| Author | Message | ||
     Adrenaline_junkie |
John, I hope you are feeling a little better. I would also like to offer you a ride in my truck if you would like to go to Suches for the camaraderie. I could easily detour my trip down through Cincinnati. Roy | ||
| Crusty |
Thank you, Roy, but I can't even walk without crutches this morning. I don't think it would be a good thing to do. I'll be back down for the Fall rally. | ||
| Crusty |
Oh; here's my knee . Jack took this photo for me while I was in the ER.  | ||
| Crusty |
The Morning After I’m on Crutches this morning and I’m in a good deal of pain. Let me back up a little. I wrote the previous Snippet right after I got home, but things got a lot worse pretty quickly. My left knee started swelling and the pain grew to match. Within just a few minutes, I couldn’t walk and my knee was the size of a cantaloupe. I called David and he sent Perry (a friend of his) to get me and bring me to the Emergency room. I was in the ER for the next 8 hours. They examined me and took a sh*tload of X-rays and cat scans and gave me a shot of Morphine. That was an interesting experience. I definitely didn’t care for the high, but it really cut through the pain. Their biggest concern was that since I’m on blood thinners, I could be hemorrhaging internally. Why is it that hospitals have such a crappy assortment of cable TV channels to watch? They had s few dozen channels and they were all assorted varieties, but there was nothing on that I could get any interest in. Then again, that was probably due to my state of mind, more that their channel assortment. They finally let me go a bit after 11:00. They gave me a set of crutches and a script for a muscle relaxer. I thanked the nurse for being so considerate and managed to get in the car and he headed for home. We stopped at Taco Hell and got some gut bombs and made it back to my house. Getting up the stairs was really tough. Mt knees wouldn’t support my weight, so I sat down on the steps and eased my butt up one step as a time. Getting up off the floor once I made it into the kitchen was an experience. I’ll leave it at that. I made it into the recliner, and that’s where I spent the night. I slept like a log. Taking a quick inventory, both knees hurt; the left a lot more than the right. That’s weird, because the right knee is the one that I went down on. My right ankle hurts and everything from about mid-thigh to my toes is throbbing. My right big toe is black; the kind of black that your thumb gets when you hit it with a hammer. My right shoulder blade is sore, but not very bad. With the exception of my knee, my entire left side is fine. The knee, however hurts like hell. It’s wrapped in an Ace bandage. I don’t think I’ll be walking without some sort of mechanical aid for a while. Crutches, for now and probably a cane for a while again. I don’t think I’ll be leaving the house for a few days. Considering how fast I was going and how hard I went down, I’m coming out of this one smelling like a rose. | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
OK, well get feeling better soon. The offer stands until I roll out Thursday morning if you change your mind. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Damn, John. Sounds like a rough couple of days. Glad you're no worse than you are! Very sorry you won't be able to make it to Glitch Badness. | ||
| Tootal |
Too bad TWOs doesn't have a basketball hoop, we could use your knee for a ball!! Really sorry to hear John, that really sucks. Heal up my friend and we'll see you in May! | ||
| 86129squids |
I finally remembered a few things- Silvadene (sp?) ointment, cocoa butter will help the abrasion, and Joe (Ratbuell) once mentioned some kind of medicated wrap with honey. I'd say Joe is the go-to guy for advice here. I once had a dancer GF who swore by lotion with arnica for sore muscles and such. Of course, keep ice packs in rotation in/out of the freezer. Giant suck that it happened, praise be to God that you ended up only stoved up. Ad Junk's offer might do you some good, if you can get to feeling good enough to travel as a passenger... no riding, but lots of glorious time on the patio soaking in the glory of TWoS. Surely someone could offer a spare cabin bed, Greg maybe? Matthew or I could offer a bed upstairs in the lodge, but those stairs are a steep.tough climb even when you're 100%. Something to think about, John... no riding, but good mojo, and we'd be happy to bring back some brisket from Jim's!  | ||
| Tootal |
If you can ride down with Roy I do have a spare bed in a cabin. I remember coming down while on crutches before, you won't be the first! I'll have my car so we'll get you to Jim's! | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
That pic must have gone up while I was typing my previous post. That looks painful. | ||
| 86129squids |
I've been calling you "Roadcrust" for some time now... | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Damn. Get well soon, John. Use plenty of ice. | ||
| Etennuly |
Sorry to see the beginning of your happy riding season dented like this John. Finally have spring in your pocket and ...... Glad to see your physical damage is limited. Hope the healing is quick and complete. | ||
| 86129squids |
At this writing I'm hoping that you're resting as comfortably as possible. Take inventory as to how you're doing, if you're feeling up to it, hitch a ride with Ad Junky. Stoved up, if you can perambulate a bit, most of what you'll do happily at TWoS is sit and shoot the shit. Oh, and eat some 'cue. Come on down if you can, RoadCrust. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
I was trying to find a funny get well meme for you... but I came across this one. Hope you heal fast and the bike only needs a little paint.  | ||
| Airbozo |
^^^ I do that to the wife all the time. Works about 50% of the time... Heal up Crusty! Hope that knee swelling goes down soon. Mine looked like that on my very first car vs motorcycle crash. Not fun. | ||
| Crusty |
Slow Progress I’m seeing a bit of progress in my healing. I’m not hurting quite as bad as I was and it’s easier to get up on my feet from a sitting position. In a little while, I’m going to try to take a shower. If I can, I think I’ll feel even better. I’m not sure about my ability to get into and out of the bathtub; if it’s too hard to step up over the edge of the tub, I won’t do it. I’ll wait one more day. At the rate I’m recovering, I’m pretty sure that I’ll be better enough by tomorrow. Still, it’s been three days since I showered last and I don’t like the way that I feel. I don’t think I smell, but if I do, I probably wouldn’t notice it. However, my hair is oily and I feel slimy. A hot shower would feel heavenly. I gave the bike a quick look over on Monday after the accident and it didn’t look too bad. I haven’t been able to get down to the garage to give it a closer look. I rode it home after I crashed and it didn’t feel bad, so I’m hoping that the damage is as minimal as it seemed. I’m going to retire the helmet I was wearing. My head slammed the ground hard. The face shield is almost impossible to look through. I really liked that helmet. It was the best fitting helmet I’ve owned in almost 50 years of riding. The good news is that I have another. It’s a dark grey helmet, where the one I was wearing was Matte Black, but it’s another Schuberth C3. I think that Schuberth has a service where they check a helmet out and replace any damaged components. If they do, I’ll send the hat to them to be refurbed. I looked at my riding pants again, and they show no damage. As big as the road rash on the side of my knee is, I would think there would be some scuffing or wear on the pants, but they look fine. It’s screwey; then again, the knee that didn’t hit the ground first is the one that swelled up so much. My right knee is swollen, but nowhere near as bad as the left knee. I keep going over the crash in my mind and the thing that jumps out is just how fast I went down. I think that there was something on the road. Gas or oil or antifreeze or something equally slick. I’ll never know for certain, but it’s what I think was the cause. Well; the cyclobenzaprine is making me drowsy. I guess I’ll hit the recliner and snooze a bit. One thing’s certain; I’m not suffering from lack of sleep. I think I’m getting close to 16 hours a day since Monday. | ||
| 86129squids |
Thanks for the Snippet, buddy. Sure wish you could make Suches, we'll miss you! Rest well, heal quick- we'll see you in May. | ||
| Buellish |
Glad to hear your making some progress John,as Brad said we'll miss you this weekend. | ||
| Zac4mac |
John, I would kill for a 10 hour sleep Last night I got 4 hours... Z Couple of years ago I went down 75 feet from my driveway. Antifreeze and angle put me down too fast to fix. Biggest thing I love about Erik's bikes is how forgiving they are. Many times I should have ridden in an ambulance, I rode home. Thank You, Erik Z (Message edited by zac4mac on March 28, 2019) | ||
| Crusty |
Hang It Up? Little by little, my body’s recovering from the crash on Monday. I still hurt and different areas hurt with different intensities each day. I have a bit more movement in my legs, but they’re still swollen and remind me of sausages. They still hurt, too. My big toe doesn’t hurt as bad as it did on Tuesday, but the rest of my foot keeps cramping up. Yesterday, the pain in my shoulder blade expanded to my back and ribs and it intensified, but today it’s a lot less sore. I have black and blue areas all over and the road rash on my left knee is still pretty painful. But I’m recovering. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll go down to the garage and give the Roadster a serious inspection. I inspected it at the crash site and then I rode it home and it felt OK Now, I want to take my time and see what damage I might have missed. As violently as it spit me off, it seems pretty amazing that it came out of the accident with as little damage as I saw. I was talking with a friend earlier this evening and he was hinting pretty strongly that I should hang up riding. I should get a car. It’s not time yet. I have nothing against owning a car, but if I can only afford to own only one vehicle, it will be a motorcycle. Maybe next winter I’ll find a cheap sh*tbox to get around in, but for now, I’ll hang on to the Roadster. I’m not immune to thoughts about hanging it up. When it hurts to step over the edge of the bathtub so I can take a shower, then I seriously have to consider alternatives. I don’t like pain and the chance that something similar might happen again does not appeal to me. But then, I’ve been riding for over half a million miles and in much worse weather and I haven’t had this happen. I had one bad wreck back in 1978, and a couple of easier low side falls, but this was the worst crash since ’78. Also, I’m considering that if I had taken a different route it probably wouldn’t have happened, either. Changing the route to avoid the Interstates with the constant construction would probably increase my safety margin considerably. The area where I went down is a construction area that is known for frequent accidents. Avoiding it seems like a good idea. So; to wrap this up, the answer is NO, I’m not going to stop riding. I’ll be a bit more cautious, but riding is what I do. It’s more dangerous than driving a car, but it’s also more sensually rewarding. I’m not going to give up taking showers, either and they’re even more dangerous than riding. I just hope my body fixes itself quickly. | ||
| Crusty |
Progress, But It’s Slow I’m getting better slowly. I just went down the cellar stairs and made it back up. That’s better than I’ve been able to do. It wasn’t pain free. But I didn’t expect it to be. Still; it’s significant progress. Last night I slept in my bed for the first time since the accident. Even with a pillow under my knees, I was uncomfortable. I didn’t have a good night’s sleep. I think I’ll be sleeping on the recliner for a while longer. I tend to like sleeping on recliners. I slept on one for a few months after my heart surgery and I got to enjoy them. When I was in Australia, I slept on one and preferred it to sleeping in a bed. Maybe I’m weird, but I seem to get better sleep on a recliner than in a bed. My left leg is black and blue from my hip to my ankle. It’s a little bit tender, but the only thing that really hurts is my knee where the road rash is. My right leg is a different story. It’s got a couple of bruises showing, but it hurts from my knee to my ankle. My right foot hurts, as well. At first, only my big toe hurt, but then the pain shifted to the rest of my foot. I spent most of Friday feeling that it was about to go into bad cramps. Today, it’s not threatening to cramp, but it still aches. Walking is still a slow, lurching affair. My knees don’t want to bend and my foot doesn’t want to flex. If it wasn’t so painful, it would be funny to watch. I look like I’m doing a bad imitation of Frankenstein’s monster (That’s pronounced Frawn-ken-steen!) While I was down in the basement, I went into the garage and looked at the Roadster. It’s hard to believe that it was in the same accident as me. It came out smelling like a rose. The right saddlebag is ground down a little bit and the highway peg bar is up against the front header and the tab between the frame downtubes is broken on the left side, but that’s pretty much it. I talked to Joe the other day and he says he can weld it, so I’ll probably be riding up to Canton in a few weeks. The poor bike is filthy and needs a good wash, but that won’t happen for a while. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to ride again. I think that I’ll take the money I was going to use to go to Suches and buy a hose and nozzle. I think that would be a smart move. Then I could take the money I spend at the car wash and put it in a jar and save it for traveling. I really wish I could have made it to Suches this weekend. I haven’t done any real riding for a while and I had a great plan in place. I was going to do all secondary roads. I was going to ride to Cumberland Falls the first night and camp there; then ride into Suches for Thursday night. Oh, well; I can think of two sayings that might apply. First is, Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. The second is, Man makes plans and God Laughs. In any event, what I planned did not happen. It might be for the best; maybe if I hadn’t gone down, something much worse would have happened. Some bozo would have run a red light, or some cell phone moron would have drifted into me. All in all, considering how violent the accident was to me, I’m extremely fortunate. I’m pretty battered and bruised, but I think I’ll heal up almost completely. Hopefully faster than I expect. | ||
| 86129squids |
"Man makes plans and God laughs"... Remind me to tell you about yesterday. | ||
| Etennuly |
John, six months ago my 84 year old mom had a bad head on collision in her car. Broke both feet most of her toes, both ankles, right leg, and compound fracture of her left leg, six ribs, with internal bleeding and hemorrhages everywhere. I'm proud to announce she is getting around without a walker and uses a cane to help her get on her riding mower. She has been driving as long as someone goes with her. Pain..... Sure. But she says she has to do something, it hurts more not moving. I'm amazed. You amaze me too! | ||
| Ourdee |
You can collect a B. prize. Plan a trip to the Moonbow. The weather in Suches was quite cool this time. They had a surprise cold snap. It was 29 degrees when I got up this morning. I didn't hit the road till after 11:00. Probably just as well you stayed home. The porch was a struggle to stay warm on. I got to ride in Mathew's car on a grocery run. What a hoot! If you need anything (ANYTHING) just holler, and I'll head that way. | ||
| Etennuly |
Marchbadness has never had a surprise cold snap. That was the driving force behind Aprilbuellsday. Move the event up a week or so. The surprise always was no rain and no frost ! Lol | ||
| Ourdee |
Please, don't get the wrong impression about the cold snap. The riding conditions were near perfect. There was a single mosquito bite on the neck in 5 days for me without any repellent. That was when there was a small swarm of fire-pit skeeters. Then they were gone. It was odd seeing them. Matthew, Thank you for the one on one hammock mentoring. I learned some hammock basics on setting mine up and loading myself into it. That thing was more comfortable than my bed at home. I'm having the last of my "Jim's Smokin' Q" ribs this morning for breakfast. You guys were all excellent. I thank you for the encouragement, kind words, attention, etc. My apologies if I was rude in any way. I know my attention sometimes drifts off topic out of seemingly no-where. I had a wonderful time and hope to see all of you again. If there was a bit of sadness, it was not getting to meet Glitch. Glitch, Get yourself strong and may God bless you. I still look forward to sharing a fireside with you. What an amazing Glitch/Badness we had. | ||
| 86129squids |
 , X 1000. Looking forward to the end of May! Hope you're feeling better day by day, RoadCrust. | ||
| Robertl |
Gosh John. Glad to hear you are healing and it wasn't worse. I went down again myself. Nothing like before but fractured my knee pretty bad. For the first time, I've considered hanging it up. I'm sure I'll be back out there but probably not nearly as much or as aggressive as before. Take it easy and rest up. | ||
| Crusty |
I'm in pain this morning. My right leg hurts like a toothache. I wrote a very negative Snippet about slowing down, but I realized it was being tempered by my pain. I wasn't riding stupidly. I think, after reviewing the accident countless times in my mind, that there was something slippery on the road surface. I'm not going to quit riding, but I think I will avoid that stretch of I-75. I hope the Tylenol kicks in soon. |
