Things not to put on your bucket list: getting hit by a car

This blog will be a little different than normal. You see, two years ago today I got hit by a car. I wrote a blog about it, and i thought maybe you would want to help me "Relive the magic"

Don't forget that He loves you and so do I......here we go. 

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My memory of the accident is slowly starting to fade and I guess that is a good thing. However, I want to remember it for the sole purpose of it never getting lost on me how lucky I was that I only had a few injuries. Plus in Shelley Draper-Olsen fashion- some of what happened was downright humorous.

So here we go…….This is what happened the day I got hit by a car.

I was leaving a funeral.

Now make no mistake about it, I’m not making light of someone dying. However, the fact that this happened after the funeral….well, one of these days I’ll get a chuckle out of it. That is, once my head decides to not feel so weird. Anyway, I decided that I was going to go visit some dear friends of mine whose place of business had just moved to Dallas.

I was THIIIISSSS close to getting to my destination.

You know that saying “You make plans and God laughs”?

Apparently, God laughed at my plans for the day.

The pedestrian light/signal had indicated it was my turn to go. So naturally, I went. Right about the time that I had gone off the sidewalk and on to the crosswalk, I looked in the corner of my right eye and I met a white car.

That’s all I remember….it was a white car.

Oh and that whole thing about your life flashing before your eyes, yeah that’s true too…..screaming bloody murder the WHOLE time. I don’t know how fast she was going. I’m in a wheelchair; I don’t drive so I wouldn’t know about speeding; well, in a car anyway. That was the moment I thought that the world and everything in it stopped.

Everything.

I feel bad for the lady who hit me (I’ll call her “H” for the purpose of retelling the story without using her name). She came out of the car in an emotional state almost unlike anything I had ever seen before. All she cared about was me…..ME. I don’t think she looked at her car the whole time we were talking and waiting for the police. Never once was I angry at her. Accidents happen every day all over the world. If anything, I was scared it was my fault. If you know anything about me….well….I tend to be accident prone, and it’s normally my fault.

Four witnesses came running to check on me. I still have no idea where they came from. I asked all of them, “H” included, if this was my fault. If it was my fault, I was ready to own it and do whatever it took to make it right. “Nope” they all told me, I had the right of way. Watching “H” getting even more emotional as she was agreeing with the other witness was heart wrenching. I felt worse for her….I had yet to feel any physical pain, just adrenaline.

The police came and asked what happened and the witnesses told them everything. I was in a state of shock…..did I REALLY just get hit by a car?  I don’t know how long passed, but eventually “H” called her husband to tell him what had happened…..she was still crying and shaking. This moment was probably the most heart-wrenching for me. I can’t even imagine what her husband thought had happened to her, just by the sound of her voice on the phone. My mind immediately went to my husband, Brian. I don’t know what I would have done if he had called me in that emotional place…….My heart still hurts thinking about it. Speaking of my husband Brian…….

I better pick him up from work and get to a hospital.

No I did not need an ambulance (sorry mom). I figured, since I was breathing, not bleeding and for the most part, in my right mind. I was perfectly capable of picking my husband up from where he works in the mall and see what he thinks we should do now.  Besides, ambulances should be saved for EMT’s to help save the lives of people who aren’t breathing, bleeding profusely, or for the most part, NOT in their right mind.

After the police were done and “H” and her husband left (she gave me her phone number and the police her insurance information), I made my way to the train station to get Brian.  I’ll spare you those details……but on my way to his work I noticed…..my left arm sure does hurt……and so does my head. Anyway, thankfully there was a hospital by the next train stop over after getting Brian. However, something did not occur to me until we got there……umm……Is this the place where a bunch of people got Ebola?

EBOLA.

“Shake it off” I thought. “No reason to get yourself all worked up more than you already are.”

FYI, they take someone getting hit by a car VERY SERIOUSLY.

It didn’t take long before they called my name to go into a room in the ER. But it wasn’t just any room…..it was a trauma room. 9 nurses, doctors, and techs were in one room waiting for me.

9.

I looked in that room and went in very slowly.

“Did someone just die from Ebola?”

Thankfully, it was the first thing I thought, NOT the first thing I said.

I’m just going to pay my respects and run out of the room…….or so I thought.

“Are you Shelley Olsen?”

Uh-oh.

Next thing I know, I’m getting put onto a gurney and all 9 of them swarm me. Yes, it is possible to get a CT scan, blood drawn, an X-ray and a heart monitor going ALL at the same time.

All for a contusion in the left arm. The pain in my left arm and left side of my neck will go away soon enough.

I am grateful to the Lord for the incredible hospital staff who took UNBELIEVABLE care of me. It is not lost on me that it could have been a lot worse……but God had other plans. But seriously,

Whatever happened to riding horses to get everywhere?