I was crying… everything hurt so bad… I whimpered, confused and starting to panic.
The nurses tried to calm me,
“It hurts!!” I scream, desperate for relief.
“Breath, you’re holding your breath… we can’t give you anything until your heart rate and breathing rate start to normalize”
Until the nurse said it, I hadn’t realized how badly I needed to take another gasp of air.

After a few minutes, which felt like forever to me, the nurse injected morphine into my IV line. It was the kindest thing anyone could have done at that point.

Through the haze I saw my parents and boyfriends face as I was wheeled back to my room.
I drifted into a deep sleep.


I got hospital gifts the next day.
First I received a bouquet of flowers from the teachers at my College.
They didn’t have to do that… it really touched me deeply.

‘The driver’ came with carnations he had grabbed from the flower shop downstairs.
….considerate… too bad he and my boyfriend left rather than stay and keep me company.

My father showed up with a mug he had found in the gift shop.
A Picasso style mug, the big deformed nose was the handle.
Tears streamed down my face… there was no holding them back.

I remember being at the payphone several times, calling my boyfriend over and over.
My parents kept telling me to calm down and just rest.
Easier said than done!

...Memory blanks out...

The Surgeon is in my room, looking serious, about to tell us my face’s outlook.
“I had to remove the damaged and infected tissue…
you have a over 7 communiated fractures in your face…
which means that the shards of bones are too small for me to piece together.”
Tears started flowing… my face throbbed.

“I cleaned it up the best I could,
you will have a bump and scar across the bridge of your nose…
for the first bit the scar will be red, but over time it will fade…”
I exploded, sobbing, trying to take in this new information…
everything he said after that was droned out by the screams in my mind.

He explained my situation and outlook to my family.
Apparently I was lucky to be alive…
because of the way I hit the roof…
I managed to avoid becoming blind, toothless and dead.