So I was in another car accident tonight.
And it wasn't even because of the blizzard.

I had just left qotcpcf and was driving another guest home on Queens Blvd. I was stopped at a red light, when an Access-A-Ride van tried to pass me in the parking lane while going 40mph. There wasn't enough room, so he smashed off the left sideview mirror.

No one seems to be hurt, and the damage is minor, and it's not my fault at all, and I have witnesses. But I'm still pissed off. I've consoled myself with the idea that I was only due one accident a year until now - but this is the second one this year!

I really think I've had enough of them for this lifetime.

Last week, there was another car accident on the corner of my street. This makes the 5th one this year. (That I know about.) I can only remember one from last year or the year before that. Weird.

Also last week, I caught another squirrel in the attic, making the 5th this year. I really wish my dad would fix that hole already! This was on the coldest day last week, and when I first checked the trap it wasn't moving, and I thought it had frozen to death. After a little while downstairs in the warmth, it started moving around again. I felt bad about kicking it outside on a day when the temps were barely in the double digits, but keeping it locked inside the trap would be even worse. I released this one in the forest in Cunningham Park. Hopefully the huge number of trees there will increase it's odds of survival.
This one was smaller and greyer then the last one. (It also didn't poop all over the place.) Unlike the last one, as soon as I opened the trap, it zoomed out, speed up small tree, and proceed to freak out for a bit. I wish it all the best, as long as it doesn't try to move into my old room again.

Maybe it's a symptom of the madness that seems to grip the city with the first heatwave of the year, but there were an exceptional number of crazy drivers on the road tonight, and an unusually large number of accidents, too. A simple late night trip from Queens to Brooklyn and back was nerve racking. I'm safely home, and I'm still shaking.

This girl who stayed in my apartment last night was in a car accident this evening, right down the block from me.
(Same intersection as the accident last month, actually.)

Thank G0d, everyone seems ok.

A half hour ago, there was a huge *THUMP* outside that sent me and most of the residents in a two block area running outside.

There's more then 2 dozen emergency vehicles, most of them ambulances, with their sirens blazing and everyone running back and forth like mad.

( what happened? )

That's right, it happened again.

I had a good, productive day, cleaning some of the apartment and starting to tackle the backlog of work that built up while my friend and then my brother were over. As the day wound down, I went out to see my friend Bird, who's moving to California in a few weeks. This was likely the last time I was to be seeing her before her departure. We went to Rockaway Beach, and sat for a hour smoking cloves and talking and watching the surf.

On the way back, we were driving North on the Van Wyck when we ran into heavy traffic due to construction. Bird was driving my family car, because my knee was aching and she had been complaining that she was a much better driver then I was. We decided to get off at the next exit and take side streets home. Traffic was stop and go, and right after we made that decision, it just STOPPED, suddenly. Bird slammed on the brakes, narrowly avoiding hitting the car ahead of us. The car behind us wasn't so quick, and smashed into our rear end.

The cops came refreshingly fast, but were (as always) asses. They didn't want to bother with an accident report, and kept discouraging it (telling Bird her insurance rates would go up, despite it very clearly not being her fault) and when both drivers said they didn't want to fill it out, they got back into their cruiser and left. My father, who's car it is, wanted me to get an accident report, but apparently the car's owner's wishes don't matter, only the desire of the driver.

As far as accidents go, this wasn't the worst. None of us appear hurt, though there's always the danger of whiplash, and I'm going to go to the doctor tomorrow and get checked out. My neck is aching where I had whiplash after the 2005 accident, but that might just be psychosomatic. I'm more worried about Bird, who doesn't have health insurance and is about to move cross-country. My car was mostly undamaged; the bumper was scratched and slightly dented. The trunk opened and shut fine. The other guy had the worst of it, with his front end smashed in. He was able to drive it off the highway, but I have no idea how much non-cosmetic damage there will be.

This was an unhappy end to an otherwise happy night. It's weird - I never let anyone else drive because of worries about an accident, and the one time I do... there's an accident. And I'm wondering, once again, why I keep getting into so many accidents. Do I have some sort of latent magnetic superpowers, that I attract cars to me? I'm averaging one car accident a year since I've started driving. Haven't I had more then my share already?!?

Short version: I've been told the surgery was a success. I'll be having a follow-up with the doctor tomorrow for more substantive information.

( The long version: )

A few weeks back I had a second appointment with a new orthopedist. Noting that there's only been tiny improvements after a month of physical therapy and ice packs, he scheduled me for surgery.

I've gone for bloodtests and EKGs and a visit to my PCP, and I found out today that I've been cleared for surgery.

The surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, May 27th, at 10AM, at the NYU Medical Center. It's outpatient surgery, which means I'll be back home that night. It's supposed to heal quickly, so hopefully I won't be stuck in a wheelchair again for more then a week, and I should be able to dispense with the cane after a month.

I'll need another round or two of physical therapy again as well.

I'm actually excited about going under the knife.

I want to walk normally again.

I want to run again.

I want to live again.

Monday, I was finally able to see a new Orthopedist. After the last one screwed me over by postponing my surgery until I was no longer covered by my insurance, I decided it was time for a change.

It's been a year now, since I was hit by that car, and while everything else has been healing well, my right knee hasn't. I still can't walk normally, and every day I'm in varying amounts of pain.

The new one gave me a brief examination, and told me my problem is a torn meniscus. I was hoping for surgery right away, but he wants me to finish up my current round of physical therapy first. (This is immensely frustrating, as after a month of trying to get approval for the therapy, I only started it last week. If I had gotten approval right away, I'd be almost done with it right now, and if it had been delayed just one more week, I wouldn't have started it yet and it wouldn't be an obstacle to surgery.)

He also wants me to put an ice pack on my knee every day to see if that helps. He explained that I could either have a large tear, and hence lots of pain, or possibly a small tear with a large swelling area. If it's a small tear, the ice would bring the swelling down to a small area, and it might even then be able to heal by itself. (This doesn't explain why all the anti-inflammatories I've had to take over the last year haven't had a similar effect.)

I still need to find out who did the MRI on my knee a year ago, as for some reason that information is not included with the MRI itself. I also need to get the X-Rays and doctors note from my old orthopedist.

I have my next appointment at the beginning of April. If surgery is decided on then, I wouldn't be able to get it until after Passover, in the beginning of May.

This means that I likely won't be walking normally until the Summer.

I'm really sick of this. It's been a year, now, and I'm still not healed, and a large part of it is due to constant postponements due to doctor BS, health insurance BS, and lots and lots of circumstances outside of my control. And now, with my hopes up, it's been put off again. I'm sick of being a cripple. This has to end.

The rest of this week has consisted to visiting other doctors for other issues. I think I've had enough of doctors for now...