Bent Bear Blog

It's the friday before memorial day weekend, 2 days before Steve's 41st birthday. I've planned a busy weekend, a trip to West Virginia on Saturday for a visit to the Fiesta Ware Outlet, and some slot machine action at the Wheeling Island casino, with Sunday spent celebrating Steve's birthday, probably dinner at our favorite sushi place, and cake at home. To start the weekend, we decide to go out for dinner, before coming back home and relaxing after a long week of work. We are 2 blocks from the house, and about to turn onto the main road when all the plans we've made for the weekend, and indeed for the rest of the summer, are changed for us in one horrible second. 

I saw the car out of the corner of my eye before Steve did. I had just enough time to yell his name before the front end of the Cavalier made contact with the drivers side door of Steve's Focus. Then there was the crunch of metal, and shower of glass, and the acrid smoke of antifreeze and oil burning on the hot engine block. 

I examined  my hands, my arms, my legs, looking for any signs of damage, moving each joint expecting to feel the sharp stab of pain from a broken bone. Nothing. Not a scratch. I look over at Steve, he's bleeding from a small cut on his left ear, his hands brushing glass from his beard and the front of his shirt. My hearing comes back, and I notice that the engine of the car is still running. "Turn off the engine Steve" I say, in much calmer a voice that I ever imagined I would use after something like this. He does. I ask him if he's OK. He says he is, but that he can't straighten out his leg, his knee feels stuck. 

The driver of the other car and her passenger are fine, walking around the vehicles, surveying the damage, calling 911 from cell phones. I call too. Just as I hang up, the EMTs arrive. They come to Steve's car first, since we are still sitting in the car, assuming that we are both injured. I get out of the car, tell them I'm fine. Steve can't get out of the car, his door is jammed, and he can't get hi knee to work enough to climb over the seats. The EMT has to help him, and once he's out of the car, he is unable to stand fully on his right leg. He will be in the squad truck and off to the hospital within 10 minutes for x-rays and a diagnosis of a tibial plateau fracture. This will require surgery, which is performed at OSU medical center on June 1. Steve will be unable to put any weight on his leg for the next three months. 

Steve is doing well. THe surgery was a success, and he should make a full recovery. He's getting around the house with the aide of a walker, and we have a wheelchair for longer trips, so at least he will be able to get out of the house this summer.  I'm in nurse mode at home, making sure he takes his meds, and giving him his Lovenox shots every morning.  

We are both starting to relax a bit, after running at full speed, and being worried about his leg for nearly 2 weeks. Now the healing, and the rehab will occupy our time, and hopefully by fall, he'll be back to normal.