On May 2 I qualified to join the Washington Saved-by-the-Helmet Club by having a serious accident on my bicycle and living to tell about it because of my helmet. Eric Brady and I were making our now annual bicycle ride to the Bloomsday race of Spokane. This is our third year of biking down and racing, but this year was an exception because I didn't actually make it there.
On the corner of Pines and Montgomery in Spokane Valley I had a bicycle accident. Montgomery is at the bottom of an incline and I fell trying to cross over a triangular median with ramps for wheeled traffic. I don't remember anything except what the median looked like before the accident. Eric described the accident,
"...when you went over the ramp on the pedestrian island, it kicked the rear tire up and threw your weight forward. You then landed on the front tire, went over the handlebars, skidded/bounced one time maybe twice on the pavement, and contacted the curb. It all happened very, very fast."
In other words, after going over my handlebars, I skidded about 6 to 8 feet and my head collided against the curb, cracking my helmet. Following the accident I went by ambulance to the emergency room trauma services at Deaconess hospital in downtown Spokane. From there I was admitted to ICU (Intensive Care Unit) where I remained for three days before being released to the neurological ward and home the next day.
Diagnosis
-
-
No broken bones.
-
Road rash on my left shoulder, knee, arm, ear and face.
-
AC separation of my left shoulder.
How am I doing?
-
Considering what happened I am doing really well.
-
I am experiencing more tiredness than normal and I am essentially sleeping during the day at the same time my one-and-a-half year old daughter takes naps.
-
I have pretty constant headaches but I am learning to just accept them as "expected." I take Acetaminophen (Tylenol) with Codeine at night for them and regular Acetaminophen during the day as needed. I am also on some meds. to reduce the chance of seizures.
-
According to my neurologist I am not currently allowed to bike or drive which makes getting to work rather difficult (I normally bike to work year round). Fortunately, the doctor has also recommended I not work for two weeks following my hospital stay. Still, this puts pressure on Elisabeth as we always have to take the kids with us in order for me to go out.
-
I don't get to exercise until my cardiologist grants permission just in case my accident was caused by an exercise induced blackout. This makes my preparation for Troika Half Ironman difficult at best.
-
The Intra-ventricular hemorrhage has caused a loss of short term memory and my mind is a lot slower. (This would be a great time to challenge me in Go or chess or throw some puzzle my way.) Fortunately my thinking is improving but it is slow and I still find it takes me a lot longer to work through stuff that I previously did instantly.
-
My arm hurts, especially when lifting my daughter.
-
I feel frustrated at my lack of ability to do anything productive (work and writing are the key sources of frustration) but slowly I am starting to be able to sit at the computer for short durations.
7:56:06 AM
|
|
