So my in-laws decided to invite my husband and I to the casino on Friday night. I am not a big gambler, but was looking forward to the break, and the hotel had a pool and hot tub, so that’s nice. We went across the border to the Shooting Star in Mahnomen. We didn’t really win anything, but had fun.
We were pretty close to home when disaster struck. I was getting excited to be seeing our daughter and getting lots of hugs when we all noticed a large extended-cab pick-up truck that was crossing the highway in front of us. As we were going around 100 KMs there was no chance to stop and I got to have that horrible moment of knowing that you are about to hit something very hard. When I close my eyes I can still see it all very clearly except just at impact I closed my eyes for a second. I remember thinking a few things, “please don’t let me break any bones” was the first and the second was that I hoped there was no blood. Blood freaks everyone out, including my husband.
My FIL did an excellent job of trying to brake and swerve, if the other driver had, at any time actually seen us and stopped we would’ve been fine. He didn’t. We hit the truck then continued into the ditch, narrowly missing the large rural electrical post.
I know better than to move around after an accident, but the car was smoking so we got out. We are all lucky because, generally, we were able to do so under our own power. I have to say, I never really appreciated the expense of a luxury/upper-end vehicle, but that Infinity took quite a beating and we were generally okay. They took my MIL and myself to the hospital for scans (we both had back/neck pain and she had shortness of breath). I knew I was probably fine, but also know that you don’t dick around with things like neck pain after an accident. I am very, very sore, my leg should go technicolor sometime soon and I have a large goose egg (from hitting something we can’t figure out, it’s on the wrong side of my head). I also can’t sleep much, both from pain but also from the fear of nightmares.
We are worried about my MIL; she has no memory of anything from today. She actually told my husband about the accident and then asked how we were because “she hadn’t seen us today”. She doesn’t remember the hospital or anything. They wanted to keep her overnight, but she is a stubborn idiot, so she came home.
BTW, does anyone know the likelihood of PTSD relapse? I went through it about ten years ago following a terrible accident in which my friend died. I am just a little worried, hence my fear of the dreams.
Isn’t it funny that every car accident sounds and smells the same?
