After a "freak accident" left her hospitalized, orthodontist and influencer Dr. Cara Hodgson is "lucky to be here," she wrote on Instagram.
"In the blink of an eye it could all be taken away... Life is so precious. One second you have it, and the next second it can be taken away from you just like that," Hodgson begins the post.
While traveling, "I had a freak accident on my trip and was electrocuted by power lines and ended up blacking out and being rushed to the ER in Thailand," Hodgson wrote. "It’s been the worst 10 days of my life — going in and out of hospitals fighting to regain my strength and fighting for my life. I am so lucky to be here today."
Alongside the caption, Hodgson shared a series of photos and videos including a selfie in a hospital bed, a photo of her IV line, a page of hand-written affirmations from a journal and images of flowers and "Get Well Soon" gifts.
"Thank you to each and every one of you for all of the phone calls, messages, voice messages, texts, flowers, breakfast deliveries, baked goods, chocolates, cards, and just the never ending support and love," Hodgson wrote in the caption. "Each text and message, even when I was too weak to answer, made all the difference to keep me fighting when I was losing hope."
Hodgson, who has more than 24,000 followers on Instagram and more than 97,000 followers on TikTok, frequently posts informational videos about dental health, getting braces and what it's like to work in medicine.
She shared a few more details about the emergency and her recovery on her Instagram stories.
"Hi everyone. Sorry I've been MIA for the past 12 days. Still don't have a lot of energy to type it all out but just posted about why I've been gone," she explained in an Instagram Story posted on January 1, 2024. "In short, I am just so lucky to be here and to get to ring in 2024. Don't ever take it for granted. Love you all."
In another post, she continued: "I'm still not out of the woods yet - going to be a lot of upcoming doctor appointments, big lifestyle changes, need to regain my strength, my weight, and need a lot of help to recover from the PTSD of it all," Hodgson wrote. "There are still unanswered questions, but I'm just so grateful to be here."
Hodgson ended her Instagram caption with a message of gratitude — and a reflection on what this challenging experience has taught her as we enter the new year.
"2023, you’ve taught me something I think we all need to be reminded of when we get caught up in the little things: What a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love…just being alive, being able to breathe, eat, talk, move your body, is something grand and something to be celebrated," Hodgson wrote.