Originally Posted by
700wheel
Wow - that a heap of money; what happened to you?
Every now and then this sport we all love reaches out and bites you. I had my back wheel taken out at the end of a match sprint at Natz and the right side of my body, including my head, made a big splat sound on the concrete of Rock Hill. My head bounced, which caused a fracture on one side and contre-coup bleeding on the other. The official list is: 2 broken vertebrae, broken pelvis, all of the ribs on my right side broken, broken collar bone, broken scapula, destroyed axiliary nerve, amazing hematomas and various other problems, including whiplash which lasted about 8 months, not to mention a thoroughly destroyed skinsuit. Man, I liked that skinsuit! Add on another 5 months of rehab after I got home, and that's how I accumulated that level of medical bills.
The worst part was that this happened right in front of my wife, who has the PSTD. I had the injury, she had the nightmare.
I was in the hospital/rehab for a month in Charlotte before they would let me go back to Los Angeles. I thought the bill would be more like $1,000,000; the best day of my life was when I got the bill and all I owed was $400 to satisfy my deductible for the year. Incredibly, aside from a pedal that was partially ground off, scuffs on the saddle, an abrasion on the left side of Scattos, and a bent rear disk axle and blown tire, the bike was unscathed.
Strangely, there is not a crack to be found in my helmet. It wasn't until much later that I noticed that the foam on the right side, the side that hit the pavement, was compressed to less than half the thickness of the other side. I guess it did it's job.
One other lesson I learned from this one is that for us old guys who may or not be doping by being on a blood thinner or anti-clotting agent like Plavix, falling on you head is a really bad thing. The neuro surgeons who worked on me were not happy about the Plavix. Apparently it makes it waaaaay more difficult to stop a brain bleed, and I have the craniotomy to prove it.
Oh, and I finished second in our States Championship 500 meter TT this year. It's the only event my wife will let me do, as there is no one else on the track near enough to hit me. Can't say as I blame her.