August 26, 2022
On May 20, 2021, Jeff and I were giddy with great news from his doctor’s appointment. He was given the 5-year cancer-free clear on his second bout of colon cancer, and I was out of pain for the first time in 12-years.
As we happily sat at the stop light to turn home. In an instant, we were being shot out like a rocket. My adrenaline kicks in. We were hit, and our car was sitting in the oncoming lane. I yell for Jeff to move before we are hit again. I immediately jumped out of the car. I noticed the rear tire was lying sideways under my car with the gas tank crushed. Jeff was jolted and dazed. He was ok but stayed in the car to gain his composure. A car pulled up, and the driver asked if we were ok. My response was, I think so; what happened? Did you hit us? He said no. The dump truck down the road, as he points. He excitedly explains what he saw. The 22-ton dump truck, fully loaded with gravel, was speeding over 45 mph and had no brakes. He tried to avoid the cars lined at the light, only to slam our car. The impact pushed us airborne 50 ft as it ricocheted us sideways, causing us into oncoming traffic. At the same time, the dump truck finally stopped a football field down the road.
Covid was prevalent in the hospitals, so we elected to pass on the ambulance to the emergency room. We weren’t seriously injured. As the adrenaline shock wore off, Jeff and I felt the impact. The following morning, I called my health insurance. They counseled me to urgent care with an x-ray facility. I was upset about my only arm. I had worked so hard to get back to normal before the amputation. Now to have my wrist and forearm swollen and painful. Jeff had a headache and a stiff neck. We needed to be examined. We were denied care at the urgent care. They referred us to another clinic. When we arrived, it was a chiropractor; what, for a wrist? All because it was an auto-related injury. It’s called Florida no-fault, personal injury protection on your own Florida auto insurance. I now comprehend and am discontent with the countless Florida commercials and billboards for auto accident attorneys. A chiropractor with welcome signs for auto injury on every strip mall corner. It is a nightmare. It’s a deception of innocent injured people.
Jeff’s neck diagnosis was a whiplash. He was treated 3 times a week for chiropractic adjustments. I had been diagnosed with a sprained wrist and was in a brace. While in Boston on July 9, 2021, for my follow-up and a revision surgery on my stump. This surgery was discussed post my amputation surgery. As a precaution, the surgeons decided to leave the extra tissue to avoid complications in healing. It was now necessary to benefit from a better-fitting prosthetic. This was an outpatient surgery, a stump tuck. In 4-weeks, it healed beautifully. While at my September follow-up for my amputation. It had been four months in a wrist brace and an injection since the accident. I had sprained many parts of my body and my wrist in the past. This felt different. When I turned my wrist, it would click and catch, snap like a rubber band. Any resistance to my wrist would be intense pain. The brace provided support but restricted doing many daily tasks, especially not having my other arm. Dr. Carty, concerned with my wrist healing, decided to order an MRI. They discovered that I had 3 torn ligaments, and my ulnar bone was jammed; the diagnosis was an 8mm positive ulnar variance. To complicate our life. Jeff had surgery to fuse 3 cervical vertebrae with metal brackets on September 24, 2021. He was in a restrictive neck brace and had weight and activity limitations for six weeks. I was scheduled for an ulnar shortening osteotomy surgery on November 15, 2021, in Boston. This would give Jeff time to heal from his neck surgery.
This new challenge with the limitation and pain of my only arm and the failed prosthetic fittings. The auto insurance and the Florida healthcare complicity. Our life was a blended series of Seinfeld and The Odd Couple episodes without writing a book on the details of this bizarre ordeal. I will leave you with your imagination. We did a lot of crying, screaming, and laughing. All in all, we felt lucky.
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