Car

I had my first car accident this week. After it happened my initial thought was to make sure the other driver was ok. He was.

I am very surprised at how my mind and body responded to the accident so I want to have a record to remind myself later.

Once it was established we were both walking and talking, I looked at the damage to my car.


My initial thoughts were about how late I'd be for class. Then how much money it was going to cost to fix my precious LuLu. Then - wow, my chest is sore. I realized I'd slammed into the steering wheel with the right side of my chest. The air bag hadn't deployed.

Day of the accident, I was overwhelmed by how kind everyone was. Things with insurance, towing, police and repair went much more smoothly than I could have anticipated. I was sore. It was reachable by Tylenol and Advil but really sore. Adrenaline was definitely the hormone du jour.

The next day, was much worse. As predicted by my clever, concerned little brother. I was stiff, sore, had a crazy headache when i woke up that wouldn't go away and now nausea added to the whole thing. I actually considered seeking medical advice. I hate going to the doctor. Doctors freak me out.

I had to take quite a bit of the second day off because I was very much afraid of vomiting, the room was spinning, I was sore and honestly, I just wanted gravol and my bed.

The third day was the most surprising to me.

My headache was gone, the nausea remained. My entire body was stiff. My heart was racing. I had a feeling of impending doom. No matter how much I stretched or drank water and ate bananas, my entire body felt like it had run a marathon. I think this is from lactic acid release post collision but I'm just guessing.

Because my body was in a state of disrepair and the imbalances were affecting my heart rate, I spent most of the day rehydrating and attempting to convince myself that I wasn't going to die. The panic was really overwhelming. I'm grateful that my preceptor gave me the day to take care of myself.

While not my favorite way to spend a week, I'm glad for the experience and hope it will help give me insight into the reactions that my patients have to trauma in their lives. Mine was tiny compared to most. I am, as ever, impressed with what we can put up with.

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