the old-school guestbook archives
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the luckiest girl in the world ~ November 30, 2002 - 11:10 a.m. so it finally happened. there are two kinds of riders-- those who have laid it down, and those who haven't yet. yesterday, I laid it down. it was a beautiful day for a ride. pat and stacie were having people over, down at their lovely dome home in the mountains. so I hopped on my bike and headed down, just loving the sunshine and the warm wind. on summit road, just a couple of miles from their house, the girl in front of me slammed on her brakes. I was following too close, I know I was. I hit my brakes and aimed for the yellow line to try to keep from slamming into her bumper. my brakes locked up, and the direction of my momentum slammed the bike into the pavement. what's amazing to me are my own survival skills, and how quickly they kick in during something like that. that split second realization oh shit this is really happening, and the impact, and immediately I was pulling myself out from under the bike and skittering to the side of the road. because my reflexes knew even before my brain did that getting out of the road was thing one. I'm just damn lucky there wasn't a car coming the other way, because I landed in the left lane. I was standing again almost immediately. the girl in the car ahead came to see if I was okay. a guy who lived across the road called should I call 911? I told him no, that I thought I was okay, and he came and picked up my bike, wheeled it onto the shoulder, gave me his phone to call pat and stacie. my handlebars mangled, the side mirror sheared off. footpegs, too. not so bad, all things considered, but probably more damage than I'll have resources to deal with. already, standing by the side of the road with neighbor angel kent, I was thinking about how to sell it for salvage. already I was saying goodbye to my beautiful, beautiful bike. and then we noticed that my knee was bleeding. my left, although I went down on my right, so I must have gotten the gouge from the bike somehow. kent got me some iodine and gauze and we cleaned it up best we could. pat showed up, and kent wheeled the bike onto his land, told me it was okay to leave it there for a few days if I had to. angels. so I spent the evening at pat and stacie's, icing my wounds and trying to relax. still feeling the shock waves. realizing, again and again, that I no longer have a motorcycle. that I no longer have a vehicle at all. that I really did go down. some folks handed me a pipe, and I was grateful. true medicinal use, for a change, and I was beginning to stiffen up pretty hard. my left knee, my right hand, my right shoulder. I got a ride home from a nice guy named hugh, whose energy was a bit too aggressive for my exhausted state, but who was deeply helpful just the same. he has a pickup truck too, he says, and can help me deal with my bike. angels. got back to the house and the very excited puppydogs, who hurt me a little because they didn't realize I was damaged. talked to ariana and andre on the phone, they having just got the message about the accident. ariana and I shared some intense energy, the realization of what might have been. for a time we just breathed into the phone, feeling each other across all the distance and all the craziness. everything coming down to us, connected, after all. she's the one who convinced me to go to the hospital. highland hospital is nearby, which I have only bad memories of from the last time, but I realized it made sense. and so. took myself down to highland, which was not as crazy this time, but still as dirty and overcrowded, biohazardous stuff on the floor, homeless folks ODing on gurneys in the hallway. but it took only five hours this time, instead of seven. the cleaned up my knee good and dressed it. no way to stitch it because of the nature of the wound, so I'm just supposed to keep it dressed. the real damage is to my hand, it turns out. a torn ligament in the web between thumb and forefinger, a possible wrist fracture. so now I have a cast, a thumb spike to immobilize both wrist and ligament. my first cast. the shoulder is just bruised. they sent me home with bandages and vicodin. I'm supposed to have an appointment with an orthopod within the next couple of weeks to look at my hand. typing is a challenge without my thumb, but I'm managing, taking it slow. I came home and collapsed, had a good sleep. today I'm taking it easy, taking it slow. taking my vicodin and trying to figure out the next step. remembering to be grateful. it could have been so much worse. I am working on getting myself to laos in january. I don't know how I'll make enough money for a plane ticket, but I know that I'll figure it out, one way or another. somehow, I always do.
(((rings))) |