This could happen to you..........................

[Bruce]

JFK to Moscow was a horror.  We (wife infant and I) waited outside in a huge line getting nowhere until they called the Moscow flights where there was a mad rush to get on line, get your bags weighed (did not happen), rush on the plane and fly over.

Flight did arrive early and was fine.  I got through passport control, which has really become a piece of cake in Moscow, got my bags and got outside to a waiting grandma.
New grandpa brought the car around.  His car is a 3 year old Lada hatchback version which looks eight or nine years old due to wear and tear, rough conditions for the car etc. 

We were off to Tver at 11:30 or so am.  We had one piece of luggage in the back of the hatchback, mom on the right of the backseat and grandma behind the driver holding our daughter and me in the death seat up front next to father in law.  Our biggest piece of luggage as well as a box specially constructed for me to ship paintings was tied on top of the roof rack well.  I was tired as heck and about an hour into the drive north to Tver, which by the way is taking longer and longer due to all the new lights constructed on the main highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as poor road maintenance and increased traffic, fell asleep.

All of a sudden I feel a thud.  I then wake up to feel our car on rough road careening off the road.  I said to myself - oh sh&t - one too many trips of the Russian revolver to my head and it now will be over.  I did not have time for my life to flash before my eyes.  We were now moving on a bumpy path as we angled down the side of the road at what really was almost a straight vertical.  It was too bumpy and fast to really look up - and all I managed to see was that we were in a bumpy descent.  As we descend downward we hit a huge something which made the car first thud off the angled downward path and then begin to flip.  I could not say anything, heard screams from the back of the car, and tried to duck.  I had my seatbelt on and felt tremendous weight bending downward on my neck.  The car rolled a few more times and came to a slow stop.  I was alive.  I felt somehow intact.  We were upside down in the car.  I looked ahead of me and saw there was no way out up front because the windshield was buried in the dirt.  I looked to my right and saw that my passenger window was crushed, but there was an opening.  To my right I saw my FIL, bloodied on his elbow, dazed and confused.  I woke him / got him following me and I crawled myself out of the car and saw he was right behind me.  We then saw that the women could get out through the front seat.  They handed me our daughter who was very upset, with a cut on the top of her head - held her in my arms and asked my FIL to get my wife and his wife out of the car as I got to the road with our daughter and screamed for help.  My wife was very upset and MIL was able to ambulate, angry with FIL, though ready to help.  A few cars had stopped to help us.  My wife, our infant daughter and I went in the first car.  We also grabed our important papers ie. passport etc. and an intact piece of luggage and had that driver take us to Tver.   We had crashed inbetween Moscow and Tver.  My daughter was screaming.  My wife was unable to even hold our daughter and wanted me to hold her.  So, we were off to Tver with a daughter who was crying so much she was hyperventilating, or so I first thought.  Over time, she calmed down.  When we got to the flat she ate her normal amount and drank her normal amount.  She had stopped crying by that time and looked fairly normal. 

By then my wife had called the medical emergency.  The ambulance came to the house and drove us over extremely bumpy miserable roads, especially when you think you may have a baby girl with head trauma and head trauma yourself.  I am still holding our daughter tighly in my arms and she is behaving quite normally.  The top of her head was not really cut but only bruised.  Anyway, we finally see a neurologist who thinks the baby should have the works of xrays -  and unknown treatment he will not say.  I picture cuts in our babies head and tubes coming out of her brain in my mind.  I say no way............can't we watch her and bring her back if there is a problem.  He asks why.  I say she had enough radiation for one day on the plane ride and I think further proding will only traumatize her more.  The wife is bad and Dr. thinks I am worse.  He believes I have disc problems in my head, should have had my neck snaped in the crash but survived because of the amount of musculature around my spinal column, and luck.  He agreed on the baby and gave us good pointers on signs to watch for to immediately rush her to the hospital.  He gave us a three day window for treatment.

Baby was fine.  Mom and Dad had shock wearing off and were beginning to show their symptoms that night.  This was a great thing to add to jet lag - which I do not advocate for anyone.  During the crash my wallet was thrown somewhere.  MIL and FIL salvaged our personal belongings and found my wallet.

Bottom line, because I have alot to do in a short amount of time is that my xrays are ok, and I should get better on my own.  FIL just had cuts and a minor concussion.  MIL had thrown herself around our daughter and saved her.  However, she had two broken ribs and a huge hematoma on her leg.  My wife is still in the Russian hospital having a minor concussion and a potentially severe luxated (displaced) vertebrae in her neck.  Initially she had lost feeling / had a numbness down one of her arms.  Now everything is fine and she is recovering.  Grandma is taking care of our daughter with FIL.  Mom is in an orthopedic suite that looks like it is straight out of a 1930's Bella Lugosi / Boris Kharloff horror film, for the most part laying straight with a sling holding her neck straight.  MIL comes to bring food to her / care for her twice daily.  A babysitter / walker / friend is helping out as well.........................so things are being taken care of.  Things will be ok.  Mom will come back with baby later than she wanted to.................but we had a miracle.  I am grateful we survived a potentially deadly crash quite well. 

What saved us.  It turns out the initial thud we first hit as we descended into the ditch on the side of road was a huge truck tire from a previous crash in our location.  That tire acted to deaden our initial impact and slow our speed down - probably saving our lives. 

I did the best I could to help everyone after the crash.  My marriage is as strong or stronger than ever and MIL and FIL feel guilty as h*ll even though it really was not their fault.............thoogh FIL is being heavily blamed. 

We are picking up the pieces and life will go on.  I expect to fly back to Russia to help my wife with our daughter when she wants to come back..............but we'll see how things go.

[Michelangelo]

Oh, Bruce.  I'm so very sorry this happened to you.  My thoughts and prayers are on you and your family...

[Turboguy]

Gosh, mine too.  When you talked about a bad trip in the other post I never expected anything that bad.  I guess it is good to think of the good side.  You are all alive and hopefully everyone will be fine.  You have all our wishes for all to go well.

[Admin]

Sheez Bruce! Glad to hear you are pretty much OK - but that is scary as hell.

I hope everyone recovers fully and quickly.

- Dan

[Vaughn]

Bruce,

  Thank God you're all alive. It's amazing no one was killed.

[KenC]

Bruce,
Thank God everyone is pretty much OK.  If there is anything that I can do to help, let me know.  As you know, my MIL is pretty hooked up there.  What caused your FIL to drive off the road?
KenC

[Bruno]

MIL had thrown herself around our daughter and saved her.  However, she had two broken ribs and a huge hematoma on her leg.

...

My marriage is as strong or stronger than ever and MIL and FIL feel guilty as h*ll even though it really was not their fault.............

I feel sorry for these terrible incident... and you have my support.

But what i find wonderful is your MIL who have risk own life for protect your daughter... She certainly no need to feel herself guilty since that maybe without your MIL, maybe your daughter will be in a more bad situation.

This is something that i have always wonder in FSU, mother and grandmother who are like wolf for protect children, same if it is at own risk. From my opinion, family bound are more strong in FSU that in our western country...

[Rvrwind]

Damn Bruce!!! Why didn't you call us. When Valya read this she was almost in tears as we would have done all we could to help out.
We are very grateful everybody is okay & that they will all heal well. We are very sorry this had to happen but as they say, everything happens for a reason. What reason, God only knows in this circumstance.
Get well soon!! Our best to all & a speedy recovery!!!

[Bruce]

Thank you all for the kind words and offers of support.  Everything is being taken care of by MIL and FIL.  I was fortunate to bring a decent amount of money to help them if expenses get high, which I left with them - though I know they are not touching it.  Right now MIL is refusing to accept any money from us.  My wife will settle expenses with MIL when she is out of the hospital.  I do not have a leg to stand on trying to get MIL to take money from me under these circumstances. 

One detail I left out is that my daughter was brought by MIL to an infant specialty neurologist the second day after the crash.  They checked her out with ultrasound extensively and everything is A-ok, other than she is a normally developing American baby and they feel babies need regular infant massage to speeden their walking time / help them develop their motor skills effeciently and effectively - which just are not normally done at least here in the greater NYC area.  One of their family friends is a nurse who specializes in this, so I said fine, no problem.  My daughter will love even more attention then she gets now.  Costs for daughter and wife were very low due to Russian citizens.  I paid about $50 for both appointments / xrays and some ointment I am applying to my neck for now. 

The day my wife will clear out of the hospital appears to be in one more week.  She should be cleared to fly back in mid August. 

Ken C - It appears the fault of the accident was solely my FIL.  When the car in front of his  somehow stopped shorter than he expected as we were comming to a red light he clipped the back of the car and careened off the road.  MIL feels extremely guilty and ashamed for his actions (FIL is deeply sorry and trying to do the best he can to lesson the guilt he feels).  I forgive him.  What is done is done and he is trying his best to ammend things.  It appears he was tired from watching World Cup soccer the  night before.  He must have been tired and not as sharp behind the wheel as he might have been had he had a good nights sleep.  He did not drink at all and the crash occured about 1 pm on a bright sunny day.  All it took for a split second of inattentiveness at the wheel and the rest was history.  On the way to the airport yesterday I went with a driver and FIL who first brought us to a police station where I signed a document saying I would not sue him.  Family wanted it that way - so that is the decision I went with.  How can I sue FIL - just not in my character anyway. 

Both MIL and FIL feel blame and shame for causing us so much pain.  Heck, FIL almost killed the whole family.  Why MIL feels guilty I have no clue.  Like Bruno mentioned above, she saved our daughter by sacrificing her own body.  Luckily, she was not greatly damaged.  Initially, it was thought she had some chest trauma which luckily she did not have. 

I had two huge cuts on my head and on my legs plus alot of bruises that just showed up somehow within two days after the crash.  My wife had so many cuts and bruising on her body it was just horrible.  Somehow, in the back seat behind me my wife suffered the majority of injury.  Its just something that happened.  I just pray her face will look like it was though I worry with the jaw / side of face injury that she had.  I'll probably have to take her to a good plastic surgeon when she gets back to the USA -  along with extensive dental work, which she already has decided only our dentist will look at her teeth in the USA / make recommendations for specialty dental work if necessary - just because she was so impressed by his dental work when she first came to the USA. 

Rvr - hopefully next time I arrive I'll be able to give you a call.  This was such a disaster I had no real time to do anything but help our family.  I actually contributed alot but I just had to be there primarily to aid the transition to MIL as primary care giver for our infant.  MIL was great and over the first three or four days after the crash with my wife in the hospital I showed MIL exactly how we fed and scheduled things for our baby.  MIL would grind up squash, chicken and carrots / different combinations of vegetables etc.  to make natural better than Beetch Nut infant baby food jars.  She would grind up apples / bananas etc. for fruit in the morning.  We brought alot of formula for her milk / formula feedings.  This takes alot of time.  Baby is also getting Russian Tvorog which she hated initially but is starting to get used to / like.  I and FIL would take our baby for long walks as well. 

Turbo, yes - health comes first and as long your health is ok after a trip to the FSU or really any day in any country.  So, next time a guy goes to the FSU and whines about the food, not meeting enough women etc. - think about what unfortunately could happen.  The worst thing I luckily have read about on this board until this was when Michael unfortunately was robbed. 

[Bruno]

So, next time a guy goes to the FSU and whines about the food, not meeting enough women etc. - think about what unfortunately could happen.  The worst thing I luckily have read about on this board until this was when Michael unfortunately was robbed. 

And in the case of Michael, it have not happen in FSU but in one of the European country...

I don't know the situation in USA about car  incident but here in Belgium, we have each week-end dead people... usually, it involve young people who drink to much the Friday evening or Saturday evening... unfortunately, they don't risk only own life but life of other user of the road.

What have happen now to Bruce in FSU have can happen in USA or Europe... Some problem exist in FSU like the very bad state of the car ( very old and no yearly official control ) but the car was only 3 year old... the quality of street is a factor too but it is not involved in these case... FIL was simply tired... this can happen in home country when you are back home from work, after a heavy long day of work...

In short, don't become parano over FSU road and car... something like this can happen everywhere to anybody... unfortunately, it have happen to one of our forum friend.

[Shadow]

Bruce happy to hear that the accident did not cause damage that can not be repaired. FIL should not feel bad as accidents can happen to anyone at any time. what is important is that nobody got killed, all other things can be replaced.

[Son of Clyde]

Bruce, I am sorry to hear about this ordeal. Glad everyone is recovering and there was no serious injury. It is this type of situation that makes having good travel insurance a must.

[Ste]

God, Bruce thank God everyone is OK and thanks to to the strength and design of modern vehicles. What speed did the accident happen at? I wouldn't dwell on the likelihood that you might have been killed, of course it's possible but these days you see some mangled wrecks and everyone survived.

I've had two serious smashes, one in a 1980 Austin Princess, not the most graceful of cars, at 80mph. It rolled over several times and hit a concrete lamp post at who knows what speed after flipping a few times.......

We all survived, driver broke his leg (and subsequently lost a kidney) rear (unbelted!) passenger hurt his neck, and me, as belted front seat passenger walked away. Unbelievable. Car was upside down and smashed everywhere, roof was compressed over my head and squashing me down making egress somewhat difficult! I'd bent the gear stick over 90 degrees with my leg leaving a huge bloodless hole, which totally amazed me. That, plus a scratch on my arm, sore ribs and glass in my hair were my only injuries. Some woman shouted 'GET OUT QUICK - IT'S ON FIRE!!!' and I got out pretty quick despite my earlier difficulties. It wasn't on fire, just water on hot engine........

Worst was later, I could'nt get into a car. And if I did I was involuntarily pressing imaginary brake pedals in the passenger footwell for months after.

I'm gong for a lie down now, brought it all back!

Ste


 

[DonAz]

Bruce~ When I first to read your initial post, my blood ran cold and I called Yulia over to tell about the accident. . We both started to read  about what happened with horror.

Thank God V and the baby are doing well and the worst is over Of course our love and prayers are with you all, please convey that to V.  As we all know you must still be in shock and feeling the jetlag. Please get some rest and try to take it easy.

We will call you tomorrow.

Yulia and Don

[Bruce]

Ste - could not have been going more than 40 MPH, though it sure felt like alot more, when we initially started careening off the highway.  It felt like he was cruising right along to me, about 60 MPH when the red light occured further up the highway and people started breaking / slowing down.  The guy must have stopped shorter than he expected - I assume FIL clipped him as he tried to avoid him and was breaking hard as we were falling off the road.  I was sleeping, so I am just going on what my wife said.  I really did not wake up unitl the clip and quick slip off the pavement / careen off the road.  Ste, I know what you mean.  The accident keeps on repeating over and over for me in my mind, though less so now, especially when I sleep.

Don - thanks for the support.  You and Yulia make a truly great couple and I am sure V gives you / Yulia her love as well. 

[Stirlitz]

I am sorry about that. But you are alive and all of your limbs are with you. It could be worse. You got away relatively well.

I have not understood though how it all happened. What caused the car to leave the road?

[catzenmouse]

Bruce,

 Elena and I wish to add our hopes and prayers for you and your family for a speedy and complete recovery.

Ken

[Leslie]

Bruce,

Natasha and I just read this and our hearts nearly stopped.  Thank goodness no one is seriously injured.  We just got back from Ukraine.  Spent hours on the road.  Accident like this so easy to happen. Could have been us!  Hope you all recovery well.  No use looking to apportion blame, best just to forgive and try to move on. 

Les, Natasha and Toma

[PeeWee]

Seatbelts. I did not see that you had mentioned them, I may have missed it. I do know that Russians generally do not wear them, the traffic is generally conjested, the roads, as Bruce mentioned are sometimes not in good repair and as a result they are unsafe, and the Russians don't seem to pay attention to many traffic laws. I do not recall wearing a seatbelt either time I visited Russia and now realized that I should have. After reading this I will.

Good luck to you,and your family, Bruce, and thanks for sharing your experience. Next month I visit either Prague or Amsterdam. Because of your post I will think to wear the belt. The last thing I want to do is for either me or my lady to have to spend days or weeks in a foreign hospital for an injury that a seatbelt could have prevented.

Peewee

[TheHorseman]

God speed on you and your families recovery Bruce.  I know those Russian roads and the way they drive scare the H-ll out of me..

[Louie]

Bruce I'm happy to hear you and your family are all right, and that you are on your way to recovery

[jb]

OMG~! Bruce, what a mess....  Just glad no one was more seriously hurt.

[BillyB]

Glad to hear everyones semi-Okay Bruce. It could've been worse when a car rolls over and seatbelts aren't worn. I know a guy at work who died when he was thrown out of his truck window when it rolled over.

[Bluebell]

I had two huge cuts on my head and on my legs plus alot of bruises that just showed up somehow within two days after the crash.  My wife had so many cuts and bruising on her body it was just horrible.  Somehow, in the back seat behind me my wife suffered the majority of injury.  Its just something that happened.  I just pray her face will look like it was though I worry with the jaw / side of face injury that she had.  I'll probably have to take her to a good plastic surgeon when she gets back to the USA -  along with extensive dental work, which she already has decided only our dentist will look at her teeth in the USA / make recommendations for specialty dental work if necessary - just because she was so impressed by his dental work when she first came to the USA. 

 

Bruce,

I am sorry for the car accident and glad that you and your family are well. I had a car accident several years ago and I was in a very similar situation as your wife, my body and face was full of cuts and bruises, you could hardly find an inch without cuts on my face. Thanks God, no traces of the accident on my face today(Coco can confirm that ), and I didn't even need a plastic surgery. Your wife will be fine.

[tim 360]

Wishing you and yours and especially your wife a very speedy recovery.  From your description things could have been much worse in this accident.  Certainly a bit of luck was involved in this crash,  especially with the flip.  God Bless,  Tim360