Hospital #1

After what felt like absolutely forever, I heard a car and someone calling, “Cynthia?” I recognized Deb and she introduced me to her dad, Paul. Deb asked if I was ok and then caught a glimpse of my hand and told her dad. At this point, my hand was a mangled mess.

My ring finger was going practically perpendicular to the rest of my hand. Every single one of my fingers was pretty clearly broken. My hand was hugely swollen. Paul helped me into the car and told Deb to call Carol to let her know and then call someone about picking up my car. He then drove me to the hospital. He asked me if I wanted him to stop at his house to get ice or a towel but I just couldn't think of anything other than getting to the hospital. The entire 30 minute drive all I remember is that every bump in the road made me fight back tears. I realized after the fact I never really cried. There were tears but I never fully released and cried. There was no cell phone service until we were a few minutes from the hospital. Paul was so kind and kept talking to me the entire ride even though I didn't have much to say. When we finally did have consistent cell phone service I called Matt. The conversation went something like this:

"There you are!"

"Hi..babe..."

"Are you ok?"

"I crashed my car...bad"

"Are you hurt?"

"I broke my hand. I am just getting to the hospital. Can you call my parents?"

Matt headed over while Paul and I went inside. When we got there they bustled around and made me get onto the backboard. (Even though I had walked up the hill to call, gotten into and out of the car and walked into the ER...I know its protocol but it still annoyed me.) They put me up on a stretcher and put me in a back room. They kept asking me if I hurt anywhere else and poking and prodding me making sure I wasn't injured anywhere else. The only other thing that hurt was my right thigh. All I could think about was getting off the backboard and dying for Matt to get there.

When Matt did get there he gave me the best kiss on the head I have ever had. (Sounds silly I know but it was the comfort I needed.) He told me later when he saw my hand, his stomach kinda turned but he held my other one.

"I did good, huh?"

"Oh yeah, baby."

"Can you take pictures?"

They did lots of x-rays and CT scans. They continually asked me if I was alright or if I needed anything and all I kept asking for was when I could get off the backboard which they finally let me off as soon as they got the CT scan back. They at some point or another put me on morphine and an IV which were definitely helping. Shortly after the CT scan came back clear they got me ready to be transferred to Johnson City because Delaware Valley doesn't have a trauma center.

Having Matt there made everything easier. I hated when they did the x-rays and CT scan cause I had to leave him and they kept moving my hand and it was cold and in general was horrible. But when I was with Matt I had a hand to hold and someone to distract me. They got me loaded into the ambulance just as Gary arrived. They opened up the doors to let me see him for a few minutes. He seemed a bit of a mess but told me he grabbed a bunch of stuff from my car and brought it over to the hospital and gave it to Matt. After a few minutes, he headed back to camp with Peter and Becky and I headed to Johnson City with Matt following the ambulance. It was about another thirty minute trip to the hospital and at this point I was coherent enough to talk to the EMT etc although still in pretty significant pain. Shortly before we arrived at Johnson City I fell asleep.

The Accident

June 12, 2010

I arrived in Hancock just a little before 12 and was glad to be on time. I spent several minutes looking for the key to the house and feeling like an idiot for not being able to find the key. I decided to drive up to the top of the hill to call Carol and ask if somehow I was looking in the wrong place. I wasn’t but she gave me Deb’s house number to call if I still couldn’t find it. I started driving down the hill and when I got right past Tent & Trailer I felt the speed of the car and got nervous. I hadn’t accelerated the entire way down but had still picked up too much speed. As I started to make the turn I lost control.

I remember turning one way, a little too hard I guess and then when I went to turn the other way my tire must have gone in the ditch and so when I went the other way the car began to flip. I ended up flipping twice (or I guess one and a half since I landed on the roof).

From the start of the accident until I realized I was hurt, all I could think was, “Great! My car is going to need to be towed or something and then fixed and its going to mess up my schedule for training, etc.” When the car stopped, first I checked my feet. I was worried they would be tangled up in the pedals and I wouldn’t be able to get out. When I realized I could, I climbed out, through the passenger side window as the car was kind of leaning towards my window. Thats when I realized I had hurt my hand. It was at that point that I let loose. I screamed for a few minutes. Like hard core screaming in fear and shock and just general fear. "HELP!!! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!"

After a few minutes I got myself together and realized I needed to get myself some help. I surveyed the scene and saw my car on its roof, with its hazards blinking and my stuff thrown everywhere on the road. I found my cell phone and I grabbed my backpack out of the car thinking my wallet was in there but all the while worried the car was going to move again and scared it would fall on me. It didn’t but my wallet wasn’t in there. I found it a little further down the road. I grabbed my wallet knowing I would need my insurance and license later, plus I could use it as a splint until I got help. I started walking back up the hill with my phone trying to call 911. Twice, I had to sit down because I started blacking out but eventually I got to the part of the hill that has signal.

From there, I called Carol S. She answered the phone in her usual cheery way and when she heard my voice, she asked what was wrong and when I told her about my car (“Hi..it’s Cynthia...I...I..broke my car.”) she asked if I was ok (“No, I broke my hand”) and then I don’t remember the rest of the conversation except at one point I started losing signal while trying to give her my phone number. When I hung up the phone, I laid down on my back on the side of the road and began fanning away flies from the bloody mess that was my hand. I lay on the side of the road and the worse the flies got, the more I couldn’t handle it. I actually prayed that the Lord would take away the flies away and shortly afterward they were gone. (“Lord, I can barely keep it together as it is, please take the flies away.”) After what felt like absolutely forever, I heard a car and someone calling, “Cynthia?”