Welcome home Jobob!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Can we get an update on how your recovery is coming along?

[maillotpois]

Well, I can contribute that I have seen Jo twice in the last week and she looks GREAT and seems to be in very good spirits. He turtle shell is very becoming on her and I understand the double vision comes and goes (good thing as one of me is enough). She joined us for the post-ride pub outing on Saturday and we were all VERY happy to see her.

She can fill in the details - I just wanted to pop in with my impressions....

[jobob]

Hey, thanks for asking, Lisa.

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their well-wishes. I got lots of cards and some awesome gifts in the mail, and lots of emails and PMs on TE and messages on Facebook. Thank you all so very much. I cannot begin to tell you how moved and grateful I am.

I think I gained a pound or two on Tim-Tams from Australia, courtesy of Trekhawk. Those things are so good they are evil and should be categorized as banned substances.

And SadieKate sent me the most adorable knitted doll, wearing a cycling jersey-like sweater with back pockets. Inside one of the back pockets is a little green jewel shaped like a turtle – yep, it’s the infamous Amici Veloci inner tortoise! And the front of the jersey has a heart, reminiscent of the Amici Veloci design. I named her Emmaline. (sorry I can't find my camera right now).

My crash was one month ago today. I find it hard to believe its been an entire month now, it certainly doesn’t seem that long, April simply flew by.

I think I’m going to call April 2009 "the month that wasn’t".

I still don’t remember a thing about the crash, nor about an hour or so beforehand. Lee and I actually drove out to the site of my crash a week ago Sunday. Nope, nothing, it was like I had never been there. It was a moderately steep downhill section and the road was fairly bumpy there. At the time of day I passed through it last month, it was partly shaded by trees, somewhat speckled, so the irregularities in the road were probably harder to see. But to be honest I’ve ridden over worse pavement! So no great revelations, I’m still assuming I must have hit a patch of pavement badly, or maybe some pavement came loose as I went over it, or I rolled over something that wasn’t pavement. Perhaps I was distracted by something (darn those shiny objects! ), but since no-one was riding with me at that moment, it’ll just be one of life’s little mysteries.

As mp mentioned, I was at a team get-together last Saturday. I was speaking with one of the assistant coaches who told me that day he was riding with me a ways before the accident. We were carrying on a conversation in which I told him about my work. I even met his wife, who is a park ranger in the national park we were riding through and who was on duty at the time and stopped to say hello. It weirds me out a bit that I remember absolutely none of that!

Anyhow, enough of that. Although I naturally wonder how my crash occurred, and what I could have done to avoid it, I’m actually very glad that I don’t remember the crash or the immediate aftermath. One less bit of baggage for me!

I was in the hospital for four days, two days in the ICU and two days in a regular room. I remember very little of those first couple of days, and the next couple of days, well, I guess they weren’t all that memorable.

I only found out a couple of weeks ago that, for the first day or two, there were some real concerns about my recovery! I had hit my head very hard on the pavement (yep, I was wearing a helmet) and, although I was more or less conscious, I wasn’t really “there”, and they had no good way of knowing how much of my mental acuity would return. I’m told the folks in the ICU were relieved when I got on the phone with my boss on Monday morning and described to him, in reasonably good detail, the patent papers that were due that day that he had to get filed in my absence (I work as a patent agent). I still think that’s pretty funny, actually – that they revised my prognosis on account of my recall of my patent docket!

My husband Lee was great through all this. He admits he was scared sh*tless those first couple of days, but everyone I spoke to afterwards told me that he kept his head and was a real champ. He stayed at home at night while I was in the hospital, and he had a long drive to and from the hospital each day. He said that the drive, and being at home at night, really helped him keep it together. I cannot imagine what I put him through...

When I got home from the hospital Lee dragged our spare bed downstairs and into the living room, so I could watch TV if I wanted to, and so I wouldn’t need to use the stairs (we have a guest bath downstairs).

Lee took a couple of photos of me a day or two after I got out of the hospital – wow I looked like crap!! The right side of my face was badly scraped up and covered with scabs, yech. I slept a lot for the first couple of weeks, and yeah, surfed the web, but that’s about it.

I’m doing MUCH better now, as mp mentioned. I’ve been getting out and seeing friends and basically getting re-acquainted with the world.

My shoulder is almost all healed, it still doesn’t have the complete range of motion back, but it’s close. My face is pretty well healed up and I had the last few stitches removed a couple of days ago. I’ll probably wind up with a bit of scarring on the side of my face near the hairline, but nothing dramatic – just a small momento.

I still have a bit of double vision, but it’s still going away. I had slightly damaged my fourth cranial nerve, which controls the muscle that points my right eye downward diagonally towards my nose. That particular nerve damages easily, it is a common injury among cyclists, motorcyclists, boxers(!) and others who experience any sort of trauma to the side of the head. When it’s damaged the muscle can’t move the right eye in concert with the left very well, especially if one is looking level or downward (interestingly, I almost never got DV while looking upwards). I saw my opthamologist last week and he says its recovering at a good pace and he thinks it should be pretty well healed within a month. I actually experience DV nowadays mainly in the morning when I wake up, and at night when I’m tired; my vision is generally fine for the rest of the day.

My back – eh, I don’t really know yet. I had a mild compression fracture of the T7 vertebra, and a compression fracture supposedly takes a long time to heal (weeks to months). I’ll be seeing the neuro dr. in a couple of weeks to get some new x-rays taken so he can gauge its recovery. Thankfully, my back has not been painful at all, the worst is that it gets a bit uncomfortable when I’ve been sitting or standing a lot, but that goes away very quickly if I lay down for a few minutes. I last saw the neuro dr a few weeks ago and he said the prognosis for my recovery was very good, and he thought at the time that surgery wasn’t needed. I have no idea yet if I’ll have any sort of chronic back problems coming from this, but time will tell.

I’m wearing that stylin’ brace practically all the time, and no, no-one has inflicted their artistic impulses upon it yet.

My memory is back to normal, more or less. The doctors had warned Lee that I might be a bit forgetful for the first couple of months, and they were right. I have a bit of trouble remembering names of people I don’t deal with often, names of streets that I don’t frequent, directions to places I don’t go often, that sort of thing –- things that I used to have much less trouble remembering. But that should improve with time.

I’ve been off work ever since the accident and I start back again this coming Monday, although I’ve made a few very brief cameo appearances over the past couple of weeks. Luckily for my boss, I remember my work pretty darn well (although I did have a bit of trouble remembering where on our network I had saved a computer file he was trying to find. Heh heh )

And now, for the really important stuff. I still have no idea when I’ll be biking again, but hopefully it’ll be in a couple of months. And I was getting so strong, darnit!! But I guess I’ll be starting more or less from scratch. Eh, slow steps, grasshopper.

And who knows, maybe I’ll give the Death Ride a try next year.

Good lord, if this isn't the longest post ever on TE ... thanks for your patience!

hugs to you all, - Jo.

[SadieKate]

Yes, I had to send a proxy hugger (dressed, of course, in Assos shorts).

[jobob]

Oh excellent, thanks for the pic (and for the hugger) !!!

[bmccasland]

Jobob - here's to continual recovery {{{careful hug}}} !!!

Shall we pitch in for a bike with fat tires and training wheels? and pink streamers?

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

[OakLeaf]

Jobob, it's really good to hear that your recovery is going so well. Head injuries are so frightening. From your post and MP's, it sounds like you're your "old self" and I'm so glad.

Keep up the healing. Sending gentle hugs and healing vibes.


(FWIW, the memories never did come back after my concussion - much milder than yours - either.)

[Grog]

Wow, Jobob. I'm so glad you're, all things considered, okay. That's a very scary story. I hope you enjoy returning to work on Monday.

It is a good reminder that life is full of surprises. As a friend of mine says: "Life is uncertain. Start with dessert."

And, SK, what a fantastic proxy hugger!!

[Trekhawk]

Great news Jo!

You gave us all such a scare. Even reading your post when I already knew most of the details gives me a chill.

Give yourself (very gently) and Lee a big hug from me.

SK - that is one cute doll.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

What a great update! Sounds like you are healing very quickly- you must be doing something right.

That doll IS cute! (and I know a thing or two about little dolls)

Those bike shorts on her...she's got 'diaper butt'!
What a cute knitted jersey with a back pocket! Very very cool doll.

[arielmoon]

(((Jo)))

I have to tell you that I found your post very inspiring four and a half weeks from my own accident. I have no doubt that I will be back on my bike at some point but I have wondered what the emotional effects will be when I do.

I hope you heal quickly!

The doll is awesome btw!

[SadieKate]

That doll IS cute! (and I know a thing or two about little dolls)

Those bike shorts on her...she's got 'diaper butt'!
What a cute knitted jersey with a back pocket! Very very cool doll.

Thanks, actually she doesn't have diaper butt. The knitting is shaped for the doll to be sitting down as dolls w/o some kind of articulation at the hip just slide off bookshelves (which I find completely annoying). She's standing in the photo which makes her butt look funny. Remember, I said they're Assos shorts which have the maximum in ergonomic shaping - not just a weird orange butt tag.

[Biciclista]

thanks for the thorough update. sheesh. how scary. keep getting better!

[ASammy1]

Jobob- So glad to hear things are progressing so nicely for you. Keep at it and know that we are all thinking about you ((((( the Bobs )))))

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Thanks, actually she doesn't have diaper butt. The knitting is shaped for the doll to be sitting down as dolls w/o some kind of articulation at the hip just slide off bookshelves (which I find completely annoying). She's standing in the photo which makes her butt look funny. Remember, I said they're Assos shorts which have the maximum in ergonomic shaping - not just a weird orange butt tag.

Oh, I get it now. Assos shorts....too funny!

Did you knit that doll yourself??