The Day that Changed my Life

2/ 22/2008 my daughter and I were delivering Christmas cookies. Cori was driving, we hit black ice, the car turned sideways into oncoming traffic. we were hit where I was sitting. we cracked heads. my feet were pinned under the dash, my seat was behind Cori’s seat. they didn’t even find me till they were trying to get the dog out of the backseat. the weather was too bad to fly me to where they sent me so I went by ambulance. in the meantime they are notifying my family. they didn’t expect me to live. they kept Cori at Holland Hosp and sent me to Spectrum Grand Rapids. an hour apart was hard for the family. in the meantime , my injuries were severe. we were wearing seatbelts. mine pushed all my organs into my chest. many broken bones. injured intestines, and spleen. they went right to work 1st removing the left side of my skull. I’m told the surgeries were everyday. by the middle of the 1st week, Cori’s immunologist saw it on the news and signed orders for her to be sent to Spectrum so our family weren’t separated. I’m so glad he did. she too was in surgery daily. her TBI isn’t quite as bad as mine. hers was closed head. I wore that pink helmet for a year. 9.5 years post the struggles of relationships are getting worse. I look pretty normal, and am expected to be normal. I have a hard time at family get togethers. I get so overwhelmed I need to take myself out of it for a period to get myself calmed down. I lost all my friends within the 1st year. my ex, father of my daughters, divorced me. I have remarried. but now it’s the family falling off. my dad died 2 years ago from cancer. my mom is my most recent worry. I can do nothing right. we used to talk 6 days a week. now maybe once every 2-3 weeks. I had my 50th birthday in a coma. I just turned 60. my mom is 80. she won’t be here forever and it breaks my heart that our relationship is so bad. but she wants me to be who I used to be and I can’t. I have recently found through my Psyc, info on my condition online.