Thread by @JoeBeOne

five years ago today, I was hit by a car going 30 mph/50 kph while crossing the street on foot.

It's been quite a journey; one that I could not have done without many of you. I wanted to reflect on just how happy I am to be alive. (cw: vehicular trauma, ortho surgery, hospitals)

I was rushing home on 4-Nov-2016, a Friday, after a long pre-election week working at @CenDemTech ... the 2016 Presidential Election was on Tuesday and I was tired and needed to rest for what would probably be a crazy week working on e-voting issues.

I got off my bus at this stop on New Hampshire and Holton in Langley Park, MD (near Takoma Park). You can see there is a lot of pedestrian signaling there now... there was not in 2016

As I was walking across the street, the light turned yellow so I picked up my pace... I thought I had made it but, no, in the far lane a BNW was right there. Neither of us had seen each other.

I remember feeling disappointed. I hadn't made it across and like in a video game, this was game over. I remember pretty much everything. The car hit me first in my lower right leg. Then the rest of my body hit the hood and then the windshield, causing pretty wild damage.

Next, and this is the fundamental source of my PTSD to this day, I was flying through the air. I could only think, "Holy shit, I hope everyone else sees me. I don't want to get hit like that again!" I hit the ground on top of my @timbuk2 Especial Medio backpack

Then everything happened very quickly. Amazingly, within 60s two different EMT wagons showed up and like four cop cars. I am on the ground in a bit of pain and mostly in shock.

I pick up my phone with my undamaged left arm and I call my partner, Michelle. "Honey, I've been hit by a car. Please come to New Hampshire and Holton!" Within what seemed like no time, she had run from our house and I could hear her saying "That's my husband!"

It did not sound like her, and I remember wondering why someone would try and impersonate Michelle. She was rightly panicking and I guess of course all of our voices sound different then.

A weird thing was happening. Both the EMT groups were arguing over who was going to take me to the hospital, as if I was a prized quarry.

Then, I remember distinctly thinking that I was not going home tonight. And, likely, not going home for a while.

I lost my phone for a bit as they took me in at the hospital but eventually after a ton of phone calls tweeted about it: and I still cannot believe the outpouring of love at that time.

https://mobile.twitter.com/JoeBeOne/status/795280160614477824

In the end, I had shattered my right shoulder (proximal humerus) and broken my right leg (tibial plateau), my scapula (hard to break!), two ribs, and four fingers. Here's what's inside me now:

https://x.com/joebeone/status/840008018431528960

I was at @MedStarWHC and then @MedStarNRH for a month... with my right side so crushed, I couldn't go home as I was not independent enough. I started an intense series of physical therapy and opiods (which made VR from @rlbarnes extra trippy)

One thing I learned: it sucks to realize you are out of shape in the hospital when everything you do requires people to help you. You start to realize that every little bit of independence is a gift and I am stronger for that.

And one thing is for sure... family and my work friends were critical to my getting through all of this. First, there was my partner, Chelle, my mother, Elisa, and sister, Tracie (behind the camera here)

I became very familiar with something called a hemi-walker, which is half of a walker, for people—usually with strokes—that have hemispherical injury

In fact, later I was very lucky to have mastered the "butt bump" which is how someone with a hemispherical injury gets up stairs: (smash that like button, lol!)youtube.com/shorts/10Je7mq…

And it was weird what would freak me out as I was getting better... e.g., my dad popping wheelies in a wheelchair was about enough to make me scream, it seemed so unsafe!

And my colleagues at work and friends came to see me in the hospital, which was just amazing. Please take the time to do that when someone you know is eating hospital food and watching cable, omg.

@CenDemTech @privacymama and the entire staff there did everything to make my recovery work; from the best health care, to donations of sick days, to allowing me to do fun stuff.... @joejerome even did some dope ass illos:

And during our strategic planning retreat that year, they even wired me up my own @Snowden-like bot!

Anyway, once my bones had healed after three months, I slowly began to work on my damaged body. I had gained a new ailment to add to a small list already: secondary membranous glomerulonephritis. A form of kidney disease that I'll likely have for the rest of my life.

at @MedStarNRH among all the awesome physical therapists, was Nicole Shenk, who changed my life forever. She was a PT, but focused on sport and specifically running. I was an on-and-off runner, once a triathlete. It was a good fit.

She had me doing 30-minute walks that then became run 1-minute, walk 5-minutes, five times. Then run 2-minutes, walk 4-minutes. After a year or so I was running again.

Meanwhile, I started to swim to try and defy the orthopedic surgeon (Dr. Golden, wonderful man) who said I would probably never swim again. I've been swimming two to three times a week, at least a mile ever since.

I'm really excited to attempt my first 50KM race the weekend after next (the Rosaryville, MD Veteran's Day 50K). I've been working five years to get my body into a form that can not only maintain fitness, but over seven hours.

With kidney disease and a few other ailments, it's a careful balance. Sodium and other electrolytes and calories have to be calibrated carefully for it to all work out. I'm excited. Thank you for joining me this far!