Taken out by a car, lessons learned (Read 1660 times)

Glad you survived.

First your running went to shit, now your biking went to hell AND no swimming from the stitches. They say bad things come in threes, so hopefully for you and your family, the three are taken care of with the swim/bike/run combo.

Sounds wicked scary! So glad you seem to be OK.

been offline and just getting caught up.

Glad you made it with minimal damage X. I have to agree with the need for periodic testing, even as I approach senior senior citizen stage (am only at senior stage,,, LOL). So far I am paying attention to my night driving skills and think they are declining already. just a bit, especially in bad weather. Getting harder to make out road marking at night when it is raining. So I have been minimizing that situation as much as possible. Have been thru having an elderly father (at senior senior stage...) who we learned should have been off the road, but not until he was hospitalized recovering from bypass surgery and finding out he he was in stage 4 of Alzheimer's. Mom was in bad denial and brother who lived close enough and worked nights wasn't in a position to observe the decline. Mom told us he would forget how to get from point a to point b if there was a detour. She used that fact that he was still winning at poker as evidence that he could still drive... wonder what goes thru our heads. If he was tested his license would have been pulled. We never had to pull his license because he didn't make it out of the convalescent home before passing. I moved close to my youngest and retired and hope I am thoughful enough in 10-20 years to give up my license when necessary.

As to helmets - have to ditto the need for those - I put a bike down (Honda 90) on base back in 1966 - missed a turn, slammed into a telephone poll, went over the handle bars, parted company with bike which went one way while I skidded on head and back until I hit another telephone pole! I was in a tuck thanks to having played judo and doing gymnastics as a teenager. But helmet still had 1/2 dollar sized skid mark, back pockets were torn off my pants, and jacket had linear rips in it. Taught me two lessons - always where the dang helmet and don't drink and drive! I had gotten drunk at the club with a buddy who had just returned from Vietnam while I was getting ready to go back in a week or so.

 ... with your current... experience... maybe not...

 

Glad you are OK.

As long as he doesn't row where there are sharks he should be OK...I think.

Or paddleboarding...but mostly because the thought of it has my heart in my throat.

Wow, Chris, that sux.  Glad to hear you're doing at least okay - that could have been so much worse.

Thanks, Jeff. I thought about your friend this week. I'm very fortunate.

On my end the pain is trending away very slowly and I'm very fatigued. Yesterday I had a bit of a surreal day. I called my dr for a followup and found he was gone for the week. They recommended that I go to the walk in clinic if I wanted to be seen. Figuring it would be nice to talk it over with a doctor and get some reassurance that what I was experiencing was normal (and to get more meds so I can sleep!) off I went. Right after triage the sent me straight to the ER!  CT scan, chest x-rays, EKG, IV, bloodwork, chest CT, and more exams are what followed! I didn't expect to be gone the whole day. In short, I'm ok. I've just got head to toe (literally) muscle and bone trauma and bruising on top of the visible stuff. The doctor told me I have very strong bones. I'll be ok. It's just going to take time. My pain management regime needed to be upped. I'm on day 7 of an unending headache but can sleep better knowing nothing serious has been overlooked.

 The doctor told me I have very strong bones.

Starting with the one on top, fortunately. 

Yes, it does seem a little odd that they wouldn't have at least run a head CT or something right after the crash.

Wow...I'm surprised all of those tests weren't run from the get-go.

I did get a CT scan the night of the accident, x-ray on my hand too. They wouldn't un-immobilize me until they did the scan. The board they strapped me to was uncomfortable, especially in the ambulance. Someone who used to be a PT told me that a CT immediately after and a couple days after can yield different results. I'm not sure if this is true or not but I didn't mind the second check on my head and neck.

The crazy thing is that people keep asking me about my hand because it's visible and obvious. Relative to the rest of me, despite some 10 cuts and two fingers stitched closed, it doesn't really hurt.