Sooo, there I was, riding my bike home...
Last night, sometime between 8:05 and 8:25, I had an accident on the bike. I don't recall what happened, but my memory sequence goes something like:
- Ride
- ...
- Profit!
Big thanks to ambermae and gorski for attending ER festivities. I know it wasn't the beer drinking event we'd all planned after work, but hey, not every night can work out. We got to third place, got food before heading to the ER since we were hungry and it would be a while. Turned out to be a good thing.
Anyway, when seen at the ER, I was asked large series of questions:
Q: Were you hit by a car?
A: No. If I was hit by a car while on the Greenway, I suspect it would have just been my time.
Q: Were you wearing a helmet?
A: Yes. Moreover, it saved me from more serious injury, as witnessed by the nice crack near where my left temple is. There are also scuff marks along the upper part of the helmet. So, yes, I did hit my head and as such, the helmet, with about three weeks of service, is retired.
On one hand, I'm a little miffed that I just spent $60 on the new helmet. On the other hand, as gorski points out, it was $60 well spent. Plus, perusing through the helmet owner's manual, if I can dig up the reciept, I can ship the helmet back and get a replacement for about $20 to $25.
Q: Were you dehydrated?
A: To the best of my knowledge, no. I'd been drinking water during the ride and had left sufficiently hydrated.
Q: Have you had fainting spells before?
A: No.
Q: Were there witnesses?
A: Not that I know of. Perhaps they were absconded with.
Q: What happened?
A: That's the big unknown. My presumption is I fell off the bike, hit my head, blacked out for a bit, then got back on my bike and started riding home. I became aware of my injured state while riding home. That was just a little freaky.
The other possibility, raised by my crack medical team, is that I fainted while riding and then crashed. As there were was no one I talked to, just a couple of apparently astonished people. I imagine it was because seeing my face being half red, and my knees scrapped up. But there was nothing like, "Dude, stop!" or "I've not seen anyone ever pull that off."
So, yes, a little worrisome, we won't really know more than where I made contact with pavement.
Q: Were you riding hard?
A: For the first half up to Edwards Mill and then down into the greenway, yes. But I'd slowed to about 14 or so on the stretch between Lassiter Mill and Anderson. Namely, it's a little twisty, there was a fair amount of silt on the trail and that's usually where I see lots of kids.
Q: Have you done this kind of riding before?
A: Asked by both the P.A. and M.D. gorski laughed and mentioned that the week before, I'd ridden 560 miles. No, this was not me getting off the couch and pressing too hard.
Q: (Immediate) Family history of heart problems?
A: No.
Q: Other questions about earlier health issues, etc, etc?
A: Nothing other than asthma as a kid.
Q: Was it ninjas?
A: This theory has some popularity and cannot be discounted.
Q: How long were you at the ER?
A: 6 hours, 3 minutes, according to the doctor's note they gave me.
Q: They let you go home?
A: There was some discussion about whether or not they were goign to admit me for observation. Both the P.A. and M.D. were pretty adament about me not just going to sleep on my own, but get woken up every couple three hours. Ergo, I crashed on gorski's couch.
I wasn't all that enthusiastic about being admitted and as both professionals put it, there really wasn't a good liklihood they'd be able to definitively point to what happened. Given the choice between sleeping in the hospital and being looked in on every now and again and sleeping somewhere else and being looked in on every now and again, I chose the Not Hospital option. That said, I do appreciate that they made it my choice. If I'd been in worse shape, I don't imagine there would have been any discussion.
it was somewhat interesting about where I was placed in the Emergency Dept., "Minor Injuries," and I'd swear I heard murmurred conversations about me not supposed to have been there vs. the ER proper, having a memory gap of about 20 min.
Q: What's next?
A: The big thing is going back for a follow-up with a physician, hopefully tomorrow to have some tests redone and see if anything's turned up. I'm not expecting that anything will. But it probably means things like another CT scan, another EKG, checking for internal bleeding, that sort of thing.
Now, I'd selected a primary care physician based on the insurance provider's web tool. Turns out, however, that the two doctors they presented me with my initial criteria were for doctors who practice in Chapel Hill and have privileges at Rex. Slightly odd that the number listed got me the hospitalist at Rex.
Soooo, I have a call out to another physician on Six Forks Road, a few blocks away to see if I can get in tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm looking at calling around and seeing who can get me in on very short notice.
Q: How do you feel?
A: Generally good, but a bit stiff in my knees, the right one especially. My left shoulder has a large abrasion but seems fine otherwise. Very, very mild headache, but they mentioned that might happen. And the left side of my jaw where my face dragged is a little stiff as well.
Q: Recovery time looks like?
A: No cycling for a week. I'll be back at work Monday. It's mostly abrasions that will have to heal, so hopefully not long.
Q: When was your last tetanus shot?
A:: OW! About now ago.