I was driving my pick-up truck, and we were turning left into our driveway. We had come to a complete stop to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. Our brake lights and blinkers were brand new and properly functioning. We saw in the rear view mirror a school bus approaching. The next thing we knew the bus collided with the passenger side rear end of the pick-up truck.
The impact pushed us nearly 50 feet into our neighbors yard. My wife was in the front passenger seat. Since most of the impact occured on the passenger side of the vehicle most of the force of the impact was transferred to her.
She was transferred from Athens Regional Hospital with a C-5 fracture to University of Tennessee Medical Center. She was given emergency surgery first thing in the morning. They fused her C-4 to C-7 vertebrae. She was left with complete paralysis.
She was in UT Medical Center for 2 months, where she gained minimal movement on her right side, mostly in her arm. She went to Patricia Neal Rehab center for 23 days. She was able to get partial control of her right hand and arm. She is now in Wood Village nursing home in Sweetwater, TN. They had promised to continue rehab, but in the two months she has been there she has received none. She is gradually losing any movement she had recovered.
It is integral that she receives continuous rehab within the first 6-months of injury, to allow the best possible recovery she can. There have been major lapses in rehab since she was put into the nursing home. We need rehab to continue, so that she will not be stuck with barely any use of her body.
I was injured and have been unable to work. I was diagnosed with cracks in my C-7 vertebrae. We are struggling to get by financially. On top of not being able to work, I am having to drive 1 hour round trip to visit and check on my wife in the nursing home almost everyday.
My wife is also have marked mental health decline from this. She is being left unattended for hours by medical staff, with dirty sopping wet diapers. When I am not there she is only checked on when she calls, and that can take hours.
She is struggling with major depression and the nursing home has no phycology medical professionals to offer her any help.
