Cheryl Todd and Frank Domina's Wedding

The Event
The Event

 

Photographs
Photographs

 

Video
Video

 
Wedding Horror Story #2 - End of Honeymoon

(as written by Frank)

As if the first wedding horror story wasn't enough...

When we arrived back in Atlanta after our honeymoon, we went straight to my place to drop off the luggage, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then headed off to Cheryl's where I was planning on helping her mow & weed-kill her lawn, as well as pack up some of her things and start moving her into my place.  Well...that didn't work out.

Less than 2 miles from my place, and less than 3 hours after arriving back in Atlanta, I was stopped beside a school bus (4-lane road), just behind the buses retractable stop sign when SCREEEEEEACH...WHAM!  I was rear-ended...hard.  But that's not the bad part.  We pulled our cars out of the traffic lane, into the center turn lane, and then while I was outside of the car, dealing with that accident, and calling 911 on my cell phone, someone who was too impatient top merge to the right with everyone else, decided to zip past the accident (way too fast, and apparently not looking forward (maybe looking at the smashed cars?) hit me.  Yes, hit me, as in my body.  I went flying about 10 feet.  She was moving fast -- far to fast for passing an accident scene, and far to carelessly.  She didn't appear to have even hit her breaks before hitting me (in fact Cheryl thinks she was accelerating), nor did she slam on her breaks after hitting me!  We wonder if she even realized she had hit a person!  She pulled stopped about 50-60 feet later, just past the next side-street.  (I can only thank God that grazed me with the side of her car and didn't hit me head-on.)

So, that left me with a wrenched back (though not too bad), painfully bruised ribs (later found to include one fractured rib) and a severely sprained (quite torn up -- hugely swollen) ankle and foot...plus some comparatively minor abrasions to my shin, knee and elbow.  As of writing this, it's been 2-1/2 weeks, and I'm still unable to work (can't go long without laying down and elevating my leg & icing it, plus my ribs hurt terribly when using crutches and/or hopping, and it's a long walk in from the parking lot at work...plus I really don't know yet that I can drive safely between the pain killers and the giant "Air Cast" ski-boot-like thing on my left foot).  The swelling has not gone down much yet, and the doctor thinks it will be 4-5 weeks from the accident before I can put weight on it enough to walk across the room, and a good 3 months before it's back to normal -- barring any unforeseen complications arising.

Again, poor Cheryl!  I'm sure she wasn't thinking the "in sickness and in health" clause would be kicking in the moment our honeymoon ended.  Instead of a helpful, fun husband who takes her out, she's stuck being a nurse, taking care of me.  I must say, however, that she is wonderful.  She is sweet, helpful, and she's yet to complain, even though my inability to sleep (pain) is killing her sleep as well.  I feel terrible that I couldn't start off the marriage being a great husband back to her.  I can't help her move her stuff here.  I can't help her cook, clean, etc.  We're going to miss the best time of the year for hiking (which we both love), as well as other springtime festivals around the city.  She's stuck with being my nurse, housekeeper, cook, and pretty much only companion until I can get out of the house.  All I have to say is that I definitely married the right woman (not that I ever had any doubts).  I just hope I recover quickly and without any complications or long-term affects.  Cheryl deserves the guy she walked down the aisle with, not an injured guy!

Update as of 5/6/04 - I'm finally back to work.  I returned part-time on 5/3 after being out for 5 weeks.  I should be back full-time by next week if things don't worsen.  I also started physical therapy, which the doctor and PT expect to be required for at least 3 times/week for a month, potentially longer.  Quoting the PT, "Wow, that foot is a mess!"  She also said to expect some swelling to last up to a year!  Still, it seems to be much better than just a week ago.  The more painful thing at this point is my fractured rib...painful and a pain in the butt because I can only lay comfortably on my back to sleep, which just aggravates my messed-up back, is keeping me (and consequently Cheryl) from getting a good night's sleep (I never could sleep well on my back), and is preventing treatment for the back because I can't lay on my stomach...as well as preventing other activities.

The ER's X-Ray on the day of the accident had to be taken from a bad (reverse) angle because I couldn't stand w/ my ankle injury, and they couldn't lay me on my stomach in case there was a break.  That X-Ray didn't show the fracture, but I was told that it wasn't 100% positive due to the angle of the picture, but was probably just bruised.  It had gotten better over about 4 weeks, so I was thinking it was just bruised...then doing nothing but simply bending over, it popped...and did it again a few days later when bending to wash below my knees in the shower (I can't lift my right left up b/c I can't stand just on my left leg in the shower).  That was very painful, so I went to my doctor and had them re-X-Rayed and found that the 6th rib was indeed fractured.  There's really nothing you can do for ribs, but I have to take it easy for another 8 weeks, which, if either or both of our homes sell during that time, means having to hire not only movers, but packers too, because of my doctor's orders to no exert myself in any way.  Bummer!  So...generally good news on the foot & ankle front, not so great news on the rib front....but overall, I suppose I'm in good shape considering that I could have ended up dead or paralyzed if she had hit me head-on.  Tip of the day: Don't get hit by a car.

Update as of 11/15/2004 - I'm not sure when I last saw the doctor (around September), but I was just about finished with my "formal" P.T. (still more to do at home), and the orthopedic doctor said if I wasn't near 100% by the end of the year to come see him again.  Well my ankle has definitely been improving much more rapidly, but my darn rib is still an issue, particularly when lying down -- I really haven't gotten a good night's sleep since March 26th (the accident).  I went to my regular doctor a couple weeks ago for my annual physical and he wanted the ribs re-X-rayed again.  Well, the fracture was still present.  Not that there was anything I could do (other than continue to be careful), but at least it explained why I still had the pain.  The ankle isn't bad unless I'm on it a lot, and then it's okay again if I give it an hour's rest, but the ribs are really being a pain!  (Pun intended).  The other thing that started really bothering me about a month ago (had started longer ago, but about a month ago became an issue) is my opposite (right) knee and hip, especially the hip.  The doctor thinks it's a result of having favored my left leg (ankle) so much that my right joints are paying the price.  Hopefully it will improve and I won't need treatment for it.

Update as of Christmas, 2004. - In the past 6 weeks, my ribs have finally improved significantly.  Just within the past few days I've finally been sleeping good again.  I hope that improves my mood and efficiency at work.  It should.  My ankle is almost a non-issue now.  It still pops sometimes, and will swell up a little from time to time, but I'm so happy my ribs are almost all better that I can't complain about the ankle.  My right hip is still an issue -- no worse, but no better....but since it stopped getting worse, I'm hoping I'm over the hump and it will start to improve without having to go get more PT for that!

Update as of 3/26/2005 - It's been exactly one year since the accident.  Every once in a while there's some tenderness in the ribs, but I bet the bones are healed and there's just some bruising around them that will be better in no time.  They aren't affecting my sleep at all anymore at all.  (Knock on wood!)  Cheryl and I went for a pretty long walk last night around the neighborhood, and another today out in the woods, and my ankle held up fine.  Every once in a while if I stepped on a root the wrong way it would jab a little, but nothing that lasted more than an instant.  After we walked and I had been off of it, it stiffened up some, but moving it around a little loosened it back up quickly.....Oh, and it still pops from time to time.  I'm not quite back to 100% after a year, but I think I'm close enough that I won't have to go back to the doctor...UNLESS, of course, my right hip doesn't start improving soon.  The knee does hurt some if I walk a long distance, or even driving for a long period of time, but the hip (which overall is the bigger inconvenience) doesn't really hurt in most cases -- I just can't flex it certain ways.  I can't cross my right leg, or sit "Indian Style", etc. without a lot of pain.  It's probably (hopefully) just muscular as a result of over-use while favoring the injury....time will tell.  Since I'm at the 1 year mark, I think this will be my last web entry about this, so long as my hip doesn't lead to anything serious.