Two weeks ago I bought a new motorbike, a Suzuki Gladius 650. I part exchanged my 21 year old Honda VFR750 that I'd owned for 5 years. It was a great bike in excellent condition but being older was really far too heavy for me to manoeuver around. I was becoming more and more reluctant to go out on it and felt it was time to admit defeat and get a newer lighter bike so that I could enjoy going out for runs with The Man.
We were not far from home when disaster stuck. I came round a long sweeping bend going less than 40mph but hit a nasty pothole in the road. The bike, being so much lighter than I was used to, decided to bounce out of it sideways heading me towards the grass verge. Time slowed down as it does in such situations and I had to make a decision. Try and lean into the corner to get the bike round and I would still hit the verge and likely go spinning off down the road, potentially into a car. The bike would be trashed, I may well be too. Or try and make it up the verge and stop. The latter seemed the better option.
The verge was however a 6 inch bump up and the force of hitting it threw me and the bike into a fence. I hit my head on a post and lay motionless for a few moments trying to work out if I was still alive. A witness said they thought I'd copped it because I didn't move for ages but I was doing a mental checklist of vital organs and wiggling fingers and toes to make sure all was still intact. As I lay there with my upper half at a horrible sideways right angle to my lower half, I was saying out loud "just don't die, don't die!". It makes me laugh now because I came off pretty lightly considering but I was in a lot of pain and didn't know what damage had been done inside. I was thinking of my wee boy and my man and didn't want to be going anywhere just yet. I became aware of people behind me and shuffled myself round. Head was still on shoulders and neck wasn't causing me any problems but my back was really painful and my wrist was hurting although I figured I'd just sprained it. Two men lifted the bike off me at my request and I fumbled around for my phone to call The Man who had been ahead of me and not seen me come off but then I realised that he would come back when he noticed that I was no longer behind him.
My priority at this point was to get my helmet off but it was difficult as I was shaking quite a bit. A woman had called the ambulance and was insisting that I shouldn't take my helmet off or move until they got there. I'm a stubborn patient and took my helmet off and tried to disentangle myself from the wire in the fence. I got myself round into a half sitting position up against the fence but really just wanted to stand up. Personally I think I would have felt better if I had been able to get up and keep moving because instead I seized up in that position and spent the next 6 hours either strapped to a brace board or hospital trolley which was incredibly uncomfortable and seemed to exacerbate the problem. Anyway, by now The Man had come back and I was so pleased to see him. He must have got one hell of a fright coming back to find me like that but I was pretty sure by that stage that I wasn't going to die, so assured him of that.
The ambulance ride seemed to take forever but eventually we arrived at the hospital and everyone made lots of fuss. I had to laugh because they kept telling me to answer questions with a yes or no without nodding or shaking my head and I just couldn't do it. I'd answer them and then say "I'm still doing it, aren't I?". In the end they decided to tape my head to the bed but I soon wriggled out of that!!! At one point they wanted to cut my leather trousers off me but I vehemently insisted that they could take them off without doing that and that as I was perfectly fine they should make the effort to try. They managed, phew!
I had to wait for ages but eventually got X-rayed and by then The Man had been allowed in to keep me company, god how I love him. I was informed that I had a vertabrae out of alignment in my neck but that's not news to me as I have suffered with a bad neck for years and have been regularly taking painkillers and visiting the osteopath to crack me back into place. Remarkably, ever since smacking my head against the fence post, I have had absolutely no problems at all with my neck so maybe it's done me some good. I was also told that I had a fractured wrist that they would have to put in a cast and although they didn't X-ray my ribs, it turns out I have a broken rib too. After much waiting and to-ing and fro-ing of doctors and nurses, and not having been for a pee or eaten/drunk anything for 9 hours they eventually allowed me to go home.
I was in a lot of pain for about a week and a half, getting in and out of bed was a struggle as was getting dressed, well, pretty much everything caused big ouchys. Not to mention the cold I was still getting over which made coughing and sneezing an excrutiating experience! The Man, however, did me proud, he took time off work to look after me and even though I was a terribly grouchy and stubborn patient he made sure I did as little as possible to give me a chance to mend. Not only that, but he instisted on ordering all the bits that needed to be replaced on the bike and polished it up almost good as new so that I didn't have to look at it with a heavy heart. I am extremely grateful to him for everything, what a star he is.
Two weeks on I can dress myself, wash my own hair (one handed) and tackle most light housework tasks unaided. It's unfortunately my right hand wrist that's in cast which makes everything a little more awkward but I'm adapting well to being a lefty. If I overdo it my back and wrist let me know so I stop and rest a while. There's still another week to go before I can try and badger the hospital to take my cast off before my holiday but if they won't do it, I'll get it off somehow. So, with two more weeks of R&R, hopefully I will be able to enjoy my holiday to the full, a good supply of ibuprofen will no doubt aid that along with some free flowing rum cocktails.
Lessons to be learned? Not really. I was going slow, I was unfortunate to hit the pot hole. I should have cut the corner like The Man did and then I'd have missed it. It was just bad luck on a new bike that I wasn't fully used to yet. I'm very fortunate that I didn't do more damage to me or the bike. It won't stop me riding. As soon as I'm able I'll get right back on. Will I be more cautious? I was already a cautious and sensible rider, any more cautious and I'd be static! Yes, it's knocked my confidence a bit but, I'm a fighter and I'm hellish stubborn so I won't let it hold me back. Plus I've just bought myself new Dainese leathers and The Man bought me a replacement Arai helmet for my Birthday so I'm buggered if I'm not going to get out on the road again soon to show them off. Besides, I've already decided to live until I'm 120 so I've got a ways to go yet ;-)
