Guest Post: A Resilience Story

by Dr. Doug Green

I love eclipses and always try to see them when I can. When I heard that I could see a total solar eclipse this year with only a short drive, I immediately put it on my calendar. (I did see one in 2017 in South Carolina, which was a much longer drive, and it was terrific.) On April 8, 2024, I picked up a friend and headed to what my research said was my best chance to see it.

We arrived in Geneva, NY, which was crowded with fellow sun worshipers, and set up a picnic on the shores of Seneca Lake. It didn’t look promising, and sure enough, when eclipse time rolled around, we were treated to an eerie darkness, with no sight of the sun in the middle of the day. It wasn’t as thrilling as seeing the real thing, but it was remarkable in its own way.

On the way home, traffic was intense, and my GPS routed me off onto narrow side roads. As I approached Ithaca, I started to feel sick, so I pulled off the road onto a severely eroded shoulder and promptly got stuck. I began to feel dizzy, so I leaned my head on the side window and briefly closed my eyes.

I then got out of the car, called AAA to get towed out, and soon threw up. This seemed like a case of food poisoning from a bad ham salad sandwich I had eaten before the eclipse.

My passenger thought that I had briefly passed out, which is what she told the state trooper, who was summoned by a trailing “good samaritan.” This person also called medics, who took my vital signs, said I was fine, and promptly left.

About a week later, I got a bill from the EMTs for $250, which was not covered by my health insurance. Thanks, Mr. Good Samaritan. On May 18th, I got a letter from the New York Department of Motor Vehicles telling me that due to being “unconscious,” my driver’s license would be suspended as of May 21st. Yep, that’s 43 days after the accident.

The DMV should have acted much faster if there had been a genuine concern about my ability to drive based on a hearsay report to a trooper. It’s also beyond me why I got three more days to drive before the suspension kicked it. 

The DMV letter also outlined a procedure involving my physician to get my license back. While waiting for May 21st to arrive, I ran as many errands as possible and made plans for a life without a driver’s license. In addition to calling on friends and arranging to pay for rides, I looked for opportunities to use my bicycle for transportation. I also figured out how the local buses worked.

I was adapting well when, on June 19th, I was biking to visit a friend who lived seven miles away in Binghamton so I could give her daughter a ukulele lesson. During this trip, a car pulled in front of me, and I ran into the driver's side door at about ten miles an hour.

As I later learned, the car was driven by a 17-year-old girl who left the scene and went home. When she arrived, she told her dad what had happened, and he called 911. This may be why the girl was not given a ticket.

The police arrived quickly and took over from another good samaritan who was directing traffic around my body, which was lying in the middle of the Eastbound lane like a piece of roadkill. I had been heading East. Their report was based on the girl’s story, which had me going West. She claims to have hit me while dodging another vehicle. 

I didn’t wake up until I was in the ambulance heading to the Johnson City, NY, hospital. There, images showed that my right side had a broken hip, three broken ribs, a broken clavicle, a scapula, and the ball joint in my shoulder; two brain bleeds and a concussion. Other than that, I was fine. I do recall a doctor saying that I was messed up pretty badly and lucky to be alive.

That night, I was transferred to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, NY, where they were more experienced with the type of surgery I needed. They operated on my hip the following day and inserted two long screws to hold it together. They also told me not to move my arm for six weeks. It didn’t need surgery as the brakes were not displaced. 

After five days in the hospital, I managed to talk my way out. This required that I show the PT guy that I could do the 28 steps needed to get into my apartment, show the OT lady that I could dress myself using “one-size-fits-nobody hospital clothes, and show the nurse that I could urinate after my catheter was removed.

A friend picked me up and took me to my apartment, where I could use the railing to crawl up my 28 stairs. I could walk with a walker, and my left hand worked fine. Friends brought me meals ready to eat, so I was okay. I healed and watched a lot of TV.

This accident seriously complicated the process of getting my driver’s license back, as the doctor couldn’t in good conscience say that I was good to go behind the wheel. She required a sign-off from my orthopedic doctor and an EEG that showed no signs of seizure from a neurologist. That didn’t happen until late October, and by the time the paperwork was sent in and processed, I had been without a license for six months.

Six weeks after the accident, I started physical therapy. I went once a week for ten weeks and had two monthly check-ins until I was released. As you may know, if you want to regain the range of motion in an appendage, you need to move it until it hurts to seven several times a day on a pain scale that goes up to ten. 

After about five months of PT, mostly at home and unsupervised in a gym, the pain is almost gone, and I have enough range of motion to play golf.

My first goal after the accident was to run the Binghamton half marathon next May. Last year, I was the oldest finisher, for which I got $50 and a TV interview. Ironically, I spent the money on the shorts that the EMTs cut off me after the accident. Now that I have been going to the gym three days a week, I aim to be stronger than before the accident when I wasn’t even going to a gym.

I have been working with a lawyer since shortly after the accident, and we have recently sued the father’s insurance company for some pain and suffering. I’m unsure when this will be settled, but my lawyer thinks I should get something. He only gets paid if I get a settlement. He gets 30% plus expenses, and I get the rest. He says it should take about a year or so for this to take place.

During this process, I have often drawn on the strength that my wife showed during the three years she had ALS before she died in 2009. I learned from her that one can choose one's attitude, so I decided on a positive one. At no time did I feel anxious or depressed, and I always focused on getting better. I think this makes me something of a poster child for resilience, which is a quality that everyone should have. 

I was dealt some bad cards when I lost my license and got hit on my bike while transporting myself because I lost my license. You play the cards you are dealt and make the best of bad situations. This has been a big help.

People who hear my story and sense my attitude think that I am amazing, but I don’t believe that I’m doing anything that anyone else can’t do if they have the proper vision. I hope that reading this story helps you, dear reader. So get out there and do your best with the things you can’t control.