I was due a new blog post. I had been thinking it would be about my progress into the world of mountain biking (and I had indeed made a bit of progress).
That all changed rather suddenly about 6.58 am on Tuesday morning. I got T-boned by a ute going through a roundabout in suburban Townsville.
I don't remember the accident (I was knocked out cold) though based on the state of me and the bike, they hit me rather hard.
The good news is the ambos & police were on scene fairly fast, and Sue (my wife) wasn't far behind.
The ambos got me on a stretcher in a neck brace and carted me off to hospital. It's fair to say I wasn't looking my best.
Upon arrival in the ED, I got a heap of scans, got hooked up to a bunch of machines, an got saw to by a number of docs, specialists & nurses. The police also swung by.
I'd broken two ribs, cracked a vertebrae, had a concussion, needed 5 stitches in my ear, had a lot of bark off me, and my shoulder was on fire. I seemingly had landed on my left shoulder perhaps, breaking my fall somewhat with my ear.
Oww.
The vertebrae crack is in one of the processes of one of the upper vertebrae. Hopefully it heals up OK. Fingers crossed.
Ribs and shoulder kinda suck though, as does the concussion. I do though think the concussion fog lifted a bit over the course of the day.
Still rather sore. On a diet of Endone, Panadol & Nurofen at the moment. It's manageable though. And these days OTs & physios want you to get up and moving rather than lie in bed. So I'm up and about. Granted I'm not mowing lawns or lifting bags of concrete, but I got down the shops today and did a couple of simple chores around the house.
The docs don't want me driving (let alone riding bikes) for another 7 days at least. I'll check in with the GP sometime this week, and also pencil in a time to see the physio. Early doors, but I'm pretty hopeful once the dust settles I'll be OKish.
My bike less so. It's well fucked.
Top tube snapped, seat tube near snapped, rear stays bent to hell, crank bent through rear wheel, rear derailleur snapped off (might just be the hanger), seat post bent at right angles, seat likely stuffed, wheels, brakes & gears yet to be tested, but no doubt there are issues there.
It's a write off. As was my helmet.
Hopefully dude's insurance comes to the party. He was clearly at fault and I'm told was quite apologetic at the scene, so hopefully he'll be fine when it comes time of claiming.
