My first (and only) ride in an ambulance

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I really missed it though, since I was unconscious. I was broadsided by a stop sign runner (uninsured) when I was 19. I was on the way back to Santa Ana from Newport Beach, CA in my 1955 Chevy, my fiance at my side, no seat belts, of course. I woke up as they were taking me out of the badly wrecked car and asked about Sandy. They said she was okay and I passed out. I awoke in a hospital room in Newport Beach with sandbags on each side of my head. I wondered why, then found out that there was a broken vertebrae in my neck and the problem was not clear yet. My mother arranged for a special nurse overnight for a day or two (her name was Roessler, I recall, which I thought was funny). I was there for five days. The only problem with my neck (fortunately) was that I had to wear a plastic collar for eight weeks. I suffered a concussion, my nose was broken and a toenail was torn off my of right big toe (I was wearing flip flops). That would have been very painful taken alone, but I never felt a thing on that toe. I never had any further problem. If it had been a different spot, I could have been killed or paralyzed for life. The highlight of my stay was the older guy in the next bed. He had some pretty severe pain and was very profane, which kept me laughing. By the way, Sandy was not hurt, though she was on the side where we were hit. She must have been sitting over close to me, a custom back then.