Portrait: Lisa
I was 27 years old when I was in a tragic car accident which nearly claimed my life. I am now 54. I remember seeing a p-plater in the rear window of a yellow station wagon. I had been t-boned in my right door jamb pillar. The p-plater had lost control from the other side of the road by colliding in a 360-degree spin.
A little bit about Lisa
I sat in my car driver's seat with shattered glass and blood in my lap. I was in shock. I was still breathing. I sensed this was serious. The intense impact felt like I had been hit by a large semi-truck.
Waking up in hospital
I woke up on a bed trolley down a hospital corridor with ceiling lights every few metres. I was aware of a white cotton sheet covering my body. I looked down to see a large blue brace strapped to my right leg. My right leg had large heat blisters and enormous swelling; I looked like I had borrowed a leg from a giant. I had a facial cut on my right eyelid and today I retain this scar. I had black and blue bruising where my seatbelt was and all over my body came along for the party. My main tibia bone went right through my right knee because I pressed my car brake with intense force to try to control the uncontrollable in a spilt second.
Time stood still. The orthopaedic surgeon talked about amputation from the knee down. It was the worst structural damage to a knee in Australia they had seen at the time. I was too young for orthoses. I’ve lost count of how many surgeries I’ve had on my right knee.
The aftermath of the accident
Today, there is too much excessive structural bone and muscle damage to consider a full knee replacement. Other symptoms I have to manage are anxiety, fear of loud noises and excessive sweating. The part of my brain that was damaged resulted in reduced hippocampus volume. The hippocampus controls stress responses, declarative memory, and contextual aspects of fear conditioning. In my case, I developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The highs and lows of recovery
The lows are that I get easily startled, I’m not much of a fan of crowds and I struggle being a passenger in a car.
The things that have got me through are some of my hobbies: reading, painting, cooking, fashion, needlework and sitting in the sunshine with a cup of coffee. I’ve even been able to drive again.
My advice to other survivors
The advice I would share with other survivors is to respect a person’s trauma as we all experience trauma differently. There is a common bond amongst trauma survivors. Seek professional help because it can be life-changing to your recovery.
Therapy has a professional and unbiased spin and sets you on your recovery path. We have to find a new normal. You will lose friends, gain wisdom and new opportunities. When you experience trauma in your life, you dig deeper. You desire to seek purpose for your existence.
You delete gossip, surface chat, prejudgment of people and understand that not everyone will like you and that's okay. Anyone is fortunate to be walking (even with a walking stick). Yesterday is gone. We need to erase ‘could have’, ‘should have’ and ‘what ifs’. It takes only one person with an idea. We are life.
Instead of saying ‘I have to’ say ‘I get to live another day’. It’s true living when we cease explaining ourselves and worrying about what other people think of us. My quote: 'We are DeVine' (meaning we are individual and unique.)