That's one way to lose 20 lbs

[NoisyDante]

On September 21st I was in an accident, I was traveling North on Hillhurst in Los Feliz CA going about 45mph when a car pulled out into my lane from a parking lot on the right.  No time to react except brake and no escape points to swerve to, I locked the rear tire and slammed directly into the drivers door.  

The left side of my body took all the injury, which included a shattered left elbow and forearm, and 4 cracked ribs, and a badly bruised lung.  I also had massive internal bleeding as my spleen had exploded.  I was taken to LAC USC hospital where thankfully one of the best trauma teams in the USA is located.  I went through 3 full transfusions, had a splenectomy, and was unconscious for 3 days.  I then hallucinated for a week in the ICU on the painkillers.  The surgeon from the trauma team told me I was in really bad shape when I showed up, and they had doubts I'd make it from the bleeding.  They couldn't even call my mom in NJ to say I was stable until 12 hours later.

I'm pretty lucky in hindsight knowing that I'm not paralyzed, don't have a head injury, didn't lose a limb, but the 11th hour thing from the bleeding has shaken me up quite a bit.  It will probably result in my not being able to ride any longer because the roads now terrify me.  Even the drive home from the hospital was very difficult.  I'l probably need to opt for a bigger car as well to feel comfortable.  I remember the crash, and just knowing that I wasn't doing anything wrong in such an non-congested time and that this could happen out of nowhere has me really shook up.  I'm not normally one to throw in the towel after a hiccup but this feels different.

But I did lose 20 lbs while I was in the hospital, FTW

Dante

[arai_speed]

Wow - sorry to hear about the accident.  I guess you really never know when shit is gonna happen.

Hoping the best for you and your recovery.

[Slide Panda]

Sweet jebus man... Glad you're on the road to OK.  Not really sure what else to say, other than get better.

[seevtsaab]

whether you ride or not - good luck with a full recovery.

[Triple J]

Damn! Glad to hear you made it!  Good luck on the recovery.

[Raux]

Holy cow. Glad to hear your doing better.

IF you ever get back on a bike.. think about this...
could you imagine how much it would have cost to remove 20lbs from your bike

just trying to cheer you up!

[SacDuc]

Holy shit dude! Glad you are still with us! Do you need anything? Are you able to take care of yourself? We can bring you bacon and cigars if you need them.


sac

[danaid]

  That sucks!  Glad to hear you've survived without any major complications.

   

[DucofWestwood]

shit, man, really sorry to hear that.  i read your other post about getting from culver city to warner bros in 25 minutes in rush hour ... anyone who can do that is too good to hang it up! 

but i can imagine how you must be feeling.  hope your recovery continues. 

you can always get a big-ass truck and put ducati stickers on the back! 

[IZ]

speedy recovery ND!

[Speedbag]

Wow.

 

Glad you're OK!

Hope you can conquer the fear of the road. After my deer incident last September, riding still isn't the same for me. I'm so overly paranoid on a bike now that it sorta takes all the fun out of it.... 

[somegirl]

Sorry to hear about your crash.

Hope you heal up quickly, just take one day at a time.

[The Bacon Junkie]

Holy BALLS!  Dude, heal up quick.  

If you're thinking that you won't be riding on the street anymore, I only have two words for you....

Time to get a track bike!  Okay, so that was like five words, but I never claimed to be good at math.  On the track you don't have to worry about stupid cagers pulling out in front of you.    

seriously, though... Glad you're still here to tell us the tale SacDuc and I were talking about you our last trip up the 33 a few weeks ago.  I'll bring you along in spirit this Sunday...


Glad you're on the mend.  

[muffinman]

Holy crap - what a nightmare... man, you are one blessed mofo; glad you're still here with us

What happened to the driver? 

[SacDuc]

SacDuc and I were talking about you our last trip up the 33 a few weeks ago...

I think it was something along the lines of, "Where's that friggin' pussy Dante been?"  And as guilty as I feel for saying that now, I am in a way relieved that a SoCaler actually had a legitimate excuse for not going on rides. 

As for your biking future, just don't think about it. One of two things is going to happen. In the future (weeks? months? years?) you may start getting the urge to get on a bike again. Or you won't. If you do you can start slow and ride where there are no cars. Maybe you will get your comfort back. If the itch to ride never comes back to you, well their are lots of other things to do in life. In the meantime just concentrate on healing yourself. Let the motorcycle thing work itself out for now.

Of course if you stop riding monsters you will have to delete your account and never post here again. If you're lucky Nate will still let you lurk.    Kidding of course.

sac