Sunday; fame, pain and trauma on the trail.

I got a whole weekend (heck a whole week) in on Sunday.

I got up at 5:30 AM (even though I had stayed up way too late Saturday night watching a sappy movie) and got my apartment cleaned, because I decided to be a slug on Saturday. I was so exhausted from the last couple of week’s fairs, festivals, runs, practices and races that I not only physically didn’t want to go anywhere, I really needed a day away from people. I feel bad about missing the party, but I needed some alone time.

I got packed up for the trip and firewolftracks and Suzi showed up. It seems that whenever I’m scrambling to get ready, EVERYONE calls me. I got THREE phone calls when I was in the shower. We never found Houston, who was supposed to go with us. I called him at 9:15 AM (we were leaving at 9:00 AM) and he didn’t answer his phone. There is a building with the same address of mine (mine’s North, that one is South) four blocks away, so we went and checked there. Then we drove by his place (can’t get in to the building) and called again; no answer. By that time, it was 9:30, and we were late to meet another friend in Olympia.

While I was trying to call Houston, (twice) Molly rang in. The first time I lost both calls, the 2nd time I left Houston the message and still got Molly’s call (she’s the person I let know where we’re going and when to expect us back anyway. As it turns out, my Essay about the murders and safety on the trail, was printed in the Tribune, almost in it’s entirety (they gave me 250 words more than they normally allow)

We never leave for these trips on time anyway, if it’s not shoe drama, or gps drama or map drama, it’s “missing hiking partner drama” Such is life… (I hope he’s OK, the last I heard he was heading to Federal Way on Saturday afternoon to get some printing done.

It’s a fairly long drive out there, but the trail was spectacular. The trail starts out with a gentle, steady incline, and then drops down to the Duckabush River after a couple of miles. We stopped at the river camp for lunch and to get out of the heat.

We continued up the river a ways, and hit the first set of switchbacks. OMG. I lost count, but since it was close to a 1,000 foot elevation gain, let it suffice to say that there were a crapload of them. We came up to the first of the “hump” overlooks, took some pictures and chatted with some girls that were backpacking. The only people we saw all day were the three girls backpacking and one older couple. There were two guys at the trailhead who bailed because they didn’t have a permit and I told them that yes, they would get a ticket there. So out of nine people on the trail that day, eight were women. I’m glad women aren’t afraid to go out and hike.

Then there was the 2nd set of switchbacks, which was about half the elevation gain of the first set, and took up Big Hump. There was another overlook. Suzi and I were still waiting for everyone else to get up the trail, so I took off to make sure we weren’t missing a better viewpoint on the other side of the hump (I just HAD to know what was on the other side of the hump) The “tip top” was heavily forested with no view. I walked down a few switchbacks and saw that the trail descended quickly back down to the river. Not wanting to add too much more climbing to a nine mile trip, I headed back up the hump, got the girls and headed out.

That’s when it happened. I was already at the top of the last hill going out, when I heard my name and Tony and Suzi calling back to our other friend. It’s never good to hear “HELP”. I ran back down the hill, and discovered that she had taken a nasty fall, (thankfully, not on the switchbacks) and had badly dislocated/jammed her shoulder. I got her checked out, no head injury, able to walk (sort of) and got her arm and shoulder immobilized with straps that firewolftracks had brought with her. It was a long haul out of there. There were some complications and difficulties that I won’t go into here, but let’s just say it wasn’t easy and was somewhat traumatic for all of us.

I know that she was originally a bit upset that I would not reset the shoulder. Yes, I was a medic for 13 years and yes I know how to do it. But I also know that if she had a fracture, I could made it worse, and/or caused damage to blood vessels or nerves. If tired it without knowing what was where, I could have crippled her for life. That is not a field procedure (you need X-rays first) unless you are too far out to get to help and it's the only way to get someone out to help. She could move her fingers and she had good capillary refill. It wasn’t even regular dislocation, it was jammed up into the socket. It’s horrible to let someone be in that much pain, but it’s more horrible to cause them irreparable harm.

We got her out and to the emergency room and had a friend of hers who could stay and help get her care and take care of her. There was no way we could leave her in Olympia without someone to take care of her.

Between carrying two packs (mine and hers) and helping support her weight, my right shoulder (the “good” one that wasn’t fractured in the car accident) is in a lot of pain and my back is killing me. I didn’t get to “sleep” until about 4:00 AM, and I kept waking up.

I’m calling her at 10:00 AM to see how she is doing. (I’m sure she’s heavily drugged)

In any event, it was an accident that could have happened to anyone. Tony, Suzi and I kept our cool and worked as a team to get her out and to the medical help she needed.

It is a GREAT hike, here are some pictures.

Checking out the view from the lower overlook.



First view of the River



Our new snake friend



HUCKLEBERRIES!!!



Mossy arch over the trail



The rest of the pictures are available here:

http://www.wildcelticrose.net/lisasplace/duckabushbighump.html

Well, my break’s over, so it’s time for me to get back to work. I hope I can make it through the day. I really feel like crap!

~L

It has NOT been a good day at work.

I just got caught up with a stack of gear emails after a near 4 hour power outage caused by a worker on our warehouse expansion getting electrocuted. He is currently in the burn unit at Harborview Medical Center after hitting an underground power line with an auger. Hopefully, it’s only superficial burns (bad enough, but not as bad as internal damage electrocution can cause)

After having been a medic, including a flight medic on the same type of helicopter that came and picked him up, I’m just sick to my stomach thinking about the pain he is going through. Burns are horrible.

We were allowed to stay (actually, we were basically in "lock down") in the offices but the warehouse had to be evacuated because it’s not safe with things stacked that high in the dark and/or if there’s a risk of fire/explosion or if conveyer belts suddenly start up again. There was a volleyball game going on in our recreation area, but as much as I love volleyball, I just couldn’t get myself up for a game, after watching that helicopter fly away.

It blew or local transformer and overloaded another one that took out half the traffic signals and business on our side of town. Our phones still worked, so I did my best to answer product questions in the dark with no access to my computer files and technical information. We heard a 2nd helicopter well after the medic one left, so the news was probably out here.

I guess there’s not really much else to say.

~L

One of our Tacoma Mountaineers, very active in the organziation was killed in a tragic Montain climbing accident...

http://www.komotv.com/stories/37884.htm

Overall, there were 3 deaths in the accident, only 2 of the 3 fatalities have been identified to the media.

It was a Mountaineer sponsored trip.

I just don't know what else to say.

I was going to write a post about the weekend and some other things.

I need to process this first...

~L

Since scarletdemon shared her "seatbelt burn" pictures and the pic of what was left of her car, I thoght I'd share mine. The seatbelt may have fractured my shoulder, ribs and sternum, but it and the airbag saved my life. I could not have survived such a forceful head on impact without them. PLEASE people... WEAR YOUR SEATBELTS !!!



And one of my fractured knees from the engine deciding that it liked the passenger compartment better than the engine compartment...



I still have no idea how my groin got bruised (panty shot for you pervert men...)



What was left of my car after being sideswiped at 75 mph and spun out, head on into a concrete wall...



So you see... We are "sisters in pain"

And now... [drum roll please] the infamous "Unitarian Jihad meme" (and I are one)

My Unitarian
Jihad Name is: Sister/Brother Sword of Warm Humanitarianism.

Get yours.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/08/DDG27BCFLG1.DTL


Now, for a nap. I have more (details to follow; I am too tired from said details to post about them) debauchery to engage in this evening...

~L

01/14/05 7:30 PM

It’s Friday after a hideously long day at work (11 hours) and I can’t update my frikkin live journal.

I’m going to go into withdrawals… (damn the gremlins)

I’m exhausted from a long day and my long day yesterday, but I have some work to do on the website for “S”.

I got one of the perks of being a permanent REI employee today. I now qualify to be a “field tester” and just received a totally rockin’ prototype technical jacket designed for aerobic outdoor activity to test and report on. Woot !

01/15/04

I was having serious “LJ withdrawals” today. I mean really, I process things by journaling and it’s just not as satisfying to do it on MS Word and save it to my hard drive.

I had a great day at work today, although I was very tired because some idiot kids decided to scream, yell, party and piss in the alley at 2:00 AM. I called the cops on the little punks and the really cool thing is that the owner of the building they were in is the owner of the building I live in. I’ll let someone else complain this time, and if it happens again, then I’ll pitch a bitch.

I had an exceptionally pissed off (and ignorant redneck) customer who was really pissed off about a backorder being delayed. We are completely at the mercy of our vendors on this and the particular item in question was more popular than expected and the vendor has pushed back the backorder date (and he was ordering an extra large child’s instead of a woman’s to get a cheaper price). This guy was really pissed off and abusive over it and I handled it very well. Our support desk folks were standing next to me when I handled it and the rest of the room was listening. The support desk sent a major kudos to my supervisor and one of the other women said that I should “be a supervisor”.

I got home and spent about 3 ½ hours on the website for “S”. I’ve got a good infrastructure and the rest will be easy to tweak from here on out. The first day I worked on it, I spent a full 8 hours at work and then 5 hours on the website, including changing colors, fonts, layout, etc… Yesterday, I worked 10 ½ hours and came home and fell asleep. Today, I worked 8 hours and then worked 3 ½ hours on the website. He’s happy with the basic structure, so from here on out, it’s adding simple data and text and tweaking a bit. It’s not the color/font I’d have chosen, but it’s all about what the customer wants….

Here’s the URL, some pages are still under construction http://skeyehighphoto.com

The drive home was really nasty today. I got off at 3:00 PM and the frozen rain/ice storm that hit at noon was winding down, so it was pretty intense. I was going to have the girls over tonight for a movie, but the weather forecast for Tacoma and Olympia said, “STAY HOME” so we all did.

Here's what happens when you drive during freezing rain...



I’m pretty tired, so I’m going to go to bed early and go take a run in the nasty, icy rain in the morning to test this prototype. Field testing is a good gig, so I want to show what a good job I can do on this one.

So here’s the meme de jour…

snerked from enchantedpagan

I really can't argue with this one...

Actually, I think I should go to Amy's website and order this one...

You scored as A Too Sporty Faerie. Your super active and love getting people around you fired up too. Your generally an upbeat person who loves their sport! Your great to hang out with and can always think of something fun to do, but sometimes you may need to chill out for a little bit, which is okay because you can sit back and watch all the change you've made. See All Results/Comment </td> A Too Sporty Faerie 90% A Too Kinky Faerie 80% A Too Silly Faerie 70% A Too Sweet Faerie 60% A Too Astral Faerie 60% A Too Depressed Faerie 50% A Too Evil Faerie 35% A Too Serious Faerie 35% A Too Lazy Faerie 30% Which Dysfunctional Faerie are You? created with QuizFarm.com

~L

Words can not describe the hellishness that was my commute this morning.





I was one of the “lucky winners” that caught the worst of the road conditions. Those that started work at 4:00 AM had smooth sailing on dry roads.

Not so for the rest of us…

I woke up at 5:00 AM for a 6:30 start time at work. I heard rain hitting my window (it had just started), looked outside and was very excited not to see ice, snow or anything else that would make the roads dangerous. I checked the weather/temperature icon on the system tray of my computer (provided by our local ABC affiliate) and it said 34 degrees (and I beleived that why?). I was ecstatic at the thought of a break from the deep freeze and ice…

Ah, but that was not to be…

As I walked out the door, I slipped and nearly fell and cracked my head/broke my butt on the concrete steps in front of the house. The sidewalk and the street were not any better. I slid and skated to my truck

Freezing rain… How nice… For those not familiar, freezing rain is not slush or sleet. It happens when rain is generated in the upper atmosphere when it is just above freezing and then falls into an area that is well below freezing (like in the 20s) and turns into a thick, solid, often extremely dangerous sheet of ice.

My windshield was covered in a solid sheet of ice. Not frost, but ICE. This was when I should have just gone back into the house and gone back to bed. I very slowly crept towards the street in front of my house, tapped the brakes to see how much I’d slide (I didn’t) and was satisfied that I could safely drive if I drove very slowly. Everyone else had the same idea, and for once, people weren’t driving like maniacs.

Living on the top of a good size hill has its advantages in the case of flood, lahar, volcanic flow or Tsunami (all very real threats here) but not in the case of ice (momentum and gravity are NOT our friends in these situations).

I managed to get down the hill, around the corner and down another hill to the freeway entrance without any problem. Everyone was still behaving well.

As soon as I hit the ramp (elevated concrete, downhill, on a curve) my truck started to slide. (time to put sandbags in the back to get more weight over the rear axle) It was really more of a “slip”; I calmly steered into it, recovered and was fine (all those years of winter mountain driving have paid off, I’ve gone into and recovered from full skids without ever putting my coffee cup down, which probably still has John from Canyonlands traumatized) As soon as I hit I-705, the carnage was everywhere. Cars were smashed into the median, into the guard rails, into each other and one was upside down.

I put the truck into 4X4 (it won’t really “protect” you from the ice or stupid things done by you or others, but it does give traction to the front tires, which is important on a truck) and decided that 20-25 mph was a good speed in which to drive to work. I also realized that it had taken me 20 minutes to go two miles and that I was late for work. I called the support desk and let them know what was up. They completely understood and just said, “Don’t worry about WHEN you get here, just get here SAFE.” and then they added, “and this won’t count against you as being “late”."

OMG… The carnage was astonishing…

I-705 is this tiny spur of an “interstate” (WTF?) that’s maybe 3 miles long. I passed an amazing amount of carnage. I found out that about an hour after I passed that there was a 10 car pile up that shut the thing down) When I got on I-5 (very briefly) there were cars in the ditch, cars upside down and cars in piles of other cars (this one was a “mere” 6 cars, but it blocked both directions of the Interstate behind me) OMG… Don’t even get me started on River Road. It’s a nasty road anyway, and there were wrecks and flipped cars everywhere, including a smashed semi in the middle. Every now and then someone would try to pass me, see a terrible wreck and then back off. I may be an “ice weenie” but I had lots of folks following me at a safe distance because I obviously knew how to be safe instead of sorry.

I got to Meridian East in Puyallup where I normally make a left turn, cross the Puyallup River Bridge, bypass Hwy 410 and 167 (ugly interchange even in good weather), and take a back road (Valley Ave) into Sumner (the black hole this morning) I heard on the radio that Hwy 167 was completely shut down in one direction and that traffic in the opposite direction was being turned around across the median and diverted. OMG… What a cluster. That cluster backed all the way up onto River Road, so I took the long way around through downtown Puyallup.

I decided to go through downtown (where everyone was being VERY careful) and take East Main St. out to Sumner. It's a good thing I couldn't get across the bridge to Valley Ave, because there was a huge wreck on the bridge where Valley Ave comes into Sumner and I'd have been stuck. So back to the hell that was Sumner this morning. East Main St. turns into Traffic Ave, and then runs into 142nd Ave E which is the road that the spur road to REI takes off of.

OMG!!! Because 167 and 410 were shut down (other highways and interstates shut down as well) making Sumner “the vortex”. All of the traffic for those two main Seattle commute routes were diverted onto, you guessed it, Traffic Ave and 142nd Ave E. All of the frikkin commuters going to Seattle were diverted through the Sumner Industrial Park. I sat in traffic there, idling, for over 25 minutes. I wanted to scream, but knew that it was futile.

The weird and somewhat sucky thing is that it was only Pierce, Thurston and Lewis Counties (the South Puget Sound) that got hit. Seattle and environs North were fine (but they get the big snow dump tonight)

I made it to work at 7:15, ONE HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES after I left the house (45 minutes late for work). It’s only a 24 minute commute for gosh sakes. Since I wasn’t working a full 8, I was able to put in for a “no lunch” shift, so I’m only down 15 minutes for the week.

Now here’s the part that is completely my fault for being a dumbass. I have NO excuse for what I’m about to confess… I KNOW that in winter weather, that it’s important to have plenty of gas in your vehicle. I had plenty with which to get to work and back a ways before stopping for gas at the cheap place. I burned a crapload in that 25 minute idle fest on Traffic Ave. That bit me in the ass after I got off work. I only needed to make it 2 lousy miles (if that) to the Arco station, but didn’t. I ran out of gas about a mile away. I had a gas can in the back that had a tiny bit in it. I put it in the tank and only made it about another half mile; so I got to walk a half mile (no biggie, I needed the exercise) in the rain turning to snow to the gas station to get gas. The nice thing is that at least 6 people in that short period of time stopped to ask if I wanted a ride. So I got my gas, poured it into the truck (snapping the spout because it was so frikkin, freezing cold) stopped at the gas station to put a few more gallons in and headed home.

There was still a huge amount of carnage on the roads. Wrecked vehicles and tow trucks all over the place…

I am NOT going ANYWHERE tonight for any reason and that includes choir practice.

I’m going to take a nice hot bath, wash my gasoline soaked gloves, practice my fiddle, do an easy weight workout and get into bed early. I’m waking up extra early to get to work tomorrow. The earlier the commute, the thinner the traffic and the smarter the commuters...

Be safe out there folks; it ain’t pretty…

~L

I got a letter from an insurance company today regarding the accident in June in California.

I've been dreading the possibilities of lawsuits and other nasty stuff that happens in these really big pile ups. I've been in too much pain and was way too stressed out to even consider requesting my copy of the accident report. Between it being dark, everything happening so fast and some short term memory loss from shock and my brain slapping back and forth inside my skull; I wasn't able to tell the investigators much or identify either the vehicle that ran me off to road or the one that hit me. I was afraid I might be the "easy scapegoat" OR that it would be one of those "no one's at fault so everyone's at fault" situations where everyone goes after the person with the best insurance. I had rental car company insurance and my personal auto insurance (which according to the rental car company doesn't get involved)so in theory, that could have been me. I was the only one injured, but you never know when some low life will suddenly decide to cry "Whiplash!" if they think they can make a buck off of it.

I had one phone message from an insurance company about the accident, which I didn't respond to. I'm not giving out any information without a written request, a copy of the report and advice from my attorney (luckily, my Mom works for a law office in California where this happened)

I've been in too much pain and struggling in too many other areas of my life right now to deal with all of that (and the law says we all have a year in which to do so) so I've put it on the back burner in order to try to keep my stress level down, to heal, and to try to get back to somewhat of a "normal" life...

Well guess what the other insurance company (insuring the carload of teenagers that I suspected, but couldn't say with any certainty caused the whole mess) sent me?

A CLAIM FORM!!!

YES!!! THEY want to pay ME !!!

When I'm ready, I can get reimbursed for all these medical expenses that I've been having to pay up front.

I'll be in the office for a couple of hours this morning and then I'm taking our new Education and Outreach Coordinator and our outgoing EO Assistant on a kayak tour/patrol. It's a gorgeous day. The salmon are running, so we may seen them leaping in the air at the mouth of the river and will also see lots of harbor seals. We'll also stop by one of the waterfront restaurants with a dock for lunch.

My evening plans changed a bit so now, michealene is coming over to practice guitar and if I'm not in too much pain, I "might" try to go play (or at least watch) the Mountaineer's Volleyball game. I'm going to take a good dose of Aleve because the kayaking is really gonna hurt !!!

Well, I've got a long day ahead of me, so I'd best get at it...

~L

Don't forget... At the end of the week, I'll be locking entries of a more personal nature...

This means that in order to read “the good stuff” you’ll have to get a Live Journal account, let me know what it is, and have me add you to my “friends” list.

To get a FREE Live Journal account go to https://www.livejournal.com/create.bml

When you set it up, let me know your user name, and I’ll add you to my freinds list so that you can read my “locked” entries…

~L

Now my mom's law office and several friends who have been in the field, are starting to tell me to document everything and to be prepared to be in the middle of a big lawsuit (no idea who would or would not get sued, the investigation hasn't even been completed yet and none of us could really describe what happened or who hit whom)

Several people are also concerned that I may have long term problems from this accident, which can manifest at a later date.

I guess I was pretty naive thinking that I could just walk away without a big legal/medical hassle. I knew I couldn't, I just don't want/need any drama in my life.

I'm still not up to dealing with it yet. It's just a bit too much right now and I don't yet know what I'm dealing with on either front, so I'm just going to worry about healing.

I did take some pictures of my bruises and sprains today though... All they really show is that there was impact; it's the injuries that can't be seen that cause long term problems and the greatest pain.

One of the really frustrating this is that my freinds can't hug me without hurting me :(

So by popular demand (enquiring minds want to know)...

My knees...





My sternum (yes, you all get a "cleavage shot")



My lovely abraded left shoulder where the seat belt bit me



And finally "the crotch shot", my right hip and groin...



So there ya go...

My hip is killing me, so it's time to get my butt back on the couch...

~L

Well, I definitely over did it today. I unpacked (yes, I know I should have just left the suitcase in the middle of the floor) because this place is so small that luggage and associated travel mess makes it completely unlivable. I needed groceries. I threw out all my leftovers and veggies before I left, so that I wouldn't have a mess in the fridge to clean up when I got back and didn't bother shopping because I was going to be gone. Well, I wasn't planning on being injured and barely able to get around when I got back...

heronblues came over and took me to the grocery store because I'm still not feeling good enough to drive or carry anything up stairs (I need both hands just to stay upright).

WARNING !!!  What follows is some major WHINING, even though I know that I'm lucky to be alive and have been doing my best to look at the positive, and even and laugh and joke about it (such as having the rental companies insurance, not having head trauma, not getting slammed with side impact when I hit the median, having this happen at the end of the trip, and having it happen in between the homes of two very good friends who only live about 25 minutes apart) the pain and inability to even climb the ladder into my own loft bed or walk down the stairs without assistance is starting to wear on me.

Even though he pushed the cart, carried the groceries, etc... I still feel like crap. We stopped at the office so that I could show them I'm still alive and give Stan some material from the conference and after standing for about 5 minutes, I started to shake. THIS IS REALLY STARTING TO PISS ME OFF.  I'm an athlete (not just any athlete, a marathoner) for gosh sakes, I should be able to stand for 5 minutes.

My body is an amazing collection of contusions, swelling, abrasions, bleeding and "imbalance", in the office today, they said I looked "crooked".  Hopefully, my doc can straighten me back out.

That seat belt really kicked my butt (but then again, it and the airbag saved my life).  My left shoulder keeps hurting worse.  Between the abrasions, bruises, swelling and joint trauma, I have to be very careful about moving my arm and can't raise it very high.  I can't even play my fiddle (which survived the impact with little more than needing to be retuned because the bridge moved a bit and the e string peg got knocked loose) because the shoulder rest needs to sit on the shoulder that doesn't have any skin on it :( 

Not being able to play the fiddle really adds insult to injury.  When they evacuated me from the median to the side of the road, all I could think (and bitch about) was the fact that my fiddle was still in the trunk and it needed to be resuced before the car got hit again or got towed.

My chest and stomach are black and blue from the seat belt (which along with the airbag saved my life) and it hurts to move; actually, it hurts not to move.  My knees are about twice their normal size and are also black, blue and lacking in epidermis.  My chest and ribs are so banged up that it’s really uncomfortable to even breathe.  I have all sorts of other weird bruisest that I can't even figure out.  The ankle is starting to go down though :)

I'm also finding some muscles in my back and shoulders that I didn't know existed.  My right hip is in really bad shape and my pelvis is misaligned, which isn't going to help my ITBS when I am able to start running again.  I had to give up on the Sound to Narrows this weekend and the Eugene Half Marathon next weekend.  I'll be lucky if I can run the Gateway to the Pacific Half Marathon on July 11th.

When I was in the office, my boss looked at me and said, "This only happened less than 48 hour ago?  You don't even have all your pain yet."  He's right; Oh goodie.

Yet another thing that saved me was the fact that when I realized that I had lost control and could not avoid slamming into the concrete median, was that I accepted it, let go of the steering wheel, took my feet off the pedals, closed my eyes (knew the windshield would break, which it did) and went limp.  Most people try to brace and end up with broken arms and legs (hey all that paramedic experience really paid off)

Well, I need to get my butt back on the couch.  Now that  I have groceries, I can avoid the stairs.  Molly's going to come check on me after work, and I don't even have to let her in the front door downstairs because she has a key.

As much as I hate to take pain medication, I'm having to take Alieve for the swelling during the day and hydrocodone so that I can sleep at night.

[sigh]

~L

Sorry to whine, but this is starting to suck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Against all better judgement, I flew home today. I wanted to be HOME... I wanted to be able to go to MY doctor (and osteopath)

I'm a bit worse off than I originally thought. I could barely walk up and down stairs (or curbs) this morning. In addition to the lack of skin on my left shoulder and knees and the swelling in both those parts, plus my right ankle that evidentally got jammed between the accelerator and the engine, I have some really ugly bruises on my chest, abdomen and hips.

It pretty much sucks to be me right now, but it still amazes me that I survived that wreck (75 miles per hour is nothing to take lightly) The upgrade to the bigger car, the air bag, and "her" watching out for me must have done it. I don' think I'd be here if I had gotten the Kia I orginally rented; it would have folded up like an acordion. I told the manager at Thrifty Rent a Car today that his employee saved my life. The Dodge Straus is a SOLID car.

A guy at the San Diego airport today said it best, "We get more than 9 lives, we're Irish)

I'm not going to lie. I feel like shit. The only thing that ever felt worse than this was fracturing my pelvis in 3 places and my spine through the hip joint in the river guiding accident.

I can't get into my loft bed, so I'm having to sleep on the futon. I won't be going anywhere for a few days and I don't think I can get down my stairs (that's OK, Molly has a key to my place)

Here's the only pic I have of the car (and it's of the good side) the engine was slammed in to the passenger compartment, which is why my knees and ankles are injured.

I really am lucky...