According to my records, I have been writing for my little blog here for a little over five years and in that time I have blogged about a lot of biking. Until just over a month ago, I had not crashed my bike. In fact, I had not crashed my bike since I was a kid. It has been so long that I literally cannot remember the last time I accumulated even so much as a bit of road rash. I have had some close encounters (with darkness and a downed tree) but nothing that resulted in injury...until Friday June 30th at 6:15 am.
Thursday night we had a little storm move through giving us a bit of much-needed moisture. I spent the evening running through my rummage sale prep list and going over all the things that I had left to do before our 4 pm rummage sale. I knew I still had a number of things left to do, but I also knew that the kids only had one activity each from 8 to 9 am. Piece of cake! My dad asked about a morning bike ride before heading to bed and I told him that I was up for it.
Fast forward to Friday morning at 5:30 am. I got up after my alarm went off, checked my phone, drank some water and filled my water bottle in preparation for the bike ride. My dad got up shortly after and we were on the road by 6 am. We were taking our new normal route thanks to all the road construction and everything was fine until we went under Broadway. As we followed the trail under Broadway I noticed a lot of mud on the trail. I tried to slow my speed a bit while still maintain enough momentum to get up the hill on the other side of the bridge but there was too much mud. As I turned my bike to go up the hill, my bike slid right out from under me. I don't know exactly how to explain how I fell other than to say I was headed for the ground because my bike was no longer under me. The first part of me that I felt hit the pavement was my chin. It hit HARD! I still remember as the pain shot upward through my jaw I kept thinking, "I hope I didn't just break my jaw!" I think my knee and upper lip made contact about the same time because I noticed those pains at the same time. The last part of my crash that I remember before coming to a complete stop is the front of my bike helmet scraping the sidewalk.
My dad heard the crash, stopped, looked back and asked me if I was okay. I didn't respond the first time he asked because I was trying to figure out the answer. My eyes darted around as I lay splayed on the trail. I assessed where I felt pain and noticed blood dripping onto the sidewalk from my mouth. My dad asked again if I was okay since I hadn't responded and wasn't moving. I told him that I thought I was okay except that my mouth was bleeding. He asked if I knocked my teeth out as I lifted myself up off the sidewalk. I had not thought about my teeth so my tongue explored my mouth and discovered that there was something missing. In the same instant I looked at the sidewalk and did not see any teeth/tooth fragments. I felt around inside my mouth but still nothing. I told my dad that I thought my teeth were in my lip. He gave me his handkerchief and asked if he should call someone. I was still trying to assess my injuries. I noticed some road rash on my knee and could tell that my mouth was bleeding pretty good but I was calm and felt like I could bike home as long as my bike was functional.
My bike had slid up against the embankment that borders the hill of the trail. Upon picking up my bike I didn't notice any damage. My basket was no longer attached. It actually slid across the trail in the opposite direction but not one thing spilled out of it (a few weeks later, an inspection of my bike revealed that my basket actually sustained the brunt of the crash-it was dented in four places). My dad helped me wrench the basket holder back into place and reattach the basket. I looked the bike over again and it seemed fine other than some mud. I wiped away the blood on my chin and got on my bike to go home. My dad said it would probably be easier and quicker to get back on the road and off the trail, but I have to admit-I had no idea what I looked like battered up after the crash and was happy to avoid people as much as possible. We did eventually get off the trail on the way home to avoid some hills that I was not in the mood for.
Dad went in the house first with me trailing slowly behind. He told Matt that I had wrecked my bike. Matt pretty much leaped out of his chair asking if I was okay. I told him that I needed to go to the ER (I haven't had to go to the ER for myself since Cohan was a baby LOL). I relayed to my dad where the kids needed to go for their activities for the day before I let Matt get me in the car and wisk me away to the ER (thanks to my dad and my mother in law, everyone got to where they needed to be). I didn't want to ruin their morning since it looked like mine was toast! Matt rushed me to the ER (even though I told him to slow down-I was okay) until a cop pulled out in front of him and he was forced to slow down the whole way to the hospital LOL.
I got back to a room right away and they assessed my injuries and let me know that it was going to be a bit of a wait as they had an urgent case coming in. They gave me a shot of morphine and a tetanus shot. We waited and Matt made phone calls making sure everyone was okay and trying to rearrange his schedule so he could be with me in the ER. While waiting I made an unhappy discovery...
Morphine is NOT my friend. I was thankful that I wasn't feeling the pain from my mouth but I rather suddenly started having abdominal, chest, and back pains. It came in a slow wave that I can only compare to contractions when I was in labor. It started mild and then came on strong to the point where I was sweating and unable to get comfortable. The ER staff was worried that it was actually crash related but I knew-just knew-that this was med related NOT crash related. I always have odd reactions to medicine and I don't think Matt always believes me when I tell him about my adverse reaction but this one he got to see first hand! I do not like morphine!
While we waited, tooth fragments were slowly working their way out of my lip. I was taken in for a head, neck, and facial CT to make sure that there were no broken bones and to see the status of my broken teeth and my lip. Eventually I was able to get my lip stitched up-twice (once before the CT was back and once more after it showed a large tooth fragment was still hiding in my lip). I was finally able to get out of the ER a little after nine with seven stitches and some prescriptions.
My next stop was the dentist. Thanks to my facial CT, we knew that the roots of my teeth were not damaged. Good news! I still had not looked in the mirror so I had no idea what the status of my teeth actually was. I spent almost two hours at the dentist. They assessed things and then got to work covering the giant gaps in the front of my mouth but putting "fillings" where my teeth once were. My dentist is nothing short of a tooth sculptor. One tooth was pretty much 90% gone and the other was really just a pointy fragment. He told me that they would have to be crowned after the trauma of my mouth went down but I was amazed-no one could tell that I had knocked my teeth out. Now, after two more dentist appointments, I have my permanent crowns and they look great. I was even able to get them in and all taken care of the last day of our dental insurance!
So, now that I am six weeks post-accident I am doing pretty well. I did have to make some appointments with the chiropractor as I seemed to have messed up my lower back and my neck/left shoulder. I feel a lot better after a few visits though. My teeth feel great with my permanent crowns. My lip still has some numbness and pain. The scar tissue causes me some pain, especially if it gets bumped or when eating or drinking. I can hear a difference in my speech (even if others can't) and I struggle a little with keeping small foods in my mouth because the scar tissue doesn't let my lip move like it used to. I feel a bit like a sloppy little kid sometimes. I am happy that I can eat and drink without worrying as much about my teeth being so sensitive. I guess I'll just have to take what little victories that I can get. All in all, I have to say that it could have been so much worse!
