Late to the party, scanned the top half or so of the thread...

Tom, which ear was your bud in? Curbside or streetside? When I have one broken bud, I listen curbside only, but even with two working buds, I always hear traffic fine -- in fact quite often my podcast is drowned out by a passing truck or brodozer.

Backing up though, did you write the OP in that way because it was kind of an out-of-body experience for you, like your adrenaline took over, and you didn't quite realize what all happened until after?