The Story

Ok, sorry to post the photo (I swear I posted the damn thing, I guess I have to edit the post and link the image from Flickr since Picasa seems to not want to load it) and no story. I was out running errands with my husband and it's kind of a pain in the ass to type a bunch of text on my iPhone.

So last night I had dinner plans with a former coworker that I haven't seen in quite some time. I was really looking forward to seeing her, we've been trying for a few months to get together but our plans kept getting scrapped for one reason or another. So finally last night was the night and I was eager to get out of work and meet her for dinner at 6pm.

So, for those that are familiar with the area, my work is at 237 and 101 in Sunnyvale and I was heading to Menlo Park to meet my friend for dinner at Su Hong. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? Yeah, not so much.

Well, normally it's an easy thing, though possibly filled with cars and traffic at 5:30pm but I can't really tell you what traffic was like last night. I'm not really sure what happened between my office and El Camino Real at Roosevelt in Redwood City. Except some really bad shit that ended with my very very beloved 2002 PT Cruiser being totaled today by my insurance company.

So at 1:30pm yesterday, I had an appointment with a nurse practicioner in the Endocrinology department at my medical clinic. My regular doctor is on vacation but because of a current, um, medical condition she wanted me to see the nurse practicioner while she is out. So I've been having some problems lately with my insulin dosages. I had to double my intake and now I need something considerably less than that, so we worked on the dosages and then we talked about the need to incorporate some snacks in my day to keep my blood sugar in a range where I'm a sane person with good judgement. But the appointment was after lunch and since I was leaving early to go to dinner at 6pm (yes, that is a sad statement I know. 5:30pm should not be leaving work "early".), I didn't really want to take the time to run to the Lucky that is across the street from my clinic to get some fruit or whatever to snack on in the afternoon. I figured that it was just something that I'd take care of over the weekend when I had more time. Yes, I know I'm a dumb ass.

Anyways, I was working at the end of the day with one of the other employees in my department trying to train him how to process cash receipts so that he can take over posting them instead of me. I was pretty punchy because even though I'd self-reduced my lunch insulin dosage downward, I apparently didn't reduce it enough nor did I eat enough carbs at lunch to use the insulin that I did take. One of the gals that sits next to the guy I was training made a comment to me that I sounded weird (I think she recognized a change in my voice from previous low blood sugar incidents at work) and I said that no I was fine, I needed to go to dinner with my friend. She got me to eat a couple of candies that were at her desk, but I didn't eat nearly enough of them to do anything to my levels. I didn't test my blood sugar level either, but I wasn't exactly thinking straight before I left. So I went back to my desk, sent a quick email to a friend (wow, that email was REALLY special English too. I should paste the text of it. It's really bad.) and then shut down my computer and headed out the door. I then proceeded to get behind the wheel of my car and headed towards Menlo Park.

So yeah, I don't REALLY know what happened between my office and, oh, about Woodside Road in Redwood City. (Yeah, I totally missed my exit.) I remember a few vague things. My glasses came off at some point, though I don't know if that was because I took them off or if they fell off. I remember vaguely some sort of impact though I don't know what I had hit. I remember the squishiness of my brakes (because as you can see in the photo the entire left front tire is GONE) as I was at the light at Whipple from the exit ramp. I had a hard time seeing out the front because of the damage to the windshield and I somehow made out that I was at Woodside Road so I knew I needed to exit at the next exit and head back down El Camino to get back to Menlo Park. So I made the exit, drove across Whipple and stopped at a few red lights there. Turned left on El Camino and made it down El Camino past Sequoia Station and finally came to a stop just before Roosevelt on El Camino in front of this auto dealer that sells specialty cars when I saw the lights of a police car in my side mirror. So I pulled over and rolled down my window to talk to the officer.

He asked me what happened and I told him I didn't know because I had really low blood sugar and I didn't remember anything. He asked me who I hit (he suspected at first that I had hit a person) and I told him no one, then I think he must have summoned paramedics for me and we talked some more about what happened. The officer that pulled me over was a Redwood City police man I think, because later on I was dealing with a CHP officer. Anyways, the police officer had me move over to the passenger seat because the drivers side door wouldn't open and when the paramedics arrived they tested my blood sugar and it was... 30. Which is super low. SUPER low. Like it should be more up between 70 and 90. Ugh. So the paramedics couldn't let me leave the scene without my blood sugar being over 80. So I had to drink this nasty orange soda-esque sugar drink. They tested again and I was only around like 42 so I had to drink another bottle. Ugh. Talk about nasty. The next time they tested I was at like 86 so I was free to go. They recommended that I go get checked out but I denied being transported in the ambulance, I was able to get my friend to come pick me up and she took me first to dinner and then she brought me home to my hubby who took me to the ER.

The officers explained to me that I went from the far right lane across 101 and hit the center divide (where this was, I have no idea) and apparently I wasn't pulling over for officers on the freeway (though why they would stop pursuing me I have no idea). I don't remember that at all, I don't remember seeing any lights until the officer that got me to stop on El Camino. They suspect that possibly a sign on the freeway (like a carpool lane sign) must have fallen down when I hit the barrier and that's what made the sharp indentation in the windshield and dented the roof (and made the little pod that had the overhead light/compass/thermometer pop out of the roof). I don't believe that I hit any cars (the body damage doesn't look that way either) thankfully and I checked out alright at the hospital. I feel fine today, I stayed home with hubby today to take care of everything. I called the insurance company and they got my car towed over to the body shop where it was later totaled. So I'm getting a piddly amount of money for my car and now I have to figure out what I want to get. The photo I posted was the one I took at the body shop, I have some other photos on my camera that my friend took before the tow truck took my car away last night. I don't know if I'll upload those, I'm sad enough already.

Anyways, that's the sordid tale of my stupidity. Like I said, I'm alright. Everything is okay and I am working with my new insulin dosages. Hopefully I will get that sorted out soon and I can put this all behind me. I'll see what the DMV does to me, I'm not sure that I'll get away without a license suspension but we'll see. Ugh. Makes me not want to get a new car if I will have to look at it sitting on my driveway. My work is on the way to my husband's office, so he might just drive me to work and I'll have to brown bag my lunches. We'll see. I could rent a car too but I dunno. I'll have to figure it all out.