The tale of the wreck

Since mentioning my accident in a couple emails and getting the reply "What accident!" I have come to realize that I may be blogging in vain, since I did mention it in a couple places. But that's OK. The tale of the wreck has grown, so here it is in it's entirety.

On Dec 8, the fourth night with Benoit and Sarah, I was returning to St. Quentin from Nimes with Benoit around dusk in his old Chrysler van... a lot like mine... I felt quite at home. A young driver at a Y intersection drove right through a yield sign and we hit his left front bumber straight on. Although Benoit second-guessed his choice not to try to avoid the crash,  it is likely that if he had swerved the collision would have been to a side panel where either I or the other driver was sitting.. .and much worse. An ambulance came by and the guy leaned out to say "need help?" and I said "nobody hurts, thanks" and they drove away. As it was I thought I was OK, a little shocky and probably a bit whiplashed, but once I found my glasses under the seat I felt I would be fine.

For a couple days I felt OK. Worked on Friday and rested over the weekend. On Monday, toward the end of my last day of work on the Sommiere house I helped Rene carry a couple large blocks up 4 flights of steps to the terrace. Then standing on some uneven stacks of roof tiles (you have to get the picture here) I was lifting my half of the stone (about 80 pounds) up to a spot about 5 feet off the ground when my chest went RIP. It hurt like hell, but I couldn't drop the stone so up it went and I knew I was done.

Since then I have had symptoms of pain around the sternum, stiffness in neck, shoulders and back and generally fatigued. There are some movements that still hurt in the sternum and a cough or hiccup has a painful kick as well. So I came here to Jacque and Richards place in the Dordogne. 6 hours by train and I tried to do the work that I promised to do. Some framing and sheetrock mostly. After one day of needing to stop at 4 and the next day saying I needed to stop and rest (and and then not doing it), Richard said "That's it. You need to see someone. This is a real injury you are dealing with."  I could hardly argue with him and it is for the best that they helped me get to an osteopath yesterday and I got a good treatment - pushing and stretching me back into place. Chest, back, hips. When I met the doctor I started to look around to see where the real doctor was. He looked like he was 19, probably in his 20's. I think he did a good job.. spent his time and explained what had happened and what I should do in order to keep healing. Basically, a couple days rest and then listen to my body... don't push.

So, I do not know how much my incapacitation has contributed to J & R's change of heart about staying here through Christmas with me as a guest... and maybe David coming on his trip to France after Christmas.... but, they are going away tomorrow and I am going back to Sauve. Alain, who I have never met...a friend of Patrice... who I just recently met.. has invited me to stay with him... to help him or just to rest. I am very grateful. I thought Christmas would be a hard time to find a host... and it is. J & R was my solution, but since it is not working out well here anyway it is for the best that I am moving on.

I hope the tale of the crash ends soon with me feeling back to normal.