The lilacs are late this year

How do I know? Because 38 years ago – on May 16 a drunk driver killed my mom’s best friend and almost killed her.

The driver was an 18 year old female out partying and using alcohol irresponsibly. Court records show the driver was up to 76miles an hour and she was only being “observed” by the local police. My mom had the misfortune of turning left onto 12th ave from west mason st. With no siren to warn her that – apx 3000 ft  away (corner of Oneida & w mason) a vehicle was speeding at 75 mph and would reach her before she completed her turn. The crushing of my mom’s car caused by the female, speeding, driver who chose to over use alcohol – killed my mom’s best friend – by crushing her to death and injured my mom so badly that it altered the quality of her life forever.

The lilacs were in full bloom and the fragrance was awesome.

Most of her ribs were fractured in both the front and back and one lung badly bruised and one lung partially bruised and her lungs were punctured. She was put on a ventilator and rapidly puffed up with air because of the lung punctures – later she was connected to a lung pump – she had swollen up with air to the point of being unrecognizable. Through all this pain and agony she was still able to write – she complained about her ankle – and when stabilized enough – the x-ray revealed it was fractured and they had to cast it.

My sister, dad and I took turns – so mom was never alone at the hospital. I would come home at 5am – so my husband could go to work – and the children readied themselves for school.

The lilacs were the first fragrance that engulfed me as I opened my car door and climbed the steps to my front door. 

The day after the accident they began picking glass out of her hair and back – the last piece worked its way out many years later.

When they would tell us her coloring is good – it’s “just” her lungs – we are a bit distracted by 

the tube going into her neck

the feeding tube in her nose

the blood valve on the wrist (that goes to a main artery)

the line and needles in her left top chest (that goes into a vein)

the monitor hook-up on her right top chest

the cast on her leg

the size of the respirator

the machine that regulates the food tube

the machine that regulates the intervenors feeding

the “pressure bag” at the foot of the bed

the bottles of medicine hanging from racks going in lines going into the main lines

the heart monitor

the blood pressure monitor

the suction equipment

the catheter & urine bag

the two tubes into her lung connected to a vacuum emptying “old blood” out of her chest

and the needle in her right wrist for other intravenous feeding and giving her blood (11 pints by the second day and counting).

She developed pneumonia and had to have a tracheotomy 15 days after the accident – on May 30. They said – even though she was writing to communicate – she was not really conscious – she “woke up” as they were cutting her throat to insert the breathing tube.

To loosen the fluid in her lungs — during breathing exercises – the therapist had to “tap hard” on the back and chest – and most of her ribs were broke – back and front. The sternum (near the neck) was also broken on one side. 

The day before she was released from the hospital they removed the long cast. Before they replaced it with a shorter one – she was weighed. On her release from the hospital – on June 25, 1981 – she weighed 88 lbs.

All because an 18 year old graduating student thought it her right to drive with .207 percent of alcohol in her blood. At .207 percent of alcohol this was over the 1982 official intoxication level of .10 percent.

Although most of the blooms of the lilacs were gone – their fragrance lingers in my mind.

To be continued . . . . .