Ah, the first followup appointment at Mass General Hospital was this morning...
Today was my scheduled appointment with orthopedics. I had to ask the doc if we'd met before since my hospital memories aren't too clear. He apparently saw me for all of three minutes when I first entered MGH after my crash. We talked a bit about the crash - I told him that although I have no memories of the crash, based on the state of my bike and my head my assumption is that I flipped forward, taking the bike with me and landing on my head. He agreed based on the injuries that I had. He told me he knew someone who took what apparently was the same type of crash as I did - but the person he knew hit his head in such a way that he died within a couple of hours - even though he was wearing a helmet. I've thought that I was lucky all along. Yes, I had some pretty bad injuries - including broken bones around my right eye, a fractured skull, bleeding in my brain (the side opposite all of the broken bones), a broken rib, and a broken pelvis, but luckily for me they were surviveable. I still believe that if I hadn't been wearing a helmet I would definitely be dead. It could have happened anyway.
He took the opportunity while we were talking about biking accidents to warn me that depression is often a side effect of accidents like mine, telling me not to hesitate to seek the help if depression came my way. I'll keep that in mind, but for now I think I'm OK.
The doc asked if I wanted to see the cat scan of my pelvis, and of course I did. He showed me the broken bone, which no longer has any semblance of being straight. But when I asked him if that would cause a problem he said no. Pain, maybe, but a long-term problem no - even though he told me to expect some level of annoyance from the bone, maybe forever. I asked him if I had any remaining restrictions because of the fracture, and he asked me what I'd been doing. I've only been walking - and more slowly than normal for me - but I've been getting out 2 to 3 times a day for 20 to 30 minutes each time. He laughed, said no restrictions, and told me that as far as he's concerned I can get back on the bike now - even though he warned me that I would likely notice the pelvic injury - but that I should wait and check with the neurologist first. I have a head CT today, and an appointment with the neurosurgeon next Thursday - hopefully I can start riding soon.
But even I'm not crazy enough to think I can start at the same distance I was riding pre-accident!
Wow - if you don't look too closely I'm getting closer to a normal look. But then again, those red areas are apparently still going to be with me for a while...
