Happy Survivorversary!
It was a warm July night, exactly 8 years ago.
I rode my bicycle to the train station to meet a friend. She had insisted that I meet her and pick up an extra set of swimming goggles she owned, as I had just started swimming lessons at the local gym. After meeting her, I had planned on running a few miles so I was already in my running gear and had no identification on me, just my Blackberry.
As I was making my way across the intersection close to my home, I could see exactly where I was going to park my bicycle and start my run. I almost made it across. I remember that I turned my head to the right and saw a car coming toward me. I screamed, “no!” but do not know if any sound escaped my throat. It felt as if time stopped and everything was in slow motion. Maybe a few seconds, or even a few minutes later, I found myself lying on the warm pavement in the middle of the intersection. I vaguely remember a man telling me not to move and then… I woke up in the hospital.
I remember the look on the police officer’s face as he handed me the basket from my bicycle that held my possessions — the borrowed goggles, my broken Blackberry and my helmet. He picked up the helmet, examined it carefully and placed in back in the basket with a look that said, “wow, you’re lucky to be alive.”
Later on that week, I was able to slowly walk out of the hospital and go home. The doctor handed me a three-page document that I later translated from the comfort of my own bed. Thank you, Google Translate for helping me realize that I had a concussion and temporary amnesia. I had no idea. Gehirnerschütterung is not a common word in German lieder or opera and my time in the hospital was all a blur.
Side Note: if you’re in an accident in Germany, everyone will ask you whether you were at work or on your way to work or leaving work at the time of the accident. If that was the case, your employer’s health insurance would cover everything and apparently I would have gotten a private room. It’s okay, I really did not mind having a Polish roommate. Also, the bill from my first hospital visit in Germany, including an ambulance ride that I don’t remember and extensive testing was a grand total of (drum roll, bitte) 30 euros. AND, if you’re written as “sick” from the doctor during your summer holiday, your employer is obligated to give you your missed vacation days later on in the year.
I am always filled with gratitude when I think about that day and the weeks that followed the accident. The bruises that covered the right side of my body from the impact of the car slowly began to fade. How I was able to walk out of the hospital without any broken bones still amazes me to this day. I am eternally grateful for the many visitors at the hospital and at my home during my recovery. One friend, who wanted to visit me in the hospital but could not, flew me to England shortly after my release from the hospital just to be able to take care of me. I had to make changes to my plans the following weeks, months and year after the accident, but that’s okay — “I’m still here.”
Happy Survivorversary to me!
Please wear a helmet.
