Part 2
Part 3
Part 5
Yep... It's all true. Some people do remember past lives.
![]() | You are viewing Log in Create a LiveJournal Account Learn more | Explore LJ: Life Entertainment Music Culture News & Politics Technology |
| November 2008 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |

What an interesting journey this is
Part 3
On Saturday 6th September I was crossing the road outside my flat at approximately 5.45pm on a marked pedestrian crossing.
The weather was cool and it had been raining slightly.
I had just begun to cross the road when I noticed a car approaching. I assumed it was going to slow down and stop and paid it no more attention. I don't know if he slowed down but he certainly didn't stop. He hit me full on my right side at 50km/h.
I don't remember much of the actual impact but according to the police report my head broke the top of his windscreen before I bounced back onto the road. People in the street were terrific they immediately surrounded me and the driver, told me not to move and called an ambulance and the police. They stayed with me while I was lying there in the rain waiting for the ambulance, talking to me and making sure I was conscious. Great people. I wish I knew their names.
At the hospital they had to cut my brand new coat, sweater and shirt off me in order to hook me up to the machines and make sure nothing was broken. My mobile was ruined. It kept switching itself off and eventually gave out irredeemably altogether.
I spent around 5 hours being wheeled around in a bed, x-rayed and scanned. The police came to see me as I was recuperating, and took down my story of what had happened. They gave me the details of the guy who hit me.
Having made sure wasn't paralyzed or dead, the emergency staff deemed I was well enough to discharge myself. They gave me a free hospital shirt to wear after cleaning the blood from off me. It was then past 11pm, I limped, still slightly dazed from the experience, into a taxi and then home. I had only just recently managed to remember my address and what year it was. It's such a strange feeling not to be able to remember your address.
This is what I looked like the a couple of days afterwards, once I'd managed to get out of bed:



More than 3 weeks on, the pain in my right knee has subsided somewhat and I don't limp any more so I can walk around now. I try not to run as it brings on the dizziness that affects me whenever I jog my head or move too quickly. I've got a constant pain in my neck that my doctor ascribes to whiplash. It hurts to move it much and hold it although that's responding to treatment.
The worst thing is the constant high pitched ringing in my ears that I've had ever since the accident. It's driving me nuts. It makes it hard to concentrate and I haven't been able to study. In fact with that, the pain in my neck and the dizzyness I haven't been able to do much. Sleep is difficult because of the pain and the dizzyness I get when I close my eyes. Not to mention the high-pitched whine in my head.
I started work last Wednesday providing course information over the phone for Sydney TAFE, a government vocational tertiary college with many campuses all over Sydney. It was through an employment agency and only temporary while the enrolment period for next year was on, ending the 31st of October. It was very easy and well paid, but I was struggling because of the results of the accident.
I missed half of my 3rd training day because the pain in my neck had become so bad that I had to just shamble off to the doctor. She is the one who diagnosed whiplash and sent me to the physiotherapist.
I had to take another half day off today to see a specialist ENT guy about the dizziness and the ringing in my ears. He says I have degraded hearing in the upper registers, right in the frequency range of the whine that's in my head. And it's to be expected that I'd suffer from tinnitus after a blow to the head like that and it could last longer than a month.
As I was waiting to be seen by the specialist my work agency called me up and told me the TAFE didn't need me anymore. I was so disappointed I couldn't think what to do next. It was a great relaxed place and the people were really pleasant. I'll have to talk to my agent tomorrow and work out what actually happened. And how to organize the financial side, my pay for the work I had done.
The lawyer I've been talking to free of charge has taken me through all the steps needed to make sure the insurance company of the guy who hit me is going to pay all medical costs, plus pain and suffering, plus study time lost, plus wages (and prospective wages) lost, plus clothes and mobile phone, plus his costs. He's a great help. But these things take time.
As I said, I've been receiving treatment for the pain. I've been 3 times to the physiotherapist this week and it's really helping. I've had electrical impulses and laser beams focused on the area, not to mention some effective expert massage. After every treatment I can move my head around more and more without sharp pain and the overall ache is lessened. I look forward to the day it goes away. Dizzyness and tinnitus treatment is only if it persists more than a month. Hopefully not.
The large gashes on my head have healed and my right knee and right wrist hardly trouble me much.
I count myself extremely lucky it wasn't worse. I'm obviously a lot tougher than I gave myself credit for. I dread to think of the possibilities. Obviously, I now look upon cars with a whole new respect and concern. Things like this remind you of how soft and damageable we really are. I would like to thank all the anonymous great people out there who helped me and cared for me when I was hurt and senseless.
So now I wait to see if I'll be able to get back to study. I keep myself busy writing simple computer programs as it's a hobby that doesn't require much of my concentration and I enjoy it so much.