Saturday Lori Beth was going to be occupied by her catering from early in the morning until late at night.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t enjoy being alone in the house.<\/p>\n
Along about midday I went up to the church kitchen where Lori was cooking and spent some time there.\u00a0 Leaving there I went down the street to have some lunch.\u00a0 After lunch I was headed back to the house when I began to think.\u00a0 I was headed home to be alone until after ten PM.\u00a0 I was part way up the road to going to Kansas City, Kansas.\u00a0 I had for some time thought about trying to rediscover the way to Wyandot County Lake, a place I used to go from time to time and a nice connection to route 5, one of the good motorcycle roads in east Kansas.\u00a0 What better day than today, I thought.\u00a0 I turned away from the southern route and toward the flyway for a trip north.<\/p>\n
I rode up the flyway observing some odd behavior and exited on State Avenue in KCK.\u00a0 A short distance up State Avenue I noticed the cage in front of me was aggressively moving to the right lane, a lane occupied by another similar vehicle.\u00a0 I could see it coming and must have began to reduce my speed although I can retrieve no specific memory of doing so.\u00a0 I was in the left lane.\u00a0 I saw them collide, front fender to front fender, hard.\u00a0 The offender sped on down the road.\u00a0 The struck vehicle was pushed further right.\u00a0 State Avenue at that spot is two lanes west bound with a three foot curbed median blocking access to the east bound lanes.<\/p>\n
I thought to myself, I\u2019m going to get by the accident as it stayed in the right lane.\u00a0 I had been concerned about the striking vehicle bouncing back to the left.\u00a0 No such luck.\u00a0 The second vehicle either struck the right curb or the driver strongly over corrected the steering wheel to the left.\u00a0 She came across at an angle first over the right lane and then into mine.\u00a0 She was at a 45 degree angle when the front wheel of the Interstate struck her just to the back of the driver\u2019s door.\u00a0 Angle strike with the front wheel is pretty much determinative.\u00a0 The bike wobbled harshly and went over to the right.\u00a0 As it lay, the bottom of both tires were against the left curb.<\/p>\n
I jumped almost immediately from the pavement to my feet and moved quickly to the median.\u00a0 Cars began to stop and drivers rolled down their windows to ask, \u201cAre you okay?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m fine!\u201d I replied several times.\u00a0 It was then I looked down to see the stream of blood up and down the curb I\u2019d been pacing.<\/p>\n
The young lady who had piloted the second vehicle came back expressing her concern and asking what she could do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I must honestly say that my memory of the collision incident does not agree with the police report.\u00a0 I amy not be completely correct but we agree there were two cages, each piloted by young females, and noe collided with my bike near the driver’s door of the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several people ran out from the Philips 66 across the street, one with a handful of napkins.\u00a0 One gentleman asked whether anyone had been called.\u00a0 I responded that I didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 He screamed back across the road, \u201cCall 9-1-1.\u201d\u00a0 There followed a time then of pressing multiple napkins against the flowing wound on the right hand and a number of questions.\u00a0 The police arrived, I believe first and then arrived a fire department EMT vehicle (ambulance) on the eastbound side.\u00a0 Two of the gentlemen from the 66 offered to help set the bike up.\u00a0 I was in no condition to do so.\u00a0 They looked at it for a bit and I think they decided they were not so either.\u00a0 I did extend the side stand.<\/p>\n
The bike was lying inertly on its right side still facing westbound.\u00a0 I noticed the headlight was shining.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s still turned on,\u201d I mentioned.\u00a0 One of the helpers looked around unsuccessfully for where he thought the ignition switch might be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s the key?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderneath.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was creating a puddle of gasoline from a mostly full tank.\u00a0 It was completely on its side with both wheels off the ground.\u00a0 The man started feeling under the machine trying not to kneel down into the gasoline.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s the opposite side of this,\u201d\u00a0 I told him while pointing to the petcock.\u00a0 He pulled the key and handed it to me.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think to check whether he had turned it back to the accessory position.<\/p>\n
I lifted the napkins briefly and wrapped my handkerchief over the wound tying it with my teeth and leaving a good deal of blood around my mouth.\u00a0 The bike looked good.\u00a0 It was a fairly soft lay-down.\u00a0 There was a chunk of flesh hanging from the corner of the right mirror.\u00a0 I was thinking, if I can just get this bleeding slowed down I can ride to the doctor\u2019s.\u00a0 The EMTs were hearing none of that.\u00a0 After giving my driver\u2019s license to a policeman I was being directed toward the front door of the ambulance.\u00a0 I stopped by the bike.\u00a0 \u201cCan we stand it up so I can see the right side?\u201d I asked.\u00a0 I was told that we needed to leave it where it was until the pictures were taken.<\/p>\n
The EMT guided me back to the ambulance door and held his hand on me while I climbed the steps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich hospital do you prefer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou won\u2019t like this but Overland Park Regional.\u201d\u00a0 OPRMC was ten or more miles away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can do that.\u201d\u00a0 They tied me into a gurney in a half sitting position.\u00a0 My helmet had been removed but I was still wearing my do rag and road shades.<\/p>\n
We talked quite a bit on the way.\u00a0 We talked about people choosing to drive away from an accident scene.\u00a0 He said it happens all the time.\u00a0 We discussed that my only injury appeared to be the hand.\u00a0 I was concerned the tow company would damage the bike picking it up but comforted to see the arrival of two motorcycle policemen as we pulled away.\u00a0 He told me that most of the firemen were riders and they would look out for it.\u00a0 I tried to guess where we were as we moved down the hiway but it turns out that a limited view out the back window does not relate well to a view through the windshield.<\/p>\n
We arrived at the hospital.\u00a0 The driver came around, opened the rear doors and dropped the rear steps with a loud clunk.\u00a0 \u201cCan I get off this thing and walk?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u00a0 We have to take you in and transfer you to one of their beds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the way he dropped those steps I\u2019m not sure I trust him to carry the foot of this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not sure I trust me either,\u201d as he dropped the wheels to the foot end of the gurney.<\/p>\n
Once inside the transfer was fairly quick.\u00a0 I was moved to a hospital reclining device and thanked the EMTs for their care.\u00a0 Two nurses began the prep work.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, Cutie, have I seen you before?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think so.\u00a0 You look familiar.\u201d\u00a0 We had some discussion while she did her work and decided she must have been taking care of Lori Beth earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope I didn\u2019t offend you by calling you Cutie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho could be offended at that?\u201d\u00a0 She smiled nicely.\u00a0 The nurse, Kelsie, worked on preparing and connecting me for the doctor\u2019s examination.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you take off your shirt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may not want to do that.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a pretty sight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ll be alright.\u00a0 We just need it out of the way.\u201d\u00a0 Between the two of us we managed to get the tee shirt off.\u00a0 She began sticking those little transmitting patches on my chest.<\/p>\n
The doctor came in and began to do doctor things.\u00a0 The nurses put a rather large pad under where my right hand was.\u00a0 The doctor pulled off all the napkins and handkerchief and it began to run like a faucet.\u00a0 The doctor had me move the thumb and all the fingers and reposition my wrist several times.\u00a0 He talked about his concern for an exposed tendon.\u00a0 I had seen a white line with an upside down y.\u00a0 That may have been the tendon but I think it was bone.\u00a0 He recovered the wound with hospital approved bandages.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you in pain?\u00a0 Do you want some pain meds?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like pain medication.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust let us know if you change your mind.\u00a0 Has anyone called your wife?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe so.\u00a0 May I call her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can or you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have my phone right here.\u201d\u00a0 I turned to the nurse.\u00a0 \u201cMy earpiece is in my right pocket but I can\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can get it for you.\u201d\u00a0 She was amazingly comfortable searching my pants pockets and actually took pretty much everything out placing it all in a plastic bag.\u00a0 My guess is she knew where was everything that mattered but then my age probably had something to do with it also.\u00a0 She did find the earpiece and I put it in my ear.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can call her from that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u00a0 It responds to voice.\u201d\u00a0 I pressed the button and waited for the signal.\u00a0 \u201cLori Beth.\u201d\u00a0 There was no answer.\u00a0 I tried four more times in between talking with the nurse while she was obtaining information.\u00a0 The fifth time Lori answered the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m loading the van and getting ready to go to the wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I want you to do what you need to do and don\u2019t get excited.\u00a0 I had an incident and I\u2019m at the ER but my only injury is to my hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat!?\u00a0 Did you hit your head?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got to go to the wedding.\u00a0 I need to call Tim.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGo to the wedding and do what you need to do.\u00a0 Don\u2019t call Tim.\u201d<\/p>\n
Click.<\/p>\n
A lady with a portable x-ray machine came in.\u00a0 We exchanged information.\u00a0 She had me hold my hand in several positions, some painful, while she took pictures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no broken bones.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t tell that but I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, are there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to send them to be read.\u201d<\/p>\n
The doctor came back and indicated we\u2019d have to bring in a plastic surgeon to look at the wound.\u00a0 He left again.<\/p>\n
I pressed the call button for the nurse.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u00a0 May I help you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to go to the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll call your nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelsie came in.<\/p>\n
I told her, \u201cAn odd thing happened.\u00a0 As I was riding after a lunch and three glasses of tea I was feeling the urge and was calculating where I could stop to take care of it.\u00a0 After the accident the urge went away but now it\u2019s back.\u00a0 I think I\u2019m okay.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I pissed myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will take you down to the restroom.\u201d\u00a0 She began unhooking wires and IV stuff.\u00a0 \u201cDo you want a gown?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I can wear a gown.\u00a0 Can I just go like this?\u00a0 Will it be a problem for anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be okay if you\u2019re comfortable.\u00a0 I\u2019ll walk you down.\u201d\u00a0 She walked me down the hall, pointed me into a restroom she said was warmer than some, and waited outside the door.\u00a0 I had not considered how difficult it can be for a right handed man to do certain simple things without using his right hand.\u00a0 It did get done and we went back to the ER room.<\/p>\n
My friends and insurance agents Nicole and Tyler arrived and sat with me through the rest of the experience.<\/p>\n
The doctor came back in and said the plastic surgeon indicated I was to come see him Monday.\u00a0 He began to prepare the process of roughly stitching the wound enough to control the bleeding.\u00a0 He uncovered the wound.\u00a0 Tyler had to turn around.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t blame him.\u00a0 Nicole wasn\u2019t bothered much.\u00a0 Mothers are like that.<\/p>\n
He described what he was going to use.\u00a0 It seemed to begin with an M and he said it took effect more slowly but lasted longer than Lidocaine.\u00a0 He unpackaged a needle that though narrow in diameter appeared to be very, very long.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to hurt.\u201d\u00a0 He began pushing the needle into various spots around the wound and wiggling it now and then. I held my hand still.\u00a0 Maybe he held my hand still but I raised my body up several inches and used some expressions not normally a part of my vocabulary.\u00a0 After several pokes it started to settle in and I was no longer able to feel the injections.<\/p>\n
As he finished and began opening the stitching package I apologized, \u201cI guess it wasn\u2019t so good after telling you that pain doesn\u2019t impress me that I cried like a little girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t hear you cry.\u00a0 I told you it was going to hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
He rinsed the wound out with something that seemed to slow down the bleeding.\u00a0 There was still a lot of blood but it wasn\u2019t at the same volume.<\/p>\n
He inserted the needle for the first stitch and I flinched.\u00a0 \u201cDid that hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pulled that injection thing out and I immediately regretted my answer but it wasn\u2019t too bad.<\/p>\n
The doctor proceeded to pull the sides of the wound together and stitch them.\u00a0 It really wasn\u2019t a pretty sight at all.\u00a0 The lines were uneven and there were significant bulges here and there along those uneven lines.\u00a0 \u201cThis is only temporary.\u00a0 Monday the surgeon will look at it and decide what needs to be done for a permanent fix.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he going to take out the stitches?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 I was envisioning a recurrence of that harrowing deadening experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve done such a good job maybe I could just pass on seeing the plastic surgeon.\u201d\u00a0 I was only joking, of course, but he reacted rather strongly.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t do that.\u00a0 If you let it heal this way the skin will be too tight and you\u2019ll lose all movement of that thumb.\u201d<\/p>\n
I promised him I would see the surgeon and Kelsie wrapped the wound properly.\u00a0 She was throwing things away and held up my handkerchief.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t want to keep this, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh!\u00a0 It\u2019s one of my favorite handkerchiefs.\u00a0 Can\u2019t I just wash it and it\u2019ll be okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can wash it but I think it\u2019s going to come out pink.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah.\u00a0 Probably everything else will come out pink.\u201d<\/p>\n
She threw the handkerchief in the trash and filled a bag with supplies to let me wrap the wound a couple more times.\u00a0 She gave me instructions indicating we were expecting some seepage but if it got to be too much I should come back to the ER.\u00a0 She gave me the doctor\u2019s prescriptions for three medicines; one antibiotic, one for pain, and one for nausea in case the pain medicine messed with my stomach.<\/p>\n
It was 17:15 when we left the hospital, just a little over two and a half hours since the incident.\u00a0 We had 45 minutes before all the pharmacies we knew were closing for the night.\u00a0 Tyler said we had plenty of time.\u00a0 We were halfway down the road to the pharmacy when my phone rang.\u00a0 It was a lady at the ER.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll have to come back and get another copy of the prescriptions.\u00a0 When they printed them out they forgot to change the name from your ER name.\u00a0 They\u2019re made for Foxtrot Dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan they just call them in to the pharmacy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u00a0 Those have to be paper.\u00a0 What does your car look like?\u00a0 I\u2019ll watch for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a grey Mercedes but it\u2019s my friends\u2019.\u00a0 I don\u2019t drive a Mercedes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t drive a Mercedes either.\u201d\u00a0 She giggled.<\/p>\n
Tyler made a U-turn and exceeded the PRV returning to the hospital.\u00a0 Our 45 minutes had been trimmed to a questionable duration.\u00a0 We picked up the replacement scripts and Tyler got us to the pharmacy on time.\u00a0 We actually had a few minutes to spare.<\/p>\n
Lori had left strict instructions that when Tyler and Nicole dropped me off I was to go next door and spend the evening with our neighbors, Joe and Kelli.\u00a0 Joe and Kelli have three little girls and were visited that evening by another neighbor, Courtney with her two little girls.\u00a0 Later that evening their friend, Cameron, dropped by with her son, Mason, to spend some time.\u00a0 It was a fun evening.<\/p>\n
I was getting so the memory of the event didn\u2019t seem entirely real but I had that right hand to remind me.\u00a0 I was not looking forward to the visit with the plastic guy.<\/p>\n
The plastic surgeon they scheduled me to see was the Governor of Kansas.\u00a0 I am sure he was as good as a doctor as he was as the state executive officer.\u00a0 I was very concerned when we went to see him.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t looking forward to repeating the experience of the deadening injections and the removal and replacement of the stitches.\u00a0 Doctor Colyer examined the repair job and said it was done well enough to not require redoing.\u00a0 After finishing his examination, he said he would like to see me in a couple of weeks to see how the healing was progressing and sent me home.<\/p>\n
Honestly, it healed up well.\u00a0 There are spots that to this day cause me a lack of feeling and occasionally some pain.\u00a0 The scar has almost disappeared.<\/p>\n
The bike was damaged more in being loaded to the wrecker than it was in the lay down but it wasn\u2019t too bad.\u00a0 There were scrapes in the paint and there was a need for a replacement mirror with some road rash on a few metal parts.\u00a0 It could\u2019ve been worse.<\/p>\n
Sometimes in traffic under certain conditions, I still feel a tinge of fear.\u00a0 I don\u2019t let the fear rule me but I do allow it to speak to me.\u00a0 I ride pretty much as I did before.<\/p>\n
Life goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saturday Lori Beth was going to be occupied by her catering from early in the morning until late at night.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t enjoy being alone in the house. Along about midday I went up to the church kitchen where …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1593,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions\/1593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}