Sunday, April 26, 2009

Scary stuff

I had a nice long chat with my son Sean in Portland this morning where he is recuperating from minor ankle injuries he suffered in an auto accident on I-5 near Centrailia, Wash., Thursday night.

Sean and Ruth were returning to Portland after a business trip to Seattle, with Ruth at the wheel of their rental car.

Here's Ruth's account of the accident:sean&ruth christmas 08s

"The accident was a result of trying to avoid a large box on the highway at night, I was driving, and no other cars or people were injured. I swerved to the shoulder to avoid the box and then didn't want to go into the ditch alongside the shoulder so swerved to the left and ran into the concrete dividers. The airbags deployed and ...they really work!!!...we spun and then I pulled us onto the shoulder to stop. The real problem was that it was very dark and the box was hard to see and it was on the highway at about 60 mph so each steering motion was extreme.  Anyway, in so many ways we were and are miraculously fortunate."

Sean has an ankle trauma that isn't a break and will apparently improve significantly in 3 days or so although he currently can't walk on it and it is quite painful and he is sore in general as well as really shaken. He is getting used to hobbling around with crutches and a rolling chair. I have a broken nose (looks terrible but isn't too serious) and a fractured finger (thankfully on my left hand) and am sore and very shaken. We have both seen doctors and are in good hands with both medical and holistic treatments."

Needless to say, we're all relieved that they walked - well, hobbled in Sean's case - away from what could have been a life-altering or life-ending crash.

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