May 11, 2014

The Wreck

This is what I have learned of my wreck. It didn't happen on the in-between road. It happened right after the left turn going toward the road that connects Greenville and Pickens. Even though this road has an elementary school on it, people drive too fast on it. It was after four so the school traffic was pretty much gone and no one actually saw the  accident. (Well, one of my students told me a girl from our school saw it and said I just fell over, but I have yet to talk to her.) My husband finally talked to the man who stopped. He thinks he came right after it happened. The other car was not speeding away. It was stopped and the man was looking down at me but drove away when he saw that my rescuer was going to stop. So not a man who caused me to wreck after all, and I could easily have been run over on that road so his stopping probably made me more visible.

He told Kerry that his biggest concern was that I was in presentation breathing. It was a term I remembered from my recently renewed CPR class. It's when the victim has slow, intermittent gasping breaths. We were instructed to start CPR when this is the case, which is why I assume he decided to turn me over from my face down position to my back and remove my helmet. (He just happened to be a volunteer fireman on his way to pick up his child from robotics club at the middle school.) When he did this I started to breathe normally. I probably owe this man my life. What do you do for a man who saves your life? A thank you note? A gift card? It all seems inappropriate.... as does nothing... I'm still trying to figure it out.

I didn't remember but it sounded familiar when people told me that they asked me for Kerry's number and I said it was in my phone in my pocket. I must have told them the code to get in, too, but I don't remember that. I vaguely remember answering other questions like my head hurting and that it hurt in the back of my head and that my left shoulder hurt; but I didn't remember any of that in the emergency room or when I got home. I only remembered when people told me and then I recalled it.

They removed the scooter from on top of my leg and a local towing company was called and kindly removed it five miles for a mere $230. They gave me a break because I was a local school teacher and didn't charge me another $200+ to store it for the 3-4 days it took me to go pick it up. Gee thanks. If I hadn't been unconscious, or at least not knowingly conscious, I could have had AAA tow it to my house for free.

We later went back and looked at the scene. There was very little in the way of skid marks or broken anything.. just some zig zags where I obviously tried to get control... and lost... but already on the right side of the road having made the turn. I really wish someone had seen what happened. They checked the cameras at the elementary school but the ones that might have picked it up had been eliminated a few years ago.

The bike itself had mostly cosmetic damage. The rear view mirror was  gone. (The right side was already gone when a rain soaked yard had caused it to fall before we got our paved drive.) The back tire was flat, a back light was cracked and some deep scratches on the left side, but other than that, it survived better than me.