ExTank take care and best of luck… There’s still some Summer left! 
Jake
I dunno, MtgMan, I wouldn’t mind packing some of our humidity down to Dallas. I don’t remember Texas ever being this hot and humid.
Yech. Between getting the bike out of the tow yard and into the shop, and then meeting with a lawyer (unrealted to my accident), I’m pooped today. The heat and humidity really took it out of me. At least I can still drive my car, with its Arctic Blast A/C system.
Gonna lay up tonight and tomorrow to recoup my strength. Even the thought of ice water makes me queezy right now.
Oh yeah: in case y’all didn’t know, Road Rash itches and burns like !@#$%&* when you sweat.
G’night, Good Drugs & God Bless.
An assortment of related incidents:
When I laid the bike down, I clipped the bumper of the car ahead of me (which was stopped at a traffic jam leading up to a busy exit). Both the driver and his girlfriend thought I was a goner from my injuries. I actually dented an interstate guardrail. Luckily it was helmet first.
In spite of hitting a gaurdrail headfirst at approx. 50 mph, I had no neck/spinal injury.
The responding officer was sure I was dead when he arrived on the scene until he checked my pulse, which was strong and regular.
One of the paramedics thought it was the worst accident he had ever seen; in all fairness, he’d only been on the job 7-8 months.
I was “unconscious and unresponsive” in the ER, but my vitals were good. I didn’t even need blood.
Once the ER staff cleaned off all the blood and saw that things looked worse than they really were, they started patching me up.
I came-to when they started sewing my upper lip back together; I grabbed the doctor’s arm and said, “Get that fucking needle out of my mouth.” Due to my injury, and the needle and thread attached to my inner lip, it came out as, “Gah tha fah’n nah’l ah’n mah mah!” But the doctor understood me anyway.
Because of my head injury, once I was conscious they began asking me questions to test my memory; they asked me my name, the date, and who was the president. I hit two-out-of-three. In all seriousnss, I told them the President was Bill Clinton.
I was held for 24 hours for observation. While in the hospital, I woke up thirsty in the middle of the night, got out of bed, dragged my IV and stand into the bathroom, took a leak, and then went down to the nurses station and asked for my wallet so I could buy a Coke from the vending machine. I have no memory of this.
ExTank? Nah. Yer still a tank.
Glad that you’re still with us.
Thanks, Muffin.
I guess the Mods. didn’t get my request to edit my post; I accidentally hit submit before finishing, and asked them for an edit rather than add-on another.
Any-who, I just wanted to add that I have no memory of any of the above. It has been relayed to me in bits and pieces from Doctors, Nurses and Police Officers in the weeks following the accident.
IMO, I didn’t hit a guardrail headfirst at 50 mph. Physics and human anatomy just mitigate against it, even though stranger things have been known to happed (just not to me). I may have glanced off the guardrail, and knocked my head up against it a bit in doing so, but headfirst?
Nah.
So where you disappointed or delighted to find out you were wrong?
Sorry about the editing delay - is this how you like it?
Glad to read you’re doing OK after what could have been a hell of a lot worse. What kind of bike do you ride?
That’s not injury-related. It’s just positive thinking.
Hope you fell better soon.
Coldfire: it’s fine, thanks. Actually, as far as “President Clinton” goes, I was more disturbed that my brain was scrambled enough to lose 4 years (if briefly), so to speak; I’m still slightly creeped out about the memory loss of the accident.
I’d really like to know what happened, if for no other reason than to make sure I don’t do it again. Ever.
And I ride a Suzuki Intruder 800; or at least I will again as soon as my wing is back up to snuff and my bike’s out of the shop.
The orthopedic doctor I’m seeing has started me doing some light range-of-motion exercises, and I’m leaving my arm in its sling less and less often (I’m back to two handed typing, which really just means I make typos twice as fast as a one-handed typist).
And I got to see the x-ray on Thursday, but not the original; which is a shame as I really wanted to compare the before-and-after (from accident to 4 weeks). The rounded “knob” at the top of the humerus is what broke (in about 4 different pieces), but luckily the bone fragments were in a good position and didn’t require pinning or casting. There’s only one fragment left obviously (even to me) “out of place.”
I thought the bone was broken lower as I had a hellaciously ugly bruise right on my bicep.
Maybe it’s just me, but memory loss is very vaguely creepy; I have been given a small, brief glimpse of what Alzheimer’s patients and amnesiacs go through, and I never before realized exactly how much we define ourselves by our memories.
Part of me has to wonder if it isn’t some form of “Traumatic Suppression;” all the traumatic stuff I’ve experienced has been to someone else, and I have a serious unease about getting my bike out into heavy traffic ever again. I literally shudder and break out in a clod sweat when I see someone cruising down the highway at 60 mph on a bike, and they’re wearing a helmat, tank top, shorts and flip flops.
As soon as the doc OK’s it, get a full face helmet, put on your leathers, and take her out for a nice quiet Sunday morning ride. When all the world is still asleep. You’ll be at ease with it in no time.
Shiny side up! 
This is just priceless.
Having seen and stood by first hand after my inlaws accident and knowing how bad just a simple little accident can be and how catastrophical any and all of them can turn out, I am very happy to see that you are still amongst us. Take care healing.
Bawahahahaha Oh can I identify with this Tank … It is actually how I ended up messing with computers and getting online.
I too had an accident and was living in my recliner. Hurt too much to read or watch lousy TV so I started messing with the computer trying to write about what had happened using one arm, one hand and one finger on that hand.
Now I are here.
What Coldfire said about getting back on, it will be fine… Just do it.
I still carry a picture of my x-ray so when the detectors go off I can show them that I really don’t need to strip to my shorts.
Get well, and get back on… We need you in the breeze with us…
They didn’t give you anything for the road rash? When my son was hit by that car they gave him silvadine to put on his and he was scraped all down one side from his armpit down. Hardly no scaring just a couple of lighter patches of skin.
As an adult I bet it sucks not to remember what happened, but for my son I am glad he doesn’t remember.
Doctors said it was just the way his brain was blocking a tramatic memory because there was no head/neck injuries with him either. Very suprising since they thought they were going to have to put his ear back on and when I got to the ER he had blood in his mouth.
All he remembers is that he hadn’t started running yet (long lecture to kids about not cutting or running through the parking lot), that it was hot under the car, and that he couldn’t lift it by himself. When the lady hit him she didn’t lay him flat, he folded up on his hands and knees.
He told me those three things at very odd times too. Almost like they just “came back” to him. My daughter had blocked alot of it too. She had just gotten ahold of his hand and then he wasn’t there. They were running from a bully.
This all happened four years ago and my sons best friend finally told him he saw the whole thing and was able to talk about it. They were 8 when it happened.
I am so glad that you came out as well as you did. We don’t need to lose anymore friends around here.
Hopefully you get this sorted out in your head in time and bits and pieces and not all crashing in at once.
Heal well, heal fast and remember to come back and share your first ride back in the saddle.
I also wanted to add that my brother in law used to keep thick chain links to “drop” for the lovely people who think they need to get their car right on the back of your bike. 
Kricket: I was given “Lantiseptic,” an ointment suspiciously similar in color, texture and odor to baby diaper ointment, and lots of gauze and tape. But I’m not knocking it; if it’s stupid, but it works, then it ain’t stupid.
What happened to your son is kind of my lurking fear/anxiety of tailgaters when I ride. Links of chain, huh? Hmmm…
Shirley: what’s ironic is that they had already taken several vials of blood, given me a tetanus booster, and had an IV going before setting down to sew my upper (inner & outer) lip back together, and I hadn’t so much as twitched.
Gus: I’m going to look into a riding club around here, maybe hone my riding skills a bit.
Coldfire: yeah, I’m pretty well sold of full-face.
Eep! I missed this thread the first time around. I’m glad you’re (relatively) OK, ExTank. Having experienced road rash firsthand, and helped nurse my brother through a broken collarbone, I know that stuff ain’t fun, but I’m glad it wasn’t worse.
GeoBabe! Long time no see or hear! How ya doing? I, obviously, had a bit of trouble, but I’m doing pretty damned good, all things considered.
I had always heard how physical therapy hurts; having never been seriously injured before (I broke my hand in 2000, needed a cast and all, but I hardly consider it serious), working my shoulder back into shape sucks!*
I haven’t needed pain meds for my injuries since the week following the accident; since starting to exercise my shoulder last Thursday, I’ve popped a few Alleve here and there, and broke out the heating pad as well.
I’m doing pretty good. UncleBill is still putting up with me, for which I’m deeply grateful. We moved to the Atlanta area in March, and are loving it here, even though I’m still looking for a job.
I saw the location in your profile and said, “Lithuania?!” Then I read it again. :rolleyes:
Well, “loving” and “Atlanta” aren’t two words I’m used to seeing side-by-side, even though my niece and nephew will be moving there (Conyers, actually) by December. I also had a friend in Morrow, but we’ve drifted out-of-touch over the years.
The bike’s almost ready, just a few more parts yet to come in.
I am sorry to hear of your misadventure. Sending healing thoughts your way.
Seriously? Wow. The people here are SO much nicer than in Miami. They actually say, “Hello” and “Please” and “Thank you” and “Excuse me”…oh, it’s wonderful! Conyers is just a few miles from us, so if your niece and nephew need any info about the area, we can help out.
Well, when you hold up Miami for comparison, then sure.
And in all seriousness, most of the gripes I hear about Atlanta are traffic-based. I drove through there heading for Ft. Lauderdale/Plantation in late JUne for my niece’s wedding, and Atlanta was bad enough for me to stop and by a pack of cigarettes.
I hadn’t smoked in 7 months.