10:59am
Saw on mobile missed phone call from mom around 10:30am. I called mom back from home before I had to leave the house. Mom said they just finished voting in Tong-Kong and were on their way home. Kevin and Alvin both had a chance to chat with grandmom. Mom asked if we had voted yet.
11:14am
I was driving on my way to pick up my father-in-law for voting. Dad called to say they got into a serious car accident. Dad said mom had internal bleeding (blood from mouth). Mom was moaning in pain in the background. I asked him to call 二叔for immediate assistance and I would be on my way to KH. Phone was broken off.
11:18am
Tried to call dad back couple of times but no answers. Began to pray out loud in the car while I was driving.
11:29am
Got hold of dad again and learned that both of them were hurt from air bags, not from car metals. I felt a bit relieved but worried about the internal bleeding. Prayer at heart continued.
12:30pm
Got back home and took care of several matters including voting as I knew mom would care about it. Asked Gioia and parents-in-law to handle preparation for the church fellwoship dinner at our house. Grabbed simple stuff and left for station at 1pm. Dad called and said mom was at emergency room. Prayer continued.
1:30pm
Luckily caught the high-speed rail in time but packed with standing room. Fortunately after Taichung got a seat at reserved section. Prayer continued.
3:30pm
Got to the hospital (高醫小港分院)with 二叔waiting at the door. Went up to mom's room at 6A11 and saw mom in obvious pain. Dad, 嬸嬸, and 看護柯阿姨.
As it turned out, mom's bleeding in her mouth came from tong injury. But she had broken rib on her right 2nd rib, and left 6th/7th ribs. She had some broken right shoulder bone. Also her left forearm was broken so doctor put it in cast. Due to air bag collision, her nose and both eyes have concussions. Luckily no other internal injuries which need to go through surgery. Dad had multiple concussions at left hand and left knee. He felt some chest pain but no other serious injuries.
Both parents had no recollection on what happened before the collision. Right after the collision, the car was on top of the center divider and ran into the light pole which was intact. However, the front end of the car was totally ruined. Dad grabbed mom out of the car probably in fear of car explosion. The lift got mom furher in pain and not a good thing to do as it ran the risk of causing broken ribs to stab into chest. Dad said his eye glasses were dropped and could not find his mobile phone at first. He tried to wave passing cars on both sides of the road but nobody would stopp. Sadly. Finally some driver stopped and made phone call to police. Later dad was able to find his mobile phoen and called me immediately.
The car engine was totally wrecked byeond repair. The car was towed away and the tow people paid back 27,000 for the salvage effort without charging any tow fees. They probably made a lot more money on selling components later. The car was bought in 1999 as its license plates also said so. Ironically couple of months ago dad said he was getting too old for driving and asked me if I would want the car. I declined then but asked dad not to drive car without wearing hearing aide. I thought it was too dangerous for dad to drive without being able to hear outside sound such as car honing.
6:30pm
Despite all the suffering that mom and dad have taken, we still need to be grateful to God as the situation could have been worse. The car basically went up to the center divider and light pole without braking. The car could have run over to the other side and have head-on collision. Both parents were also blessed to avoid any damage to internal organs. Both air bags performed to their functions to avoid collsion to the car metals (Thanks to Lexus).
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