Got hit by a life roll today. A life roll, as defined by Dean Wesley Smith, is when life throws a bunch of shtuff at you and you just have to roll with it.
Was out running errand with the wife today, one of which was stopping at a local fast food chain to get a bag of ice. It was around lunch time so we got some food, and decided to split a grape slushie. After eating we were headed off to another place and I was driving.
I took a drink of the slushie, which was a lot of ice. A few moments later, I had this strong feeling of cold in my chest. Then I could feel the start of a brain freeze. No biggie, I’ve had them before but not while I was driving.
Then, things went south. Fast. All of a sudden I couldn’t see, or move. I could hear my wife telling me to stop. Then a big crunch. She tells me I passed out for a few seconds.
The airbags deployed. I could start moving again. My wife was trying to get out of the car. I tried to get my door open but was at an angle where I had to push the door up to get it opened. Finally managed to get it opened, and crawled out my side. Jeanette had already crawled out.
I went around the car to find her on the ground. Several other drivers stopped. One lady got a mat for Jeanette to lean on so she wasn’t on the ground. The other lady, Kelly, got a first aid kit and got some gauze. Jeanette had drops of blood on her arm, a scraped knee, and was holding her left hand. We cleaned the blood off her arm and stopped the bleeding, and got her as comfortable as we could.
I called 911. A few minutes later we heard an ambulance coming but it drove right by. So, we weren’t the only ones having a bad day.
Soon, a Harris County Sheriff arrived along with a fire engine. I finally got a look at the car. The windshield was spidered (Jeanette had not been wearing her seat belt) but the structure looked sound, and none of the wheels were at an odd angle. The car may be salvageable but I’ve been told the insurance company will probably declare it totaled.
The Officer asked me what happened. I told him it was going to probably sound strange but that I had a drink of the slushie, then a brain freeze, then passed out for a few seconds, and drove the car into the drainiage ditch. He got my license and insurance.
The firefighters checked Jeanette out, and an ambulance arrived. The firefighters turned her over to the EMTS, who got her in a neck brace and a gurney. They were concerned that there might be a spinal injury. They asked me if I was injured and I told them no. They asked if Jeanette was on any medications. I gave them a list of all the ones I could remember but not a complete list.
They loaded Jeanette into the ambulance and I finally got my license and the insurance card back. Then they were promptly taken by the EMTs. The Officer gave me a card for the place that our car was being impounded and a case number. I got in the ambulance and we went to the hospital.
I lost my glasses somewhere along the way but didn’t realize it until we were almost to the hospital.
I am very thankful that I drove us into a drainage ditch, and only Jeanette and I were involved. I would have felt terrible if I’d gone into another lane of traffic, or ran through an intersection (which I almost did) or injured someone else. The aftermath of this will not be pleasant but it could have been much worse.
More on this tomorrow.
Let’s be careful out there, dear reader. You never know what strange twists and turns Life will throw at you.
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