Trucks & Bikes Part Deux

Sorry to leave everyone on the edge, but you know I am kind of an edgy guy =)

Okay, so after going endless rounds of q&a with the overeager med students, I finally made my way to the CT Scan and the XRay. Xrays are pretty straightforward and quick, but CTs are painfully slow and require you to remain absolutely still while you are under this plastic dome. Afterwards, I was probed with xrays and other electro-nuclear-whatever waves, I was wheeled back to the hallway. I guess they ran out of room, b/c I was abadoned in the hallway and left laying on the hardboard, which was incredibly uncomfortable. throughout the whole first 4 days, my back was in incredible spasm. The only relief I could get was by bending my legs which helped aleviate the stress on the back, not ideal but it was my first grade solution to the problem.

A little later, I was wheeled back into the ER. The residents now were pouring in with some serious questions for me. Up to this point, i had only pain in my left shoulder and left pelvis. I thought that was it, but it would soon get a little more serious. The orthopedic resident questioned me if I had any pain in my neck. I said I didn't, then he started feeling on the lower part of my neck and found a definitie tender spot. I told him it hurt and he told me, well it should because you have a crack in your vertebrae. Okay, so things are getting a little serious now. Now the focus was making sure I had movement in my legs and good strength. Through a miracle, movement in my arms, legs and feet were perfect. Maybe it was all the cycling that gave me strong legs =) So now I have a fracture(s) in my: C7 vertebrae, T4 process, T5 process, left scapula, and 3 in my left pelvis. B/c of the inability for the left hand to inform the right hand of what was going on in the Westchester Medical Center, the medical people never gave me a final count of my injuries until Tuesday morning, 5 days after being hit. Pretty ridiculous.

The first night was pretty awful. I made my way to my room. I had a nurse call button but apparently it doesn't seem to work to well with the nightshift. My meds were wearing off, and pain in my back was getting worse. It eventually took the nurses about 35min to respond to my calls after finally losing it and yelling. At this point pain had gone from the level 6 to level 10. My back was in awful shape and I couldn't do anything to get rid of it. Finally they arrived I let them have it. Got a muscle relaxer which helped but i was so angered by the response time.

The next day, the pain was pretty bad but i was learing to deal with the circumstances a little bit better. This is where my motivation to start helping myself starts. When the nurses weren't around, I snuck in a few turns on my side which offered incredible relief to my back. When I told the nurses what I did. I told them in spite and with sarcasm like a little kid that broke the rules and not admitting it just to prove he could do whatever he wanted. Small battles in life i guess =) Finally, I sweet talked one nurse into helping me turn over for a few minutes. I like to think it was my good looks and soft voice but it was probably more sympathy, but for all records we will go with the former. So for the first 4 days my view was the ceiling and nothing else. I begged one nurse to move my bed under the tv so the angle was good enough for me to view. This nurse was stubborn and couldn't quite grasp the idea of just moving my entire bed, not changing the angle at all. But she was completely against it. Unbelievable. So you you talk to a less suspecting nurse and you coerce them to raise your bed to an angle that allows some tv viewing. At this point, any distraction besides the guy next to me in the room is good enough.

I won't go into details over days 2-5 because it just seems that the days never ended and I never had a clock so there was no concept of time. Basically every day was the same, no answers from the doctors, endless checking of vital signs and the food people asking what I wanted to eat, which was nothing. Every day this woman would ask what I wanted for lunch and dinner. Since I was on a no food/liquid diet it was pretty easy. For the record, i didn't have a sip of water from thursday's ride till monday afternoon. Its one way to lose weight an increase that power to weight ratio on the bike, but probably not the healthiest. Once i could eat, all i wanted was fruit. the narcotics make you incredibly naseauous and laying in bed all day doesn't really do much for your metabolism. But they couldn't even do a plate of fruit for me. I asked strictly for nothing but fruit and yogurt. And I received hambugers, french fries, and weird chicken stuff. What is the deal?! Breakfast consisted of a little oatmeal and some fruit. I figure I lost 5-6lbs.

On Monday, day 5 I made my first steps. Kind of monumental, like a babies first steps. The night before I had sat up in my bed b/c I was fed up with laying flat. I told the nurses the next day and they weren't too happy with me but they were curious how I did it. I just told them I sat myself up and it felt great! Again, small battle wins. It also helped to have a lot of good core strength, so everyone should be doing their swiss ball core exercises =) The first steps were pretty difficult. I had never used a crutch before. now i'm pretty pro but the beginning was a little bit of learning. The goal was to walk a little bit. i talked the nurse into allowing me to walk across to diana's room which was about 30ft directly across the hallway. I had to stop 3/4 of the way and sit down in a chair b/c I thought I was going to black out. Once I regained my wit, I pursued on my quest to see diana. I finally made it and told the nurse I was going to stay here and he can come and get me later. I'm usually one to ask for permission but by this time in the hospital I was directing and telling the staff what I was going to do. Stubborness that would come to light later in my recovery. It felt so empowering to be able to walk again. This was the first time I was able to see Diana since we left each other at the scene. I was so happy to see her and we just sat and talked for the next hour. It was good for both of us b/c the experience we shared was so intense that no one else seemed to be able to fully connect to it.

The next day, my ambitions got bigger. So that means walking more. After the nurses left and my family left for some food I snuck out of my room to Diana's room. I think i was there for 2 or more hours. No one could find me. It was quite funny b/c the nurses were not too happy. They were looking to give me a sponge bath but my brother was the only one they could find. Finally i was spotted and I told them I won't be taking a bath this evening. I felt pretty dictator like =)

Wed, day 6 was another day of testing and walking. I learned how to walk up and down steps which can be a little tricky with a single crutch. I passed with flying colors then told my pt person that I was done and was going to see my friend. They were a little baffled. After some high power negotiations by my mom, I was freed later that night. Now when one is released, you would expect to see the doctor at some point. I never saw my neuro guy and didn't see my orthopedic guy until the last minutes. Every day was full of misinformation and little info about what what going to happen and what my condition was. So if you have the chance, avoid Westchester Medical Center. It was pretty ridiculous the information sharing in the hospital and connection i had with the people. There were a few great nurses but overall the experience and care was pretty subpar. As my friend alyssa and I would say about restaurant service, it will be reflected in the tip. unfortunately, there isn't a tipping mechanism in place.

Today, is 12 days post impact. My pelvis is still bothering me but my speed of getting up and down out of seats is pretty fast now. I am making my way around pretty good, slow but I am getting around. Left shoulder is still no dice. My range of movement is better but I am still bound to one arm. I can shower myself now but still relying on my dad to give me a shave b/c of the neck brace. Today, I tied my shoes and put my socks on all by myself in my fastest time ever. Pretty psyched about it. I am planning on flying back to SF on Wed. Pretty confident I can do it. My body is responding very quickly which has impressed my parents. Being in good shape helps, but I'm also pretty stubborn so I keep forcing myself to do everything. I'm down to 2 pain meds a day which is good.

The kicker of the whole being hit thing was that when I landed in the ditch on 94 Turnpike, I landed in a patch of poison ivy and proceeded to lay in it for the next 30min or so. 3 days later, I have 85% of my body covered in itchiness. the b******* at the hospital were oblivous to the red bumps. their solution was to give me 25mg of benadryl, which is what you give to a baby to make it sleep,not a 160lbs guy with ridiculous poison ivy. So it continued to get worse. The leg inflators they put on my calfs to prevent blood clots caused capillary damage and combined with the ivy to leave these scary, disgusting red marks that covered 80% of my lower leg. Its getting better now but left many onlookers in the airport wondering should they feel bad for my crutch and neckbrace or my ugly legs.

well, I will post more later about how I am doing, but please keep diana in your thoughts and prayers. She went through a very painful surgery on friday to fuse 3 vertebrae. Not to mention she is nearing 12 days in the hospital. We will both get through this trying time, but the response we have received from friends and family has been wonderful. Its definitely sped up my recovery.

Cheers,
Matthew