Exams are Over!

Yesterday:

Felt totally inhuman yesterday. Too many all-nighters. I'm over 30 now, so maybe I shouldn't be expecting my body to handle this kind of schedule without a lot of resistance. [It's not like I'm trying to make some kind of Guinness World Book record... I'm not doing this because I want to!] Fell asleep on the floor last night trying to speed-read. But, I managed to write the psych exam yesterday along with Kinesiology students at noon, got it over with, and felt some relief riding home.

Got call from Cheryl that her appointment at BC Women's was finished, so I phoned CAN while I was on transit to see if I could locate a car anywhere close by. It was already 3pm, and rush hour traffic had begun. Cars available for the rest of the evening were hard to come by, but the guy did manage to find a brand-new car at Cambie & 17th, not too far away from BC Women's Hospital, so I got off the bus to see if I could catch a Cambie Street bus...

Eliza phoned me at the same time to mention the BC Ferries were on full (illegal) strike, because we were supposed to go to the office today. Fortunately (for me) the strike was on, so I didn't have to go in. Eliza was near downtown, so she kindly gave me a lift to the CAN car, and I hopped in and drove to the hospital to pick up Cheryl, who accompanied me to Surrey Memorial Hospital to see my mum. She was heavily sedated, but I tried to impress upon her how important this meeting is with the lawyer tomorrow.

After taking Cheryl home, Allan arrived soon after, so we fed the kids and I sent them off for a quick errand while I bathed the kiddies. This girl named Tammy showed up at the door, and I very nearly didn't recognize her... we went to the same high school. Apparently she's helping them do laundry... I invited her to stick around until they came back. Told her the good news -- that Cheryl had a very positive set of results from the ultrasound, and if her appointment on Dec 24 goes well, she won't have to be admitted to hospital until maybe January. Which is great news since being confined to hospital in Vancouver meant she wouldn't be able to see Allan or the kids until the weekends. The only person living anywhere near BC Women's Hospital is me, and I told Cheryl she would be totally sick of seeing me after the first month!

Both babies are alive and growing, and exceeding the expectations of the doctors at BCWH. The twins are already named: Meagan Joy and Maribeth (Mary-Beth?) Jolie. This is in keeping with the initials of the other three kids: Melissa Jean, Michael James, and Madeleine Jane. [Eliza thinks since I'm the hands-on auntie that I should have a namesake, too! I told her my chances would be better if my name started with the letter M.]

Today:

Today I spoke to another lawyer (a longtime friend of my "new cousin-in-law" Mike) who gave me some free counsel on my current situation. I was, just before, speaking to the lawyer I retained on my mother's behalf, and he'd asked me to contact the ICBC rep who told me about the witnesses... at that time, I'd only been able to leave a voicemail, but she did phone back this afternoon, and we had a lengthy conversation... there was no tone of hostility, and I never mentioned lawyers or gave her the impression anyone but myself was dealing with the claim, but I did ask her a lot of questions to which she was reticent to answer. I figured that might happen. The Insurance Corporation of BC is, at bottom, an insurance company whose mandate is NOT to pay you unless they absolutely have to. My lawyer says he's been working on ICBC cases for 20 years, and I could tell from the tone in his voice how he felt about them.

This is all getting increasingly complicated, and from time to time I feel like I'm getting in over my head. But as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger... it's been a rather steep learning curve, since I've never been injured or in a collision with another car (I've only hit deer and barriers on the I-5 during snowstorms!), so my knowledge of hospitals and lawyers and government benefits and insurance companies and other red-tape systems has suddenly climbed exponentially. If I ever get into an accident, I will be MUCH more prepared than I was before I embarked on any of this.

A little advice for anyone reading this post:

Make sure you fill out the Emergency Contacts section of your daytimer or anything else you carry around with you. If you live alone, this is especially important (yeah, this includes me), and it shouldn't be a person who is likely to be in a vehicle with you... No one will know you've been in accident until you are missed from work or an appointment. If it's the weekend, it may be a long time before your situation is made known to the people important to you.