« All Three | Main | Simply Overwhelmed »
June 3, 2007
Good News/Bad News
I'm the type of person that usually likes to hear the bad news first because then no matter what there is good news left to hear. But regardless of that - I'm going to tell you the good news first.
Good news - I'm alive. Nothing is broken, including my head.
Now the bad news - Friday afternoon about 5 minutes into my 2:30 training ride, a truck hit me.
To tell you the truth, I lost consciousness so I really can't tell you what happened. I do know this - I had the right of way as I was riding on the main road and had no stop signs or stop lights. I never even saw the truck coming. Maybe it was better that way. We learned later from the police report that the truck was trying to cross the road that I was riding down. He said he never saw me.
When I regained consciousness I was laying on the pavement with people all around me. The paramedics were there at that point and a man (not the man who hit me but someone who had stopped nonetheless) was standing over me holding his handkerchief to my bleeding head. Things are pretty foggy for me here. I remember them putting me in the ambulance and I remember the EMT telling me they were going to fly me to the Pittsburgh hospital because they didn't have the type of equipment they needed at the local hospital. I remember one of the flight EMTs telling me to close my eyes when they put me in the helicopter because stuff would get in my eyes otherwise. I remember it being really, really hot at first in the helicopter. And then I remember tears running down my face once the helicopter was in the air. I think the realization of what had just happened was starting to set in and all of a sudden I was just really, really scared. One of the flight crew held my hand and told me I was going to be okay. She told me they were just being safe by flying me down to a shock trauma center. I suppose above all I didn't know what was wrong with me and I just felt pain all over and I wondered what would happen.
The ensuing 5 or 6 hours were spent in the ER getting xrays and CT scans and this and that. O got to the hospital only about 20-30 minutes after me and that was a great relief to see him. The ER nurse told me my husband was here and I started to cry again.
After things calmed down the ER resident cleaned up my cuts and sutured up the laceration above my eye and on my scalp. Unfortunately it's big nasty looking black thread which doesn't come out for 2 weeks! I'm not really one to be concerned about how I look but my eye just does not look very nice. :)
At that point the docs told me they had reviewed all my xrays and nothing was broken! Thank God! I was so happy to hear that. I felt like every bone in my body was broken but I knew that feeling would go away eventually versus if I had had a fractured pelvis or needed surgery for a shattered leg and my recovery would have been much longer. The doc also told me that the CT of my head was negative - no bleeding in my brain or swelling. Even better news.
I thought I was going to get home that night but the doc came back again and said that after the radiologist reviewed the CT of my chest they saw two small pneumothoracies which are basically small holes in my lungs that let air escape out of my lungs and therefore my lungs were collapsed. I was not having any difficulty breathing but their protocol in that case is to keep patients overnight to make sure nothing happens and to take more xrays in the AM to make sure the pneumothoracies didn't get any bigger. Bugger.
So that lead to some more waiting around until finally around 7 pm or so I got a bed on one of the floors upstairs. Once upstairs they fed me (which surprisingly I wasn't even in the mood for - and since when do I not want to eat?!) and then the task of taking a shower. Oh my. The nurse let O help which was better than her having to help me. But that shower really hurt. It was about this point that I started to realize how incredibly sore I was and when the water hit all my cuts...well, you can imagine. I mostly just wanted to clean off all the blood and wash the blood out of my hair. I know, gross.
Anyway, so goes the night. I have never stayed overnight in a hospital before so it was an interesting night. The nurse came in what seemed like every hour to take my blood pressure to take blood or just check on me. And then I had an IV so every time I wanted to go to the bathroom I had to have the nurse help me. It's a very humbling situation. All of a sudden you can't do ANYTHING by yourself. I had been refusing my pain medicine up until about midnight Friday night when I realized that I just wasn't going to be able to sleep at all without it. Sore doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling.
I woke up about 5 am and couldn't quite get back to bed so I watched tv for a while and counted down the time until O would be back. In the mean time they brought breakfast and all of a sudden I felt the pain that the patients I see all the time feel. Hospital food - major yuck! :) O got there around 9 (even though visiting hours on the weekend don't start until 1 pm!) and we hung out pretty much all day. We waited and waited and then waited some more. Every hour we would get up and take a lap around the floor. Me limping and holding my aching ribs! It felt good to get up though. Finally, around 8 pm I was discharged - the xray of my lungs looked good and besides being incredibly sore and banged up I was good to go!
So the summary of the story is - I am incredibly lucky. I see patients like myself ALL the time that have severe head trauma or fractures so bad they don't ever walk again or both. And basically all I have are some cuts and bruises and some small holes in my lungs that will heal in no time. I thank God so much for that. Of course I'm incredibly disappointed that my "A" race this upcoming weekend isn't going to happen. All my training this past winter/spring was based off Eagleman and even worse is that what I was hoping to base the whole 2nd half of my season off is a race that I had to qualify for at Eagleman. That's kind of screwed up now. But how can you be disappointed when you know you are lucky to be alive? I'm not sure when I'll be able to race again or even ride or run or swim. At this point I'm having trouble walking. But I know the body is amazing and right now I'm just going to take one day at a time. Who knows, maybe I'll be back spinning easy on the trainer in a week or two. Time will tell.
As for my bike - well, Scotty has seen better days. Basically the front fork was severed off. O and I took him out to the bike shop today to see if I needed a whole new frame or what. My helmet is cracked - thank God for it or that would have been my cracked head! I will have to say when I saw my helmet again with my blood smeared all over it, I got a little sick to my stomach.
Such is life you know! There was a poster hanging in my hospital room that I must have read about 100 times while I was laying there. It said:
"The magnitude of success can be measured only by looking at the obstacles which were overcome to acheive that success." Booker T Washington
A small bump in the road that will surely slow me down but that also surely won't stop me.
Posted by beth at June 3, 2007 4:21 PM
Comments
Oh Beth!
I'm a long time reader, first time commenter. Oh my goodness! After reading your post, I'm so relieved that you are ok. Good luck in your recovery!
Posted by: katiek at June 3, 2007 6:57 PM
Oh my Beth. Unbelieavable. It sounds like you were unconscious for a pretty good amount of time. This was such as a scary story. It's an understatement to say it was news out of the blue and I was scared for you. Well, I am obviously thrilled you will be okay. I am so sorry about your season. But I know you'll be back. Take care and rest up. You're the type of person who will recover as quick as humanly possibly :) But for now...pain meds!!! And sleep. Take care.
Posted by: Audrey at June 3, 2007 7:23 PM
Oh, and there has been a slate of cyclists hit by cars in Boston in the past couple of weeks. At least one of the three was taken via ambulance to the hospital. The other two were able to walk away. I don't believe the bikes faired as well. It's dangerous out there...
Posted by: Audrey at June 3, 2007 7:25 PM
I too thought, "Oh, Beth!" So, so glad you're basically OK. All my very best for your recovery.
Posted by: Roslyn at June 3, 2007 7:47 PM
My goodness Beth! I'm glad to hear nothing was broken and I wish you a speedy recovery!
Posted by: brian at June 3, 2007 8:22 PM
Oh Beth! I'm so, so glad that you're okay. I don't know you in person, but I feel like you're my friend after all these years of blogging together, and I'm just sick to my stomach for you! I had a bad feeling about something having happened to you. You're a regular blogger and there was no scheduled reason for your absence, I was worried.
Coming from someone who does field emergency stuff exactly like this, it sounds like you are most lucky you didn't see what hit you. Because you didn't know you were about to be hit, your body was in a relatively relaxed state during the traumatic event. Such relaxation probably prevented major bodily injury. It's kind of like the quintessential story where a drunk hits a car full of sober people, and the drunk is the only one not injured because their body was relaxed due to being intoxicated. And well, with your head, honey, it was just really, really, really good luck that you didn't hit in a different way.
My heart just goes out to you and your family right now. I'm so sorry that you're hurting, but if there's anyone who will bounce back quickly, it will be someone as fit physically and as strong mentally as you.
I'll be thinking of you,
Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at June 3, 2007 9:01 PM
I'm so glad your going to be OK. Best wishes to a speedy recovery. . you will recover fast because you are so healthy and fit. But take it slow. The bumps in the road just make us appreciate what we have, right? But this sounds like a pretty big "bump!". Your positive attitude is inspiring!
Posted by: dawn at June 3, 2007 9:36 PM
Wow, Beth. I'm so relieved to know that you made it through such a scary situation. You'll be back running, biking, and swimming in no time. For now, rest up and make sure you recover fully. I'm glad you have someone as supportive as O by your side. I'll be thinking and praying for you.
Posted by: Caitlin at June 3, 2007 10:03 PM
Beth,
Came over from Meghan's blog. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and good health!
Posted by: backofpack at June 3, 2007 10:19 PM
BETH OF STEEL, BETH ARMORED WITH HER SPIRIT, LADY MACK(truck)BETH... i feel so fortunate you will be able to read this and all other posts... nothing short of a miracle... like Meghan, days passed and didn't see any entries here. Yesterday i started to worry and say to myself "i hope she and O are ok."
I usually start to read the blogs from the bottom. When i clicked Meghan and read i got goosebumps. I am so relieved you are alive. And well, not even a broken bone. Hit by a man driving a truck no less. I hope he tries to make some sense out of almost killing you to avoid such fatal stupidity for the rest of his life.
Mentally it seems you have already recovered. Physically, it will take "choppin Beth" no time at all to catch up.
If even a truck can't stop you Beth... can't imagine an IronMan being unbeatable :-) Just be careful you don't run anybody over :-) ...
All the best from me and my family, corrado
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at June 4, 2007 5:25 AM
not only are you inspiring in your workouts, but even more so in your obstacles. truly a miracle, and i am so happy to hear that you will be able to heal fully. take care and i will be thinking/praying for you.
Posted by: regular reader at June 4, 2007 9:52 AM
I am just now catching up on my blog reading and I can't believe what I missed...I am so sorry to hear about your accident and I'm so glad you're okay. Thanks for starting with the good news, because it made reading the rest of your blog entry easier. (The fact that you were able to write an entry about it was a good sign as well.) From what I've read, it sounds like many great triathletes have been hit by a truck/car at some point, so hopefully you've gotten that out of the way now and it will never even come close to happening again.
I'm sorry this will affect your whole season, but I am so glad you are okay. You have a great attitude about this and it will serve you very well in your recovery. Good luck and keep us posted! You have a huge fan club hoping for your speedy recovery.
Posted by: Alison at June 4, 2007 9:59 AM
Beth, I am so sorry about what happened, but I am so very glad to hear that you are okay!! I am sure you're really disappointed about your season but I am just more relieved that you're going to be okay.
If there is anything I can do for you, including sending you magazines or something to occupy your time for your recovery, please let me know.
Feel better soon!!!
Posted by: barb at June 4, 2007 10:29 AM
just read the news... i'm praying for you like mad for a full recovery in spirit as well as body... it shows how all of us have to be careful out on the road... i can tell your not letting this "bump" get you down... stay strong...
Posted by: Kranky C Dale at June 4, 2007 10:44 AM
Wow, you are extremely lucky. Very glad to hear you survived in one piece.
I imagine your team of caring friends and collegues coach you carefully through complete recovery. Please be careful. Lung holes can be surprisingly dangerous. Slow! Slow! That's probably not part of your psyche, but better safe than sorry.
When I'm mentally psyched for a race, and something keeps me from competing, I like to volunteer at the same race, or spectate, or - something, anything.
You sound like a very strong person. You'll be 100% soon.
Lady Mac(truck)beth - good one, Corrodo!
Someone needs to make you a trophy with a cyclist's imprint on a Mac grill.
Your ribs hurt too much. Don't laugh - just smile!
Posted by: JeffO at June 5, 2007 6:16 PM