"I'm Not Dead Yet!"

(name that movie and win a prize!) this post's title is significant for several reasons...

first of all, because those of you following my blog i'm sure have thought i've dropped off the face of the planet! i'm still here, no worries :) i apologize *profusely* for slacking on my blogging...but in my defense, i have been unbelieveably busy with school and work. and hey, it paid off too...i not only survived my very first semester at a university, but i got STRAIGHT A's!!!! even though i had THE most ridiculous difficult time with my honors english course. i felt like no matter what i did, my writing or effort was never good enough for my professor, but apparently it was good enough in the end! and i am quite pleased with my A in developmental psych, since i'm majoring in psychology and all, haha :)


second of all, i'm very lucky to be alive...on saturday, the 20th of december i was driving down the 17 on my way home from flag, with my cruise set at 80 mph, all by myself since all my roomies left over a week before. i was heading towards a really sharp curve around a mountain, and didnt quite turn sharp enough...i was heading straight for the guard rail on the outside lane and my tires hit the bumpy part between the rail and the lane, and the sound FREAKED me out! i overreacted by veering really far right, which had me heading right for the side of the mountain. so i veered back the other way, realized that was bad cuz i was just overcorrecting all over the place, and finally lost complete control veering to the right again. i swerved off the road and my car rolled several times, no one could tell how many. my car landed upsidedown in the dead brush, at a point that was past the side of the mountain and wasn't on a steep incline so i didnt roll DOWN anywhere. i stayed conscious for the whole thing, but after i realized the accident was inevitable, i just screamed and closed my eyes so all i remember was a whole lot of impact. my head hit my driver side window and my steering wheel so i got a lovely, large cut on top of my head...

isn't it pretty? :D thats on the left side of my head if you can't tell. its kinda a weird picture cuz its just hair...and blood...bahaha :) i also got a mild concussion, naturally. but i was very, very blessed because on the scene, there was an EMT who stopped, an ER nurse, a bunch of other really nice and helpful people, and two LDS priesthood holders who were able to give me a blessing. all of my stuff was strewn across the 17...my trunk popped open and all of my EVERYTHING came flying out. but there were people who went around collecting things for me. and the only thing i'm missing (other than various socks) is my mp3 player. *small trickle of tears* but i will survive. i'm re-burning all my cds back so at least my world isnt COMPLETELY music-less! perhaps that might be an idea for a birthday present, mom and dad? :)

but i digress...

so after the random EMT and nurse did some quick (but hardcore) cleaning and dressing of my wounds etc, i got loaded up into an ambulance where they drove me to a helicopter (o, i'm sorry...a beepicopter, in kimballese) and then they proceeded to fly me back to the flagstaff ER. at this point, i started to cry. mostly because i wanted to go home and i was really, really mad that i was going the OPPOSITE direction of home. i was mad at myself for driving all stupid and getting into the crash in the first place, and i was REALLY really mad that i would hafta wait even longer to see my family and i was just costing them even more money. i was just unbearably upset at myself...i didnt care about the pain. which actually wasn't all that bad because of the adrenaline rushing through me and the medics dosed me up on a ridiculous (sorry...rebeepulous) amount of painkillers.

so at the hospital they got me out of my clothes (as in completely cut them up to remove them...naturally it was my favorite outfit. hahaha) and after covering me with about 6 blankets cuz i was freezing half to death, they ran some CAT scans to check for broken anything, internal bleeding, etc etc. then i laid in a nondescript room for a long time while i waited for someone to come clean the blood off my face and...well pretty much everywhere else too, and while i waited, my sister christina walked into the room! it was wonderful to see her face...altho she couldnt say the same for mine...she got a bit of a shock. apparently my forehead had swollen so much from hitting my steering wheel that it looked like they shaved some of my hair back. but it was so comforting to be able to talk to her and squeeze her hand when something hurt. as we were talking, she made a small confession... "umm... amy i called skylar." WHAT?! skylar pond is this guy i know from work who has become one of my favorite people ever. christina and troy know his aunt/uncle and their family, so when my mom called troy to tell him i was in the hospital, one thing led to another and they decided to call "the flagstaff ponds" to see if brother pond could assist troy in giving me another blessing. so yah skylar showed up at the hospital too...altho i really wish he didn't hafta see me in that condition, once again it was really relieving to see a friendly face, especially when the time that i could see my friends back home was...postponed a bit. he got to see me before they stitched up my face and everything! (i was wearing sunglasses when i hit my steering wheel so i got a huge cut on my forehead...ryan glover calls me harietta potter. lol) in fact lemme SHOW you what i looked like!


LOVELY, yes? :)


hmmm this is getting lengthy...lets fast forward a bit, shall we?


so since i'm allergic to lidocaine (a local anesthetic...dentists use it to numb your teeth) they had to just knock me out completely to give me the 8 stitches on my forehead and the 11 staples in my head. then i laid there for awhile waiting for the anesthesia to wear off so i could go home!! (threw up a couple times in the meantime...never knew concussions cause nausea! whatdya know.) then after a long while, christina and troy and their munchkins drove me home! i got home around 4 in the morning...and then just took it easy from then on while my body recovered! the next few days were pretty awful as the soreness set in and my face swelled up a lot, but after the 4th day or so, everything started smoothing out. and now i'm all better!! the only reminders i have are the scar on my forehead, on my scalp, and the little bitty scars on my hand that got all cut up from going thru my windshield--its kinda funny, when my hands are cold, the scars turn purple and i look like i have leprosy. lol :)


(thats what i looked like the 2nd and 3rd day after...in the latter picture, my face is so swollen it's literally stuck in that position. i couldn't smile! sad day!)


unfortunately, my car did not fare as well as i did...dear little agnes is no longer :( they couldn't even tow her normally, cuz there was nothing to hook onto! sigh...

lets all have a moment of silence out of respect for the deceased..... :( i miss her. she was a great friend. rest in peace, agnes!!! ("rest in peace...es! heh heh..." --kevin, from the office)

k. i think i'll just close this post for now and move on to lighter news in a new post :) so thats all for now.