I got hit by a car and my left leg is broken! =(

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Yesterday, while I was walking home from my (ironically) disability determination appointed exam with a psychologist, I had to cross several intersections, and about two blocks away from where I live...

1. I was standing at a three-way intersection, and there was a car to the left waiting for traffic to clear to turn right.

2. The driver didn't see me until I got hit, she was looking left when she was turning right!

3. I chose to call 911 myself.

4. The cops and the paramedics came and they questioned me and the driver who hit me.

5. I got taken to the hospital, which was only a few minutes away.

6. I find out that my left knee and ankle are fractured, but not displaced!

7. I went home with crutches and struts that covers my left knee and a wrapping around my foot to prevent them from moving.

8. I need to see a bone doctor to determine if I need a cast or something.

9. I'm getting a prescription to painkillers to ease the pain.

And my apartment I have to climb a freight of stairs to get into, which makes this a lot more difficult.

Any advice? Wish me luck and a speedy recovery! =(

I would try and go back to the disability offices to explain what just happened. Beyond that, just take it easy and hopefully you'll feel better. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

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Last edited by b9 on 08 Nov 2009, 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

Oh dear

Luck
Speedy Recovery

That was ironic timing.

An accident topic

Poor kid. You are only a few months older than my son!

That must have been a horribly hard hit.

Take care. Speedy recovery.

When you see the orthopaedist (or when you next see a health care professional) ask for a referral for support services, especially around the impairment to access to your apartment.

Thanks. I'll try to get every bit of help I can. Right now, I'm just going to focus on learning how to walk with the crutches.

One problem is that even when I take my hydrocodone, if I make a false little move, my leg still hurts!

I guess I will have to get stronger overtime, because I'm a bit weak physically, and I sure as hell didn't need this to happen! I can't walk with just one crutch because I will lose my balance and fall like I almost did this morning! But then I won't be able to carry anything except in my pocket...

Getting up those steps was one of the worst and most painful experiences in my entire life, despite being aided by two people! And I would hate to have to come down to see the bone specialist and the lawyer this Tuesday!

Grrrr... I wish I had the downstairs apartment and a wheelchair to ride in!

sorry to hear about your accident, living in an upstairs apartment with a broken leg....that sucks....
Hope you are feeling better soon, good luck with the stairs you poor thing.

Well, at least the car was turning, which means it was traveling at a greatly reduced speed.

Probably the best place to get hit by a car is at an intersection. It's virtually impossible for a vehicle weighing 1+ tons or greater to maintain it's velocity when turning 90 degrees. Given the place where the car approached, there is a 50% chance it would have to make that turn. Cars approaching a three way from the stem of the "T", they must turn no matter what. At a four way intersection, a car has three options - turn left, right, or continue straight - a 66.6% chance of passing through the intersection at a greatly reduced speed. Thus, at any given intersection, the probability of the car slowing down to turn is (100*67*50)/(100^3), or 72.3%. This, of course, does not include cars that may be going straight through but were stopped prior to entering the intersection due to traffic controls (stop signs, lights, etc.).

Why is it better to be hit by a turning or accelerating car, rather than one that is going full speed? The simple answer: F = M*V. Force is the product of mass and velocity. A car that is turning or accelerating from a standstill has less velocity than a car that is going full speed. Ergo, a car that is turning or accelerating through an intersection exerts less force when colliding with an object - in this case, a human body - than a similarly massive car going at full speed down a straight or slightly curving road. The less force is exerted on the body, the less injury and less chance of death.

Which is why people cross at intersections, and not in the middle of the street.

Forgive me, I wasn't trying to be insensitive. I was just stating that you were lucky the accident occured at an intersection, where there was less chance of serious injury.

I actually had a friend get his arm and leg broken when he got hit on his bike a few years ago. The car in question had been decelerating to turn into a parking lot when the accident happened, so like you, he escaped with only those injuries. Still he had to be in a wheelchair or crutches for most of his freshman year of high school. I used to joke around and tell him that he'd end up just like Edward Elric (main character in the anime Fullmetal Alchemist - he lost his arm and leg in an alchemic accident and had it replaced with cyberkinetic limbs), that we'd have to amputate his arm and leg and get him auto-mail. Heheh, we are the worst kind of otaku.

I am so sorry you got hurt, I am still recovering from my broken leg last year which required a cage and rods to hold my tibia
together, I would defiantly be going after that bad drivers insurance for hurting you. Don't do what I did when I was bored, got myself addicted to second life out of bordom