The Crash

 "People who think laughter is the best medicine apparently have never had morphine." So says a get well card from my in-laws. My laughter did indeed rapidly stop as Velma and Rick Ogan lifted me up, and I tried to put weight on my left leg.

Thank you Dorothy Langdon (who took pictures with her cell phone) for not taking a photo as I attempted to stand.    

This hurt also but no broken bones.

So they put me back onto the ground as "they" discussed what to do with me. As soon as I had discovered that I couldn't put any weight on my left leg I agreed with Gene Potter who had been urging me to call an ambulance.

The previous post already revealed I had broken my hip.

The turn around point of the routine Monday ride is normally after a slight decline just about at the end of the shadows. I know this looks flat, but we can build up a pretty good speed coasting down. This evening, I decided to go into the parking lot (note car on far right) to make a wide swing and go back up the hill. The parking lot has a lot of loose gravel, and as I turned to the left my front tire went out from beneath me, and I landed hard on the left side of my body.

There was no immediate pain (other than the road rash on the left forearm), so before they got me up I had assumed that I would just shake it off and finish the ride.

 Nope.

Initial assessment. Where does it hurt? Uh, where is the ego located?

We will just slide this under you, and you will be easier to transport. Fine, but do you have to lift me where my fracture turned out to be?

Yes, I will be fine as soon as you give me that morphine shot. Or haven't you noticed that I have stopped laughing?

One, two, three and you are on the gurney. Rick is still providing me and the EMT personal assistance.

Christine had gone back to get the car before we knew the rest of the story. As she arrived back on the scene, I started unloading my jersey pockets and passing all the paraphernalia to her. Do you realize how much "stuff" we carry in those three little pockets? 

 

 With all the stuff out of my pockets, it was time to say good-bye to the group. Just dawned on me, this is the second time I have had to be SAGed in from a ride. The first was at the Hotter'N Hell Hundred when my legs cramped. I hope I am not setting a pattern.

 Oh well, I can ponder on that as they prepare for the short trip to the hospital.

 And off we go into the sunset of a perfect afternoon.

 

All hopes of a routine fall and back into the saddle the next day were dashed as the X-Ray showed that I had fractured the thin bone where the ball of the femur attaches to the long part of the bone. As my surgery was not planned, the first spot available in surgery would be 5 p.m. the next day.

 

O.K., then time for the morphine. Nope, they gave me Demerol. "This ain't working!!" The nurse said she would just increase my dosage. "This ain't working!!". O.K., I will give you one more shot. "This ain't"----snore.

 

The next day, Tuesday, I received a new hip ball and socket. Friday I was released from the hospital. Monday I saw the doctor as my bandage would fill up with fluid, and I hate the sight of my own blood.

 

The next day, Tuesday, (one week old hip. Hip hip hurray), I started physical therapy. (Editor: Go back and delete that last hip hip hurray, and insert ow, ow, today).

 

As I get more mobile, some of the hurt is going away, and I think I am making a lot of progress. I have the sutures out, I have graduated from the walker to a cane, and as one may have noticed, I am able to get into and out of the computer chair--all by myself.

 

Yesterday, I made it up all of the stairs with the help of the cane. However, I think I will continue sleeping down stairs for a while longer.

 

Whereas we have only one more unpublished organized ride for this season, Christine and I went on an outstanding vacation this past summer. We are eager to share some of the photos.

 

Maybe, it will be a short winter season after all. The doctor "promised" me that I would be back to riding by at least March. 

 

So much for training all winter and then impressing everyone doing wheelies up the Bastrop State Park hills.