My Car Wreck

Okay. I know that there have been a few stories going around the school, so here is one strait from the horse's mouth.

First thing you should know, how it happened. I was heading to school like it was any normal day, building my speed up to that golden 55 mph. Then, I looked down. When I brought my eyes back to the road, the car in front of me was stopped for a bus. I should have seen that, even before I looked down, but I didn't. I remember thinking 'Oh my gosh it is too late. I am coming up to fast.' I didn't even have time to take my foot off the gas before I crashed into the George's mini van in front of me. The last thing I saw before the crash was their car in tact and my speedometer reading 55 mph. Going that fast, my injuries should have been SO much worse. But back to the wreck itself. I opened my eyes. There was a lot of metal everywhere and Hank was on the edge of the road. A little bit of comic relief here; I kept my hand on the steering wheel so that when the police came to take my id and registration they wouldn't think I was going to shoot them. Just like all of the driver's manuals said. Of course after about five minutes I realized I was not being pulled over for speeding, I was in a wreck. The George family were on the road walking this way. 'I should get out,' I thought. I reached for my seat belt and my hand slipped and slide all over it. That was when I realized that I was covered in my own blood. Ummm... yuck. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea I was injured until then. I finally got out of the car and walked over to the Georges. I remember saying sorry a lot. I remember them telling me it was okay. I remember crying rather hysterically. I remember Christian George giving me a hug, trying to calm me down. I remember the police coming. I remember sobbing about it being all my fault. I asked a police officer to call my mom and dad. I was checked out by the EMS who told me I had severe blood loss and would probably die. Just kidding. The EMS told me I had a broken nose and damage to my mouth. They released me to my mom and dad. The last thing I remember on the crash site was Ainsley George's mom coming over and telling me that it would be okay, that they were all safe. And then I went home.

I got home and all of my siblings were pretty... shook up about the whole thing. I'm okay. I'm okay. I said this at least a hundred times yesterday.
My coat was pretty bloody and my pants had taken more than their fair share. My mouth was bleeding pretty bad, and after using all of the gauze from the EMS guy I switched to wash clothes. At about 9:30 Mom and I started doctor visits and then my day really started.

First, we went to the doctor about my nose. My family doctor wouldn't take me so we went to a walk in clinic. I was seen by Dr. Miller in about ten minutes. He took x-rays of my nose and then sewed up my chin which was apparently worse than I thought. Getting stitches felt... funny. He gave me a shot that numbed it, but I was still aware of what was going on. It was strange, but not as bad as I had thought. Next we looked at my x-ray results. I had a pretty clean and strait break so my nose will be back to normal very soon. Of course, in the mean time it is pretty swollen. But Dr. Miller told me 'Don't worry ding-dong. You'll be pretty by prom.' I know it sounds petty, but that made me feel better. While my mom finished the rest of the paper work, I sat in the car and waited. After about ten minutes, I pulled down the car mirror and looked at myself. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I totally laughed. My face was threatening to take off and become the Goodyear blimp. My nose looked more like a giant piece of red banana on my face and I had a couple little scratches down my nose and on my forehead. Also, I had a swollen lip. But I didn't look different really. Just a little puffy.

Next was the dentist's office. We got there and went back right away. The dentist took one look at my mouth and said that there was nothing he could do because I had a broken jaw.

So... on to ER. We got there and waited like fifteen minutes before a nurse came and took my vitals and then sent me to a room. Another nurse, Bill came in and started paper work and asked me a few questions. Then a nurse practitioner came and told me what they were going to do. I had to change into a hospital gown, get a cat scan, get an iv, antibiotics, and pain killer. She left and I changed into my gown. Mom and I were in the middle of talking when I realized just what IV meant. For the first time since the actual wreck, I cried. Now, some of you may be lost. I have the most irrational fear in the whole world. I can't stand wrists. And where do IVs go? Yeah... Mom laughed at me and I did too a little. And then another person came in to give me a cat scan. Yes! Safe from the IV for at least ten minutes. Cat scans are fun actually. You lay down and they scan you. It actually is very relaxing. The cat scan went pretty quickly and then I was back in my room. Then Bill came back in to do the IV. Guess what I found out? They put IVs in your arm! Not your wrist! So... take that evil phobia. I guess the blood vain he found was a really good one because the IV acted as a funnel for a few seconds and my own blood went everywhere. It was pretty messy. Next he hooked me up to an itty bitty bag of antibiotics. It was like a third of the size of the ones you see on House. Then he gave me pain killer. Guess what I got?! MORPHINE! At first, the morphine made my whole body feel funny. Like it wasn't mine. Thank goodness I was lying down. Then it hurt a bit. Then I felt really good. Like you know how you feel when you just peed after having to go the bathroom for like, ever? My whole body relaxed and it felt like all was good in the world.

I watched TV for about an hour before we were leaving the hospital to go to an oral surgeon in Indy. The whole car ride their was comfy, after all I still had morphine pulsing through my veins. Then we arrived. It took us forever to find the hospital because we had wrong directions. Then we had to find the part of the building we needed which also took us forever. And, this whole time, I am going through morphine with drawl. And that hurt! My body felt foreign again and I got sick in the hallway before I felt better. But, eventually, we made it to where we were going. Wishard Hospitol (the one we were now at) is very close to IUPUI which means there are a lot of students receiving hands on experience. I went into the back room very quickly because the students were really excited about doing this. In fact, when I first got into the room, I was immediately asked 'Are you the broken jaw?'
Basically, after taking x-rays and looking at my cat scan, they decided to wire my jaw shut. Dr. Snow, a blond girl with a heavy German accent, gave me painful shots all over my mouth and then they started. At first, I knew they were doing things to my mouth, but I didn't feel it. I kinda felt like a fish on a hook with the way they were pulling wires and such. But then, everything started to hurt. You see, I have three jaw fractures. A clean break in the front, easily fixed by the procedure they were doing. But my other two were where my jaw connected to my head. Because these two fractures were so high up they couldn't numb those. And when they tried to reset my jaw, they pulled on those and that was VERY painful. Also, they couldn't get my teeth to line up correctly.

So... they stopped with the procedure. Thank goodness for that. They decided that they would have to complete it with me under anesthetic and they would also have to put a metal plate in the front of my mouth. Then they sent me home with pain killer and antibiotics. Guess what pain killer I got? Vicoden... although let me tell you. My vicoden is a sugary sweet liquid. It is nowhere near as good as morphine, but it doesn't have bad with drawls. It is not all it is cracked up to be. Really... not fantastic.

I have no idea what everything means. Some results I am sure of:
I have a broken jaw.
I will have a wired shut mouth for the next six weeks.
I will have to go on an all liquid diet for the next six weeks (No Thanksgiving for me)
I will lose quite a bit of weight.
I have a broken nose that will heal quickly.
I have stitches in my chin that will come out Friday.
I am supposed to get black eyes soon.
And last
I have to go in for surgery tomorrow.

Homecoming Week...again

After the 5 day weekend, homecoming started....again. For some reason they thought that since we didn't do banners, hallways, or the traditional games, that we should start all over. I am not going to lie, the participation went from the majority to zip. A poor choice? Absolutely not. There would have been a riot, revolt or general protest. But, it just doesn't feel like homecoming. Like AT ALL. I have not dressed up one day so far. Tomorrow is construction workers day. Probably won't dress up then either.

Yesterday was an Academic meet and tomorrow and Thursday I have Quiz Bowl. So I won't get to work on the banner or hall way. And Friday is a half day. We will go to school purely for homecoming and homecoming alone. I think that the absent list will be inconceivably long. Pages and pages. We had skippers even when we had a half day of school. So....

Now I have to go practice my clarinet because I have Solo and Ensemble this Saturday. It is kind of a big deal because I am in group 1 and group 1 can go to state. At some points I want to get a gold and go to state, but other times, I am like one more thing to do? I like the piece, but the pressure....

So, I should go.
~Sari

Homecoming Week

So... this week is the week of Monroe Central Homecoming. In case you are far beyond high school years, homecoming week is the most important week of the year. It is like fashion week for a designer or election week for a politician. The entire month we talk about themes, dress-up days, and hallway and banner ideas. The way the week goes is like this:

Monday- First dress up day, Pajama Day. All classes pretty much stay after until 8 or 8:30 starting the banner.
Tuesday- Favorite Sport's team day. You see a lot of brown and gold and over sized NFL jerseys. After school we work on finishing up banner and start painting or working on hallway decorations. Once again stay until 8 to 8:30
Wednesday- (We had no school this day but it would have went like this) Construction worker day. I imagine it would have been something like lots of yellow hats and hammers. Everyone would stay after to finish the banner and doing whatever you could to make tomorrow easier, so working on some of the hallway projects.
Thursday- Decades Day (No school today, so this is what would have happened) Everyone buzzing about staying after today. Lots of big concert tees and the irking smell of hairspray. Maybe some poodle skirts. Everyone would stay after school. I mean EVERYONE. We would stay after until 10 or 11 even. The hallway would come together. Today would have been the second most important day, the first of course being friday.
Friday-Tomorrow...hmmm. Brown and gold day. Lots of shorts, beads, face paint, and excitement. There is a half day of classes. After that we would all go to the cafeteria for a concert of the MC talent show. Some good bands... some good acts...others? Not so much. But we scream and yell and smile anyway. After that we file into the gym and scream. Lots of screaming. We play some silly games, including fear factor in which you can be sure to see someone barf, the bat spin, and balloon pop. After school... I can't remember, that never seems impotant. The game is big we all scream and yell and do crazy things and then we go to the dance. Then it is all over, nothing but your inablity to speak and large pastelled paper that esentially says 'Win Bears' to show for it.

But by the next year you are ready to do it again. And this year won't even feel like homecoming really. People will be ready for another one next week. I mean with the two most important prep days gone nobody will have a banner or a hallway and the building excitement has been all but drained. Can imagine that kind of homecoming? I certainly cannot. I can't even imagine being a senior right now. I mean, I am no Suzy Q, but everyone gets into homecoming. I am just really curious at this point about this will all play out.

Anyway. So I have a funny story. This morning I was reading and I heard Dora ask Brighton if paper came from trees and he said yeah. then I hear Dora go out to the hallway and say, "Told ya so Tobi, Brighton said that paper came from trees." And then Tobi said "Nu-uh. I have never seen a paper tree!"

Well that's all folks

Sari