Monday, November 12, 2012

Vacationing with "The Girls" - Part Three of a Three Part Story


Part Three -- The Detour Home

We had spent a few days at Midwest Trail Ride --it was a great vacation with the horses -- we had a cabin, they had stalls, and there were miles and miles of beautiful trails to ride. I was stung by a bee when were were loading our stuff into the truck. We almost went for a trail ride before we left, but John's horse Zora was uncharacteristically acting up, so we didn't bother. Now we were on I-65 North headed home. (See two previous posts)

That bee sting really hurt -- more than any other I have ever had. I had it wrapped with tobacco, like my mother always told me to do. Now we had been on the road about an hour.

My eyes started to itch real bad. I looked in the mirror and saw they were swollen. I sort of figured it out....

I told John I thought I was having a reaction to the bee sting. He went to a truck stop and got me some Claritin. We kept going.

A little while later, it started getting difficult to swallow. I knew what was coming next. My air was going to get cut off.

We were close to the exit that takes us to John's brother's house. I told John, "We have to go to Alex and Cindy's. I am not going to make it home. I need to get to a hospital."  I was praying they would be home. We do not know our way around Lafayette, and it would have been difficult to find a hospital in an unfamiliar town hauling two horses.

When we arrived at Alex and Cindy's, they were outside doing yard work, and very surprised to see us. John told them what was going on, and Cindy and I got in her car (a beautiful Jaguar). I heard Alex say, "Maybe we should call 911." The thought did cross my mind, but they live sort of out in the country south of Lafayette, and I wasn't sure how much time it would take for them to get there. I was thinking to myself "Whatever is faster!" So away we went.

At this point, it is getting difficult to breathe. Cindy was worried about me, I was half out of it...it was all very stressful. We had to cross a busy state highway -- Cindy didn't see the car coming, but she said I did. Later she told me I said "Cindy, NO!!" -- but it was too late. (I don't remember that part.)

They hit us going somewhere between 50-60 mph. After Alex saw the scene he told us they never had time to apply their brakes -- there were no skid marks.




I remember seeing a police officer's face and a broken windshield behind him. Then I remember someone taping my head to a backboard, and strapping my legs down. I came to in the ambulance and I had an oxygen mask on. I was completely confused.


Thank God no one in the other car was seriously hurt. At first we thought the woman driving had a broken leg, but thankfully it turns out she did not. There was a husband, wife and their 11 year old granddaughter in the car. I cannot express the relief I have that none of them were hurt too badly. Just bruised and banged up like us, but nothing serious.
I am also grateful Cindy never lost consciousness. She told the paramedics I was having a reaction to a bee sting, so they were able to take care of that right away. She was the one who called 911, and she called Alex and John. Alex came to the scene, John stayed with the horses. Alex went back to the house and told John they were loading me into an ambulance on a stretcher. John told Alex the 911 vehicles drove right past the house on the way to the accident!
 

 
Once Alex knew what hospital were were going to, he went back and got John. All of us from the accident went to the hospital -- I came to once we were there. It was so fabulous to see John! I had a couple of pretty large lumps on my head, and was really, really hurting on my entire right side. My face was scratched and bruised. They did a CAT scan of my head and found nothing serious. It was a different story for Cindy.

They told her they thought she was the least injured of everyone, but an x-ray revealed bleeding behind her sternum. They did not have a cardiovascular surgeon at that hospital, so they transported her to Indianapolis. Cindy's daughter came to the hospital and took us back to Alex's house, and we had to continue our drive home with the horses -- another 2 hours.

That night Alex called with the good news that Cindy was doing fine.The next morning we found out the bleeding stopped over night and they sent her home the next morning.

Everyone was wearing seat belts, and all the air bags deployed. In fact, the other car was a 2012, and had airbags all the way around the inside of the car. Thank God!!

Cindy's beautiful Jaguar is ruined!!!!


 
 
We should have just called 911 -- they are trained for this kind of thing. When you are scared and emotional and in a high-stress situation you should not be driving.
 
But I do feel it was the hand of God that guided everything that day. This is what I believe:
 
Zora was acting up so that we would not go riding and be out in the middle of nowhere when my allergic reaction kicked in. Driving to the hospital would have taken too long -- it may have been too late for me. So because we did not have enough sense to dial 911 we had to have the accident. And the accident had to be bad enough to send the ambulance, but not bad enough to cause anyone permanent injury. For some reason, the other car was destined to be in that accident with us -- perhaps there was a more serious accident waiting for them down the road, or something else that they needed to avoid, and this accident stopped them.
 
It was a powerful experience. I am still recovering -- dealing with bruised ribs now, but otherwise I am fine. Cindy is fine -- other than being bruised and sore. The people in the other car are fine -- other than being bruised and sore. We have much to be thankful for.

3 comments:

Paint Girl said...

Oh!! I am so sorry! So happy that you both weren't seriously hurt (and the people in the other car too)!! So scary!! Having to deal with an allergic reaction to a bee sting is bad enough but then an accident on top of it!! Wow. Sometimes things do happen a certain way for a reason... So happy your okay!!

Jeni said...

wow !!! Holy cow that's one heck of an adventure!

Very glad EVERYONE is ok - no serious injuries or lasting physical affects.

Anonymous said...

Oh, sorry to hear that. Good to know that nothing really bad happened and the girls are all okay. And also with the other car, glad to know that they are also okay.