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Sammamish woman injured in head-on, police suspect other driver was impaired by alcohol
Today, 1:50 PM · UPDATED
A 56-year-old Sammamish woman was cut out of her vehicle and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after a head-on traffic accident Sunday night on Northeast Novelty Hill Road in unincorporated King County near Redmond.
The accident appears to have been caused by an alcohol-impaired driver, according to Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesman for the King County Sheriff’s Office.
A 2002 Jeep Liberty, driven by a 25-year-old Portland woman, was traveling westbound on Northeast Novelty Hill Road, crossed the center lane and struck the left front corner of an on-coming 2004 Lexus E330, driven by the Sammamish woman. After the collision, the Jeep rolled over on its top and landed in the westbound lane.
Fire crews had to cut up the car to get the Sammamish woman out before she was airlifted to Harborview.
“Alcohol appears to be a contributing factor on the part of the Jeep driver,” Urquhart said. His office is investigating and no arrests had been made as of press time.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Ninth Post
So not too much to report. Still don't know the status of the cat scans. Still wondering about the stroke and possible spinal injuries.
It appears that Mom is going in for surgery tomorrow to mend the 2 fractured parts of her pelvis. She's pretty stable now it seems like.
When Kim and I went in today around 8:30 we saw the Walkowskis and met another new nurse, Andy. Mom's room looks out over a couple rooftops and a little bit of urban Seattle.
Mom is looking a lot better as far as the puffiness goes. Before, her body was so puffy that her hands were literally twice normal size and swelled and her eyelids were so puffy they cane over her eyelashes completely. Now she is looking normal enough to recognize again.
Looks like there is less IV drips and hardware on her every time I go in. The traction is off her legs now too. There are always new kinds of bandages on her legs when I go in to see her.
It seems that Mom is still getting better every day, though there was no hand squeezing or smiling again today for me :(
We were also there when the nurse had to suction some mucus out of her ventilator tube which unfortunately made her flinch. Sorry Mom.
Also found out a little more about the accident. Turns out a news station, newspaper, and the police all covered the crash. The other car was a Jeep Liberty, driven by a woman from Portland, Oregon.
Kim and Frank went to the police impound lot to get stuff out of the car and also got her purse and jewelry except for an earring she was wearing. They also took a ton of pictures for the court and for the family. I got my sunglasses case (but no sunglasses), slippers, graduation gown, and jumper cables back.
Scott
It appears that Mom is going in for surgery tomorrow to mend the 2 fractured parts of her pelvis. She's pretty stable now it seems like.
When Kim and I went in today around 8:30 we saw the Walkowskis and met another new nurse, Andy. Mom's room looks out over a couple rooftops and a little bit of urban Seattle.
Mom is looking a lot better as far as the puffiness goes. Before, her body was so puffy that her hands were literally twice normal size and swelled and her eyelids were so puffy they cane over her eyelashes completely. Now she is looking normal enough to recognize again.
Looks like there is less IV drips and hardware on her every time I go in. The traction is off her legs now too. There are always new kinds of bandages on her legs when I go in to see her.
It seems that Mom is still getting better every day, though there was no hand squeezing or smiling again today for me :(
We were also there when the nurse had to suction some mucus out of her ventilator tube which unfortunately made her flinch. Sorry Mom.
Also found out a little more about the accident. Turns out a news station, newspaper, and the police all covered the crash. The other car was a Jeep Liberty, driven by a woman from Portland, Oregon.
Kim and Frank went to the police impound lot to get stuff out of the car and also got her purse and jewelry except for an earring she was wearing. They also took a ton of pictures for the court and for the family. I got my sunglasses case (but no sunglasses), slippers, graduation gown, and jumper cables back.
Scott
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
A Note About Food
Thank you so much everyone who has helped with food so far, specifically my lacrosse team (state champs!) and the Reynolds family. I just enjoyed the pastrami sandwich from Noah's and it was excellent.
One important note though is that I do have a very severe peanut allergy so if you make food from scratch or from a mix or whatever please check the ingredients list. This includes all the components of the meal.
EDIT: Denis is actually organizing food. If you would like to contribute by sending food please email her at denise303@comcast.net.
Thanks,
Scott
One important note though is that I do have a very severe peanut allergy so if you make food from scratch or from a mix or whatever please check the ingredients list. This includes all the components of the meal.
EDIT: Denis is actually organizing food. If you would like to contribute by sending food please email her at denise303@comcast.net.
Thanks,
Scott
Eighth Post
First off, I would like to thank everyone for the encouragement for mom and for me and my dad. I would also encourage people to keep leaving comments as it will be very meaningful for my mom to read.
I hope that you appreciate me waiting in two hours of traffic today mom to see you :) Unfortunately when I got in to the hospital there was a bunch of hubbub. Someone was washing her hair, and I told mom that she looked very pretty and that it was the new spa treatment. Someone came in also to check the hardware on her legs and so I only had a few minutes before I was kicked out. Dad said today that the nurses said Mom was doing much better today.
We also got a new primary care nurse today because they are evidently on a weekly schedule.
From talking to the nurse it seems that Mom will be unconscious on the ventilator for a while still, but that when she becomes more conscious she will be unable to speak because the respirator will still be in, and therefore no air will pass over the vocal chords to produce speech.
Dad said she smiled this morning, and the nurse said her anesthesia was less this morning, but they had re-sedated her only 30 minutes before I got there so I didn't really see any reaction when I was there. I guess I can blame the traffic for that haha.
Take care,
Scott
I hope that you appreciate me waiting in two hours of traffic today mom to see you :) Unfortunately when I got in to the hospital there was a bunch of hubbub. Someone was washing her hair, and I told mom that she looked very pretty and that it was the new spa treatment. Someone came in also to check the hardware on her legs and so I only had a few minutes before I was kicked out. Dad said today that the nurses said Mom was doing much better today.
We also got a new primary care nurse today because they are evidently on a weekly schedule.
From talking to the nurse it seems that Mom will be unconscious on the ventilator for a while still, but that when she becomes more conscious she will be unable to speak because the respirator will still be in, and therefore no air will pass over the vocal chords to produce speech.
Dad said she smiled this morning, and the nurse said her anesthesia was less this morning, but they had re-sedated her only 30 minutes before I got there so I didn't really see any reaction when I was there. I guess I can blame the traffic for that haha.
Take care,
Scott
Seventh Post
So just a few updates.
We haven't heard back the results of the brain CAT scan but they are doing more scans this morning of her brain and legs. They have removed the traction from her legs (some of the hardware) and the nurses say she is doing "fantastic."
Also I found out yesterday that all the airbags in my car deployed when mom got hit which is good. I am also positive that she was buckled in as she does that every time she drives.
I also found out last night that mom had a pretty serious cut on the top of her head on the left side. Previously I had always been standing on her right when I went to see her but this time I stood on the left and say where some hair had been shaved away and the skin stapled together.
Scott
We haven't heard back the results of the brain CAT scan but they are doing more scans this morning of her brain and legs. They have removed the traction from her legs (some of the hardware) and the nurses say she is doing "fantastic."
Also I found out yesterday that all the airbags in my car deployed when mom got hit which is good. I am also positive that she was buckled in as she does that every time she drives.
I also found out last night that mom had a pretty serious cut on the top of her head on the left side. Previously I had always been standing on her right when I went to see her but this time I stood on the left and say where some hair had been shaved away and the skin stapled together.
Scott
Sixth Post
Well I just found out from the CAT scan results that Mom has had a stroke. How big, how bad, or when it occured we don't yet know. I guess I had thought that because she could move her limbs that her head and spine were fine when all it really meant was that she could move her arms and legs.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Fifth Post
OK, so doing better but definitely not through the woods yet. Now it seems that most of the serious bleeding has been stopped, some of her fluid IV's have been removed, and she somewhat stable.
As of now the major threats lie in infection and possible respiratory complications from all the fluids and her sedentary position, specifically fluid building up in the lungs and hardening.
Also, she has a lot of hardware (rods sticking through and into them) on her legs now to set them and get blood flowing to the right places.
Mom is going in for some CAT scans tonight so we'll know a lot more about her in the morning. Uncle Kim was joking that we should send in her cat, Blaze, to be scanned.
The best thing that has happened so far is when I held her hand today not once but twice she squeezed back hard both times. Reflex or some base level of consciousness? Either way she is moving her arms and legs which is good because it means there is no major spinal injury.
On another note, I am currently without a car. I was out looking yesterday for a C 1978 ford mustang fastback. It was blue with white racing stripes, and was for sale a couple months ago in my girlfriend Katie's neighborhood. I remember remarking to her "Man, if I didn't have my Lexus I'd totally buy that." But now its sold. Oh well...
As of now the major threats lie in infection and possible respiratory complications from all the fluids and her sedentary position, specifically fluid building up in the lungs and hardening.
Also, she has a lot of hardware (rods sticking through and into them) on her legs now to set them and get blood flowing to the right places.
Mom is going in for some CAT scans tonight so we'll know a lot more about her in the morning. Uncle Kim was joking that we should send in her cat, Blaze, to be scanned.
The best thing that has happened so far is when I held her hand today not once but twice she squeezed back hard both times. Reflex or some base level of consciousness? Either way she is moving her arms and legs which is good because it means there is no major spinal injury.
On another note, I am currently without a car. I was out looking yesterday for a C 1978 ford mustang fastback. It was blue with white racing stripes, and was for sale a couple months ago in my girlfriend Katie's neighborhood. I remember remarking to her "Man, if I didn't have my Lexus I'd totally buy that." But now its sold. Oh well...
Fourth Post- Comments enabled!
Hey everyone, so the femur surgery was a success. I'm going over to the hospital soon to see her for a couple hours. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and my family so far. I can't even count all the text messages, facebook comments, and phone calls I have gotten the past couple days and it has really helped me stay positive.
On different note, I changed the blog to allow anybody to comment. I am going to show this to my mom when she is conscious so if you want to leave anything for her post it here. Just select the "comment" button below every post. Make sure you sign your name at the bottom or else we wont know who left it.
Thanks again,
Scott
On different note, I changed the blog to allow anybody to comment. I am going to show this to my mom when she is conscious so if you want to leave anything for her post it here. Just select the "comment" button below every post. Make sure you sign your name at the bottom or else we wont know who left it.
Thanks again,
Scott
Third Post
OK, so things are happening a million miles per hour here.
Mom's already been in a couple surgeries so far, and is now going into a surgery to fix her femurs and restore blood flow to the legs and feet for healing. Expected operating time 2 hours. Shes still unconscious and likely will be for a long time (2 weeks we're thinking) because she is on a respirator. This save my mom the trouble of breathing and hopefully let her body concentrate on repairing itself.
Thing really happen at all 24 hours at the hospital. Every time I've gone in I have seen a nurse there taking care of mom, and often a doctor or two also. She is getting different types of care at all different hours of the day.
Mom's already been in a couple surgeries so far, and is now going into a surgery to fix her femurs and restore blood flow to the legs and feet for healing. Expected operating time 2 hours. Shes still unconscious and likely will be for a long time (2 weeks we're thinking) because she is on a respirator. This save my mom the trouble of breathing and hopefully let her body concentrate on repairing itself.
Thing really happen at all 24 hours at the hospital. Every time I've gone in I have seen a nurse there taking care of mom, and often a doctor or two also. She is getting different types of care at all different hours of the day.
Second Post
If there's one thing I have learned in my life, it is that fate is very strange.
As it turns out, a classmate of mine that is a year behind me in school happened to be driving past my mom's crash site when he stopped and ran over to help. He arrived there around 3 minutes before the aid cars and saw my mom's reaction. He only realized it was my mom yesterday morning from my facebook.
He also talked to eyewitnesses and also by chance there was an off duty paramedic there with him explaining what the rescuers were doing real time as they worked.
From talking to eyewitnesses, it seems that the previous story is correct.
The classmate did stress how strong and stubborn my mom was. He said she was fighting to stay alive and conscious, and that it was evidently taking tremendous willpower. He said even though he did not know her, he said he thought she would be OK because of how incredibly strong she was. I agree, she is a very strong woman and I don't think shes going anywhere while I'm still alive.
The person I talked to also told me how much the paramedics worked together to rescue my mom from the car. He said there were at least 4 fire trucks and a ton of ambulances there to look after her.
The classmate was also kind enough to email some pictures. As these are zoomed out, I talked with my dad and we felt it would be best to put them up. I found these pictures strangely comforting as at least now I know what the crash looked like instead of only wondering.
As it turns out, a classmate of mine that is a year behind me in school happened to be driving past my mom's crash site when he stopped and ran over to help. He arrived there around 3 minutes before the aid cars and saw my mom's reaction. He only realized it was my mom yesterday morning from my facebook.
He also talked to eyewitnesses and also by chance there was an off duty paramedic there with him explaining what the rescuers were doing real time as they worked.
From talking to eyewitnesses, it seems that the previous story is correct.
The classmate did stress how strong and stubborn my mom was. He said she was fighting to stay alive and conscious, and that it was evidently taking tremendous willpower. He said even though he did not know her, he said he thought she would be OK because of how incredibly strong she was. I agree, she is a very strong woman and I don't think shes going anywhere while I'm still alive.
The person I talked to also told me how much the paramedics worked together to rescue my mom from the car. He said there were at least 4 fire trucks and a ton of ambulances there to look after her.
The classmate was also kind enough to email some pictures. As these are zoomed out, I talked with my dad and we felt it would be best to put them up. I found these pictures strangely comforting as at least now I know what the crash looked like instead of only wondering.
My mom, driving my black lexus.
The other driver's car that we believe was drunk at the time of the accident.
Monday, June 8, 2009
First Post
Hello Everyone,
So as many of you know, Allyn Lindemann got into a car crash on the afternoon of Sunday, June 7th, 2009. A drunk driver (possibly with passenger) crossed over the center line into Mom's lane and hit her about 1 mile up Novelty Hill from the intersection of Avondale and Novelty in Redmond. The speed limit at that point was 45 mph.
The timing was very strange, just hours after my graduation from Overlake. It was also the first time my mom's brother has ever come out to Washington, and a full moon too. Enough to make you superstitious. The good news was that all my living relatives were in town for my graduation, from Maine to California to Washington. The bad news is that an otherwise happy celebration was turned into a scary ER visit.
My mom was driving my black lexus ES 330 home from lunch at Fairwinds where my grandfather lives. She was the only one driving, everyone else was in the other 2 cars driving home from Fairwinds (3 total cars). After she did not show up at home after everyone else, my dad and Uncle Kim went back to see if she was out of gas when they saw road flares and the crashed cars. The doctors later called it a "high mechanism" crash meaning that massive forces were involved.
The top had to be cut off my car (which she was driving) and she was airlifted to Harborview Hospital in Seattle. The good news: my parents got me such a nice car to keep me safe, it is one of the safest cars out there. It is comforting to think that my mom got me a safe car so I would be safe, and it ended up saving her own life.
Also, Harborview is one of the best trauma hospitals in one of the best countries in the world. My mom was the #1 priority when she got there, so she literally had the best doctors in the world working on her.
I was attending my class overnight celebration with the rest of my class when I was called away. During the overnighter we were supposed to give up our cell phones but I kept mine for my peanut allergy. This is a good life lesson: don't give up your cell phone! I drove back with Graeme and Mrs. Boit (thanks again!)
When we got there, my mom was bleeding profusely both internally and externally. Though we got there around 8pm (if I remember right), we wouldn't see her till 5am. The doctors told us she might die because of blood loss. By 12pm, Me, my Dad, our family friends the Walkowskis, Mrs. Booth, Mrs. Perry, Mr. and Mrs. Angelo, my girlfriend Katie and her brother, Graeme and his sister and dad, and Mrs. Boit were all in a cramped waiting room crying and praying.
As we found that night, her initial injuries were:
Broken left lower leg
Both femurs broken
Pelivis broken in 2 places
Tissue missing in left leg
Bleeding profusely internally and externally in pelvis and legs
Broken left elbow
Broken left ribs
Body temperature too cold
Lost nutrients, fluids, proteins, and platelets from blood loss
At the time we did not know if she also had possible spinal or brain injuries, but she has been seen moving her arms and legs which is good.
The doctors worked well and stopped the major bleeding. They also brought her body temp up with blankets and water baths, started aIV and blood transfusions, and set up tractions in her legs to help with blood flow to her legs and feet and to help set the femurs.
The fluids have made her body really puffy but it was good to see her fighting this morning and today. Life has been hectic as our whole family and friends are getting organized.
If you would like to help call our home phone, if no answer leave a message. We are getting a phone tree set up and food organized now.
Please keep Mom in your thoughts and prayers.
So as many of you know, Allyn Lindemann got into a car crash on the afternoon of Sunday, June 7th, 2009. A drunk driver (possibly with passenger) crossed over the center line into Mom's lane and hit her about 1 mile up Novelty Hill from the intersection of Avondale and Novelty in Redmond. The speed limit at that point was 45 mph.
The timing was very strange, just hours after my graduation from Overlake. It was also the first time my mom's brother has ever come out to Washington, and a full moon too. Enough to make you superstitious. The good news was that all my living relatives were in town for my graduation, from Maine to California to Washington. The bad news is that an otherwise happy celebration was turned into a scary ER visit.
My mom was driving my black lexus ES 330 home from lunch at Fairwinds where my grandfather lives. She was the only one driving, everyone else was in the other 2 cars driving home from Fairwinds (3 total cars). After she did not show up at home after everyone else, my dad and Uncle Kim went back to see if she was out of gas when they saw road flares and the crashed cars. The doctors later called it a "high mechanism" crash meaning that massive forces were involved.
The top had to be cut off my car (which she was driving) and she was airlifted to Harborview Hospital in Seattle. The good news: my parents got me such a nice car to keep me safe, it is one of the safest cars out there. It is comforting to think that my mom got me a safe car so I would be safe, and it ended up saving her own life.
Also, Harborview is one of the best trauma hospitals in one of the best countries in the world. My mom was the #1 priority when she got there, so she literally had the best doctors in the world working on her.
I was attending my class overnight celebration with the rest of my class when I was called away. During the overnighter we were supposed to give up our cell phones but I kept mine for my peanut allergy. This is a good life lesson: don't give up your cell phone! I drove back with Graeme and Mrs. Boit (thanks again!)
When we got there, my mom was bleeding profusely both internally and externally. Though we got there around 8pm (if I remember right), we wouldn't see her till 5am. The doctors told us she might die because of blood loss. By 12pm, Me, my Dad, our family friends the Walkowskis, Mrs. Booth, Mrs. Perry, Mr. and Mrs. Angelo, my girlfriend Katie and her brother, Graeme and his sister and dad, and Mrs. Boit were all in a cramped waiting room crying and praying.
As we found that night, her initial injuries were:
Broken left lower leg
Both femurs broken
Pelivis broken in 2 places
Tissue missing in left leg
Bleeding profusely internally and externally in pelvis and legs
Broken left elbow
Broken left ribs
Body temperature too cold
Lost nutrients, fluids, proteins, and platelets from blood loss
At the time we did not know if she also had possible spinal or brain injuries, but she has been seen moving her arms and legs which is good.
The doctors worked well and stopped the major bleeding. They also brought her body temp up with blankets and water baths, started aIV and blood transfusions, and set up tractions in her legs to help with blood flow to her legs and feet and to help set the femurs.
The fluids have made her body really puffy but it was good to see her fighting this morning and today. Life has been hectic as our whole family and friends are getting organized.
If you would like to help call our home phone, if no answer leave a message. We are getting a phone tree set up and food organized now.
Please keep Mom in your thoughts and prayers.
Thanks,
Scott
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