Car Insurance

Problems: A car accident left me with whiplash, a concussion, and severe ligament damage.

Obstacle: I lived in an area so remote that doctors worked only one or two days a month at the local clinic.

Solution: I went outside of conventional medicine to alternative practitioners, who were not only more accessible but also healed me in unexpected ways.

ON APRIL 7, 1998, THE DAY before I turned 51, my life changed irrevocably. A teenage girl in a pickup truck crashed into my minivan and totaled it. My seat belt kept me from going through the windshield, but the force of the collision shoved my van’s engine back almost two feet, bruising ray legs and feet and shortening my left leg almost an inch. The air bag, which had struck me in the face, left me with a concussion. The force of the accident had also torn the muscles and ligaments in my chest and back, and separated my collarbone from my left shoulder, damaging the joint. I later learned that I’d suffered whiplash, too.

An ambulance delivered me from the accident scene to the only clinic in this remote corner of Colorado, even though there was no doctor on duty. The clinic staff offered a diagnosis but no treatment and sent me home. Little did I know that, after several months, I would consider the accident a blessing in disguise.

Incredible Pain

The pain began in earnest a couple of days after the accident, when the numbing effects of adrenaline wore off. My neck felt as though concrete blocks had been piled on my head, compressing my spine. I could barely lift my left arm without screaming. Getting out of bed to go to the bathroom was a major undertaking.

I tried to continue my job teaching seventh and eighth grade English classes, but along with the rest of my pain, I had terrible headaches. And I couldn’t remember simple words like “noun,” “book,” and “lunchroom.” I’ve always been an excellent speller, but now half the words I wrote on the board were misspelled.