Tuesday May 2, 2006 started out just like any other workday. I got up, dressed, and headed out the door to work. I was driving my 1996 Red Toyota RAV4 with 135,000 miles on it, AND it was paid off. Little did I know that before I got to work, I would need Jesus to take the wheel. BIG TIME! Well…..He showed up around 8:45 am….. Just as the oncoming car hit me at 55 mph! Fortunately I had just enough time to slam on the brakes, and left 64 foot skid marks. That may have been a life saver!
SPOILER ALERT: I Lived!
I had passed out briefly, and when I came to, a woman outside the car asked if I was ok. So I said “no”. And she kept walking. I thought that was weird, until I heard her say the the other guy was worse off. Now, I have watched enough TV shows to know that the one that is worse off, gets attended to first. Probably because I actually answered her question, I had to wait. And I later found out that the woman was a nurse. And she was just two cars behind me that day!
So while I am waiting, I start to take inventory. I look down. My left hand is covered in blood, with no obvious source. I had been driving with the window open and my left arm out the window. So I look. That arm is hanging funny, so I assume both forearm bones are broken, so don’t move! Then I look at my right foot (the one that had slammed on the brakes), and it was turned funny too. Also broken. Next, I try to move my left leg, the one on the clutch. Not good there either. I realize that there is a disconnect in my left thigh, and conclude that my femur is broken.
I continue to wait. It could have been just minutes, but it seemed like forever!
The Red Thread
While I am waiting, I begin to feel like I am going to pass out. This is not really a surprise in this situation. So I look down again, and see the the red thread on my left wrist. Then I start to pray. It seems the like best option as I wait.
There is a significance to the red thread. I had just started going back to church a couple months before this. And just two weeks before, it had been Easter Sunday. The message that day was called “Thread”. It basically talked about how you “wear” Jesus, with an analogy to clothing. Is He on the outside of your jacket where everyone can see? or do you hide Him under the jacket and show Him only occasionally? That day, each of us were given a red thread to wear on our wrist as a reminder. I put mine on that day, but took it off when I got home. I was doing some woodworking, and did not want it to get caught in the saw.
However, two Sundays later the pastor brought the thread up again. So that day I put it back on when I got home from church. And here I was two days later, and it is on my wrist. So I prayed while I waited.
Finally, there was a paramedic at the door of my car talking to me. Just in time before I passed out. I was able to tell him that I had a broken left arm, left femur, and right ankle.
Not walking away this time
Now I had been in a few accidents in my life prior to this. But I had always been able to walk away. NOT THIS TIME! I had to be cut out of the car. First they used the “jaws of life” to get the door open. Then they realized that they could not get a back board in because the door pillar was in the way. Before they cut it, they had to break the back window, just to get the back door open. It was disappointing that I did not get to watch, because they put a cloth over my face to protect it from the glass. Having seen this on TV, this was my chance to see it real life…..and they cover my face. I was bummed. But only briefly.
Then they cut the door pillar, and basically laid both doors down on the pavement. Finally they were able to use a back board to get me out of the car. Fortunately, there had not been much pain up to that point. Then. They. Moved. Me. I will leave that to your imagination!
An Ambulance ride. Jesus did not take the wheel!
Out of the car. Onto a back board. And now into the ambulance. The only good thing I can say, is that I got to lie down.
First, they asked me if I was a doctor because I had told them which bones I had broken. I just said no. But later I realized I had missed an opportunity to use the line from the Holiday Inn Express ads. “No. But I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night”. They probably would not have thought it was funny!
After that question, they proceed to cut my clothes off! I get it. They have to check for other injuries. But then they cut off the new bra I had just gotten. So I told them about it. I was mad. They cut it anyway! My day was NOT getting any better. So we start heading to the hospital. My own accident had blocked traffic, so we could not take the expressway. That left the winding, bumpy road through the Cuyahoga Valley Park.
Jesus definitely did not take the wheel for this trip!
Treatment and Recovery
We made it to the hospital, and then it was crazy. However, I learned that if you want good service, then arrive in an ambulance to a level one trauma center. Anyway, after all the tests and X-rays, we had a verdict. No head injuries. No internal injuries. Broken both bones in left forearm. Broken left femur. Shattered right ankle. And after putting a rod in the femur, discovered a broken left hip. The next day we discovered that the blood had come from a cut on the back of my head that we found the next morning!
I had surgery that day to put an external fixator on my ankle and a rod in the left femur. Two days later, more surgery to pin the hip and add plates to left forearm. Two weeks later, another surgery to put three plates in left ankle. And I was now bionic!!! I spent two weeks in the hospital, then two months in a nursing home. Because of my injuries, I was totally non-weight bearing for six weeks until I could use my arms to transfer into a wheel chair. Finally I left the nursing home in July to go home, even though I live by myself. Fortunately, I have family and friends close by for help. Then it was August before I could even stand. Once I could stand, then there was six months of physical therapy.
Listening to Jesus Take the Wheel
I did not connect it until much later. But as I was driving to work, I had been listening to Carrie Underwood’s first album, that was released in late 2005. And my favorite song from that CD was “Jesus, Take The Wheel”. I would replay it over and over again, usually while on the way to work. This day was no different. It was much later before I realized that I had been listening to this song right as the other car hit me!
The effect of that song would continue to play a part as I continued to recover. As I got better, I finally worked my way back to the gym to continue to gain strength. And years later, on Nov 3, 2013, I ran my first half-marathon!
Sometimes, you just have to let Jesus drive!
Got Questions? Need more information? Want to Connect? CONTACT US
Response Magic