Raw Girl’s OWN Audition & Impromptu Ambulance Ride

Hey there raw vegan lovers. I have had a CRAZY past couple of days, and so I have been M.I.A. First off, I was trying to get my video together in time for yesterday’s deadline for the Oprah Winfrey Network, and secondly I was in a car accident that could have been fatal but thankfully I emerged with all of my raw self in tact and fully functioning. I am sure you may have heard by now, that Oprah is looking for new shows, and she had in-person, and on-line open calls for people to submit ideas. My idea was an extension of this here lovely blog. Basically Raw Girl In a Toxic World, but live and in-color. You know you want to see it!  Please check out my video via the link below, and if you likes what you see, VOTE for me!  YOU CAN VOTE MULTIPLE TIMES. (PS I had an enormous amount of technical difficulties in the making and delivering of this audition video! It was crazy! Hope you will forgive anything noticeable and vote for me anyway 😉

http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=882&promo_id=1 

Now…back to the accident. All you DMVers may have heard about slugging? It’s an organized system where you can park your car in a commuter lot and hitch a ride on HOV with drivers so that you can all get into DC faster. I love it, it’s saved me a ridiculous amount of time and energy getting into Georgetown on a regular basis. Well on Tuesday, as I was doing my regular slug-a-lug— and the driver of the car I was in was not very focused. She’s chatting away with the passenger in the front seat, and talking to her like she’s chatting with a girlfriend at Starbucks over a frappucino, eye contact and everything. In my head, I’m thinking: “Watch the ROAD woman!”

Anywhoo, we are on 395 in the HOV lane, and she, not paying any attention steps hard on the brakes, just before hitting another car. The car behind us, misses the signals and slams right into us! Mind you, I AM IN THE BACKSEAT. All I remember was feeling a very HARD thrust in my back, jerking forward, calling out to God and grabbing my head before it hit the seat in front of me. Luckily, I did have my seat belt on. Next thing I know my lower back is throbbing, and my neck feels really odd. Tears were streaming down my face and the ambulance workers arrived and began firing questions at me. What’s my name? Where does it hurt? On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is the pain? etc. Long story short this Raw Girl ended up with a neck brace on, strapped to a board and staring into the sea of unrecognizable faces and then the blue sky as I was lifted into the ambulance. Destination: INOVA hospital in Fairfax, Virginia.

We reached the hospital and my tail bone was burning. I couldn’t tell if it was from the board, or if somehow the crash broke my sitting bones!  I was laying there and I hear this loud, almost sexual sounding moaning around me. Mind you, I was still strapped to the board and couldn’t move my neck at this point even if I wasn’t to see what it was. The moaning was getting louder and louder, and started to make me uncomfortable. Finally a doctor arrived and started asking the son of the wailing woman some questions. Apparently her knee was swollen and filled with liquid. Doctors confirmed with her son that she did have high blood pressure, and perhaps some history with diabetes. In that moment I was thankful that although I may have something broken, at least I was not in the severe pain that woman seemed to be in.

 After a while and two examinations from different doctors, I got an X-ray of my neck. It was really funny because the woman who X-rayed it was so excited about how “nice” my neck was that I had to see it. So she showed me what the bones looked like on the monitor. That was cool. She also asked me how my hair was attached! Not so cool. Even though I was a little peeved, I flashed a smile and explained that I had dreadlocks, and that my hair was attached at the root. Back on the gurney I’m rolled back to wherever I was to begin with and my mother is there. The doctor approaches us and says my neck may be broken, they saw a line that may be some sort of breakage in the x-ray. My mother gasps, but in my mind at that very moment, I was repeating the mantra: “I am well, there’s nothing wrong with my neck, I am well…” So, I am off to get a cat scan. More waiting, and we find out…it’s normal. All is well, I just have cervical whiplash. Finally I left the hospital, wearing a neck brace just for stability, thanking God that the only thing that would bring me to the hospital is a severe out of the ordinary accident.  I thought of the wailing woman, and wondered what became of her. At least at the end of the day, I know that I step up and take responsibility for my well-being so that I will not contract a terminal DIS-EASE, and  I am grateful to know that I have some guardian angels that take care of the rest. So thankful to be living and have my spine in tact! ~ XoXo Raw Girl