Crashes laid up in bed But Still Breathing

retromike3

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Nov 23, 2008
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Well I am using my laptop at my folks house and am back on the net after about five months laid up in a EMT unit and then a nursing home and finally the Reeducation institute of Oregon.

It started when I was coming back from the store(and gas station) I had my groceries and a two gallon plastic gas can strapped to my rear rack. I was crossing the light and was in the bicycle lane when a gal in her Chevy Nova saw that the left turn lane was flashing. She thought that meant that it was going to turn red instead of watch out and cut over two lanes and crushed me like a bug on a window of a sports car.(sometimes your the window, sometimes your the bug).

When I look at myself in the mirror I see two tracheotomy scars. the first one was done by the EMT who first saw me and it kept me going till the surgeon at the operating room could get me going with his own hole.

Both of my legs were shattered and they had to put them both in traction until they replaced my femurs with a titanium shaft and then put my bones on like a Shiskabob. My shoddier had a two inch hole in the left shoulder blade and a fracture of the bone on front of it. I also have about six crushed crushed vertebra they are about 25% smaller than before the wreck.

I also have trouble with my right hand, it seems that my too small fingers are partially paralyzed and I can't use them very well, plus I can't open pop bottles like I once could and I can't use chopsticks worth a darn.

One thing you might note is that if you are injured on a motorized bicycle you don't get the same brakes as you get in a none motorized bike. if I was riding a pedal bike there is a fund that helps pay for expenses that I had to pay for like the ambulance to the hospital and other things.

Then only thing I know about my bike is that the wheels are both potato chipped and the head tube has been broken off. I don't know if anything can be saved even if I want to (It does look like the handlebar is still strait and I have had that since 1978. so I will keep that)

mike frye AKA retromike3
 
Sorry to hear that. Prayers be with you. There is no way she will have enough insurance to take care of you. Hope she does tho.
 
retromike3,

Good luck in your continued recovery and sharing your personal tragedy with us. Hopefully someone will read your story and learn something from it.

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.
― Siddhārtha Gautama

Chris
AKA: BigBlue
 
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What a horrible and painful ordeal you've had to endure, my heartfelt best wishes go out to you on a satisfactory recovery.
 
Hope you recover 100%, sounds like your lucky to be alive. Were you wearing a helmut? I'm a little confused as to how the accident happened. You were in a bike lane going through an intersection with a green light, after that is where i'm lost. What direction was the other car going in compared to where you were? I hope she had insurance to help you out. Prayers will be said for you. Get well I've enjoyed your posts over the last few years.
 
Ouch! You sound lucky to be alive. I take it you were wearing a helmet because I didn't read anything about a head injury. If so, what does that look like? Any damage or scuffs on it? Sounds like you have a lawsuit on your hands to me. Get well soon!
 
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