Toxic Update

"Everyone has their impression of the big comfy pillow. Then this air bag comes out and whacks them in the face." ~ Alan German, chief of accident investigations at Transport Canada, from this article.

Long story short: It wasn't me who got in the car accident, but K. She is mostly fine - I mean no blood or hospitals were involved, but the air bag went off and from it she has a chemical burn on her lip, a rash on her cheeks and chin, as well as a bruise on her chin. Her nose got it pretty good too, but no bruise there, just very tender. K was very freaked out about all the smoke and dust that came out of the air bag after it popped - she likened it to breathing Napalm. When she tried to catch her breath after it happened she couldn't breathe and started sputtering and coughing because of all the stuff in the air.

With all of these symptoms, I did a little research. When I first looked into it everything I found seemed to be telling me that there was nothing to worry about, nothing but cornstarch, completely safe. K was skeptical. The stuff was not white, but black. Ever heard of black cornstarch? Yeah, me either. Then I found a government website on how rescue workers should handle deployed air bags ("Wearing gloves and eye protection -Keeping the dust away from the patient's eyes and wounds -Removing gloves and washing hands after exposure to the dust") because there could be sodium hydroxide present. And that, my friends, is otherwise known as LYE. You know, that toxic substance known to cause chemical burns, blindness, and such. In my line of work, people who have tried to kill themselve with the stuff usually end up jumping off bridges because it's just too painful. For a breakdown of what exactly this stuff does check The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Hmmm, so much for completely harmless.

It wasn't her fault - the accident. The other woman pulled out in front of her and ended up getting a citation for something like obstruction of throughway traffic. So in the very likely scenario that K's car will be totaled (at more than a thousand bucks a pop - pun intended - the cost of replacing the two air bags will be more than what the Blue Book value is, and that's not including front end damage), she may at least get a sizable check, if not enough to replace the car. And because she was on the job when it happened either the insurance or workman's comp will likely pay for the chiropractor that she may need with her back now more sore than it's been in quite awhile. Meanwhile, we will have to do some very fancy footwork to get us both to our various appointments on time this week. Having a one car family takes advance notice for coordination of schedules, so this week's appointments will either be rescheduled or take a great effort to get to, and hopefully not missed or late .