Chapter 7 – So this is what I have to look forward to.

 

In those last few weeks my mom seemed to be around more, it did not dawn on me till one morning when she was there when I woke up.  My mom was going to have to change my diapers!!!  After all this, could it get much more embarrassing?

I will admit, my mom was quite efficient at changing diapers, or briefs, or protective garments like people called them.  They were diapers to me, nothing else, just diapers, why hide behind a name like “protective garment”.

My mom helped the nurses with every aspect of my daily routine that week.

I had not seen dad in a few weeks; mom said that he was back home making sure that the house was ready for me to come home, lots of things would be changing at the house.  Mom said my room had to be remodeled, and the bathroom and the entrances into the house too.

This whole time my mom had been either living at the hospital right after the accident, at the Ronald McDonald House, a motel, and finally an apartment with another parent whose kid was in here too.  Dad would come down on the weekends when he could.

His job was nice enough to let him take time off, but it was unpaid, so he had to limit it greatly.

I found out that my mom had to quit her job and get one where she could work from home, in order to care for me.

I later found out that the semi driver and the driver of the white car were both drunk or drugged, the trucker and the white car were speeding and saw a state trooper  ahead and had slammed on their brakes to avoid a ticket or being pulled over.  My dad said that the trucking company had settled for $6 Million to be paid out over 3 years, and the driver of the white car’s insurance was still trying to come to a settlement amount, but that too was in the millions cause the driver of the car was a pro athelete, and had been drunk before.

One day while I was talking to mom about what all happened with the accident, trying to fill in the pieces of what I remember and don’t remember, we got on the subject of the actual accident.  “I don’t remember much of the accident, I remember the white blur, the sportscar that flew by and caused the accident, then the army guy. This guy in camo was overtop of me and told me to keep still but that was it.  Do we know who that was?”  She did not know.  I described him and nobody knows who this person with army fatigues was, there were no first responders in army fatigues…. – We would find later though.

I was supposed to go home on Tuesday, I was so excited.  I had been in the hospital almost 8 months, and I just wanted to get out of here; even if it is in diapers.

Thanksgiving was really close and so was Christmas, a chance to see all my family.  Many of my family came shortly after the accident, but I was so in and out of it with the pain, that I did not get to enjoy the time they were there, nor do I remember much of it.  Too bad that they were not able to come down after I was in rehab.  I missed playing video games with my cousin Jake.

Tuesday morning came, the lab technician came in to take my blood like they do each week, at the crack of dawn, damn vampires!!  The tech walked in and woke me up, “good morning, time to give me your blood.  Smells like you need a change too”

“I figured that, it sucks not being able to do things, and control things like I used to.” I said while choking up a little. “I mean, having to wear diapers all the time is bad enough, but having to be changed like a baby is worse”

“I know things are hard to swallow, but you are not dealt more than you can manage, you made it this far, and trust me, when they first brought you in, you were very bad off.  I have seen other people not recover for your injuries, or take a lot longer.  Look at you, you may be going home today”

“May be going home !!, what do you mean may be… I wanna go home, I am going home today!”

“Well, if your blood work shows nothing wrong, the doctor will dismiss you, but if it does not, they usually make you stay.”

You guessed it, bad blood…. It was Thursday before I got to go home.