Wednesday, April 29, 2009

My world comes crashing down !!

I think the majority of the people I know who read this will already know that I've had quite a large(ish) bike crash and have spent a fair amount of time in hospital. Just to clarify all the details I'll run through them below.
On Tuesday 14th April, on a beautiful sunny 25 degree Melbourne day, I set off for a casual ride out to 'Wildwood' - a popular 65km loop just north of the Melbourne Airport. On one of the descents going into the last gorge (where the old bridge is) i came off my bike at high speed, approx. 70 km/h and landed on the right hand side of my body. I have little recollection of the rest of the events until I got to hospital save that I did manage to call Marie and let her know what had happened and that a passerby had called an Ambulance which took me into Royal Melbourne Hospital casualty dept. Upon arrival I was diagnosed with a fractured skull and a broken clavicle. A subsequent scan revealed a blood clot on my brain which required urgent surgery. Following surgery on my brain, I've also had surgery on a broken femur which was diagnosed after 2 painful days, medical staff even had me walking around on it before it was diagnosed!
The list of breaks from the crash sits at - fractured skull, broken clavicle, broken femur, broken rib and clots on the brain and lungs - which eventuated a week after I came in.
I have been in hospital for 16 days now and have just found out that I'll be off to rehabilitation for at least 3 - 4 weeks. I'm pretty happy about this as it the next step to me getting home. Physio sounds as though it will be quite intense both on the neurological side and the orthopaedic side.
I've had a lot of time to think about what has happened, and yes, I shouldn't be around today, but the simple fact remains is I'm here, and best of all I still feel my 'good old self'. A lot of my friends have asked me if this is a 'wake up call' or a 'sign', an 'omen' - call it what you will but the general thrust of the question is whether I'll ride ever again, and/or race competitively again. The answer in short -You BETCHA !

See you all out there, soon - REAL SOON!
Matty

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