Grief and Gratitude, Grok - (A) Rise

[grok]

OUCH - a biking side story

just go

Well, here I was yesterday, all tired after work and needing a nap ... composing my thoughts around V's posts ... but thinking of taking my bike out to the trails, and D19 saying GO DO IT... It has been many months now as I have been letting my elbows heal up. Something like "tennis elbow." Doc gave me pain meds and said I had to stop for a while and heal.

She's right. an hour on the trail will be good mentally and physically. Live life in the present. I've got an hour on the trails before sunset. I decide I'll go medium effort though. Give myself time to get back into it.

About twenty minutes in I decide to go on a harder technical branch ... I'm taking it slow. The trail is steep down hill. and come up to a almost vertical 2.5 ft drop. OK. No big deal. I'll just ride both brakes and mosey over at under 5 mph. The trail following the drop has scattered paver stones placed by maintainers to deal with erosion. and just as I go over I notice

a fist sized loose rock

right where my front wheel will hit at the bottom

Oh S#$$

Yep, my front wheel twists and I go right over, forwards, over the handle bars, with my face heading towards those paver stones. A split second decision to let go and put my gloved hands forwards, tuck my chin down so my helmet hits and not my face. BANG. OUCH.

Emergency chemicals screaming in my bloodstream, I roll over and sit up. Triage. Knees hurt and bleeding, looks like scrapes and minor cuts. Hands hurt but have gloves on. Face hurts at the bridge of my nose and BLOOD streaming off my face. Ohh. It's coming from the bridge of my nose. I grab my water bottle and wash my face off. Bleeding slows. I take a selfie. LOL, that feels silly but I need to see what my nose looks like. It seems to be a cut across the bridge of my nose. Bleeding mostly stopped now.

Pause. Inventory myself. Nothing imediatly threatening. Wash off some more. Can I still ride the rest of my route? Maybe. I give it a minute and decide I should head back slowly. I got banged pretty good. Need to wash the cuts and disinfect. I can ride again another day. I'm still not sure how deep that cut across the bridge of my nose is.... hmmmm.

How did I get cut there anyway? I didn't hit the pavers there. I look at my helmet where I hit. Oh. Where is the visor? I hadn't realized but it was a clip on... It had popped off when I hit. And the edge of it went straight into the bridge of my nose. Ugh! REALLY?!!? *sigh*

Alrighty. I walk up the hill and get on to ride back gently. Let me do the 15 minute ride to the truck and 25 minutes back home before the false energy wears off. Or so I thought.

OK then....

I feel pretty creaky loading the truck. Yep going to feel this later. And then half way home I start feeling it NOW... but add in some nausea... and then some feeling faint... and then some vision diming. #$^#$%^$ those are potential signs of deeper injury like concussion. And it would be very bad to pass out while driving. hey phone, where is the nearest Urgent Care location?" Five minutes later I stop in to get checked.

Urgent Care, "I'm sorry sir, we can't do any injuries above the neck here. None of the Urgent Care places do. The cut on your nose does look deep though. I think it does need someone to check it out."
...
...
OK then
...
...

ER has cute nurses

There is a full hospital with an Emergency Room just two miles down the road. I consider driving myself but decide that is a dumb risk. And I need someone to secure my multi-thousand dollar bike. I call D19. One sentance in, "I'm coming to drive you Dad. I'll take care of your bike. Don't you try driving. That's not safe right now." Quick comprehension and decision making...she make a Dad proud.

She drops me off at the ER front door and heads home with the bike. I spend the next couple hours under the care of a pair of cute nurses and a personable doctor. Hand and knee X-rays and a quick CT head scan makes sure I have no concussion or broken bits beyond skin. The nose? Three stiches on the bridge of my nose. No more of the nausea or feeling like I will pass out...though the energy is all gone and I feel beat down now.

Doc, "If you are feeling pain I can give you some good stuff." Hydrocodone did ... and is right now taking the edge off. attribute any stylistic differences to that, as I'm under it's influence.

My three

D19 picks me up from the ER, "Dad we got the dogs walked, S13 is getting ready for bed, we got everything done tonight. Go crash out."

D18, "Duuuuude, with that bruise on your forehead you look like Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender!"

S13, "I don't' want to see. Why would I want to see that?"

Ha. Love those three different young personalities.

D19 as she leaves tonight for an overnight at a friends and then the amusement park tomorrow, "Dad. Seriously. Don't get injured tomorrow. I'll of course come get you if you need help, but I want to spend the whole day at the park with my friend."

Insane feat. Moon Holiday - Flume

You don′t have to be afraid
You don't even have to be brave
Living in a gilded cage
The only risk is that you′ll go

Go, go insane
Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, go
Go, go, insane

g

- obviously not living in a gilded cage

- actual DB thoughts...maybe tomorrow...