Hi Gang,
I wanted to share with by brothers and sisters here at the HTF my close call I just had. I had a motorcycle accident on May 28th. I was cut off on a street and had to dump my bike. I was found 100% not a fault and was only driving 40 to 50 kph. For some reason, I must have fallen about as bad as one can fall. I broke 7 ribs on one side and one on the other. I broke my shoulder blade (apparently not an easy thing to do!) and had some good road rash and a great gash on my head (thank God for my helmet!).
The thing that nearly killed me, however, was I tore a hole in my aorta. According to the doctors, that typically means death in 1-2 min. I was blessed and my tear clotted and saved me. I had over 7 hours of emergency heart surgery. I had to lay on the 7 broken ribs during this time as they cut into me through my back/side to get to my heart. I was later told by the anesthesiologist that it was an epic operation. He said, with such seriousness "You have no idea. No idea how big an operation that was. We pumped over 8 litres of blood into you." The body normally only holds about 5 - 6 litres so it was a good indication how much work they did on me. I recall waking up twice during the operation simply due to how much new blood they were pumping into me. In the end, they replaced a 10 cm piece of my aorta with an artificial tube of sorts (heck, I don't know the details!) and everything seems fine. I am still recovering from the great pains of the ribs as they were really shattered and from the large incision in my back/side and a large one in my groin where they had hooked me up to the blood bypass. I had over 75 staples/stitches in me, but they have since been removed. I also had a filter inserted into my major vein in the middle of my chest to catch blood clots. Crazy how they inserted that into me via my femoral artery in my leg. It comes out in a few weeks, so I am told. I suspect I will need another 2 weeks or so before I am able to return to a normal life.
I was really blessed with so many great people in my life. My loving wife who was by my side the whole time. My parents and sisters who flew out to see me. My in-laws who gave such great support. My church and co-workers and friends and on and on. I have so much to be thankful for.
Today is the first day I have been strong enough to sit in front of a computer. It feels great to be able to type this. Forgive me if it is a bit of a ramble, but I find it therapeutic to share this with a group I have been involved with for 10 years. I find it funny that my IMDB rating went up during this period. I know it had nothing to do with the accident, just seemed so typical that an actor gets hurt/dies and he becomes more popular. Made me smile anyway.
So, the bike, a 2008 Victory Jackpot, took next to no damage! I am getting it fixed and selling it. I still love the bike, but this was just too much. I nearly died from such a minor accident. It just does not make it worth it to ride for me.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! It feels great to be able to post here again!
I wanted to share with by brothers and sisters here at the HTF my close call I just had. I had a motorcycle accident on May 28th. I was cut off on a street and had to dump my bike. I was found 100% not a fault and was only driving 40 to 50 kph. For some reason, I must have fallen about as bad as one can fall. I broke 7 ribs on one side and one on the other. I broke my shoulder blade (apparently not an easy thing to do!) and had some good road rash and a great gash on my head (thank God for my helmet!).
The thing that nearly killed me, however, was I tore a hole in my aorta. According to the doctors, that typically means death in 1-2 min. I was blessed and my tear clotted and saved me. I had over 7 hours of emergency heart surgery. I had to lay on the 7 broken ribs during this time as they cut into me through my back/side to get to my heart. I was later told by the anesthesiologist that it was an epic operation. He said, with such seriousness "You have no idea. No idea how big an operation that was. We pumped over 8 litres of blood into you." The body normally only holds about 5 - 6 litres so it was a good indication how much work they did on me. I recall waking up twice during the operation simply due to how much new blood they were pumping into me. In the end, they replaced a 10 cm piece of my aorta with an artificial tube of sorts (heck, I don't know the details!) and everything seems fine. I am still recovering from the great pains of the ribs as they were really shattered and from the large incision in my back/side and a large one in my groin where they had hooked me up to the blood bypass. I had over 75 staples/stitches in me, but they have since been removed. I also had a filter inserted into my major vein in the middle of my chest to catch blood clots. Crazy how they inserted that into me via my femoral artery in my leg. It comes out in a few weeks, so I am told. I suspect I will need another 2 weeks or so before I am able to return to a normal life.
I was really blessed with so many great people in my life. My loving wife who was by my side the whole time. My parents and sisters who flew out to see me. My in-laws who gave such great support. My church and co-workers and friends and on and on. I have so much to be thankful for.
Today is the first day I have been strong enough to sit in front of a computer. It feels great to be able to type this. Forgive me if it is a bit of a ramble, but I find it therapeutic to share this with a group I have been involved with for 10 years. I find it funny that my IMDB rating went up during this period. I know it had nothing to do with the accident, just seemed so typical that an actor gets hurt/dies and he becomes more popular. Made me smile anyway.
So, the bike, a 2008 Victory Jackpot, took next to no damage! I am getting it fixed and selling it. I still love the bike, but this was just too much. I nearly died from such a minor accident. It just does not make it worth it to ride for me.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! It feels great to be able to post here again!
.
Let me say that again. 