invsblwmn in hospital!

[invsblwmn]

painful but grateful to be alive. address here is helen simpson rehab room 289,4300 Londonderry Rd, Harrisburg, PA 17109 c/o dawn temple
painful first day of rehab, but learning alot and meeting some amazing people. still grateful to be alive, but i cannot imagine not riding again. the support u all have given, truely provides much strength to deal with the pain. thank you all dawn

[Triskeliongirl]

Hi Dawn. So sorry to hear about your accident. I was also hit by an SUV commuting to work, now almost seven years ago. My pelivs, hip and sacrum and L5 vertebrae were broken. I now have a twisted hip and 3 cm leg length disrepancy (LLD). I still ride, but it changed the way I ride forever. I ride much more defensively, and have 'rules' about when, where, and how I ride. What I can tell you is that its a process. Right now your goal is recovery. I started back on a stationary bike in a gym, and then a car free bike path. It took time, and then I had to work through the physical issues of the LLD and I finally resolved it with a custom crank set that compensates. The hardest was being able to ride through the intersection I was hit in. Even harder, was starting to enjoy my commute again (which took probably 6-7 YEARS). PM me when you are ready to talk about any of this. But right now, focus on getting well. I firmly believe the adage 'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.' Learn about yourself and grow from this. Try to see the silver lining. -eileen

[Geonz]

painful but grateful to be alive. address here is helen simpson rehab room 289,4300 Londonderry Rd, Harrisburg, PA 17109 c/o dawn temple
painful first day of rehab, but learning alot and meeting some amazing people. still grateful to be alive, but i cannot imagine not riding again. the support u all have given, truely provides much strength to deal with the pain. thank you all dawn

Hang in there~~~ day two is tomorrow and we're with you...

[Torrilin]

Community General is good people . They did Mom's hip replacement, and their rehab people were great for her. You've got good doctors and nurses, and that will help.

*thinking good thoughts for you*

[invsblwmn]

here, good people, no, the best! i work professionally with the hospital system associated with this rehab. these people were my friends, now are my family.
painful three hours today. who thought that squeezing your buttocks was exercise, i thought it was just for preventing embarrassing scents in a meeting.
i never coud stay in bed more than 6 hours a nite, now close to 20 hours seems like not enough. my roomie is an beautiful 81 croatian immigrant whom stroked a week ago. her storiies of wwII take my mind off of the pain and on the gratitude for love and support of my drs, nurses, n therapists.
tired from typing 1 handed, but must give u updates. U all cannot begin to see the strength u give me, laughter is always food 4 me. Triskeliongirl-we will talk, if u are open, i need ur wisdom. by the way, cookies, esp chocolate chip, have healing powers Take care, d

[Triskeliongirl]

Triskeliongirl-we will talk, if u are open, i need ur wisdom. d

Of course I am open. For now, just rest, and get your strength back. Its a PROCESS....... The silver lining is that living through something like this can have other things in your life suddenly take on increased meaning, the people in your life, your health, all kinds of things. Hang tough, you will heal, and no matter what you will come back even stronger!

[LBTC]

[QUOTE=Triskeliongirl;250396 The silver lining is that living through something like this can have other things in your life suddenly take on increased meaning, the people in your life, your health, all kinds of things.[/QUOTE]

So true! My passion now is photography. I was brought to it by breaking my humerus in a bike crash, losing my dog to cancer, being shunned by people we thought were friends, developing a not-quite-explainable illness, etc, over the last 9 years.....Each difficult situation has developed my spirit and its connection to my camera more acutely. You will grow from this, but it may take years before you really see how. In the meantime, take the time you need to fully recover, and look for the joy that can be found everywhere - if not in every moment, at least in every day.

Still surrounding you in butterflies,
Hugs,
~T~

[KnottedYet]

(((((Dawn)))))) (((((((Dawn's Sweetie))))))

I have patients who I *know* shouldn't be driving, but there's nothing I can do legally to stop them. Just today I was thinking about "what happens when I get older and more ding-batty and shouldn't drive?". I'm hoping someone can stop me, and that I'll have the sense to stick to my bike, the bus, and taxis.

Hang in there, Dawn!

And I'm so glad you have a lawyer!

[DeniseGoldberg]

So true! My passion now is photography. I was brought to it by breaking my humerus in a bike crash, losing my dog to cancer, being shunned by people we thought were friends, developing a not-quite-explainable illness, etc, over the last 9 years.....Each difficult situation has developed my spirit and its connection to my camera more acutely. You will grow from this, but it may take years before you really see how. In the meantime, take the time you need to fully recover, and look for the joy that can be found everywhere - if not in every moment, at least in every day.

Still surrounding you in butterflies,
Hugs,
~T~

I found solace and creativity in my camera too. I've always taken pictures, but after my accident in 2004 my camera became my constant companion. At first I think I was using it as an excuse to myself about why I wasn't walking further or faster - even though I knew I was walking as much as my physical condition allowed. But the camera helped me, it really did...

I think we all (can) find strength in ourselves as we fight through things in life, and as we work to recover from nasty accidents like Dawn's.

And Dawn - one thing that helped me (besides playing with my camera and pushing in my normal fashion to return to normal) was to write about my experience. I wrote in a journal posted on crazyguyonabike, but a blog would work just as well. Getting my thoughts and frustrations out helped a lot.

I'm still sending healing thoughts, and I hope that you have (or can find) something to help keep your spirits up as you go through the (often too long) healing process.

--- Denise