Good thoughts needed....

So, my boyfriend and I got a call the day before yesterday that his mom (essentially my Future Mother-in-Law) was in a “minor” traffic accident. Turns out, it wasn’t so minor. She was just walking along the road at about 10 in the morning, (FMiL loves to walk everywhere. It’s how she gets her excercise.)not even crossing an intersection or anything, when she was struck by a car. The car hit her, she somehow tumbled over the car, and it struck a wall or something (realize I’m getting this third hand, from Mr. Jackal’s brother and father, I’m still not 100% clear on exactly what happened.) The driver wasn’t wearing his seatbelt and died. They suspect he was drunk, but they don’t know for sure yet.

Mr. Jackal has flown down to be with his mom. He says she looks like Hell warmed over. She has some cracked ribs, which makes breathing hard for her. At one point Mr Jackal said she had “lung problems” and the doctors were prepping her for surgery, but it turns out he meant that the surgery was for her leg (they’re putting pins or plates in) and the lung issue was just a separate thing. She’s also going to get plastic surgery on her face, because she has some deep cuts. She says she wants to get her nose redone at the same time. :slight_smile:

She says she was rather lucky. She went over the car. If she hadn’t, she might have been pinned against the wall or whatever it was it hit. Ever seen that M Nigh Shalamalan* movie where Mel Gibson’s wife if pinned against a tree? It could have been that scenario. So she was actually very lucky. If you can call being struck by a car in broad daylight “lucky”.

The last couple of days has been rough or me, as Mr Jackal and I decided that I should stay here with the dog and cat, and just wait for news. I hate waiting for news. I haven’t really been able to sleep for the last couple days really.

It’s funny, but FMiL and I get along fairly well. She’s an old hippie really. She’s into organic food, and environmental issues and stuff like that. She’s survived breast cancer not once, but twice! I feel better about things now, knowing what’s going on, but I still won’t sleep well til Mr Jackal is back home, safe and sound.
CJ

  • I know, I didn’t spell that right, but I’m not looking it up.

Well, Clockwork Jackal, all things considered, it certainly does sound as if your FMIL is lucky indeed. I’m glad it wasn’t worse.

I’m sending thoughts of refuah shleimah (speedy healing) her way, and for a quick return home for Mr. Jackal. And now that it seems that FMIL will be okay, I hope you manage to get some sleep.

I looked it up for you. It’s M. Night Shyamalan, but given the difficulty of the name, I’d say that you were respectably close.

sends healing vibes to Mr. Jackal’s mom and warm fuzzies and a swift tranquilizer to you so you can sleep

My thoughts are with your FMIL and I hope her new nose turns out really nice. :slight_smile:

Many, many years ago, when the dinosaurs didn’t quite roam the Earth but had not completely died off, my Dad (who wasn’t my Dad yet, therefore these were prehistoric times) worked in the HR department of a large factory.

For some reason unbeknowst to Man and Logic, every month he had to drive to another town, bringing two boxes containing the payroll calculation. Then the next week he had to drive up again and bring back the cheques.

The road was, and still is, not very long but windy and slopey. To give you an idea, now it’s an “autovia” (no-toll highway), for which the default maximum speed is 100 km/h, and there’s stretches where its maximum speed is 40. Beautiful scenery, though.

One time, his car was rearended by a bus. Because of something about action and reactions and inertia and so forth, which I actually studied in school but don’t wanna remember now, the poor car left the road and went nose-down into the river at the bottom of the canyon. The rescue squad were surprised to find Dad alive. Even more to find him conscious. When they saw all he had was bruises abd a bdoked doze, they told him he was too lucky for words.

Becauz ob de bdoked doze, he had to have reconstructive surgery. Dad’s nose was originally the Bob Hope model: functional but definitely not a nose to inspire odes, not even Quevedo’s famous Sonnet To A Nose because that one is to a very large blower, which Dad’s wasn’t. So the surgeon, who’d just come back from some courses in Los Estados Unidos, decided that he wouldn’t just put de pood doze back together but improve it. Dad now had a very fine aquiline nose, which kind of left his wife and family scratching their heads but well, yeah, they could see it was a prettier nose. It wasn’t a nose that looked like the noses of any of his relatives, but it was a pretty one.

While I’m not clear on the details, apparently it bled every time he sneezed, so the doctor gave him his Bob Hope nose back… but hey, your MiL’s doctor isn’t a newbie, is he? Is he?

Best wishes for you and all your family. Including pretty noses which don’t bleed when you sneeze :slight_smile:
The copyright for this expired a long, long time ago and the translation is mine:
Érase un hombre a una nariz pegado,
érase una nariz superlativa,
érase una nariz sayón y escriba,
érase un peje espada muy barbado.

Era un reloj de sol mal encarado,
érase una alquitara pensativa,
érase un elefante boca arriba,
era Ovidio Nasón más narizado.

Érase un espolón de una galera,
érase una pirámide de Egipto,
las doce Tribus de narices era.

Érase un naricísimo infinito,
muchísimo nariz, nariz tan fiera
que en la cara de Anás fuera delito.
'twas a man upon a nose bestuck,
'twas a superlative nose,
'twas a nose you could write with,
'twas a swordfish with a beard.

'twas a misoriented sundial,
'twas a thoughtful distillery,
'twas an upside down elephant,
'twas Ovidius Nason with a bigger nose.

'twas a galley ship’s spur,
'twas one of the Pyramids,
'twas twelve tribes of noses in one.

‘twas an infinite supernose,
so much nose, such a fierce nose,
that upon Anas’ face it would be sin.

Mr. Jackal and I have discussed this, and we hope our kids get my nose. Mr. Jackal’s family definitely has the “great big honkin’ schnoz” type nose, while I have the “small delicate slightly upturned button” type. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the good thoughts everyone, maybe now I can get some sleep. :slight_smile:

Good thoughts and prayers headed toward your FMIL and all who lover her.

twicks, another sturdy old hippie chick

Get to the store and buy her some lottery tickets, she’s clearly a very lucky woman!

Sending my best healing vibe your way!

Best wishes for FMiL and family, and you, of course. It’s sounding like she’s going to be ok and that’s great news. Keep us posted!

Continuing luck to all of you. Hope your MIL heals quickly.

Mr. Jackal called again. He’s coming back tonight. We close on a new house Friday morning, and he has to be in town to sign the paperwork. She’s doing a lot better. She has seven! cracked/broken ribs which is why breathing was hard for a while. No word yet on whether the driver was drunk or not. I finally managed to get to sleep late last night, and didn’t wake up til 2:00 pm in the afternoon!