I wrote this in 2015, accident was 2012, not sure why it has a different date. Maybe an edit
I have more pics, I just have to find the file to them. The two below first pic is in the facility where I spent 5 months, the other is from my last surgery to reverse the colostomy bag to normal, thus the smile on my face 🙂
Well it’s been three years today April 27, (2012) that I died in a car accident. It was late afternoon on a Friday about 5:30 pm. It was a bright and sunny day, spring was in the air. I closed up shop early and had a friend come by for some wine. We had a few drinks and both of us didn’t get much sleep the night before or eat very well that day. I had asked my friend to drive because I wanted to relax with my feet on the dash. I also had no seat belt on. We were on our way to the mountain for a hike after running a few errands, he knotted off at the wheel. After an hour and a half the Jaws of Life were able to finally get me out of the car. Because Life Star had no where to land, I went by ambulance and somewhere along the way I died for 7 minutes. They brought me back, collapsing my lung during resuscitation, it’s common actually for that to happen. I lost a LOT of blood. I was given 10 blood transfusions and 3 emergency surgeries. The first was to stop the bleeding, the second was a colostomy bag because I was torn by my rectum to prevent infection and I was so broken there was no way I could use the bathroom, the last was to insert a plate across my pelvic with about six screws and one 6 inch screw going into my left hip sideways meeting the center spine area, but not to my spine. I don’t know the actual other bone it’s connected to, I just know it still hurts from time to time. I had what they call an open book pelvic break, broken collar bone and broke all my ribs and a collapsed lung.
It’s been quit the journey. I’ve learned so much about myself. It is so important to have a love affair with yourself, if you do this you can accomplish ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING!! I don’t want to sit here and go on and on about how horrible it was, I could tell you horror stories of the facility where I stayed for 5 months. You honestly wouldn’t believe it, from the moldy black fuzzy white bananas that I received more than once & moldy ham in my chef salad, the mouse in the hall, no clean pillow cases, the hoyer lift pad that smelled like fish literally and the gnats that I had to fight off while I ate and throughout the day is only to mention a few.
This was the ham I found on my chef salad one day. How did the chef not see that?
As I laid there bed ridden completely broken and surrounded by filth in the facility, you can imagine I had lots to think about and many emotions to work through. I knew God had a plan for me. My family closed my business of 16 years and moved me out of my apartment, during the move I lost one of my four cats and anyone who owns a pet can imagine what that is like especially in the condition I was in.
I’ll never forget the day my sister came in to visit me and told me they were closing my shop. I don’t remember having any conversations with the doctors or my family on my condition but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have the conversation. They put me on a lot of drugs, we may have…. I said “What? Why?” I’ll be out of here in a few days.” She said, “Are you crazy? No you won’t, you will be here for a few months!” I said “What! No!” she said, “Yes Kathy, (my family calls me Kathy) it was really bad!” I said “Months? Noooo…, I’ll be out of here in a few weeks” I was completely unaware of how serious it really was. I was in a coma for three days, it was when I woke up from the coma that she told me. I had no idea I was even asleep for three days. I woke up in ICU with vibrating attachments on my feet to prevent blog clots and a tube down my throat. No doctor or family member told me my condition that I can remember. I really had no idea, so when she was telling me this I didn’t believe her. I was angry with her for taking control over my business. I felt she had no right. I had just hired two employees and started to offer massage, manicures and pedicures because I specialized in LCN Nails, it’s non toxic and safe for pregnant woman, it comes from a dental company out of Germany. I had just ran an ad in Groupon.com. The ad had only been running for two weeks and I had already sold more that $2000 in services. I had to refund most everyone their money back then my family had a fund raiser for me and later I sold most the furniture and things like that. I already knew I wouldn’t ever open my shop again. I didn’t even want to. I had been doing nails for 25+ years and running my own shop for 16 years. It was a NON Toxic nail spa, Kathrynz Kreationz, in Middletown, CT.
Six months prior to my accident I was looking at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, IIN. I got on their email list and I enjoyed every email I ever got from them. I wanted to attend the school but could not because I was a single parent paying two rents, two lights, two heating bills, supplies ect….. I started a health blog on my website for Kathrynz Kreationz and I made it interactive where people could ask me questions and I could respond. I was having great responses with it. When the accident happened and my family closed my business and moved me out of my apartment I was finally able to afford IIN. As I laid there bed ridden, receiving sponge baths and being drugged with narcotics still waking up in the middle of the night in tears from the burning fire sensations running from my fingers to my elbows, I signed up to study with IIN online. The doctors just kept increasing my meds, they were not getting to the root cause of my pain. I know this now thanks to IIN. Pain is caused by inflammation, what I did know at the time was to call my friend and have her bring me some of her supplements she sold because I certainly was not getting ANY nutrition from the food they were serving me. How do they expect anyone to heal on that crap. Sure enough, the burning FIRE sensations in my hands that ran up to my elbows went away in three days because it combated the inflammation. I was barely able to stay awake to read from all the drugs they had me on and I couldn’t see straight either. My vision was still blurry from the accident. I remember the ambulance having to come to get me to take me to my followup appointments with my doctors because I was bed ridden and when they would wheel me out I would look at the clouds in the sky and the birds in the trees, wondering if I’d ever be able to see them clearly again. It was the only time I was able to see the outside for months. I shared my room with another woman, she had the window on her side, we always had the curtain divider between us so for three months I stared at old ugly flower wall paper. To me that was pure hell because I hiked almost everyday prior the accident. Once I was able to be placed into a wheel chair with the hoyer lift my dad would take me out for walks but for THREE months I had nothing to look at but the walls. For those who do not know me, I went about 15 years without paying for cable by choice so watching TV was not a pleasant option for me. I didn’t even really know what programs existed. I did this because of an experience I had with my daughter when she was only about two and a half years old, she is now 17, you do the math… This is the time period when the drug commercials first hit the scene.
I will NEVER forget the day I made that choice to not have cable! I had her set up in front of the TV locked in her high chair, I was in the kitchen but able to see her. She suddenly called me into the room with great excitement and urgency in her voice. I went quickly to see what she wanted. She was saying “Mommy, mommy I want that” as she was pointing to the TV kicking her feet in excitement. I looked at the TV and it was a huge purple pill being spun across the entire width of the TV as a family played in the park with their dog in the background. Now I am sure it was the fun in the park that she was referring to but I immediately recognized the impression the tel-LIE-vision had on her. I immediately shut it off and canceled the cable the next day. We went years and years without cable, as she got older she asked for it seeing it at her grandparents house and friends houses. A few times I got the service for a few months but then would let it go. Oh how she hated me for that!!
You know, being healthy is not achieved overnight, you don’t wake up and say I’m gonna be healthy, then your healthy. It’s a choice and it’s a journey and the more you learn the more you apply to your life. It’s a long slow process. It took years and years of gaining knowledge along the way for me to be where I am today in my healthy life style. Because it is a life style, NOT a diet and that is where most people fail. They try to diet instead of making it there life, making it the way they live! So don’t be intimidated by me or any other health guru out there, I/they all started from the same space you are right now, with the curiosity to want to know more. You have to truly be sick & tired of being sick & tired! That’s where I come in. I’ve been there and done that! I am not perfect, I like my English muffins and chocolate.
Back to the point of this blog, let’s get to the point, I’m not writing my book YET! The point I want to make is I see the blessings in this tragedy, “accident” . Since the closing of my spa I was able to attend The Institute for Integrative Nutrition online by making monthly payments. The “accident” spun my life in the direction of holistic health full speed instead of the slow pace I was on, but I was on, that’s the point. I wanted it, started it, kept making slow and gradual changes but when my life depended on it, I WENT FOR IT and IIN was the pathway to getting me there! I believe that my experience in that facility was “my purpose” because now I am on a mission to work my way up the latter in the health industry to eventually make serious changes in facilities such as the one I was in. That place should be shut down and serious change needs to take place and it’s gonna take someone who lived through the horrible experience to speak out about it and push for it. So I have short term goals and I have long term goals.
I want to end this blog with my gratitude to my family who supported me throughout my entire life and most importantly during the worst experience of my life!! My mom and dad came to see me not once a day but twice a day for 5 months. In all my stay was 5 months. Also I want to say thank you again to all my fb friends who sent me telegrams while I was still in ICU. I can’t even find the right words to express the feeling of love and caring from reading your telegrams. I still have them and will always have them, THANK YOU!! I received telegrams from people I didn’t even know. It made me feel special THANK YOU and to my friends Melissa and Shannon for the fundraiser they held for me and special thank you to Geoffrey who cut off his pony tail as part of the fundraiser. Thank you Erin for helping me move back into an apartment after living with my parents for 8 months and for all the ice creme and coffee you brought me 🙂 And THANK YOU Patti for your assistance is getting me to my daughters 8th grade graduation. I wasn’t even supposed to leave the hospital. I was not well enough yet and it took about 45 minutes to get in the car and 45 minutes to get me out of the car each time because I was still so broken I could barely move. I had a very hard time getting in and out of my wheelchair and getting onto the seat far enough to close the door. And a very, very special thanks to my boyfriend for loving me even with a colostomy bag hanging off my belly, for being there all those times I needed someone to talk to. Can you imagine how it feels to have a poop bag hanging off your stomach? I didn’t feel very sexy and wondered if anyone would ever love me. Well I didn’t have to wonder, he loved me, he truly loved me, he loved me when I needed it most! It brings tears to my eyes when I think about that. You have no idea and I can’t find the words to express the feelings I had about myself at that time. THANK YOU!
This is a picture of me at my daughter’s 8th grade graduation with her father.
I am now a Certified Integrative Nutrition Coach thanks to IIN. They too have blessed me! When I told them my story and told them I didn’t have a device to listen to my lectures on and couldn’t afford to get one and pay for school, they mailed me a free apple ipod so I could listen to my classes anywhere I was. Wanna know what they asked of me in return? They asked me to give my word that when I graduate I will offer my program to at least one person for free who really needs my help. How awesome is that? I get goose bumps when I think of it, I love it! The knowledge I have learned from IIN has saved my life! Working closely with my primary care doctor to ween off the Oxycontin narcotics they had me on and the knowledge I learned from IIN, I was able to have my last surgery to reverse the colostomy bag without narcotic pain meds and I followed my own holistic pain remedies and I follow an anti inflammatory (diet), but as I said earlier, it’s not a diet, it’s how I live! My area of specialties are Holistic Pain Management, Digestive Health & Preventative Care, with side effects of losing weight. Please visit me at www.facebook.com/RevolutionInHealth.
If you are interested in becoming a Nutrition Coach click the here to experience a free sample class from IIN. So many people have found their way to IIN because of a personal health problem they’ve had. You don’t have to become a Nutrition Coach, get the knowledge for yourself and your family, decide later about practicing, IT’S WORTH IT! Or just hire me!!!!
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Feel free to fill out a health history form on my website for a free consultation.
Warm regards,
Kathryn
kathrynmancarella@gmail.com
This is me and my daughter the first winter out of the hospital living with my parents. We had to live with them for 8 months after getting out of the hospital. I was still in a wheelchair and in a lot of pain. Then we got our own apartment with state aid and I continued to be in physical therapy for 2 1/2 years. Now I do my own therapy and build my strength at the gym. I still have problems with my lower back and left hip. Still working on making improvements.
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