Car Accident

[robblok]

Yesterday me and my wife were in a car accident. She was driving and fell asleep (why i dont know she slept during the night and it was afternoon and not a long trip). The next moment i saw concrete pillars coming closer and i screamed at her. Too late.. hit the concrete with 80-90 km/h.

At first it seemed i was the one worst of because it took me a few minutes to get from my chair and i had trouble breathing and my chest hurt. The wife was already out of the car.

But in the hospital i got better quite quick but the gf had a boken colar bone among other things.

Now a few questions, how long before a collar bone heals ? Pain suppression for the gf what to give her. She is in a lot of pain at times. She stayed the night in the hospital while i stayed home. WIll be picking her up today. I refused the medicine for me because it was just a bit of pain. I hate taking medicine when not really needed.

How long before i will be feeling better.. im hurt a bit at the spot near the plexus just below my chest muscle. I pushed on my ribs no problem.. Just have a problem breathing deep and when i move in a certain way. No broken bones, had x-rays.

[Tywais]

A friend of mine broke his when we were playing racketball and he rammed into a wall. There was no separation at the break and he kept it in a sling and about 6 weeks before it was mostly mended. Lot's of variables such as full separation at the break which could take 2-3+ months. The doctor should be able to evaluate the degree of the break from the xrays and a time frame for usability.

Sorry for your mishap.

[robblok]

Thanks, im sure the doctor will tell her today. Just trying to find out some information before.

[tropo]

You're both extremely lucky as that's a massive impact. Did you have airbags?

From the sounds of it you'll be fine in no time. Did you not have chest x-rays to check the ribs?

[robblok]

The airbags saved us for sure and so did our seat belts. We hit the concrete pillar at 80-90 km/h no braking.. full on. So it could have been much worse.

Yes i had x rays, no broken ribs so i take it they are sprained. Must have been from the seat belts. I seem to be lucky accident wise, this is the second major one where i walk away relatively unharmed. (does not feel like it but much better as it could have been).

Now im mostly worried about my GF, not as much anymore but just the time it will take her to recover. Also she is in a great deal of pain and gets painkillers injected. She decided to stay an other night at the hospital. I think she is right because she would not have access to the same painkillers here.

Its all covered by the insurance.. maybe pay a bit ourselves but that is ok.

[canman]

To get away with a broken collar bone and some bruised ribs from such an accident is amazing. Many years ago I broke a collar bone and dislocated both shoulders at the same time, it took me about a week before I could move about and use my arms for anything. After that the pain eased and recovery was fairly quick, I think I was out of the figure 8 bandage in 5 weeks.

[steelepulse]

Nice to hear that the seatbelts and airbags did their job. Also good to hear the damage is relatively minor compared to what it could have been without the safety devices. What type of vehicle were you in when this frontal collision occurred?

[QED]

Don't know about the collar bone, but sounds like just bruised ribs for the OP. I did this playing rugby a few years ago and it was a good few weeks before I was back to normal, just need to take it easy for a while. Might be a good idea to lay off the gym for a few weeks too....

[robblok]

Nice to hear that the seatbelts and airbags did their job. Also good to hear the damage is relatively minor compared to what it could have been without the safety devices. What type of vehicle were you in when this frontal collision occurred?

Believe it or not.. honda Jazz 2 year old model. And yes im amazed too.. frontal impacts.. at speed no breaking.. just like those crash dummies

I can laugh now.. (not too much else it hurts) But just hope the wife will recover fast too.

[robblok]

Don't know about the collar bone, but sounds like just bruised ribs for the OP. I did this playing rugby a few years ago and it was a good few weeks before I was back to normal, just need to take it easy for a while. Might be a good idea to lay off the gym for a few weeks too....

Im already thinking of starting to row in a few days... But no heavy lifting for a bit longer.

[DLock]

Rob, we crashed last year into a tree at about 70-80km...wife was trying to avoid a dog. Dog lived.

We both were not wearing seat belts. Airbags definitely saved our lives.

I busted my head open, 4 broken ribs, wrist and ankle.

She broke her collarbone (clean break) that required surgery. It took about 2 months to heal.

However, the bigger problem was that she suffered a tear in her aorta, that was only detected because of very high blood pressure and I insisted on an MRI. Turns out her aorta had dissected and blocked her renal arteries. Her kidneys were failing and she needed major surgery to run the veins from her legs up through her body to her kidneys. She is still on a lot of medication but is slowly recovering. If that tear had ruptured she would have bled out and died on the spot.

My point is, be very aware that she (or you) may have more internal problems. Worth getting checkups for the next few weeks to make sure everything is functioning correctly. The hospitals are pretty quick to send you home. They did not even detect the broken collar bone until 3 days after the crash.

Good Luck.

[robblok]

Rob, we crashed last year into a tree at about 70-80km...wife was trying to avoid a dog. Dog lived.

We both were not wearing seat belts. Airbags definitely saved our lives.

I busted my head open, 4 broken ribs, wrist and ankle.

She broke her collarbone (clean break) that required surgery. It took about 2 months to heal.

However, the bigger problem was that she suffered a tear in her aorta, that was only detected because of very high blood pressure and I insisted on an MRI. Turns out her aorta had dissected and blocked her renal arteries. Her kidneys were failing and she needed major surgery to run the veins from her legs up through her body to her kidneys. She is still on a lot of medication but is slowly recovering. If that tear had ruptured she would have bled out and died on the spot.

My point is, be very aware that she (or you) may have more internal problems. Worth getting checkups for the next few weeks to make sure everything is functioning correctly. The hospitals are pretty quick to send you home. They did not even detect the broken collar bone until 3 days after the crash.

Good Luck.

Thanks,

Can only say the hospital was great so far. Took our blood pressure made x rays to check for broken bones. I will make sure the wife get checked out. She is still not discharged and will spend the night again. Mainly because of the painkillers they are giving her there.

She had no surgery i don't know much about how it was broken hope to hear more today. But the wife is under painkillers and does not want me to visit right now. She is sleeping and sleeping. The hospital is quite close by so ill go there tonight for sure.

I am getting better by leaps and bounds now inhaling extra to strech up the sprains a bit. Im feeling better every hour. Might be a while before im 100% but getting there a lot faster as the wife.

I for one will always wear seat belts.. always did but this really proved how important it was.

[Sheryl]

Not to add to your worries, but her "falling asleep' while driving may need further investigation, especially as you say she was not sleep deprived nor was it a long drive.

There are types of seizures that manifest as just zoning out like that. A neuro exam may be warranted. Unless your wife clearly recalls feeling very sleepy and is sure that she fell asleep, there may be an underlying cause that needs to be found and treated.

[robblok]

Not to add to your worries, but her "falling asleep' while driving may need further investigation, especially as you say she was not sleep deprived nor was it a long drive.

There are types of seizures that manifest as just zoning out like that. A neuro exam may be warranted. Unless your wife clearly recalls feeling very sleepy and is sure that she fell asleep, there may be an underlying cause that needs to be found and treated.

She was saying she was feeling sleepy. Maybe the night sleep was not enough to recover from previous working trips as a guide. It might have accumulated. She told me during the trip she was feeling a bit tired but as we were so close to home i did not pay it enough attention and she did not tell me how bad it was. Else we could have changed seats.

But its always like that .. hindsight is great.

[tropo]

Not to add to your worries, but her "falling asleep' while driving may need further investigation, especially as you say she was not sleep deprived nor was it a long drive.

There are types of seizures that manifest as just zoning out like that. A neuro exam may be warranted. Unless your wife clearly recalls feeling very sleepy and is sure that she fell asleep, there may be an underlying cause that needs to be found and treated.

She was saying she was feeling sleepy. Maybe the night sleep was not enough to recover from previous working trips as a guide. It might have accumulated. She told me during the trip she was feeling a bit tired but as we were so close to home i did not pay it enough attention and she did not tell me how bad it was. Else we could have changed seats.

But its always like that .. hindsight is great.

Sorry about the hindsight, but when a driver is sleepy they MUST stop. Most of these accidents happen close to home or near destination. It's the idea that it's so close and you can make it which makes it so dangerous.

I wrote off a car over 20 years ago with exactly that mindset. I was driving at night and getting close to a town which was only 5km away - and that's where I planned to rest. I didn't expect I'd be resting at the hospital.

Lucky you didn't have a head on smash with another car.

[woody087]

I broke my collarbone playing rugby league as a 20 yo.took 8 weeks before I could play again.pretty painful especially laying down to sleep.

Sent from my HTC Legend

[robblok]

Not to add to your worries, but her "falling asleep' while driving may need further investigation, especially as you say she was not sleep deprived nor was it a long drive.

There are types of seizures that manifest as just zoning out like that. A neuro exam may be warranted. Unless your wife clearly recalls feeling very sleepy and is sure that she fell asleep, there may be an underlying cause that needs to be found and treated.

She was saying she was feeling sleepy. Maybe the night sleep was not enough to recover from previous working trips as a guide. It might have accumulated. She told me during the trip she was feeling a bit tired but as we were so close to home i did not pay it enough attention and she did not tell me how bad it was. Else we could have changed seats.

But its always like that .. hindsight is great.

Sorry about the hindsight, but when a driver is sleepy they MUST stop. Most of these accidents happen close to home or near destination. It's the idea that it's so close and you can make it which makes it so dangerous.

I wrote off a car over 20 years ago with exactly that mindset. I was driving at night and getting close to a town which was only 5km away - and that's where I planned to rest. I didn't expect I'd be resting at the hospital.

Lucky you didn't have a head on smash with another car.

Tropo, now i agree but yesterday i did not. Did not realize it was this bad with her. It was a half hour trip. She drove there too no problems.. then shopping and some food at Sizzler and back home.

She must have been tired from he work in the previous days but there was no indication before this only when we were close to home. So we both did not take enough notice of it. This is one lesson learned.

[Mobi]

She must have been tired from he work in the previous days but there was no indication before this only when we were close to home. So we both did not take enough notice of it. This is one lesson learned.

I believe that accident statistics show that a vast majority of road accidents caused by drivers falling asleep occur within a mile or two of the driver's home.

As you say, a lesson well learned.

I hope you both make a speedy recovery.

[tropo]

She must have been tired from he work in the previous days but there was no indication before this only when we were close to home. So we both did not take enough notice of it. This is one lesson learned.

I've had a fair bit of experience with getting sleepy at the wheel in the middle of the day. I used to do a lot of driving in Australia and long distances. It can hit you at any time and it's quite common on roads you are very familiar with that allow you to get "bored" so to speak. Once the sleepiness starts it impossible to shake it.

What you eat can also influence this.

Did you get a chance to test her blood sugar levels? Too high or too low can cause drowsiness.

Edited July 3, 2012 by tropo

[robblok]

She must have been tired from he work in the previous days but there was no indication before this only when we were close to home. So we both did not take enough notice of it. This is one lesson learned.

I've had a fair bit of experience with getting sleepy at the wheel in the middle of the day. I used to do a lot of driving in Australia and long distances. It can hit you at any time and it's quite common on roads you are very familiar with that allow you to get "bored" so to speak. Once the sleepiness starts it impossible to shake it.

What you eat can also influence this.

Did you get a chance to test her blood sugar levels? Too high or too low can cause drowsiness.

Tropo i tested her fasting blood sugar that same day. It was in the 85. Just wanted to see her values. Of course i did not test anything after the accident.

Should have taken it more serious. But in future i will that is for sure.

[tropo]

Should have taken it more serious. But in future i will that is for sure.

Caffeine tablets will come in handy.

Have a look at this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=-x9nVukEWWw