3 Strikes… Frustration

So, I have been trying to write this blog for about a week now, and it still hurts. They totaled my brand new car. So now, I am fighting with my insurance company and am tempted to get an outside injury attorney because I feel like my insurance company isn't handling this well enough. Took me almost a damn week for someone to call me back, and I feel like that is unacceptable. Especially when I felt messages everywhere, voice, chat, emails, all over the place and nothing. Then, when my original adjuster finally called me back last night, she actually asked me if I was a USAA member or if I was just involved in an accident with a USAA member?!!?!? Excuse me!? You are my damn adjuster, and you can see all the messages in the chat for my claim!!! I was so mad last night. Then, she finally gave me the extension to my injury adjuster, and her hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, and it was 5:00 pm when they finally called back. So, I left a message and hope to get a call back early Monday morning. This is just so frustrating, and I want it to be over with so I can go and purchase another vehicle and move on from this. Yesterday was Friday the 13th, and my coworkers and I have only been planning on doing tattoos and drinks since January, and EVERYONE bailed on me; that was a nice kick to my gut. It would have been really nice to go have an evening out and not have to think or worry about how my last two weeks have been, I was really looking forward to it. But it's whatever, I won't plan anything again and maybe next time I'll just go by myself. But anyway, here's my post… it’s a lot. Has anyone heard and believed that things happen in three? Whether good or bad? I do, as it seems to always happen that way for me. And recently, holy hell, it has been a lot. Both good and bad, actually, like an odd mix. I know there is a message in all this, but I can't quite figure out what it is. So, let's back up to the end of August and start there. Aug 25-26, we had drill. It wasn't anything big or hard, just a typical drill weekend. I felt fine, no issues, nothing. Come Monday night, Aug 27, as I'm getting ready for bed (and thank goodness my Army Brother was here that week), I take some Advil right after dinner, about two hours before taking my nighttime meds. And I think I only took 600mg, which is less than what I normally take. I've been having issues with my asthma since my last round of COVID in June, and I've been taking Musinx at night with my nighttime meds and usually puff on my inhaler as well to help (I've been honestly living off my inhaler at this point). Right after I take my nighttime meds, roughly two and a half hours after the Advil, my asthma, at least I think it was my asthma, got extremely bad. My chest got tight, it was extremely hard to breathe, and nothing I did was helping. I took about six puffs of my inhaler and even did a nebulizer treatment; nothing was helping, not my head between my knees, not slow deep breaths, walking around, nothing. Even texting my boyfriend, and he can normally help get me calmed down, but I also think at this point and mind you, it's only been twenty minutes, and my anxiety was going through the roof. So, I decided to get my daughter's expired (lol) epi pen out and try that, and at this point, my Army Brother came downstairs to ask me a question. He goes into full panic mode, which, oddly enough, calms my anxiety because now I have to take charge. First, when he goes to give me a shot of the Epi-pen, he stabs himself in the thumb (::face palm::), then he gives me the second dose… and unfortunately, probably because it was expired (it was from 2016), it didn’t do anything. So I told him to call me an ambulance, and again, I was struggling to breathe and telling him what to do in order to keep him calm… I guess I can thank the Army for that skill. But when they came, within a few minutes actually, and I must say, I was quite impressed. They gave me oxygen, which wasn’t helping, not even a little bit; they gave me an Epi shot, and Benadryl, which still wasn’t working, gave me another Epi shot, which finally started to work as we were pulling up to the ER. I received so many steroids that night that my heart rate would not come down; I'm talking like it stayed in the 120s for two days, and they kept me there for three days because of it. But all the steroids they gave me did help with my asthma, and I think I've only used my inhaler twice since then. But since the Advil was the only thing I did differently that night, the docs want to err on the side of caution and say that I am allergic to NSAIDs now. Yay… ::eye roll:: I should also add that it felt like my throat was closing, which is why the Epi pens and the reason behind staying away from NSAIDs. Okay, fast forward a week, and my sciatica is acting up badly to the point that it is becoming hard to get out of bed in the morning. I try stretching, ice, and heat, but nothing relieves me. Once I am up and walking around, it helps, but once I get in bed, that seems to make it worse. I could get out of bed only after stretching it out, but it started taking almost an hour every morning. This went on for a few weeks, and my doctor tried giving me steroids to help with the inflammation because the entire left side of my back down to my hip was swollen; I believe that the steroid made it worse like; it shot the pain down to my toes and was making my toes numb. So then I go to the chiropractor, which I probably should have done sooner. I spent three hours there. I could not get up off the table because even though I could feel the release and relief and my toes were no longer numb, it aggravated my sciatica to the point that I couldn’t walk and had no strength in my left leg. But I did finally walk out of there after three hours, and the following day, I could get out of bed much easier. I went to the chiropractor the next two days, and it has made such a difference that the doctor put some tape on my back to help stabilize and with the pain. I honestly don’t know if it is helping or if the adjustments are. There is definitely relief, though. Also, I don't know if this counts in my three strikes, but it should. So, Monday, I went again after work, and man, the relief I felt after that, and I practically jumped off the table; all the doctors were in amazement, as was I, lol. Now we are at Tuesday, 3 October. I pick up my coworker to head down for our quarterly reporting, and we get about fifteen miles from where we need to be, and we're in a car accident. So I notice the car in front of me slowing down, so I slow down. Then he slams on the brakes, and so do I. I honestly do not remember hitting the guy in front of me at that point; I am almost certain that I slowed down enough and was able to stop in time. Then suddenly, we are hit from behind, and I smash into the guy in front of me (this happened at like 7 a.m.). No airbags deployed, as that would have probably made it worse. So, at that point, we really couldn’t get out of the car; it was hard to open the doors. The guy who hit me came up and asked if we were okay, stated he didn’t have insurance and kept apologizing. Then he asked me to use my phone because he left it at work and needed to call his boss; I let him. He doesn’t get through but makes two phone calls. Then, as the police start showing up, he gets back in his car, and all of us involved think he is moving his car off the highway. No, this asshole takes off down the road! So then, it turns into a hit-and-run incident. Mind you, this guy is leaking radiator fluid badly, and there is no way he got far, but unfortunately, no one can find him, no one got his license plate number, and all we have is a description of him, his vehicle and the numbers he called from my phone. Luckily, everyone involved saw him and gave the same description, so at least I have that going for me. I pray every day that my car is not totaled; I keep being told that as long as the airbags didn’t deploy and the frame isn't bent, it can be repaired. We were able to drive it to get it on the tow truck, which gives me hope. It has been a lot, all within less than 45 days of each other. I will say my boyfriend has been amazing through all of this. And he still asks me every day how my wrist is doing, how I'm feeling, and if I'm following the doctor's orders, lol. When I told my ex I couldn’t meet him due to being in a wreck, he only said, "Holy shit." He hasn’t even once asked if I was doing okay. More confirmation that I made the right decision. I will also add that I am fine; nothing broken, no bruises (surprisingly), just a wrist sprain and neck sprain (whiplash). My chiropractor is helping with the pain more than the pain meds. But now, I feel like I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Is my sciatica issue really the second thing, or will it not count and there is still one more thing coming? I know I shouldn’t think like that, and I am trying hard not to. Sitting on my porch this morning, looking at the rental sitting in my driveway, I get angry and upset. I am angry even with this gorgeous chilly morning, with the breeze and the birds. I know that sometimes car accidents are unavoidable, and I wasn't on my phone and I know I was paying attention… ugh. It isn't fair, but, then again, life isn't fair, right? I was talking to a colleague the other day and told her what had happened and she said "it's always something with you." Damnit if it doesn’t feel that way. Between my son and these past 45-ish days for me, it really does feel like it's always something. My son even said when I got home Tuesday that we are just so unlucky. Okay, that was a lot of negative, and instead of completely ditching this post, I am going to keep it and end on a better note. Example, my hospital stay. Despite the fact that I had to go via ambulance, I am finally no longer living off my rescue inhaler. The excessive (it was A LOT) breathing treatments and steroids helped me to the point that I can breathe again; so I will take that as a win. For my sciatica, I learned that all the stretching I was doing, although giving me some relief, was actually making it worse, because you can't stretch a nerve, duh. I did learn some new stretches, which feel a bit weird, but when it comes to sciatica pain, compression and ice work better than heat and stretching. Now on to my car… poor Bianca. I am still waiting to hear from my insurance adjuster for the estimate on the damages, but given the fact that me and my coworker walked away with her only being sore and me, well, more than sore, but no bad injuries, I am pretty happy with her performance.