Home safe
Well it was all very strange. Worse than I thought. I had thought that the journey was all I had to worry about & because the fear was irrational all I had to do was do it & it would all go away. I hadn't anticipated any problems at the actual airshow itself.
Sort of ironic I suppose, but after we had headed off i got out the map to Wanaka, it was all folded up, as maps generally are, but there was a lump in it so I unfolded it to find out what it was.
It was a chunk of windscreen glass from our last trip up to the Warbirds show. Creeped me out a bit.
But we got to the Airshow all safe & sound (thank you everyone) so i thought everything was going to be ok. It was awful & very creepy. The planes were great & when I could lose myself in their performances (& they were amazing) it was fantastic. But whenever I got distracted it would hit me right in the guts. This awareness that the last time all these people were here being amazed I was hanging in a car, more alone that I've ever been, in pain I can't ever describe. while john waited on the road for anyone to come past that he could flag down.
Waiting for the ambulance.
while the ambulance men tried to cut me out of the car.
John argueing with them to do it properly & take the top off the car.
He said "F*ck the car, Just get Debbie out properly!
Waiting in the ambulance for the helicopter to arrive (see I did get an airshow after all
)
the storm blowing out of nowhere as the helicopter arrived
The pain
Waiting in A&E to find out what was happening.
The xray's blurred & the cat scan is inconclusive. There might be a hairline fracture. They'll put me in a brace & I should be able to go home in a couple of days.
One Dr's not completely sure & decides on a MRI just to be thoughrough.
I thought I had prepared for the worst, but I never thought that it could be true.
I used to lie in bed in the hospital at nights & sometimes the words "My back is broken" would just drift around in my head but I just couldn't make them fit onto me. & then I'd find that I was crying.
They had to cut my clothes off. The first vertebrae was fractured on such an angle that even a small movement of my back muscles would cause it to slice through my spinal cord. The second vertebrea was crushed 30% & was protruding inwards putting pressure on my spinal cord.
Just as well john was so insistant with the ambulance men
7 weeks later I was cleared to start learning to sit up again.
I learned the difference between poor muscle tone & NO muscle tone
I spent the whole day having flashbacks.
It was wierd & creepy & horrible
but interspersed with moments of sheer awe at some of the planes & some of the flying I saw.
It's been a really strange day.
I don't think I would want to to repeat it.
I got a ton of photos & I'll hunt through them & see if I can find some good ones for you.