I was in a car accident last Tuesday, and I just kept reflecting on what happened so I thought I would share a bit of the experience - as unpleasant as it was. Last Tuesday started out like a normal Montana morning. It had snowed the night before, but it was a wet snow, and there was a pretty solid coating of ice on the side streets. I was driving to work, and the highway really looked fine. But I was so wrong.
There's a part of my drive that goes through the town of Park City, Mont. It's a small piece of the highway that has a big elevation gain over a short distance. So the road conditions are notorious for getting very bad in that area. Well, I didn't see them change from clear to black ice, until I hit it.
My car suddenly surged forward in the ice and I started to fishtail. But not a little bit, it was a full swerve until my car was going backwards on our biggest highway facing oncoming traffic. I kept spinning around and my car dived off the road into the ditch off the road. My car flipped onto it's roof, and as best I can figure then bounced off a large hill and came to a rest upright. I initially thought the car rolled, but the damage to the car is almost exclusively on the driver's side of the car and the roof. I know I was upside down at least momentarily. But with all the spinning, and the flipping, I felt like the vehicle rolled.
When the car came to rest I was just in shock about what had happened. I looked around the car to see my broken coffee cup, missing phone... and then I realized that I was surrounded by airbags. The six side curtain airbags had all gone off, but the front ones had not. I was immediately panicked that the bag in the steering wheel was going to explode the way you see it in the movies. You know when someone is having a bad day, and they hit a little bump and then five minutes later it pops out on them, further ruining their day? So I got out of the car.
I could hardly believe it when the car door just opened. I was sure I was going to be stuck in the car, but thank goodness I wasn't. I got out, and looked around and just sat down in the snow crying. And man did my head hurt. A LOT.
It was only a moment later when there were four or five men or had pulled over who came to help me. I was so relieved that someone was there, and that I didn't have to try and find my phone to call for help. To be honest I wasn't even really sure where I was. Don't get me wrong, I knew I was on the highway on my way to work, but I couldn't have told someone a mile marker or anything like that. Thank goodness there were some more coherent people there to help me.
One of the gentlemen, his name was Max was there and is apparently a doctor. He was so nice, found me a blanket and kept me mostly calm while real help was on the way. I had a bump on my head that was seriously growing and I felt so sick, nauseous and like I was going to pass out. I'm still not sure if I hit my head on the roof of the car, or if the airbags hit me.
The Columbus ambulance and highway patrol came to help me. Really I can hardly express how thankful I am for the kind words, swift actions and helpful nature of everyone who came to my rescue. With the growing bump on my head and with how terrible I felt, the ambulance took me to the hospital. After a few hours I was cleared to go home, with lots of pain medication and muscle relaxants to get me through the next few days.
I am so bruised. Not only do I have this goose egg on my head, but my whole left side is completely bruised where I slammed into the driver's side door. My left shoulder is especially beaten up, because (the doctors tell me) I essentially "hung" from the seatbelt when I was upside down in the car.
We are pretty certain that the car is totaled. Every panel on the driver's side is crushed including both doors, six airbags went off, the tires had been ripped from their rims, the roof rack was pulled off, the tail lights are broken... and that's just what was clearly visible. Who knows what the under side of the car looks like.
The car was a 2008 Volvo XC90 that my in-laws gave to Brad and I when we moved to Montana. I am so thankful that I was in this car, and not in any other. I truly walked away from what could have been a terrible accident, and I believe it is because of the incredible safety features that Volvo has. I have such a new appreciation for how important safety features are when you choose a car. What if I had been driving a different car?
When all is said and done I am just thankful. Thankful to my amazing, wonderful husband who took care of me and TONS of paperwork while I was being treated at the hospital, and at home. Thankful to the Columbus rescue team who took care of me, and to the staff who held my hand while I cried at the hospital and gave me the medication to feel better. Thankful to my mother-in-law and father-in-law who gave us a car that may have saved my life.
So now I'm at home, medicated and recovering. We will figure out the car, either it will get fixed, or we will have to buy another one. Either way, life is going to be okay.
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