August 21, 1996
Huntsville Alabama
About 12:30 am
My friend is driving me home. He turns to me and asks, "do you mind if I drive faster?". I answer, "nope, go ahead". His foot hits the gas and we accelerate mush faster than I was expecting. Seconds later, the car has come to a complete stop. We have crashed.
My friend's car was going to fast to take the curve in the road. It left the safety of the asphalt, slammed head first into a 5 foot deep drainage ditch before swinging about 180* to the left; crashing into a telephone pole.
The next thing I remember is my friend asking, "are you alright?". I tried to move but felt intense pain in my lower back. My response was "no". The next thing I heard was my friend climbing out the driver side window, falling into the rain drainage ditch, and banging loudly on the door of the closest house. I say "hear" because I couldn't see anything for a few moments. When my left eye was able to open up, I could see the faint glow of a distant street light. I couldn't open my right eye. Realizing that we had just been in an accident, I figured I was bleeding from my that eye. Briefly, my thoughts entertained the idea that I no longer had a right eye. Panic briefly set in as I felt around the seat for something to wipe my face. I quickly found my friend's delivery driver shirt, raised it up to my right eye, and began gently dabbing. Within moments I felt my right eyeball still in my head, and could see the small glowing street light with both eyes. I was relieved.
Minutes later, I saw an orchestra of lights flashing as the police, fire department, and ambulance showed up. There was instantly an enormous amount of comotion that drowned out the silence. I heard mens voices talking to each other and to me. I could only respond with a mumbled, "ok" as they told me what they were going to do next. Their words barely registered as I found out later that I was losing a lot of blood from my injuries.
The next thing I felt was a large plastic cover being positioned over my head and the seat. Then the deafening sound of a large motor filled the air followed by the intense crushing and ripping of metal right behind me. The noise was unbearable and I wanted to cover my ears. But for some reason I couldn't lift my arms. They were most likely being held in place by the first responders. Finally it stopped.
It was then that I heard a voice say, "we're going to move you and it might hurt." No sooner had I mumbled "ok" then I felt my body being removed from the destroyed metal of the car. It was at this moment that I felt the most intense pain I've ever felt before or since shoot from my lower back, down my leg, and up my spine at the same time. It felt as if all my bones were being maliciously ripped out of my skin at the same moment. It was terribly excruciating. Thankfully it only lasted an unbearable few seconds.
The next moment I found myself inside of an ambulance, hearing paper ripping and being poked with needles. The bright lights brought me back to realizing I had just been in an accident. The paramedics kept asking me questions like, "who's the president, what's my name, what year is it." All I could think about was letting my parents know I was going to the hospital. It began to sound like an argument between us. They would ask, "do you know what year it is?" and I would respond, "call my parents, Carl and Norma, 555-2034!". Their reply would be, "we're getting that taken care of. Don't worry about it. Who's the president?". Frustrated, I yelled, "Clinton! Now call my parents, Carl and Norma, 555-2034!!!".
After I had answered all their questions, and got tired of telling them to call my parents, I asked the paramedic closest to my line of sight, "Is it pretty bad?". He looked at me for moment, debating what he was going to say, then replied, "yeah, it's pretty bad."
During the ambulance ride, I could feel every little bump in the road and pothole the wheels hit. Finally we arrived at the hospital. Then there was the "ninja nurse" at my feet who appeared suddenly out of nowhere and said, "we have to put in a catheter, ok?". As I mumbled "ok", I felt the insertion of the catheter and against my will, I blacked out. The next few memories are short snapshots of when I briefly regained conscioussness.
When I began to wake up, I felt, saw, and heard three guys around me. They were taking turns poking my upper left chest. One would try and fail, then another would try and fail. By the third time I remember yelling, "Stop it!". Almost as soon as I had said that, I heard one of the guys say, "Got it!". Then I blacked out. What they were doing was attempting to put in a central iv line to my heart.
I woke up again, feeling myself on a cold steel table. In a moments time, I was about 10 feet away from that table, being escorted by a tall man in a black suit. A voice behind me calmly said, "We're going to have to operate or you're going to die." I quickly turned my attention towards the direction of the voice. There I saw the back of a youngish man wearing bright new Nike shoes, standing over my body as it was lying on a steel table. My only thought was, "Oh, I'm not dead yet!".
The third time I woke up, I was in a bed that was slowly tipping from one side to the next. It was dark out as I saw no daylight reflecting off the walls. I heard a faucet running off to my left, and turned to see an orderly filling up a pitcher with water. I said to him, "how soon 'till I go home?". Barely making eye contact he replied, "I don't know. I'll get a nurse for you." With that, I passed back into unconscioussness.
As my eyes opened again, I saw my parents sitting off to the left of my bed. The room was significantly brighter and I could see streams of daylight coming from behind me, dancing on the wall in front of me. I don't remember much of that conversation. To be honest I don't remember many of the conversations that took place over the next few days. The really good drugs they had me on were doing a most excellent job keeping my pain in check.
Within a few days I had all my needed surgeries, and was stable enough to be moved into a private room. When my doctor came to visit he said I was doing much better. Then he proceeded to poke my toes to see if I reacted. "Ouch!". Yep, I felt that. "Good, I'm not paralyzed" I thought to myself. So I asked him what was wrong with me like you would ask a mechanic what's wrong with your car. He wasn't kidding when he mentioned I was lucky to be alive. Below is that list.
* Compressed fracture on L4 Vertebrae (the second to last one in your lower back)
* Collapsed left lung
* Obliterated Spleen (my friends teased me about not having a spleen for years)
* Various cuts on my face and arms (the biggest one being two cuts over my right eye)
After 10 days in the hospital, I was finally able to go home. The first thing I did was lie down on my bed. Whoa! It felt like laying on a cloud compared to the hospital bed. I spent the next four months going to physical therapy, wearing a back brace, and gaining back the twenty pounds I had lost.
Huntsville Alabama
About 12:30 am
My friend is driving me home. He turns to me and asks, "do you mind if I drive faster?". I answer, "nope, go ahead". His foot hits the gas and we accelerate mush faster than I was expecting. Seconds later, the car has come to a complete stop. We have crashed.
My friend's car was going to fast to take the curve in the road. It left the safety of the asphalt, slammed head first into a 5 foot deep drainage ditch before swinging about 180* to the left; crashing into a telephone pole.
The next thing I remember is my friend asking, "are you alright?". I tried to move but felt intense pain in my lower back. My response was "no". The next thing I heard was my friend climbing out the driver side window, falling into the rain drainage ditch, and banging loudly on the door of the closest house. I say "hear" because I couldn't see anything for a few moments. When my left eye was able to open up, I could see the faint glow of a distant street light. I couldn't open my right eye. Realizing that we had just been in an accident, I figured I was bleeding from my that eye. Briefly, my thoughts entertained the idea that I no longer had a right eye. Panic briefly set in as I felt around the seat for something to wipe my face. I quickly found my friend's delivery driver shirt, raised it up to my right eye, and began gently dabbing. Within moments I felt my right eyeball still in my head, and could see the small glowing street light with both eyes. I was relieved.
Minutes later, I saw an orchestra of lights flashing as the police, fire department, and ambulance showed up. There was instantly an enormous amount of comotion that drowned out the silence. I heard mens voices talking to each other and to me. I could only respond with a mumbled, "ok" as they told me what they were going to do next. Their words barely registered as I found out later that I was losing a lot of blood from my injuries.
The next thing I felt was a large plastic cover being positioned over my head and the seat. Then the deafening sound of a large motor filled the air followed by the intense crushing and ripping of metal right behind me. The noise was unbearable and I wanted to cover my ears. But for some reason I couldn't lift my arms. They were most likely being held in place by the first responders. Finally it stopped.
It was then that I heard a voice say, "we're going to move you and it might hurt." No sooner had I mumbled "ok" then I felt my body being removed from the destroyed metal of the car. It was at this moment that I felt the most intense pain I've ever felt before or since shoot from my lower back, down my leg, and up my spine at the same time. It felt as if all my bones were being maliciously ripped out of my skin at the same moment. It was terribly excruciating. Thankfully it only lasted an unbearable few seconds.
The next moment I found myself inside of an ambulance, hearing paper ripping and being poked with needles. The bright lights brought me back to realizing I had just been in an accident. The paramedics kept asking me questions like, "who's the president, what's my name, what year is it." All I could think about was letting my parents know I was going to the hospital. It began to sound like an argument between us. They would ask, "do you know what year it is?" and I would respond, "call my parents, Carl and Norma, 555-2034!". Their reply would be, "we're getting that taken care of. Don't worry about it. Who's the president?". Frustrated, I yelled, "Clinton! Now call my parents, Carl and Norma, 555-2034!!!".
After I had answered all their questions, and got tired of telling them to call my parents, I asked the paramedic closest to my line of sight, "Is it pretty bad?". He looked at me for moment, debating what he was going to say, then replied, "yeah, it's pretty bad."
During the ambulance ride, I could feel every little bump in the road and pothole the wheels hit. Finally we arrived at the hospital. Then there was the "ninja nurse" at my feet who appeared suddenly out of nowhere and said, "we have to put in a catheter, ok?". As I mumbled "ok", I felt the insertion of the catheter and against my will, I blacked out. The next few memories are short snapshots of when I briefly regained conscioussness.
When I began to wake up, I felt, saw, and heard three guys around me. They were taking turns poking my upper left chest. One would try and fail, then another would try and fail. By the third time I remember yelling, "Stop it!". Almost as soon as I had said that, I heard one of the guys say, "Got it!". Then I blacked out. What they were doing was attempting to put in a central iv line to my heart.
I woke up again, feeling myself on a cold steel table. In a moments time, I was about 10 feet away from that table, being escorted by a tall man in a black suit. A voice behind me calmly said, "We're going to have to operate or you're going to die." I quickly turned my attention towards the direction of the voice. There I saw the back of a youngish man wearing bright new Nike shoes, standing over my body as it was lying on a steel table. My only thought was, "Oh, I'm not dead yet!".
The third time I woke up, I was in a bed that was slowly tipping from one side to the next. It was dark out as I saw no daylight reflecting off the walls. I heard a faucet running off to my left, and turned to see an orderly filling up a pitcher with water. I said to him, "how soon 'till I go home?". Barely making eye contact he replied, "I don't know. I'll get a nurse for you." With that, I passed back into unconscioussness.
As my eyes opened again, I saw my parents sitting off to the left of my bed. The room was significantly brighter and I could see streams of daylight coming from behind me, dancing on the wall in front of me. I don't remember much of that conversation. To be honest I don't remember many of the conversations that took place over the next few days. The really good drugs they had me on were doing a most excellent job keeping my pain in check.
Within a few days I had all my needed surgeries, and was stable enough to be moved into a private room. When my doctor came to visit he said I was doing much better. Then he proceeded to poke my toes to see if I reacted. "Ouch!". Yep, I felt that. "Good, I'm not paralyzed" I thought to myself. So I asked him what was wrong with me like you would ask a mechanic what's wrong with your car. He wasn't kidding when he mentioned I was lucky to be alive. Below is that list.
* Compressed fracture on L4 Vertebrae (the second to last one in your lower back)
* Collapsed left lung
* Obliterated Spleen (my friends teased me about not having a spleen for years)
* Various cuts on my face and arms (the biggest one being two cuts over my right eye)
After 10 days in the hospital, I was finally able to go home. The first thing I did was lie down on my bed. Whoa! It felt like laying on a cloud compared to the hospital bed. I spent the next four months going to physical therapy, wearing a back brace, and gaining back the twenty pounds I had lost.