I have no memories of the day, but I know that it started out with a bicycle commute to work. It was National Ride Your Bike to Work Week, and my bike and I had only made the commute one day that week. May 20th was a Thursday, and I was determined to ride in on both Thursday and Friday to make it a 3-days-by-bike commute week. Factors beyond my control apparently intervened though, and I crashed just about four miles from home.
My crash was in Andover, MA on route 125 not too far from the State Police office. It's a two-lane road with wide shoulders that carries quite a bit of traffic at the beginning and end of the day, all of the folks heading to the expressway on their way to work or back home. It's actually a good road for cycling, smooth shoulders, wooded on both sides of the road. And it's part of my regular commute to work, whether I'm in a car or on my bike as I was on May 20th.
What happened? I wish I could tell you, but I can't. I believe I flipped the bike based on the condition of the shift / brake levers (and the condition of my poor head), and someone at the scene told the medics that I hit a bump. A bump, a rut in the road that caught my tire, something else? This will continue to be a mystery... The North Andover Fire Department Ambulance responded and took me to Lawrence General Hospital. After an initial assessment, I was taken by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). And hey - I'm bummed that I have no memory of that helicopter ride! After all you have to find good around the bad things that happen, right?
I was at Mass General for a week, but I remember absolutely nothing of the first 2 days, and have spotty memories of the next couple of days too. I've been told that when I arrived, a nurse who was waiting for me and the helicopter was told that they brought in an 18-year-old bicyclist - but she was looking for a 52-year-old. Yes, that was me, not an 18-year-old!
After my week at MGH, I spent a week at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. After the initial call from Lawrence General Hospital, my folks came to Boston, and my mom continued her stay while I was in the hospital, and then spent my first two weeks home with me, just in case... It was great to have her here, but I'd be surprised if I wasn't making her a bit crazy toward the end. After all, I was making myself a little crazy because you know me - I need to be active! As it turns out, I'm moving much more slowly than I'd like, and I'm trying to behave, really!
Injuries? Well, there are a few broken bones - a pelvic bone (an inferior ramus fracture), a rib, a skull fracture, and fractures of some facial bones around one eye, some bleeding in my brain on the side opposite the fractures and some bruising in my brain on the other side, a lot of facial swelling. Stitches? Yes, those too - on my lip, across my right eyebrow, and on my right elbow. My right knee was pretty messed up with a cut too, but no stitches there. And wow - was my face red and bruised and swollen! And for the first few days in the hospital, my neck was as wide as my face, definitely not the norm for me. I suspect it was more shocking and scary for the friends and family who visited me in the first few days in the hospital than it was for me since at that point I don't remember seeing what I looked like. In fact, I don't remember much at all about my time at Mass General... That's a plan - protect the patient from her own image!
