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Back To: The Tyranny of Materiality
JA had
to go away for a few months for National Guard training . .
. I moved back to my father's and started my Senior year of high school . . . I
met Mike at BOCES . . . he invited me to a Halloween party and shortly after I
wrote JA a "Dear John" letter . . . I remember sleeping at Mike's and
waking up in the night to find him staring at me . . . I rolled my Datsun on its side one night after leaving Mike's . . . the
weather was stormy and my friend Amy and I decided to wear our seat belts [we
never wore them on a regular basis] . . . as we rounded a corner slick with
black ice I remember the car spinning in a circle . . . when it stopped the seat
belt was holding me in my seat and Amy was screaming, "I see dirt; I'm
looking at dirt!" as the car rested on its passenger's side . . . I
released my seat belt while trying not to crush Amy . . . I struggled to hold
the driver's door up in the air so Amy could crawl out and she held it for me
[in hindsight we should have rolled down the window] . . . we walked over to a
nearby house and knocked on the door . . . the woman told us that we were the
third accident that evening though we were lucky not to end up in the pond . .
. I called Mike and he and his family drove out to us . . . his father hooked a
chain to my Datsun and pulled it back onto four
wheels . . . the brakes and clutch worked so Amy and I got back in the car and
I drove it home at 25 miles per hour . . . when I got home I told my father
that I had an accident . . . he wasn't listening and said, "I thought you
weren't supposed to drive after 9:00" . . . I told him again and he went
out to look at the car and returned saying, "You're paying for something
that you don't have now . . . what a shame . . ." I was in my bedroom and
remember screaming: "You want the car? Well here's the fucking
keys!" and I threw them down the hallway . . . I had one accident previous
and subsequent to the roll over . . . Mike and I didn't last long especially
after JA returned: we were back together by January . . . look at my hand
. . . I recognize me in my hand . . . how ironic that the image crops the
pinkie two years before the surgeons permanently cropped it . . . I can't feel
my pinkies . . . the The Ulnar
nerve is affected by my level of
spinal cord injury: C 6/7, which, translated from Medical terminology,
refers to the injury of the Spinal Cord at the sixth and seventh Cervical
Vertebrae . . .
"I
know not what to say. / I will not swear these are my hands. Let's see, /
I feel this pin prick. Would I were assur'd
/ Of my condition!"
William Shakespeare:
"King Lear", Act IV, Scene vii.
Marty [center] was the first person to reach me after I fell . . . he told me that I spoke, repeating: "Get me the fuck out of here." I haven't seen Marty since a few months after this photo [1985] . . . we were partying at Jodi's, which was pretty weird because this was the trailer I lived in before my injury, while I was hospitalized my father and step mother moved and Jodi rented my previous home . . . my entire grounding was gone . . . nothing seemed familiar: I was a new me, a different me that was and wasn't me . . . I have to laugh: the shirt I'm wearing in the photo is hanging in my closet . . . Gene [left] . . . I remember a night when JA had a party at his house . . . I wanted to leave for some reason though JA didn't want me to and blocked my way to the door . . . Pam and Brenda were hanging out in the bedroom and after discussion I climbed out the window then left with Sue and Marty . . .
Click here Randie: Marty's Brother
After
I fell off the cliff my neck needed to be immobilized as I hung out in the
hospital for a few months: Halo traction . . . four metal anchors are
screwed into the scull to keep you from moving . . . I had halo traction
immediately post injury and when I made it to Sunnyview
the doctor decided that I needed a second immobilization. This was a halo vest
as pictured above . . . when the halo came off I colored my hair a neat
burgundy hue . . . I don't have a picture of me in my halos so here is a pic of Jeff Galli with his Halo
vest . . .
The new trailer: my new home after getting out of the hospital . . . Dad was (is) a John Wayne ultra fan, pilgrim . . . I remember my Dad itching my head for blocks of time as obviously I was unable to wash my hair . . . after the doctors removed the Halo my hair was a matted mess . . . little pieces of sticks and debris come out when we attempted to brush it out . . . I ended up cropping my hair extremely short . . . Scott . . . an ex-boyfriend who was a rarity as we remained friends [both pre and post injury] when Wanda left he used to help me change my clothes sometimes . . . Rat was his nickname . . . he taught me to drive his Honda 250 Endoro . . . I liked motorcycle riding as it was analogous to horse riding . . . Scott also has disabilities through several motorcycle accidents . . . one accident was fatal for our friend Clarence . . . they were on their way to work with Scott driving and they wiped out in gravel on an off ramp or something . . . Scott was seriously injured though survived . . . you never know what will happen . . . Clarence was the catalyst for my pinkie amputation . . .
