Upon returning home from a ride today, I heard my cell phone beeping as I dismounted the motorcycle. I pulled it out, and retrieved the voice mail.

It was from a guy I had ridden with four or five times over the past year, Bernie. He was in the hospital, after having been t-boned by a Jeep Cherokee in Orange County, CA. It happened a week ago.

Then he told me they had to amputate his lower-right leg. I didn't know what to say. I can't imagine what it might be like to lose a leg. I asked him how the accident happened, he didn't exactly remember all the details. He only said that he saw a lot of blood on the street, and that the pain was excrutiating. The sight of so much blood spilling out sent him into a panic. He described a good samaritan who came over, removed his own belt, and used it as a tourniquet.

He said he'll be getting a prosthetic leg and that it would take some time to get used to riding a motorcycle with it. I felt kinda relieved to hear that, knowing that he wasn't going to give up.

It wasn't long ago, maybe a couple of months, that a couple riding an Electra Glide went down on a ride that I was leading. We were heading along Hwy 243 towards Idyllwild. We rounded a sharp curve. I went through first, followed by a buddy of mine, and then this couple. Somehow they wiped out. None of us really knew for sure what happened, but from what I've been told, they've since decided to give up riding.

I can't speak for others on deciding to quit riding, but I know for Bernie, riding is what he lived for. I'm hoping he'll back riding soon.

Labels: Motorcycle Injuries

Today my orthopedic surgeon removed the cast from my arm, and pulled the pins out out of my wrist.

One pin came out easy. The other was tough, he had to twist it and tug on it a few times. Twice, the pin slipped out of the pliers he was using. It didn't really hurt, but it was rather uncomfortable, feeling it twisting and tugging on your bone. There was a considerable amount of blood seeping up out of the holes left in my wrist.

The wrist feels ok. It's still painful to rotate the wrist around in circles, particularly when moving to the left (against the distal radius bone). But the x-rays look really good, and the doc said all that's needed is to use the wrist regularly.

I'm scheduled for some physical therapy in a week.

At this point, it would be foolish to get back on the bike. I can't really use the wrist to balance the bike, and accelerating would be painful, as it hurts to bend the wrist upward.

The other thing is all the dead skin on my hand and arm. With the cast on, I couldn't wash the arm (obviously). I've got thick patches of dead skin drying up and peeling off, now that it's exposed to the air. It's really itchy!

But at least I can type better.

I'll still have to wipe my butt with my other hand, for now.

Labels: Motorcycle Injuries

While I'm still recovering from the motorcycle accident of last January, things are healing up.

The kidney seems to be feeling better, at least it doesn't get sore as often. My doctor says the last urinalysis results came back great.

The wrist is still healing. About 5 weeks ago an orthopedic surgeon put a couple of pins in there to hold the fracture closed. I was in a long-arm cast for about 4 weeks, and then just last week they put me in a short-arm cast. I have to wear this for another week and a half, and should be cast-free.

The regular doctor put me on all kinds of vitamins to help with the healing both bones and internal organs. I was anemic for awhile, and I guess I was slightly diabetic, and even my liver function was down. He said traumatic events can do things like this. The good news is that my internals are back to firing on both pistons, and all gauges look normal.

More good news. My insurance company is paying me just about full price on the bike. I paid $21,227 for the 2005 Harley Ultra Classic, and they're paying me $20,977 ($50.00 less in value, minus $200.00 deductible). So, I'm getting just about everything back. Foremost Insurance is the company. Only thing is that I can't get the money until I send Foremost the title, and I still haven't received the title!

I can't wait to get back to riding. All my friends are riding, and I wish I was with them.

Today, I bought a new helmet. Yeah, I'm still wearing a half-helmet.

Labels: Motorcycle Injuries, Motorcycle Insurance

"You're lucky it wasn't worse"
"Someone was watching out for you"
"You're lucky to be alive!"

These are the comments I've been getting in the past few days since returing home from the hospital after my motorcycle accident.

Yesterday, I was on the phone with a woman in London, England. She worked for Reuters Business Insight, a unit focused on helping businesses like the one I operate make decisions on how to expand. She mentioned wanting to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I told her about my recent accident, and she replied about how lucky how I was.

Today, I visited Temecula Motorcycle Service, the shop that's going to repair my bike, and the guy there was fascinated at the extent of the damage. He then took a look at me and noticed all I had was this splint on my wrist. He said that someone had to have been looking out for me.

At lunch, my wife and I talked with our server who said that her son was recently in a motorcycle accident and suffered a broken collar bone and several broken ribs. She couldn't understand how I came out seemingly untouched. Another server there stopped by and mentioned she had just been in an motorcycle accident and had several stitches to the back of her head.

Sometimes I sit here at my desk and wonder why worse stuff hasn't happened to me yet. In college, I remember a friend of mine saying that I had been running up an awfully long string of good luck. His life had been full of bad luck. I always felt that there's a price to be paid for everything, and I kinda dread getting the bill one day.

Labels: Motorcycle Injuries

I haven't blogged much here because I've been stuck in a hospital recovery from a motorcycle accident I incurred on January 21. I was discharged home yesterday.

Long story short, I have a kidney contusion, fractured right wrist, a black & blue big toe, and scrapes along one side of my face. They put a cast on my wrist, which makes it difficult to type, and to make matters worse, I developed a really nasty allergic reaction to the cast. Go figure!

If you want more details, read the full story on my corporate blog.

I hope you check back more often, I'm gonna start blogging again, though it'll be slower for awhile.

Labels: Motorcycle Injuries

i still love motorcycles, part three
Originally uploaded by goodoltup.

"Saggital plane of the lumbar lordosis. Instrumentation consists of Harrington rods, pedicle screws, and a plate of some kind.

We can rebuild him.
We have the technology.
We have the capability to make the world's first Bionic man.

Labels: Motorcycle Injuries, Photos, X-Rays