Ramblings of a rural(ish) geek

We are once again a two-car household. We went and picked up the Camry from the shop on Friday. (happy dancing!)

The itemized list of work done on the car ran four pages -- the entire front end had to be replaced back to the radiator, as did the rear bumper and the bumper cover. The delays were mostly stuff that they found as they were reassembling the car - 'the horn doesn't work', 'the radiator fan _does_ need to be replaced', '*all* the radiator supports need to be replaced, not just the lower ones', 'the rocker panel attachments are broken', 'the (Toyota approved) aftermarket headlights don't work' etc. It was six weeks from the time they actually started work on the car (assessing and estimating) to when we got it back, which is really not that bad. (they didn't get to it for nearly three weeks after the accident because they were booked solid.)

Not terrifically thrilled with the communication from the shop, but they seem to have done a very good job -- all repairs come with a lifetime guarantee, both from them and from [insurance company]. I am quite happy with the insurance company -- the only thing we paid for out of pocket was the gas to go get the car. :) I'm also glad that they gave me the option of going to the shop farther away, as the local shop wouldn't have even gotten to the car yet.

And today it rains. They tell us it may even storm. I can do without the storms, because a lot of that rain will run off into the retention basin, but it will be better than nuffin'. The chances of the Tuesday evening concert getting rained out are growing as the weather system path is becoming more defined....

Shin bruise is finally healing. PT says that next week we can get back to working on calf&ankle things that he's been avoiding because of the bruise and associated swelling.

News on the car is, um, very little. We know the shop has it -- I even called them earlier this week to make sure. The service desk person I talked to said that they were still in the process of ripping it down so they could figure out exactly what needed to be fixed, and if it was worth it; and that they'd probably have an ETA by "tomorrow afternoon" (aka Wednesday). It's now after 5 on Friday, and I haven't heard from them. I'm beginning to get worried.... Donwanna buy another new car!

Got a call Tuesday evening from the at-fault driver's insurance co. He wanted me to send them the estimate & deductible claim. I told him that I didn't have them yet. He sounded disconcerted by this. I talked to *my* claim manager, and she said that if he contacted me again I was to (politely) tell him that [insurance company] was handling all that, and he should talk to her.

So the bump on my shin was not getting smaller, and my co-workers were saying "you should get that looked at". I'm like "when?!" (I worked 10-5 on TH, 7:30-4:30 on FR.) So today, after work (ever since those "First Amendment Defenders" visited us, the Twp Board says "no one works alone", so I went in to do picky shit that normally no one would worry about so the clerk wouldn't have to be by herself -- she's legally required to be there for 8 hours the weekend before the election), I traipsed off to Urgent Care. Conveniently for me, the local hospital has a 24 hour Urgent Care. :) {I already have a MRN there, which makes intake really easy.}

15 minutes after I walk in, I see a doc. "Yeah, no. That's not good. Probably just infected, but let's send you for X-rays just in case." XRays came back negative - no cracks or fractures. "here, have a nice strong antibiotic. We've sent a script off to your preferred pharmacy, but they're not open now, so here's the first dose."

I was home about 90 minutes after I left. The cats were annoyed, because I made them wait for noms until I got back -- sorry, guys, 5pm is too early for noms.

(I was able to get to the dealer this morning and recover my sunglasses and a few shopping bags. I take full responsibility for the clouds/overcast that SE MI will have for the next few weeks. Sorry, y'all, I don't wanna drive without my sunglasses in the car that I'm driving.)

insurance adjuster called today. He's pretty sure it's repairable, as long as they don't find a cracked block or something like that. She'll be hauled to the collision shop later today, and they will do a full estimate and then call me with timeline, etc. The dealer's preferred shop is also a [insurance company] preferred shop, so I may not have any further expenses on this thing. The insurance company is even reimbursing me for the tow to the dealer. (I'm going with the dealer recommended shop for two reasons: the car is still covered under the manufacturer's warranty, and I don't want to lose that because we took it to some random body shop; and (legally) the car is still theirs -- I'm still paying the car off.)

Back to PT today -- he worked around the lovely bruise on my shin while working on that ankle, and he even did a bit of work on the stiff neck. I guess it's a good thing that this happened in the middle of a PT regimen, if it had to happen at all. I'd have been just fine with only ever being in two car accidents....