on and on

A few days after getting hit by a driver of a Rav4, my friend is in stable condition in the ICU. Her known injuries include a shattered ankle, a broken femur (the strongest bone in the human body), a collapsed lung, major skin abrasions including areas where large chunks of skin are missing and multiple skull fractures. At the end of last week, her family requested people donate blood, if possible, in her name.

I'd never donated blood before. Through a combination of temporarily disqualifying myself with tattoos and piercings over the years and honestly being scared of giving blood, I'd never done it before. Summer is already a slow time of the year for donations and with a specific request for blood and realizing that any amount of discomfort and pain I would experience is dwarfed by my friend's state, I decided to go ahead and do it. I'm so glad I did it because donating blood wasn't half as bad as I was imaging in my head. I went along with so coworkers for moral support and made sure to eat a decent lunch beforehand and take advantage of their food and drink offers afterward. I felt a little lightheaded in the hours afterward, but I was fine biking 12 miles this morning to do errands, 2 days later. I think previous experiences with fasting blood tests mislead me as to how much actually being able to eat and drink before and afterward helps.

This week we should find out more about my friend's injuries and hopefully more people can visit her once she is out of the ICU. It's sad and difficult at times to see how one of those 30-second simple stories about a pedestrian or biker getting hit by a car online or on the news can become so drawn out when you actually experience it. It has caused me to think a lot more about how I am living without a car. I think at moments, emotionally, I think I might be doing the wrong thing. When I really think about the whole situation though, I realize I am still doing the right thing. Walking is a perfectly natural action that people should be able to do safely. It makes sense as a form of transportation, especially in Southern California. I've hesitated at times sharing these details, but I hope that others can understand how driving without being able to see "because of the sun" can have serious consequences. I want people to realize how powerful a car is when compared to a human and how quickly it can hurt someone else. There are things that can be done to fix some of these issues, but they take more change in thought and actions than what is being done now.