Kay Pratt: The Accident
December 20, 2011
by Kay Pratt
The Accident
My life changed in many ways on a bright and beautiful Friday afternoon on September 22nd, 2006!As a senior environmental projects manager and division team leader for my new employer, I had just finished up my first full week by signing on a new client account and was on my way back to my office to share the good news. Sitting at the red light and waiting to jump onto the freeway, I was so happy~ it was Friday, my first week proved to be successful and I had a fun weekend planned with my family… that is the last thing I remember until I regained consciousness in the ICU at the UCI Trauma Center in Santa Ana California.
I didn’t know the actual cause of my accident until several weeks later when the police report was released, and to tell you the truth, I really didn’t care, I was too busy trying to survive!
I’d suffered severe multiple fractures to my face and my skull, and an orbital blowout of my right eye.My heightened sense of gratitude and appreciation for the people in my life has been the greatest gift I’ve received from the accident. Knowing how precious our time is on earth brings everything into proper perspective.
I had my second surgery on October 2nd, 2006 to repair my right eye socket and cheekbone, and rebuild my nose. I must admit that all of my post surgical pain was terrible and I suffered every minute when I wasn’t hooked up to morphine. However, my standing joke in the hospital was that the accident really wasn’t that bad when you consider that while everyone else was working, I got to stay in bed all day, watch plasma TV, and suck on morphine!! I know it was a sick joke, but I believe we all need to laugh at ourselves when things get to be unbearable, right? And besides, nobody ever died of laughter and everyone who came to visit me in the hospital got a lot of comic relief out of that one!
Don’t get me wrong, this takes a lot of energy and the therapy and rehab it isn’t always easy. But now that I’m feeling better, I’m focusing on all that is good in my life and am using this unexpected gift of time to spend quality time with loved ones, explore my creativity and learn a new and interesting vocation full of new knowledge that I hadn’t imagined prior to this experience.
With so much time in front of me, and the determination to get well, I decided to tap into some creative energy as a means for working through post traumatic stress and lifting my spirits. I decided to do some therapeutic paintings (which my therapist actually recommended after I’d already started on my own!). I didn’t worry about the outcome ~ I was just curious to see what would flow out of me. I’d forgotten how much pleasure painting had brought into my life. It had been many years since I’d created and completed a whole painting! Discovering this about myself has truly been one of the special gifts received from the accident, and as time goes by I am discovering so many more!
In addition to my painting, I started taking long walks and working with a personal trainer to rebuild my core strength and energy. And for my spiritual and emotional strength I’ve been reading, writing and practicing various types of meditation in an effort to overcome the affects of my brain injury. I’m definitely a work in progress!
Home and Recovery
Home at last! After two weeks (could have been so much longer) and what felt like a lifetime in the hospital, I was finally released! All I could think about on my way home in the ambulance was how glad I felt to be alive. In the earlier days of my recovery I was still dealing with too much pain to begin thinking logically about the seriousness of my injuries, so I had this great notion that I’d be back to work in a couple of months! But I’ll never forget the day I looked in my mirror at home and realized that my face would never be the same ~ I grieved for myself and for how I was before the accident.
The first time I saw my face in the hospital I told myself it didn’t matter and I chose to be happy. It could have been so much worse. I realized that the double vision I was experiencing wasn’t going away and I couldn’t remember things I’d been told five minutes before. I lost hearing in my right ear and the ringing in my ear has been a constant annoyance.
The first time I saw my face in the hospital I told myself it didn’t matter and I chose to be happy. It could have been so much worse. I realized that the double vision I was experiencing wasn’t going away and I couldn’t remember things I’d been told five minutes before. I lost hearing in my right ear and the ringing in my ear has been a constant annoyance.
As time has gone by, with each Doctor’s visit, each diagnosis and prognosis, I’ve learned that it will be a very long time before life as I once knew it will be the same, if ever. The double vision caused by the displacement of my eye has made it impossible for me to drive and I have a TBI.
Traumatic Brain Injury
It’s been eighteen months now and many visits to my specialists; the Plastic Surgeon, the Nero-ocular Surgeon, the Audiologist, the ENT Plastic Surgeon, The Ophthalmologist, the Hematologist, the Endocrinologist, the laboratories ~ the list is crazy! My third surgery took place on May 12, 2007 and I have one more (hopefully) in the near future. In spite of all this, I am happy because I know I’m doing everything I can to heal and remain positive. And most importantly I choose to be happy! I’m at the stage now where I know I’ll be o.k., even though I have some permanent damage.
Don’t get me wrong, this takes a lot of energy and the therapy and rehab it isn’t always easy. But now that I’m feeling better, I’m focusing on all that is good in my life and am using this unexpected gift of time to spend quality time with loved ones, explore my creativity and learn a new and interesting vocation full of new knowledge that I hadn’t imagined prior to this experience.
Moving Forward
With so much time in front of me, and the determination to get well, I decided to tap into some creative energy as a means for working through post traumatic stress and lifting my spirits. I decided to do some therapeutic paintings (which my therapist actually recommended after I’d already started on my own!). I didn’t worry about the outcome ~ I was just curious to see what would flow out of me. I’d forgotten how much pleasure painting had brought into my life. It had been many years since I’d created and completed a whole painting! Discovering this about myself has truly been one of the special gifts received from the accident, and as time goes by I am discovering so many more!
In addition to my painting, I started taking long walks and working with a personal trainer to rebuild my core strength and energy. And for my spiritual and emotional strength I’ve been reading, writing and practicing various types of meditation in an effort to overcome the affects of my brain injury. I’m definitely a work in progress!