cranky old dude

I had a little mishap at work on Friday which has taken me off the bike for a short spell. It happened on Friday but it took me until tonight to finally piece it all together.

It wasn't anything real serious, but it sure suprised the daylights out of me, almost literaly. I was walking across the Plant on a stone surface (two to three inch diameter stones) and I allowed myself to be distracted. I was looking East and walking West, and that proved to be my undoing. I in-advertantly wandered a bit off course and while still walking westward, turned my head forward just in time to slam headfirst into some structural steel. I never saw it coming and I struck it so hard that it knocked me back onto my butt on the stones.

I had walked into an "I" beam that was hanging verticaly down from a piperack at forehead height. Our Electrician had hit the same beam last summer and it had since been wrapped in foam. The foam may have lessened the damage to my head somewhat. I hit it so hard that I split my scalp on both the right and left side of my head, knocked out a front tooth, and recieved a nasty bruise on the back of my right thigh from the stones where I landed. The EMT's promptly arrived on the scene and checked me over and patched me up.

My wife came and got my bandaged, whistling when I talk , sore old self and took me and my bike from work with our pickup truck. I didn't realize it but I was a bit loopy for the better part of the afternoon. The dentist has fitted a temporary cap in the gap, my head hurts, my leg hurts and my ego is shattered. My wife says that she heard me talking in my sleep last night, the first time I've done that in the 34 years we've been married.

I plan on climbing back onto the bike later next week after the scalp wounds have healed a bit and I can be certain that I won't have any balance issues, though I suppose any problems would have shown up by now.

Moral of the story is either look where you're walking or retire ASAP.....I'm not sure which.

maddmaxx 

Hope your feeling a bit better. Where I used to work, we painted small kill markings on certain items that had a history. Some of the robot arms were aces.

linux_author

ouch!

hope you're up to speed quickly!

(although at my age, it seems like recovery from *anything* now takes longer)

Retro Grouch 

Oh dear. That's not good.

One of the things that I leqrned from my accident is how normal everything can be one second and how upside down your life can be the next second.

I hope everything returns to normal for you quickly.

kr32

Glad you figured out what happened.
I didn't say it at the time(other post) but was thinking you might have hit your head on something while walking but couldn't figure out how without knowing it.
I have done it at my work too but mine was I didn't lower my head enough to not hit a I-beam I was trying to go under.( I was in an attic on a walkway). I was lucky though and it was just a bump and no blood or anything.
Wow I can almost feel your pain...ouch!
Well glad you are okay and hope you get back on your bike soon. Take care

big john

Feel better fast, Lenny. I walked into a hoist (with a car on it) at work and it knocked me to the floor.
Hitting your head sucks.

leob1

One of my favorite things to do is to stand still when I see some one walking towards me while looking he other way. Lots of people get PO'd when they realize I didn't get out of their way.

Watch for sign of head injurt, and heal quick, it'll be ski time soon.

Louis

Wow, Crankster, sorry to hear that. Did they check you for a concussion?

I guess we've all had similar painful experiences. I've got a bag full of stories from my 30+ years with Ma Bell.

professorbob

+1 on checking for concussion.

Metric Man

WOW Crank Dude, that sounds like a pretty good hit! Your company doesn't have any hard hat regulations? We can't move anywhere outside of an office without one.

JanMM

Why weren't you wearing your cycling helmet?
I wear my Bell Biker 24/7.

Sounds like maybe you could use some Vitamin I:

NOS88

Jeez, your description made my head hurt. Can't imagine what you're feeling. As others have said, be very careful. Concussions are nothing to fool with.

BluesDawg

I hope you will be OK.

Where I work, an incident like that would cause a world of craziness to begin. They get all excited anytime an "OSHA recordable" occurs.

Metric Man

Oh yeah...and there would be a new company policy about it too. Something to the affect of "It's company policy to not bump your head on I beams" Sorry...I work for the biggest CYA company in the world.

Beverly

Hope you're feeling better, Cranky. My head hurts from reading the post!

bikegeek57

ouch... that must have really hurt. like everyone else my head hurts reading this. take that vitamin I and get to feeling better sooner. take it easy guy.

wrafl

Thanks for sharing what really took place. On another thread, (did you ride today) most of us worried about you. Take care and be careful. I wish nothing more serious effect with you on your bout with the steel I beam. Get well and get back on the saddle soon. JR

JanMM

And then, when you did it again, it would be a "performance issue".

Engyo

Wow, no hard-hat rule where you work?

longbeachgary

I may be just a little bit paranoid but it may not be a good idea to post this information on a public forum. You never know where your mishap will take you,,, ie court!

Metric Man

Hey! You work for us too?

PaulH

Sory about your mishap, but glad to hear you are on the mend.

Paul

Tom Bombadil

How much damage was there to the I-beam?

cranky old dude

Thank you all for your comments and concerns. Lucky for me I hit it with my head, my head's pretty hard.

And the craziness has started here as well especially since the opportunity to rectify the situation was missed last time around. All kinds of jockeying around to avoid "Lost time" designation for the three hours I took off for my dentist visit that afternoon. They had an 'inquisition' less than four hours after the accident. My head was still spinning, I must have sounded like a blithering idiot though I can barely recall the meeting. I feel supervision has taken advantage of me on that aspect and I intend to voice my displeasure...I would have yesterday or today, but none of them called in to check on my condition. I feel that asking a person who has just recieved a severe blow to the head if he is lucid is comparable to asking a drunk if he's O.K. to drive. They could have done an incident review next week but they just couldn't wait to try to figure out who to hang. I hate this place.

They're talking about it.

He he! It'll never be the same.

Coach50

Hehehehehe, good one.

Walking into a beam like that can show up later with pain in your neck, back, and hips areas too. I'd be very cautious for the next few days if I were you.