Car Crash in Westville

Three weeks ago, In September, I was driving home from Clarksboro where I had dropped off my sister at Platt's farm where she rents a bungalow. I had a cheese hoagie in the car, a bag of produce, and a few pts of chrysanthemums to give to neighbors for things they had done to help me. I always drive the speed limit and I never have tickets or accidents. Unfortunately, this time a speeder came flying at me, I thought through the red light and crashed me car.

I saw the car aiming at me like a speedline train. Then as though hit by a bomb, I was crushed in air bags and smelled smoke and fumes. Iweakly cried "HELP" over and over again, and, help came. A man opened the passenger side door and leaned in and said, "Someone has called 911 and an ambulance is coming; I am going to stay with you until the ambulance takes you away." He took my phone and asked me who to call and I asked him to call my sister.

Soon the police and emergency men had pulled the door to my driver's side open far enough to allow them to cut away the air bags and allow the ambulance folks to pull me out and put me on a stretcher. That was the bumpiest ride, craking and clanking along like a World War 1 van. Every bump was like being stuck by lightening down my spine.

Soon, after the bumpy ride up the highway, I was wheeled into Cooper Trauma Center and my sisster got there by Uber ride. They had put a collar o to stabilize my neck and it was biting into my head. I was in so many kinds of pain - my front had been crushed by the steering wheel and the air bags, my hands hurt, my ribs hurt and I had contusions on my legs below the knees.

The main problem and pain however was my neck and shoulders and spine. They put me on a few kinds of medication for the pain, Oxycodeine, gabapentin, and some kind of muscle relaxant. I drifted in and out of awareness, drifted on a kind of half consciousness that I think was trauma as well as a slight concussion.

The days kind of melted together with painful transfers from one stretcher to another by being lifted by a blanket and shifted over whch jolted my neck and back painfully but I had to have tests: CAT scan and MRI. After each one I vomited several times. It was a kind of hell.

In a couple of days, I was moved to a room with a neighbor, Eileen, who had hit a deer down in Alloways Creek and her car had rolled over a couple of times. I had no breaks for fractures, all my danage was muscular and nerve. She had fractured ribs and vertebrae. After a few more days while we became acquainted; Eileneen was a retired school nurse with three kids, two middle aged daughters who were on the way to her, and one mentally ill son who lived in a seashore home they had bought him, her husband and daughters came to take her home. My next roommate was an alcoholic woman who had fallen and injured her head. She was pleasant and her kind and solicitious husband were there for one day before I was folled away again and moved to Atlas Rehab.

Fortunagely, although she was in England where she now mostly resides with her fiance' my daughter was able to do all the paperwork involving the insurance company and the coverage of the Rehab, and even with my sister's help, the choice of rhabe place. My sister had visited someone she knew at Atlas and she knew it was clean and beautiful and it was, although transfer was a nightmare.

A side effect of Oxycodein is constipation and at the hospital they had loaded me up with laxatives. The transport was supposed to come each day but didn't until late evening on a Friday night when one lone Emergency worker rolled me out to the parking lot in the dark and into another craking rattlin and bumpking ambulance to Atlas. When I arrived, it was dark night and no on was there. I wasn't yet in control of my bladder and urine just came out of me into adult diapers and the laxatives were working but I was in discomfort but not moving my bowels. One attendant a very young boy named Mel came and changed my dipaer (humiliating) but he was not permitted to help me into the bathroom and I was not permitted a walker until morning.

My next samaritan arrived in the early morning, a man named Ken. He said he wuld help me into the bathroom and he helped me brush y teeth and wash my face. He got me a clean hospital gown and pull on adult diapers. His kindness saved me. All night a woman with demetia had been crying out "Help?" and people had turned up their televisions to drown her out. It was a horror movie. I had called my daughter and sister to get me out of there; "This is a place where people come to die" I said. But after Ken's help, people from Atlas began to come in with clpboards about food choices ad nurse's takig my vitals, and Physical therapists with schedules. Things began to look up. It was in fact, a handsome place with kind and helpful people and no bad smells, clean and well appointed.

I decided I wanted to go home in a week. They gave me benchmarks to work towards: I had to do Physical Therapy to get stronger, I had to show that I could do a shower on my own, get in and out of the model car they had down in the PT gym, and go up and down steps. Over the week I worked o all of it. my neighbor John came to visit and he walked me from one end of he long hallway to the other and he told me it was round trip about two football fields. I did that every day morning and night. I got to ride 20 minutes on the stationary bike and I could walk without the walker although it was recommended that I continue to use it in the halls for safety and stability.

My life got into a new routine. I had been listening to audio books from the first day i Cooper Trauma, and the audiobooks kept my mind occupied so I didn't slide into despair over hwhat had been taken from me. Each day I got up, washed and brushed, walked the hall, had breakfast - terrible food - then PT, rest in a rcline position on the bed with an audio book, then lunch, hall walk, and phone and texting and visits from my sister. Sue had been with me every day since the accident, in the hospital and in the Rehab. She had to take an Uber from the farm to the Rehab, then to my house to feed the cats and get my house ready for me to returne. She had to move things out of the way for the walker, a book casse, cat litter boxes. And she cleaned and cared for my cats. Everything was ready for departure at the end of the week. My great-niece Ales had agreed to give me a ride home from Rehab on Saturday. I had reached all the benchmarks and had seen the doctors, nurses and had psychological evaluations. Then on Friday, the battle commenced.

The Social Worker, the fisrt person I had met who was neither kind nor supportive arrived. When I said I was going on the next day, she curtly demanded "Who told you that you could leave??" I was shocked. It had never occurred to me that I couldn't leave when I was ready. I began to answer in my own shocked and insulted way, and my daughter who was on speaker phone during the interview stepped in and calmed the stormy waters. That Social Worker was adversarial from the start for some reason, a conrol issue I think. AS in, who did I, a weak old lady, think I was to tell her what was going to happen!"

Next the kind and more discreet head of PT cane to my room and explained that because it was Friday, my release couldn't be processed and reach the Insurance Company until Monday morning, but that he would see to it that it was expedited and I would be able to leave on Monday morning.

I cried in front of strangers. I cried for 4 hours, struggling to pull meslelf together again. I was all packed up and raady to go p I wante to go home! The next two days I did my best to get into a routine and pass the hours and from my sister I got the promise that no matter what happened she would get an Uber and pick me up on Monday. Kenny, the nurse's aid had said, "You're reaady to leave, Miss Jo Ann , don't let them try to keep you here!." I felt so frightened, but my daughter did her magic behind the scenes with the Social Worker and all the documents got lined up in order and on Monday morning, Sue came and she called Uber and took my bags out. I signed some papers at the nurse's station and commenced phase 3 - home!

Phase 1 was Cooper Trauma, phase 2 was Rehab, and now I was going home First I was relieved that I could ride in the car without too much fear, then oh HEAVEN - my house! We sat on the sun dappled porch with the trees waving hello o me and my oldest cat Lucky criying out his welcome over and over. A neighbor, Diana, stopped by and sat on the porch with us. My sister walked over to The Spread Eagle Tavern and got us take-out andwiches - I had a tuna salad wrap. I was so happy to be home.

Now I have succeeded in a full week at home and it is Sunday, Oct. 11, around 9:00 a.m. Each day, I had company. One day my neighbo John Krause came, one day Nancy and Lori, old school teacher friends came an brought me food. My great-niee came and helped me set up ShopRite Home delivery and my nephew Archie came in time to bring the delivered grocieries into the house. My first challenge was that the temperature had dropped suddenly into the 40' at night and my house was freezing - the heater wasn't coming on. I called PSEG and they sent a man within the hour. My friend Barb Solem had brought a feast from Iliano's Restaurant and she stayed with me while PSEG fixed the heater. Only as soon as they left the heater stopped working again. I called again and this time the repair guy said it was the thermostat and replaced it. And so the week went.

The next big challenge was Nancy Thomas picked me up and took me to Progressive Insurance Company in Mount Laurel to finalize the claim and sign some papers. That was my first long ride on highways and I was ok. It was also my longes walk and that was fine too - on the walker. I was immensely grateful to Nancy for the visits, the food and particularly taking me to the Insurance Company to finish the claim. She also took me to the bank to deposit the check for the difference in the value of my car and what I had left to pay off. My plan was to use that differene to pay off the credit card. Each ride for Sue by Uver from Clarksboro to the hospital or Rehab, and then to my house and then to work cost an average of about $30 a ride or about $120 per day over 16 days or about $1600 on debit and credit cards. I wanted to pay that off. It turned out I have to wait until the check from Progressive clears, so that task will be today. Also today should be a visit from my neighbor John after church and from my nephew Archie. He also dropped by to visit one day which was nice.

Things are good now. I can sleep, I can walk. I can do the basic chores of home maintenance: cat litter, dishes, meal preparation, getting washed and changing my clothes. Until today I also sat on the porch in the un and fresh air each day, but today it is cloudy and overcast, rain predicted for the whole day. I am so happy to be home and I am working on avoided all thoughts and fears about the future, just cncentrating on the old adage "One Day at a Time."

So that is my sad tale of how the summer ended for me on route 45 in Westville when some reckless villain took my life as I knew it away But I am on the mend. And news - Lavinia will be home at the end of hhe month to get married to her fiance' James Lance, an actor from England. While she is here, she will also help me buy another car. I didn't feel confident aout getting a rental in the menwhilw becaue I thought a new car with all the hanges in starters and keyless locks and such would be too much for me to handle with the my driving fear since the accident. So I am waiting out the month. Also Eleanor came one day this week and took me to CVS where I get my prescriptions. Alex had picked them up for me but they sent eh wrong prescription and Eleanor had to take me to return it - it was $60 for Naloxone for heroine overdoses! Someone from Cooper Trauma had precribed it. I won't be taking the medications they prescribed becasue I don't need them now - gabapentin, a muscle relaxant and I didn't even put in for the oxycodeine - don't want to take anything I don't need and I am recovering sufficiently on my own. I am up for 2 to 4 hours then rest for 2 hours.

I wish anyone who reads this safe travels - it is dangerous out there!

Happy Trails to you! wrightj45@yahoo.com