Head-On Collision

I n August 2008, I was on a two-lane high way driving home from my college. A 17-year-old boy in a Jeep Wrangler was passing someone in his lane (and apparently didn't look hard enough at the oncoming lane, or was just plain inexperienced), and he came into my lane and hit me head on. I had been going about 55mph, and he had probably been going a little faster since he was trying to pass. I heard his brakes squeal... I didn't have enough time to react. My seat belt locked up, and my small car was old enough that air bags didn't come standard, so my head hit the steering wheel on impact and the seat belt left a bruise across my chest. I knew right away that both my legs hurt, but I couldn't move, and I was even afraid that the car would blow up or something (like you see in movies)... but there was a state trooper behind me that assured me it would not blow up. He immediately called EMS, and when they got there, I couldn't exactly pinpoint any pain except "under my left butt cheek," to which the EMT replied that it was probably just a charlie horse. The boy that hit me was ok, as was his Jeep; my car was totaled. After I got to the hospital and got some X-rays, they found that I had broken my left hip and right ankle and cracked some cartiledge in my left knee. My left hip (technically the acetabulum, or "socket" of the ball-and-socket joint) broke when my left knee hit the dash board and pushed my thigh back into it. My right ankle broke when I was attempting to hit the brakes. After my boyfriend and parents arrived, the hospital wanted to take me to another hospital about 30 minutes away that was bigger and could do surgery on my hip. At the time I thought I'd be back on my feet & in class very soon. That night in the emergency room, they put my leg in traction, which involves drilling a rod straight through one side of my thigh and out the other between the two thigh bones to pull my thigh away from the broken hip socket until surgery. I waited three days for hip surgery, and then after surgery I finally realized I'd be in a wheel chair for awhile. After a one-week hospital stay, they transferred me to yet another hospital for a week, this one for rehab/physical therapy. There I learned that I also have slight nerve paralysis in my left leg, making it awkward and difficult to tap my left foot. I was in a wheel chair for almost two months, and I was too traumatized to drive for three months after my wreck. Nine months later, I still suffer from bad hip pain, (my ankle pain is not so bad), I still go to physical therapy, and I still have a significant limp. My doctor stopped prescribing me pain medicine over six months ago, and now they are hesitant to renew my handicap tag for my car. It's a struggle still, and I know there are others who can relate, but I don't know anyone personally who has been through what I've been through.