12/11/2020
How do people recover from traumatic events?
The common questions that float in our heads are what path to take, what methods to use...
All in the search to get relief.
For Dr. Sandra de Blois it all started with what street she crossed when one morning in June of 1999, life took an unexpected turn.
”I was in a pedestrian crosswalk on my way to the University of Denver where I held a post-doctoral research position. I remember feeling particularly happy and hopeful about my future, then out of nowhere, I was hit by a commercial truck. I was sent flying across three lanes of traffic, my sandals stayed at the point of impact as my body landed in oncoming traffic.”
Fortunately, the light was red, and through the help of some good samaritans who re-directed traffic to protect her, she was saved from further injury. The paramedics arrived and whisked her to the hospital in a daze.
”I remember drifting in and out of consciousness and feeling incredible pain in my left thigh. I vaguely remember the frenzy in the emergency room and hearing things like ‘closed head injury’, ‘severe contusion’, and compartment syndrome’. A doctor was flashing light in my eyes saying ‘you are very lucky. You could have easily died. You suffered a head trauma’. I recall the sudden onset of a horrific headache.”
Dr. de Blois was kept under observation and soon returned home, assuming the worse was over.
She reflects now, “I had no idea how much my life would change.”
In the following days, she started to notice she had trouble remembering things and paying attention. Planning became difficult, and everything seemed to either irritate her and or make her anxious. She was sleeping both too much and too little, and her left thigh was so swollen she couldn’t see her knee. As her concern increased and symptoms worsened, she couldn’t understand why she was sent home in this condition.
Read more here:
How a motor vehicle accident changed Dr. Sandra de Blois’s life, putting her on a path to mental health, trauma therapy, and PTSD treatment.