We got back home on Thursday afternoon. We had an adventure in every sense of
the word, and it is only because of our trip that I can appreciate all that
the word "adventure" encompasses! I'm enjoying reading posts to the list
again. I found the posts that Cody and Blane wrote about suction catheters
particularly interesting because I'm having to double up on my suction kits,
too, for the first time ever. I really appreciated that formula you gave for
soaking the used catheters, Blane. I printed it out, and plan to use that.
Thanks!
............Notice, Everybody, this is a long post and it contains my story of
our family travel adventure...........
We left home on Feb. 3 as planned and got many miles into PA before we stopped
for the night. When we left home, we knew that a storm was coming up the
eastern seaboard but at that time it was just supposed to be rain. Nobody knew
how far inland that it was going to hit. The motel where we stayed that first
night didn't have the Weather Channel, and there wasn't even any rain when we
left there early on Wed. morning (the 4th). We were on the PA Turnpike which
goes through the mountains; and as we climbed, we first ran into rain and as
we climbed higher, we ran into snow. Then finally we were up so high that it
was a big icy mess! There is HEAVY truck and car traffic on this turnpike, and
those trucks really barrel through ... full-speed ahead! We were driving in
the slow lane, descending, and rounding a curve when our tires got out of the
track and hit some icy slush. From that point on the slush was in control of
the car. It spun us around; and we crashed into the guardrail, we spun around
and crashed into it again, and then we flew backwards. When the car finally
stopped, we were up on a little wall kind of thing that had been built into
the side of the mountain, facing the opposite direction!
Miraculously none of us was really injured all that bad. We did get a lot of
sore back muscles, and Rachel got hit in the eye with her world history book
(She was working on her homework when we had the accident.) ... the bone just
above the eye to be exact. That is still pretty tender. She also got some
black and blue places on her arm from her notebook. I lived on Advil for about
3 - 4 days because my back was so sore, but those muscles have healed now. It
all happened so quickly that it felt as if we were caught in the middle of a
whirlwind! It was a nightmare for awhile! A road sander soon came by and
stopped. He put out some flares and called ahead for help. It was quite a
while before help arrived though because the troopers and other highway trucks
were having to take care of a lot of accidents that morning.
One of the turnpike workers took Rachel and me down to the closest town (New
Stanton, PA) to a restaurant while Chuck went with the tow truck into
Greensburg, PA. The people at the restaurant simply took us under their wings,
fed us, comforted us, and helped in all kinds of ways. Our waitress drove her
car, picked up Chuck, and brought him to the restaurant; and a young man who
was training to be a manager there drove us to the airport to get a rental
car. (We tried to get a taxi for this, but the cab company said that the
weather was too bad to go out. The young man who took us was from Canada and
seemed to be undaunted by the snow!) The manager of the restaurant gave us a
big bag of chocolate chip cookies to take with us! These people were absolute
gems. They just couldn't do enough for us! I am so grateful to them!
There were so many miracles in all of this! Not only did we not get hurt or
killed, but nobody else was involved in the accident. Considering the amount
of traffic, I am in awe of that fact! Another miracle is that the accident
didn't send our car flying into the center of the road, where we'd have gotten
hit by lots of traffic. At the airport we were able to get a car that would
hold all of our stuff ... not many cars have that much room! And finally none
of my medical equipment was damaged! It all worked when we plugged it in that
night! Our snacks got crushed, but the medical equipment was all intact!
So we continued on to Scottsdale, Everybody! On Thursday morning I had myself
a good cry over all of it; I just let myself cry until it was all washed out
of my system. I didn't want any of it left inside to fester. By Friday all of
us had transcended the gloom of the accident and were having a good time! Our
car was eventually declared "totaled;" we'll have to get a new one.
I'm like in slow-motion right now! I know that my body needs to be rested,
well nourished with good food, and pampered. It has never taken me so long to
unpack from a trip! It used to be that with one breath I'd bound through the
front door, with the next breath I'd be up the stairs, and with the third
breath I'd be all unpacked! I used to take great pride in how quickly I'd be
back to "normal" -- without a trace of my even being gone! Imagine! Today's
reality is much different, thank heavens! Finally by last night I did get most
of the stuff out of the suitcases, but the contents are now strewn all around
the house -- mostly in our bedroom. And it doesn't even bother me because
today my priorities are so different! I know that eventually we'll get
everything put away.
It took us a lot longer to make the trip home than to reach Scottsdale. First
of all, we knew that we didn't have to rush because Rachel's school was on
winter break all of this week and Chuck had told them at work that he might
not be back into the office until the 23rd. Second, I was so exhausted that on
2 days we had to stop shortly after 12 noon so that I could vent up. I had
absolutely no idea that Texas, New Mexico, and most of Arizona was so
elevated. I did check out Scottsdale before we left, but it just didn't occur
to me to check the elevation in the states along the way. I had no little
canister of O2 with me -- only my concentrator which runs on electricity. (It
filters out O2 from room air and feeds it to me through my vent.). Through
those southwestern states, especially coming home because I was so tired, I
had to work hard for each breath I took just sitting down in the car. Whenever
I had to get out of the car to go to the bathroom, it absolutely killed me. I
only allowed myself to focus on just one mile at a time; otherwise, I would
get into panic mode, making my breathing even more labored. By the time I
arrived home, I was literally on the verge of collapse! I absolutely don't
think that I could have gone much farther! Chuck and Rachel were wonderful on
the trip; they helped out with everything, even scouting out the shortest
route from the car to the bathroom so that I wouldn't have to take wasted
steps! Now that I'm home, all I want to do is to get a lot of rest.
Chuck has so much to take care of. Not only does he have to get all of his
conference notes in order, but he also has to go through all of our trip
receipts so that he can fill out his expense report Monday morning. Then
there's all of the business about finding a rental car to use until we can get
another car, dealing with the insurance company, and taking care of other
personal business that's been on hold for over 2 weeks. Because I'm out of
commission right now, he and Rachel have to go out for groceries this morning
and take care of other things that I usually handle. Last night Rachel fixed
dinner for us; she was so sweet. I'm so appreciative of all of their efforts,
of the fact that they understand my need to recharge my body, and of the
loving and graceful way that they are handling everything. I am such a lucky
woman!
I look forward to describing more of the details about our trip. I know that
this message has been full of our accident and how exhausting it was for me,
but I look forward to telling you about all of the fun, beautiful, energizing
aspects, too. Not only did I get to spend a few days with my dad and his wife
(who came down from Utah to see us), but on the way home, we also spent a
little time with my sister in Illinois.
I'll be checking in with you in dribs and drabs for a few days while I focus
on recharging my body! Chuck and I decided on the way home that I'm no longer
a Polio Survivor; in fact, I'm a Polio Prevailer! I believe that most of us
here on this list are prevailers, too!
It's good to be back home with all of you!
Carol Meyer
Massachusetts