Back in 1994 I bought a GT Trek mountain bike. The bike has been well used. It's visited 7 countries and has been ridden a few thousand miles. In 2004 the bike received a major tune-up. The handlebars were bent from being packed on a train, so I replaced them with a nicely-priced used set (mistake number one). Since that time it has been a fairly reliable commuter bike. I did break a pedal hopping over a curb in 2009, but otherwise, I haven't had any trouble.
Two weeks ago, while pulling up on my handlebars to hop over the same curb I've hopped for 7 years (the same one I broke my pedal on, interestingly), the handlebars broke in half at the neck.
I think I got my front wheel off the ground, maybe even both wheels, but when I landed, the front wheel turned suddenly, and my head hit the grass. Because my body was moving forward and my helmet was stuck in the grass, my head broke out of the back side of the helmet while my body flew forward and I landed on my back.
As far as I know, I didn't black out, but I was confused and in pain. I was sure my left arm was broken in multiple places. I've never felt pain that intense before. A small spot of blood was on my palm, but I couldn't see any other blood and my palm wasn't cut. I called Kathleen, asking her to pick me up. She asked whether I had a flat tire. When I said no, she bolted out the door.
A commuter van drove slowly around the hill I was laying on. The two guys inside were wondering, I'm sure, whether some guy was resting on the grass or unconscious. I was neither. Ken got out of the passenger seat (the driver stayed in) and stayed with me until Kathleen showed up.
After a few hours at the hospital, an X-ray and a CT scan, the ER doctor saw that I broke my neck in two places. The bottom two vertebrae of the neck, C6 and C7, where slightly crushed and cracked respectively.
The pain in my arm was caused by pressure on nerves in my neck. My arm is unhurt.
After an MRI and CT Angiogram, it turned out that one of the arteries in my neck was injured during the accident. My left vertebral artery, which brings blood to the brain, was damaged when the vertebrae it runs through twisted unnaturally.
When the artery was damaged, a blood clot formed to prevent internal bleeding. That blood clot blocked nearly the entire artery. Thankfully, as you can see above, the right and left vertebral arteries are redundant - they connect just above the neck, so if one fails you don't die.
The biggest risk now is that the clot in the vertebral artery could break loose, and cause a stroke. If that doesn't happen, the inside wall of the artery will gradually grow over the top of the clot, and the risk of stroke will dramatically decrease. Until that time, I'm on blood thinner to prevent further clotting.
Oh yeah, and here's what I look like in the cone of shame, with some minor scrapes on my head.
No comments:
Post a Comment