I JET
Member
So.....I was involved in a motorbike accident 8 weeks ago on 13th june. It occurred on Jambaroo Mountain Road at about 8.30 am. As I approached a vehicle from behind, it began to slow down and come to a stop on the left side of the road, without any warning or indication, the car made a sharp right turn across the road. I collided with the drivers side rear door and my body impacted the roof of the car before rolling across the roof and onto the ground on the other side. I was wearing all my gear, a-stars leathers, boots, gloves, back protector. The crash investigation officer estimated my speed to be 65km/hr which i agree with.
The impact smashed my left leg above and inside the knee joint, broken left wrist 2 places, hand in 2 places, knuckle joint on one finger, left shoulder also broken in a few places and 4 broken ribs on my left side. Unfortunately the broken ribs punctured my left lung and caused it to collapse.
The paramedics took 3 hours to stabilize me on the side of the road. They put me in an induced coma and air lifted me to Liverpool hospital in a serious condition. They put me straight in the ICU and on the saturday they took me off the breathing machine and eventually took the breathing tubes out.
I tell you what, waking up in hospital with breathing tubes down your throat, in immense pain and unable to open your eyes or talk and wearing a neck brace was the scariest most horrible experience. It was like a bad dream that I couldn't wake up from. I communicated at first by writing on a piece of paper with my good hand. Once the tubes came out, which was an experience on its own it was soooo much better.
I had to wait until Monday to have surgury. The surgury went better than expected. They pinned and plated the f*^k out of my smashed up leg and put wires in my left wrist. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do with my broken shoulder, hand and ribs. Just had to grim and bare the pain.
On the Wednesday they moved me out of ICU to the orthepedic ward. And on Thursday they removed my chest drain and most of the other wires and tubes. The following Monday they found that my right wrist was also broken so I went in for further surgery on Tuesday to have a screw put in it. So that was now 3 limbs out of action.
I was moved to a rehabilitation hospital closer to home a few weeks ago. This is where i lay as i'm writing this. Getting a lot of physio time here. I'm doing around 4 hours per day of physio during the week. Everything has been progressing along nicely apart from my left knee. Up until last wednesday I had only been able to bend my knee to 55 deg from horizontal. It just locks up, the joint is very stiff, still swollen and very painful.
So while i was having surgery last wednesday to remove the wires from my left wrist, the surgeon forcefully manipulated my knee joint to try and get some range of movement back. Its pretty brutal what they do...i woke up in excruciating pain in recovery . It did how ever work, i'm bending to 102 deg. The key now is to keep it bending, push more and more in physio before the torn scar tissue heals again. Very painful stuff but i really have no choice. I'm so motivated to get better and be able to ride a bike again.
Any way that's where i'm at. I have to wait another 2 weeks untill i can take weight through my wrists. Ive only just started putting partial weight through my left leg this week. So crutches in 2 weeks and hopefully they will send me home soon after that.
Every doctor and nurse i've spoken to has told me i'm very, very lucky to be here. People who sustain as many broken bones as i did generally have some sort of spinal and or head injuries. I'm lucky to have not had either. Its been hard....really had emotionally and of course physically. Even after 8 weeks i still cant really do much. I can stand on one foot and hop. But considering for the first 2 weeks i couldn't even move i guess i have come a long way. But still a long way to go.
So the FZ6 cup bike will be sitting in the shed gathering dust for a while. I will take the opportunity while im not able to ride to strip it down, do the valve adjustment, install the cams and other supporting mods. Hopefully my next thread will be an R6 Cammed FZ6 on the dyno.
The impact smashed my left leg above and inside the knee joint, broken left wrist 2 places, hand in 2 places, knuckle joint on one finger, left shoulder also broken in a few places and 4 broken ribs on my left side. Unfortunately the broken ribs punctured my left lung and caused it to collapse.
The paramedics took 3 hours to stabilize me on the side of the road. They put me in an induced coma and air lifted me to Liverpool hospital in a serious condition. They put me straight in the ICU and on the saturday they took me off the breathing machine and eventually took the breathing tubes out.
I tell you what, waking up in hospital with breathing tubes down your throat, in immense pain and unable to open your eyes or talk and wearing a neck brace was the scariest most horrible experience. It was like a bad dream that I couldn't wake up from. I communicated at first by writing on a piece of paper with my good hand. Once the tubes came out, which was an experience on its own it was soooo much better.
I had to wait until Monday to have surgury. The surgury went better than expected. They pinned and plated the f*^k out of my smashed up leg and put wires in my left wrist. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do with my broken shoulder, hand and ribs. Just had to grim and bare the pain.
On the Wednesday they moved me out of ICU to the orthepedic ward. And on Thursday they removed my chest drain and most of the other wires and tubes. The following Monday they found that my right wrist was also broken so I went in for further surgery on Tuesday to have a screw put in it. So that was now 3 limbs out of action.
I was moved to a rehabilitation hospital closer to home a few weeks ago. This is where i lay as i'm writing this. Getting a lot of physio time here. I'm doing around 4 hours per day of physio during the week. Everything has been progressing along nicely apart from my left knee. Up until last wednesday I had only been able to bend my knee to 55 deg from horizontal. It just locks up, the joint is very stiff, still swollen and very painful.
So while i was having surgery last wednesday to remove the wires from my left wrist, the surgeon forcefully manipulated my knee joint to try and get some range of movement back. Its pretty brutal what they do...i woke up in excruciating pain in recovery . It did how ever work, i'm bending to 102 deg. The key now is to keep it bending, push more and more in physio before the torn scar tissue heals again. Very painful stuff but i really have no choice. I'm so motivated to get better and be able to ride a bike again.
Any way that's where i'm at. I have to wait another 2 weeks untill i can take weight through my wrists. Ive only just started putting partial weight through my left leg this week. So crutches in 2 weeks and hopefully they will send me home soon after that.
Every doctor and nurse i've spoken to has told me i'm very, very lucky to be here. People who sustain as many broken bones as i did generally have some sort of spinal and or head injuries. I'm lucky to have not had either. Its been hard....really had emotionally and of course physically. Even after 8 weeks i still cant really do much. I can stand on one foot and hop. But considering for the first 2 weeks i couldn't even move i guess i have come a long way. But still a long way to go.
So the FZ6 cup bike will be sitting in the shed gathering dust for a while. I will take the opportunity while im not able to ride to strip it down, do the valve adjustment, install the cams and other supporting mods. Hopefully my next thread will be an R6 Cammed FZ6 on the dyno.
