off work, probably because I didn’t know any better. I needed help with most of my patient care. Physical therapy can be very physically involved (perhaps unsurprisingly), and there were simply many things I could not do. I had an amazing group of people who helped me during that time.
I was offered steroids and heavy narcotic medication, but for me it didn’t seem right. Your decision in a similar situation might very well be different. I simply rested when I needed to rest, got extra cushions on my mattress, and did the bare minimum I needed to get by with life.
It took about 6 months until I was back to my previous self. At that point, I could ride a mountain bike, sleep on a normal mattress, and even rock climb a bit.
Here is what I remembered about those 6 months.
I never really got angry about the accident. The young man who hit us admitted to checking a text on his phone, which caused him to run off the road, when he overcorrected, he came into our lane. If I did get angry about it, it never seemed to last very long.
I don’t really remember spending much of my time frustrated about the pain or envious of my husband walking away without any injuries. I knew enough to know that this kind of injury would take some time to heal and that my body also knew how to heal. There were times that I asked for hands-on care and treatment from my colleagues, but rarely did any of it help. Not because they aren’t all amazing physical therapists, but because what I really needed was rest and space for my body to recover and mend.
I’m beginning to think we have forgotten what our bodies are capable of. So in case you can relate to this, here are a few truly remarkable things about our body:
- It knows how to heal a cut.
- Your heart is beating and lungs are breathing right now without your command or direction.
- Your body signals to you when it’s thirsty, when it’s tired, and when it’s hungry.
- Your body tells you when it’s hot, when it’s cold, when it’s completely comfortable.
- You can feel the warmth of a hug on your skin and on your heart.
- You come into this world without being able to do much at all for yourself, and somehow you learn to roll, sit, walk, run, jump, speak, and sing.
You and your body are truly amazing.
When it feels like whatever you are dealing with is too much, know that you can handle it.
If you are currently struggling with health, stress, or anxiety related challenges, let me know. Maybe I can help or point you in a direction that could be beneficial.
With love,
KC