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I've had two situations in my life that could have been a lot worse than they ended up being. Now that I'm an adult, they're even scarier to me now than when it happened, as I understand better now the real danger I was in.
The first was a serious bumper car accident shortly after I turned 5. An older friend accompanied me on to the ride, while my mom watched. T. and I were trying to get my seat belt on, and had only managed to get it as far as my neck when the ride started. Our bumper car went straight into the edge of the platform, and I ended up with my face landing on the dash, teeth-first. Two of my teeth were knocked back, not out, and I was strangled by the belt. A bloody mess, the ride operator merely picked me up and deposited me in my mom's arms. The ride to the hospital is a complete blur; I only really remember it because my blood stained the back seat of our car, and years later it would bring the memory to mind. My next memory is of being in a hospital bed, in a neck brace, and hearing my mother being told that it was fortunate I didn't crush my trachea.
We ended up in a legal wrangle with the carnival company because they refused to pay the copays for my dental work and hospital visit. I had to have two oral surgeries to pull the teeth that had been knocked back and to pull another tooth that died from the trauma. The company actually ended up paying more than my dad originally asked for, simply because of their refusal to pay anything until my dad got an attorney involved.
The second time I came close to death was a couple years after the bumper car incident. I came down with a really bad case of strep throat on a Friday. My parents tried to get me into the local doctor's office, which was the only option around, as we lived in a very rural area. But the receptionist said they had no appointments, not even for someone as sick as I was rapidly becoming. Saturday morning I woke up with a rash around my midsection--scarlet fever. Most of that day is a hot blur. When my fever spiked over 104, my parents decided it was time to make the drive to the hospital. Once there, I was given an injection of penicillin. I am so thankful for antibiotics. They saved my life. The hospital's treatment also kept the strep from causing me lasting problems.
Otherwise, I've always been a really healthy person, and am generally not accident-prone. Thank goodness, as my brother more than makes up for me. He's had more brushes with death than anyone else I know.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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