I was in a local race in Newton, MA on June 17, 2007 when some sketchy rider in front of me fell and I managed to endo over him and hit the pavement with my face. Hitting the pavement with your face while traveling 32 MPH leads to problems.
I was knocked out, broke my upper jaw, lost 2 teeth completely, cracked another 2, split my face open vertically and basically cut my lips off - oh, and wound up with tons of road rash.
Yuck.
All this to get a little speed work in a week before the Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race, which I was training very hard for.
Yuck.
I wound up at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston where they performed just about every test on me to make sure nothing was seriously wrong. Fortunately, I did not have a head or neck injury. My wife showed up in the ER before any of the injuries were treated. I could tell I looked pretty bad based on a couple of things: 1. The lack of any reflective surfaces in my vicinity and 2. My wife turning completely pale when she realized the bloody lump on the stretcher was me (she only knew it was me by looking at my wedding ring).
Three hours of plastic surgery and countless stitches (and shots of Lidocaine) later, my face was back together. I had to keep asking for an Oral Surgeon to come in to look at my teeth. If I didn't insist, they wouldn't have done anything - oh my.
The Oral Surgeon came in and shot my mouth up with some more Lidocaine (including a VERY unpleasant shot into the roof of my mouth) and proceeded to wire my upper jaw with an Arch Bar. She managed to save a tooth that had come most of the way out, but unfortunately, one tooth was completely missing and nowhere to be found.
Once the work had been completed, I was wheeled to a room, so I could spend the night. I wasn't able to sleep much that night, but by the morning I was feeling much better. I even took a picture of myself using my cell phone:
Isn't that pretty? Take it from me... it wasn't fun.
1 comment:
I though the accident improved your face... :)
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