00:00So, I was in a car accident. I was not wearing my seatbelt, and I'm lucky to be walking, especially with the injuries that I have.
00:07This is what my car looks like.
00:09You can just see how pieces are everywhere. The entire front end was just gone and ripped to shreds.
00:15Thank God I did have airbags, because otherwise I would have definitely ejected out of the car.
00:21Airbags saved my life. I'm a walking example of why you should wear your seatbelt.
00:25The extent of our injuries from the crash go further than having to wear the brace.
00:30Injuries resulted in multiple fractures in my nose. I split my lip, so I'm still dealing with some swelling.
00:37I had bruised my frontal lobe. I had a large ulceration that took about 25 stitches. I broke my C3, my C6, and my C7.
00:50This led to her having to wear a spinal brace to help heal the injury to her vertebrae. It's even more complicated than you'd expect.
00:57This is called a spinal halo brace. I have six pins, screws, in the first layer of my skull.
01:08So there's two here, and then two each behind my ears.
01:12This brace does stop right behind my ears.
01:17The goal of this is that my neck is going to heal on its own, and I'll have full range of motion. I'll have this on for three months, and then hopefully be 100% healed.
01:27However, doctors have told her there is a chance that it may not work.
01:31I do, with my case, have the chance of that not happening. In about three months, I will have another CAT scan, and we will see if I need a spinal fusion, where I will lose range of motion.
01:41People are wondering how she does basic tasks. Even sleeping is difficult.
01:45I'm going to show you guys exactly how I've been sleeping lately. I honestly don't get a lot of sleep right now. I sleep kind of like in increments of two to three hours. It's pretty brutal.
01:57So, what I've found to kind of work right now, I'm just on my couch. I usually pull, like, a really big comfy pillow to the side here.
02:08I put a pillow under my knees, and then I take one more big fluffy pillow for under my other arm. I sleep just like this.
02:18This is all I've found to be somewhat comfortable. It does get uncomfortable at a point. I can't, I find that I can't lean back too much yet, because it is uncomfortable.
02:26Now, a month in, she's facing new challenges.
02:30I thought it was going to actually get easier the longer I had this, but it actually has been getting worse and getting harder.
02:37I do have to clean the direct pin sites at least once a day, and that can also be uncomfortable and slightly painful.
02:47I have struggled so, so much with claustrophobia and, like, truly wanting to rip this entire thing off of me.
02:56Even though the spinal brace is a daily challenge, Jordan is grateful to be alive and hopes others heed her warning to always wear a seatbelt.
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