Arbitration

   Oh my goodness. I am so tired of this damn car accident nonsense! It has been 4 years and 3 months now since an idiot slammed in to the back of my 2003 silver Acura TL (which I loved. Her name was sezzy.) the guy hit me so hard he totalled a $20K vehicle. My trunk ended up in my back seat and my car was pushed into the car in front of it. I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and provided with a treatment plan. However, I had no Personal Injury Protection and though the man admitted responsibility and Allstate (his insurance company) paid for the property damage, they refused to pay for medical.  My health insurance also refused to pay.  So I went without treatment for a year (which always makes the insurance company claim my injuries are not related to the accident).  
   The arbitration is in about 3 1/2 weeks.  I am so anxious.  The results could literally make or brake me.  I have about $19K is medical bills, about $5K of which I paid out of pocket as a broke student workin' at a coffee shop.  The rest is on a lien. I have been slowly (very slowly) catching up after this burden to my financial situation (and the $2K I lost in law school applications).  But it would alleviate a huge amount of stress in my life if I was finally reimbursed for the medical bills I had to pay.  However, the risk is that if things don't go well in the arbitration, I will magically owe about what I paid for my college education (so much for working hard for 10 years to stay out of debt).  And all I did was sit at a red light!
   Seriously, this man has stolen so much of my time, energy, and physical health that sometimes I want to look him up, knock on his door and tell him what I think of him.
   This week I found out most of my witnesses were not going to make it to the arbitration for one reason or another (more nerve wracking for me). 
   Here is the real kicker, if I do get awarded a decent amount, the insurance company can just appeal it and go to trial.  So it will be another 6 months or something and more legal fees and more stress.  sheeesh!  So this is causing unwanted anxiety.  If you think about it, say a little prayer for me.