Silver beauty RIP

Hey Mad - glad you are doing better and on your way to what appears to be a successful recovery. Keep hanging tough, brotha!

 

You should start a thread about what has transpired over the last few months, because if the crash is only the tip of the iceberg, the rest should be very interesting. Or you can document it on this thread if you feel comfortable with that, of course. Again, glad you're ok, relatively speaking. Sucks to lose consciousness because one is left with only the testimony of others as to the details of the event. It's called retrograde amnesia.

 

WOW! Very glad you are recovering. I hate seeing another Silver Brother go down (making me nervous!) Please if you feel comfortable tell us the story. I'm sure many will benefit from your experiences and it might even scare a few into wearing the proper gear when riding! Good luck to you!

 

So here is the story. You are gonna love this.

The reason I was even coming through that area at that time was because I just got my special order dishwasher delivered. I went home for lunch to get it inside my garage. My wife and I were in the middle of remodeling our kitchen. By ourselves. At that time, our kitchen was completely gutted. We were trying to get it done in a quick manner because she was heading off to boot camp.

So about two weeks after my accident, my wife had to leave to go to Cape May, NJ for Coast Guard boot camp. I was still in severe pain from the cracked ribs. There was no way in hell I could grout my kitchen, paint my walls, rewire and replumb for adding a dishwasher, put my cabinets together, install them, install the countertops, install the appliances and pretty much everything else needed to redo a kitchen. I have no family in Florida, so my father and sister flew down from Ohio and DC, respectively. They put my kitchen together while yelling at me to lay down. The work they did was fantastic.

Skip ahead a couple of weeks to about 6 weeks after the accident. The only company I had at my house was my two dogs. My dad and sister were down for about 5 days. The rest of the time I was alone. I went back to work as an Acura mechanic. The whole time I was taking heavy pain medicine to help with everything. What I did not know was the pain meds were screwing with my stomach. That is what brought the weight loss. Dropping to 139 pounds as a heavy line technician is never good for your back. That was the final straw. Now I have two herniated and one ruptured discs. The back injuries were not caused by my accident.

I was in and out of the hospital twice after the accident for nerves. My wife was away at boot camp and I was by myself. It was a trying affair. To complicate things, I found out we had to pick up and move to New Jersey. While I was busy trying to hold my head together, I was also trying to prepare to uproot and relocate.

There was more stuff in there that made everything since April feel like the trials of Job. I finally went to see a therapist to help with things. He was shocked to hear what had happened. He told me there has been members of the military that have had to endure trauma on that magnitude. There were many that did not make it, if you get my meaning. He applauded my resilience, and we worked to get everything on track.

To this day, I am haunted by what happened. It was not the accident itself, but all the stress that compounded things. The point is, no matter how down things get, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I am recovering and things are looking up.

I swear that all of this story is the truth. The moral is plan for the future but don't forget to live in the moment. And tell your spouse, kid, partner, dog that you love them. Things can change quickly.

 

Dude, that's a lot of hardship to cram into 6 months! It's good to hear that you're remaining positive considering all that you've been through. Hope you have good fortune in NJ.

 

Thank you for sharing. Sometimes just getting it out into the open and writing it out helps. after you're done it just seems like just a bunch of words especially now that it looks like the worst is behind you. Stay strong! :thumb:

 

Good news indeed, they're plenty of VFR's out there but only one of you. Could have been soooo much worse, glad your gettin fixed up.

 

You guys are right. Sharing does help. This is the first time I have told this to a large scale audience. The support I have read on the thread really helps out.

Thanks everyone.

 

To everybody that posted in this thread, I wanted to convey something. I know I have already said thanks for your support. Rereading this thread made me realize that while I have never met any of you face to face, there is a manner of brotherhood here (and sisterhood for the ladies). I have been required to go to therapy to help deal with the events of the last few months. I have gone voluntarily and am glad for it. That being said, I need to say that just talking on this forum has really been a good thing. Even better than therapy in some cases because I am relating to fellow riders.

I wanted to take a moment and convey my appreciation for your support. I posted above how sharing helped. This manner helped me in ways far more than seeing a therapist. I may be taking a break from bikes until my spine is healed, but I still frequent this site. Thanks everybody.

Remember, rubber side down!

 

The one positive about a terrible run in cirumstance is that said circumstance will always turn itself around. In my experience a person is usually stronger and better off for it. Sounds cliche, I know, but true regardless.

Thanks for sharing your story and I hope all is getting better.

Besides, good things happen to BSG fans. It's written somewhere.