I have been recovering from the car accident for 7 1/2 months now. My shoulder is still messed up. My brain is still recovering from the concussion, but I am doing much better. I will be returning to my day job probably after Labor Day.
I owe thanks to my partner for all she has done for me during my recovery. It has been a long haul for her to deal with her very difficult behavioral health job and then come home to a partner that was bed-ridden for months.
I also owe L.’s Mom a huge thank you for taking care of me for a month after the accident. A retired RN, she knew how to keep me comfortable and even put my food in a blender so that I could swallow it. My neck had swollen from the seatbelt bruising me that I couldn’t swallow regular food.
I don’t remember much about the accident. Both November and December are foggy to me. I still have some problems with word-finding and remembering the names of political figures and things like that. I can’t tell if that is age-related or if it is sequalae from the accident. Maybe it is a little of both.
The accident depressed me. When it happened, I was at my peak. I have a beautiful Hand Fasted Wife. I had a job I loved. I had a column in the newspaper where I could write about anything without censorship at the time. I was a very lucky man.
While meeting with my Neuropsychologist to address my concussion, I told him about how far I felt I had fallen. Now I am climbing that mountain again to get back to where I was before.
But my Workers’ Compensation Doctor calls me a “miracle”. I best take advantage of this second chance at life and enjoy everything; the highs and the lows.
Or as Warren Zevon said on the David Letterman show just before he died of lung cancer: “Enjoy every sandwich”.
