Journal -- 10 months since being hit by a car

I was hit by a car, on June 23rd, 2009, while walking across the street (in the crosswalk, with a green light and walk signal).  Ambulance came and I spent several hours in the emergency room.  No broken bones, was able to walk out of the ER, but continued having pain -- lots of soft tissue kinds of stuff.  At the beginning, making the motion to close a ziploc bag hurt, I switched to a small purse and small water bottle because otherwise the weight was too much for me, and I was easily exhausted.  Mid-fall things began improving medically, and continue to do so fairly steadily but also slowly.  I don't have health insurance and my husband is a full-time student who no longer qualifies for student loans (because he is in the dissertation phase) but who still needs to pay $900/quarter to stay enrolled. 


I've been so thankful, throughout this entire affair, to all of those who have tried to make it all a little easier.  Friends who bring meals, who invite us over for dinner, games, and the use of their washer & dryer, who pick me up from appointments, who send care packages, who call to check in, who don't say, "I can't believe you are still talking about this," who collect money to pay a parking ticket for us, who plan fundraisers at church, who took dictation when I was too sore to write, who bring me extras from their pantry and a new heating pad to boot...obviously I could go on and on.  Heartfelt thanks to those of you who've been walking with me these past 10 months. 


I've been trying to write journal entries periodically with the thought that they may be helpful if we need to go to court.  Here's the latest one.

April 23rd marked 10 months since the accident.  Things are certainly better than they were back in early fall or even December.  The days where I'm completely worn out happen less often.  I can work in the kitchen with less pain during -- but I sometimes "pay for" lots of chopping, stirring, kneading, etc. with increased pain after  -- but I can at least usually accomplish the task.

My birthday was April 19th and we had a coupon for bowling so my husband and I went to celebrate my birthday at the bowling alley.  It was definitely tricky -- those bowling balls are heavy!  I started with an eight pound ball and went down to a seven but it still felt quite heavy.  I tried to move slowly and steadily and that seemed to help it not be too painful.  I felt pretty okay at the end of the day but boy did my shoulder hurt the next couple of days!  My wrist was where I was feeling it most while we were playing, but the shoulder, right in the center of the joint it felt like, is where I felt it when when all was said and done.  I'm glad I was able to do it and it was fun to be there with Jeremy but, man, do I wish that I could have done it without being in pain for 2-3 days afterward!

It's times like that when I wonder just how much this accident will just always be with me -- little reminders of it as I go about my life.  You know how you hear people talking about their "bad knee" or "trick elbow"?  Well, I "get" that more than I would've at this time last year. Though I try to think in more positive terms -- "That's my arm that's not as strong as the other."  :)

I'm doing physical therapy on Mondays and Thursdays and having therapeutic massage once a week or less.  I'll see my doctor again on May 21st.  At some point, my physical therapist will say that she's done all she can for me and we'll see what happens after that.