A funny thing happened on the way home on Friday.

yah, no… it wasn’t funny actually.

I had just dropped my daughter off at a youth event, and was driving home when I was rear-ended in my mini-van.

Both boys were with me, and thankfully NOT sitting in the very back of the van as usual.

So, this is what happened.  I was turning right in an extra lane (merge lane, yield lane, y…. ) and as I got through the ‘y’ part, a driver was coming through the intersection from the opposite direction.  He appeared to speed up as the light turned yellow, so I had to brake to yield to him.  I yielded, and the guy behind me didn’t….. and that equals CRUNCH.

We were going less than 50kph I’m sure, and I was likely going closer to 30kph, and braking, but he at the very least, wasn’t breaking, if he wasn’t already accelerating.  It was a good jolt.

Thank goodness that seatbelts and bumpers did their jobs. We were jostled in our seats quite a bit, and I jammed my left hand on the steering wheel pretty good too.  The rear bumper on my van looks like not much happened to it on initial inspection, but I think the whole thing may have been displaced.  They have those 1-impact bumpers these days, so it could be that the whole thing needs to be replaced.  We’ll see.  The other guy’s front bumper also didn’t look like anything major had happened to it.

But even though the vehicles looked mostly OK, I knew right away that I didn’t feel OK.  I had been a bit twisted in my seat, looking out my side window at the oncoming traffic when he hit me.  My neck and back hurt right away, and I had a headache instantly.  The boys were initially fine, as well, but within 30 minutes or so they had complaints about their backs and necks.

I took my boys in to the clinic that night to have us all checked out.  I knew nothing was ‘broken’ per se, but I also knew that we were feeling some effects right away.  Doc confirmed that nothing was broken, and that we were dealing with soft tissue damage consistent with whiplash from a rear-end collision.

So, I also got us in to see the chiropractor first thing Saturday morning, and he diagnosed us with Whiplash Class 2 (more than just stiff and sore, less than completely broken).  He was glad that we came so quickly so we could get on the track of adjustments before the muscles got too rigid in their new improper positions.  So, we’re on a regimen of anti-inflammatories and ice packs and stuff.  We also got cool new waterbase pillows for proper sleeping support.

Whiplash definitely classifies as weird.  We all feel really weird.  Sort of a nauseas, headachey, sore, stiff, a little dizzy…. My whole back is sore right down to my tailbone, with the area right at my hips and right across my shoulders being worse, and my neck being stiff and just not feeling quite ‘right’.  The boys find their backs near their shoulder blades to be the most sore, as well as their necks.  It will take weeks for this to heal…. all for a little (well, not so little) bump.

My boys were as shocked as I was that we had been hit, and were raving about how the seat belts did their job.  Our chests are still sore, though we weren’t visibly bruised by the seat belts.  My oldest son also said that he didn’t want to be in a big crash if this is how bad we felt after a little one.  I agree!

I’ve seen accidents at this intersection before.  It’s not the clearest, easiest to understand traffic flow pattern, for sure.

When using that extra ‘y’ lane, you are given a yield sign, even though you have a bit of a lane once you’ve merged into the other street.  People use that short extra lane to whip into traffic there all the time, so I’m sure that is what the guy behind me thought I was going to do.  But based on the signage there, I had to yield…

I’m half not surprised that he hit me.  He’d been driving really too close to me for several kilometers at that point.

So, my boys and I are on the mend, and not feeling great today.  In fact, for me, today is worse than yesterday.  We go back to the chiropractor tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll see him 3 times a week this week and next week probably.  It will just take lots of time to heal, and that’s a bit frustrating.

I’m really glad nothing was SERIOUSLY damaged and we weren’t MAJORLY hurt (no broken bones, no stitches needed or anything like that).  I know it was a “God Thing” that my daughter wasn’t with us so she could participate in her weekend activities with the youth group.  I know it was a “God Thing” that the very back seats of the van were folded down so the boys weren’t right at the back where they normally like to sit.  I know it was a “God Thing” that we were able to get in to a chiropractor right away so we can get on the road to recovery.  And I’m SO thankful for those “God Things” and others.

My oldest son said yesterday that he wondered what the guy who hit us was doing while we were out having to go to the clinic, the police station, the chiropractor and the collision repair place, and putting some other things on hold ‘cuz we just feel crummy.  I told him I wasn’t sure, but that I hoped he wasn’t following too close to someone else.