A "Little" Accident

I have had a few people ask me about my motorcycle accident and I am FINALLY getting around to blogging about it.


May 2006 started a string of bad luck in my life. That night a group of friends and I went out to Fat Cats in Provo for some bowling fun. After bowling, we thought a slushy from 7-11 was sounding pretty good and started piling into our cars. A friend of mine was on his motorcycle and didn't want to ride by himself. I volunteered to ride with him since 7-11 was just down the street and I hopped on. Tim was driving and I was hanging on tight as we went down Bulldog Blvd. As we were driving in front of the Conoco gas station we were t-boned by a car and went flying through the air and bounced all over the road. I landed at least 50 feet away from Tim (who was driving the motorcycle) and landed sitting up ON my broken leg. Luckily the Provo hospital was one block away from us and the ambulance was there very quickly.


In the ER we discovered that my leg was broken and Tim's leg was broken in the same spot (because that is where the car hit us), and my foot was broken as well as... exploded. I really don't know what other word to use to describe it. Anyway, I had 200+ stitches in my foot to put it back together and a rod inserted in my leg in place of a cast. The miracle of this accident was the fact that neither Tim or I had any sort of head injury. Neither of us had helmets on. We didn't have any. We had a bunch of road rash and bruises, but no head injuries at all. Pretty lucky. After 3-4 days of staying in the hospital I went home.

A few days after I got home from the hospital
My broken foot. The hit severed my nerves. That is why my foot is hanging all to the side and dead-like. I was lucky enough that the nerve endings rejoined and I have mobility. My "exploded" foot. This was about a week after the accident. I was having my stitches out. It looks amazing compared to the before picture that I won't post unless people want to see it.
This is the scar/incision on my knee. This is where the rod was inserted and then 9 months later extracted. My doctor said that was THE toughest rod removal surgery he had ever done. My bone had fused to the rod so much he would have thought it had been in my leg for 9 years.

This is a picture of my thigh. I know- it is the size of an arm. I had SO much atrophy from being bed rest for so long. The bruising is kind of fuzzy but it was pretty much a hand print from one of the doctors. This is bruising from the rod removal surgery. I had two of these big bruises.
My cousin broke his leg a while after me. But we were both in "casts" for a while together. My cast was better because I could take mine off now and then. Lol

I was bed rest for 2 months and was not allowed to put any weight whatsoever on my broken leg and foot. Within the next 2 years I had 6 surgeries on my leg, foot and ankles. I had 9 months of physical therapy and then 3 months after other surgeries. I went from bed rest to getting around in a wheel chair, to crutches and then to a walking boot for months! It was a long and extremely painful 2 years. And I am SO thankful for the talented doctors that handled my case and performed the necessary surgeries. I am thankful for the physical therapists and all their help with teaching me to walk again and get me to the best that I could be. And last but definitely not least- I am thankful for my mom and family who helped me so much through all of this. I have never received so much love, support and friendship. They are amazing.

One thing that I discovered through this, is that my true friends really came out. I had the greatest friends there for me. Polly who has been my best friend for years and years was visiting me and bringing me treats and keeping me company. My best friend Ambria was there with comforting words and knowledge on all the surgeries and pain medication I was on. And some other friends that I NEVER expected to be there for me suddenly became a huge part of my life.

I hope these pictures don't make anyone queasy. I thought I censored them pretty well. I had a picture from my grandma's cell phone of my foot before they stitched it up- then realized that some might not have as strong a stomach as I do. LOL.

After that whole fiasco, I had another accident. I was sitting at a red light and had been at a dead stop for quite a while when someone going full speed ahead rear ended me. Luckily my car was fine, and no one needed to go to the hospital. Just had a little whiplash and my license plate indented on their car.

Just a few short months after that- I was in yet another accident. On my way home from work I decided to take a different way home so I could get my car washed. I was driving in front of Target in pretty busy traffic. I was going to be making a right hand turn at the light and was driving down the right turn lane when a giant truck plowed into the side of me and threw me up onto the grass barely missing the trees. My side air bags deployed and hit me in the face. When I realized what had happened, I also realized that my neck hurt and my arms and legs were tingling and numb. I called 911 and had the paramedics show up. They got me out of my car and started cutting my pants because my knees hurt really bad. Both of my knees had hit the dash and had little bursts. I was taken to the hospital and had a few x rays on my neck. The first one showed a small crack so we had a few more. Luckily they decided nothing was cracked and I went home a few hours later. My whole body hurt with whiplash. My car was obviously totalled but because of how well it held up with this accident and the rear ending, I bought another car exactly like this one. Same color and everything! Pictures courtesy of my sister Boots with her camera phone.



That is my crazy history with accidents in the past few years.