I GOT HIT BY A CAR! GREAT
The Once over
Friday, 2:30pm
About 2 hours ago, I was hit by a car on my bike ride. The way appeared clear and he came out of nowhere and before I knew it, I’m flying over the car and hit the ground. I’ll be totally honest. My first thought was, “how’s my bike?” I should also mention that as far as I could tell, I didn’t sustain any injuries. I don’t think I hit my head. I thinnnkkk I might have fallen on my left wrist, maybe, but no scatches or anything to show for. So far so good since i was just hit by a car.
Since I needed to know if I could ride my bike home at this point, I had to do a quick check of the bike. Everything seemed operational at the time and, after a test ride, I decided to see if I could ride home. By sheer Providence, about 400 yards away was, of all things, a bike shop. Although my ride so far was smooth, I didn’t have my phone on me and thought it might be wise to stop in.
“Hey, I just got hit by a car…Would you mind giving the bike a once over so I know I can safely ride home?”
“No problem. Bring it right in”.
The kind bike guy throws my bike up on the stand and does a quick checkup. A much more thorough version of what I had previously done.
First, he checked the wheel…My spoke was broken, but otherwise in good shape
Then he checked my headset…Also damaged, but not very expensive to replace
Then he check the tires…Rear tire flat (How did I miss that?)…Just have to replace the tube.
Derailer…okay. Brakes…still okay. Frame…still okay.
Phew…$57 and we’ll be riding again in a couple days
I call the wife. “Ah, hi honey…Don’t panic…I’m okay, but I just got hit by a car and I need you to come pick me up.”
“You what?”
“Honestly, I’m fine, just come pick me up, I’m at the bike shop.”
Now, you may be thinking, “glad to hear your bike is okay, but How are YOU?” Thanks for asking.
At first, I was actually not feeling bad at all. That’s a little something we call adrenaline.
The good news is that nothing bone or cartilage wise seemed broken.
I did start to feel a little…funny. I was having trouble thinking straight and talking was giving me a headache. After that my neck started feeling sore.
Lucky for me, my wife is not only beautiful but an amazing acupuncturist and went right to work.
“I’m treating, you. Get on the table.” I decided not to argue. “What was the point of impact?” she says. So she goes to work on my left shoulder and a few other needles later, headache is gone, and I’m able to process things as if nothing happened. This is a great testament to the power of acupuncture to help a cognitive problem, like what I was having as well as muscle strain that was probably the beginning of whiplash. I’m sure I’d be in a much different place if it was for her treatment and really am quite lucky to get treated right after the accident.
So how am I now? Great, actually. I’m back to running and went for a mountain bike ride today. Once the road bike is fixed…well, I might take a little time off. Maybe.
I consider myself blessed. My friends came and visited that night and thanked God that we weren’t in a hospital praying just for me to survive after being hit by a car.
I think that I did actually suffer whiplash, and some degree of post-event mental trauma, which are now resolved thanks to my wife.
In light of this, I thought it would be a good idea to spend the next few posts discussing whiplash and some other topics related to trauma from collision accidents, like bike accidents, car accidents, and sports-related trauma.
Look for more coming soon.
‘Til then
