I was crossing a crosswalk early this morning on my way to the bus stop for work, while the walk sign was on, and the driver turned left onto a main road from a stop light and smashed into my left side. I was later told that I “flew up into the air”.
It was all very much a blur and I was pretty dizzy and out of it at first, but no head trauma. Some kind lady who said she was a nurse ran to help me up and to the side of the road, and the cops and ambulance came pretty fast (I think, at least).
I was taken to the hospital and was told that I fractured my humerus head (left shoulder). They told me I may not need surgery, but we’ll see what the orthopedic surgeon says during my follow-up appointment in a few days. Other than that, I just have a bunch of scrapes and bruises.
Overall, while I’m in quite a bit of pain, I’m grateful because it could’ve been way worse. My SO and parents are pushing to sue for pain/suffering, which I was hesitant to do until I read (online) that I wouldn’t be suing the person who hit me, but their insurance company), so I guess that’ll probably happen. They already found me a lawyer.
I truly have no ill-will toward that person because shit happens, it was dark, and they got out of the car immediately to call 911, so it’s not like they didn’t do what was right when it came down to it. I’m sure they’re traumatized, and that their insurance payment will go way up… which I feel a little bad about given the state of the US rn. But I guess I don’t have any control over that.
Honestly, while the whole thing was obviously pretty traumatic for me, too—and I keep replaying that moment in my head—I think I’d rather get hit by a car than hit someone with my car.
How are you doing now, OP?
Thanks for asking! Right now I’m still just waiting around; I need surgery because of the nature of the break and its interference with my rotator cuff, but I need an MRI/follow-up before it can be scheduled. So it won’t be until at least the 23rd.
I had some deep-tissue bruises that hurt even more than my shoulder for a while, which made it hard to walk, but they finally mostly healed.
My shoulder isn’t too bad if I don’t move it, but it actually hurts a lot more than usual this morning. The doctor only gave me a few of the weakest non-OTC painkillers you can get, so I’ve had to ration them for when the pain is at its worst. So I’m relying on acetaminophen and ibuprofen, which doesn’t really cut it tbh.
Well, I’m sorry about the travesty called the United States “‘healthcare’ ‘system’” and waiting around, and I’m actually not being at all sarcastic when I say that, sadly. I do a lot of waiting around myself, for the same reason. I have chronic pain and I already rely on acetaminophen and ibuprofen because of that, and if I’d ended up with the exact same injury, I would’ve needed something stronger than Tylenol III and more than a few of them. I’m really sorry they did that to you; that’s literally cruel, I think. You don’t have chronic pain; you have acute pain because you got hit by a car. I’d think they’d understand that and/or care.
EDIT: let me rephrase something, sorry. I don’t know if you have chronic pain or not, and I’m not trying to speculate. The point I was trying to make is that you got hit by a car, and that they should treating you with compassion instead of functionally punishing you for everything the driver did wrong. I already know I’m gonna get downvoted for saying that and I already don’t care. I’m really sorry this is happening to you.
Thank you! I appreciate it. I don’t really have particularly severe chronic pain, but my SO does, so I’m familiar with how hard it can be to get serious pain relief and how horribly frustrating that can be.
imo, it’s cruel whether the pain is chronic or acute. I guess I get why they’re so stingy, but there needs to be a lot more grace for pain patients. It’s not just about pain, but mental health, too. :/
I was definitely a little surprised and annoyed about it. Clearly there’s no questioning the fact that I’ll be in significant pain for (at minimum) a month, so why are you giving me only 6 days’ worth? Are decent scripts reserved for only the people who are literally on their death bed???
“But you’re still coming to work, right?”
I got knocked off my bike by a driver in 2016 and it was simultaneously among the worst and best things to ever happen to me. It was very stark how little influence I could exercise over the car. I mean, it weighs a lot, so of course, but I was quite suddenly confronted with it.
Very gruesome description so stop reading if you’ve not got the stomach:
I landed face-first and the brunt was taken by my front teeth. Imagine the bit where the gum ends as a fulcrum, and my bodyweight against the road surface pushing the bits of the tooth you normally see inwards, so the roots of my teeth tore through the bone and gum holding them in place and through my upper lip. I got whisked to A&E, stayed the night in hospital, couldn’t work for a few months, had to see a psychiatrist and a solicitor and all the rest, then I ended up getting a tidy sum for the trouble, wrenching me out of poverty with the same kind of alacrity my teeth had wrenched themselves out with, which felt indescribable.
Like you, I wasn’t at all spiteful towards the driver, because it was after all an accident, one that could’ve been prevented but fine, c’est la vie. The driver was a woman but the insurance policy was under a man’s name, and the story of what happened had changed between the accident itself and the insurance, so he’s a massive cunt anyway. Then someone from the insurance company was getting paid to make sure I’d be paid as little as possible, so whoever’s decided that’s a good job for someone to have is a massive cunt. Then the detective who was investigating laughed at me when I told him the road where a witness lived. “Do you expect me to go knocking on doors or something?” I said something like “isn’t that detective work?” I don’t have enough middle fingers for that cunt.
So I hope you get a little bit of solidarity from my anecdote and a nice windfall down the line.
Obligatory /c/fuckcars
Glad you’re OK, but definitely get as much as you can from the insurance. Drivers are REQUIRED to pay them hundreds each month for this reason. So make them pay up now that they are needed.
sue that fucker for my friend rosalie who got hit in a crosswalk by an old rich guy in maryland and the cops refused to do anything about it
