Mind Fry Enterprises

Bike Wipe.... a Year Later!

     It had been one year to the day since he wiped out on his bicycle and broken 4 ribs (not to mention a medley of other injuries to his entire left side.) He was keenly aware of this point since he hit the light on his alarm which revealed to him that the time was 5:00 AM, the room temperature was 78F and the date was September 20, 2022. The date had sunk into his brain and while the previous day it had not occurred to him that the following day was the one year anniversary of a day where he had spent over 6 hours in the Emergency Department seeing it on his clock brought it all back. 

      It had been a glorious warm day of around 85 degree's and he had gone riding on his new bike. He had gone along Lakeshore Boulevard into Brathenahl and then headed up MLK boulevard to University Circle. It was on MLK where his attention had been grabbed by what seemed to be a drug deal going down and he was looking off to his right unaware that his bike drifted slightly in that direction. When his vision refocused on his riding path it was too late and he hit the curb just to the right of where there was actually an up ramp from the street to the bikeway. Before he could react he was slamming into the blacktop of the bikeway his entire left side taking full impact. He remembered feeling stunned. He remembered getting up and going to a bench and sitting down of a minute and looking over his injuries. His left thigh was swollen bigger than it ever had been. His left forearm was bleeding and swollen to the point that it looked like there might be an avocado pit underneath the bloody area. His breathing told him he had broken a rib though it turned out to be 4 of them. He sat for a moment and without a cell phone he would have to keep riding. He was going to rest until it struck him that he would just stiffen up so he got on and continued on. He remembered how while riding through Bratenahl there was an abnormal number of cars in the east bound lane and that something had happened on I-90. As he rode under it heading south on MLK there were sirens and flashing lights though he could see exactly what had happened so while it was a shorter trip home to reverse course he continued on the path he had originally planned. He went through University Circle up into Cleveland Heights. He was getting plenty of looks by pedestrians as he rode through the Coventry Village area with blood dripping off him. At one point he thought about asking a hot dog vendor if he could sponge some napkins but he didn't. He was in no mood to talk. The ride to his house had lasted another 50 minutes. When he got home he looked at his wounds and washed them off. Then he got into the shower and washed some more. Upon getting out o f the shower he felt sore and tired. A beer would be good he thought but first he called a nurse line and after talking to the nurse and explaining his condition she said he should definitely go to the ED. He didn't want to. He just wanted to rest. Still he walked over to Euclid General. The nurse had said he should get someone to drive him but anyone who might do this was working and he could walk easily in 10 minutes. He had reminded the nurse that he had just pedaled his bike for the last 50 minutes to get to where he was. He walked. It was warm and sunny and he was wearing shorts sandals and a tank top. He was not prepared for the cold of the hospital. He went and checked in. It was a good 45 minutes before he got out of the waiting room and into triage where he explained everything that had happened. He was left in the triage room for another 20 minutes before they came and put him in a bed. He was now wearing a hospital gown with the open back. He remembered wonder why they don't have a gown that just button up the front. Or at least tie in front like a bathrobe. So while he was at the hospital he got x-rayed and a CT Scan and they gave him some IV stuff for the pain and left him in a room where he was freezing with clothes meant for mid 80's. It couldn't have been much over 60 in there. Finally a nurse came in and he told her he was freezing so she gave him a blanket commenting “normally they are warm but this one isn't, sorry.” It was something. Most of his time he dealt with a Physicians assistant who was nice. Eventually a pretty doctor of Indian heritage came in and talked to him for about 5 minutes. She mentioned he might possibly have to stay over night, something he had never done and was not planning on it. He had a cat at home that needed her medicines. The rest of the time he was basically waiting for the results of the CT scan to come back. Then he would get checked out if that showed nothing significant. It got to be shift change and the PA came and apologized that he had to leave and introduce him to a second PA, the night shift PA, that would take care of him the rest of the way. Well around 8:30 that night the results of the CT scan came back and he was good to go. He remembered just how good it was to walk out of the hospital into the warm night air. The thought of a good stiff drink was crossing through his mind. He remembered when talking to the pretty doctor he was going to ask if it'd be alright to have a drink when he got home but then he thought she might say 'no' so he didn't ask. Strolling slowly back to his house he couldn't believe how what had seemed to be such a great day had gone south so quickly. He remembered getting home and giving his cat Marsha her med's and making a good stiff gin martini with an olive. 

      With these thoughts on his mind and the day being a glorious late September day he put on his riding shorts and headed east on Lakeshore Boulevard to Brathenahl to University Circle up into the Coventry area, this time stopping to rest at the Peace Arch and then after having rested home via the Euclid Creek Metropark. It could happen again he had thought.......but it didn't!                                                                                                                                 9-20-22