Good news VLJ, slowly but persistently to your full recovery. Stay in good and positive spirit. Good luck with everything
Hope your insurance will look after your bill$ as well....????
Good to hear good news about your foot! Hang in there, dwell on a positive future. Please do continue to keep your forum friends informed.
Just catching up VJL. Fantastic and wonderful news about the foot
Good news about your foot. Speedy recovery wishes. Hang in there.
Great to hear from you again VLJ, especially with the good news about your foot.
I assume you have one of the rigid cervical collars that immobilizes your head. "Sucks" is probably putting it mildly, but this forum IS rated PG. Funny how all the images on line feature pretty young women with big smiles as they model the collars.
We worry when we don't hear from you, so please check in more often.
Roger
Glad you're alive and recovering. It didn't kill you so it made you stronger. Hang in there brother.
Chip
Great to hear about your foot. You had us worried. Thanks for the update and keep the good news coming!
Well, if it's any consolation... I have gone through the same and perhaps more. Compound fracture of the femur with significant bone loss, broken hip, broke both tibia, fibia and ankle bones, wound up losing part of my heel flesh due to improperly cast leg (rotted off, had my maxiofacial surgeon due an emergency 'surgery' on it because my orthopedic doctor was a arrogant cuss and didn't believe me), destroyed patella (knee cap), massive reconstruction of cheeks, eye sockets, upper and lower jaws which were all shattered, broken ribs, finger, etc., the injuries to my leg were absolutely massive, but so was my face.
The orthopedic surgeon 'insisted' on amputation at the hip, however I refused to allow this, so an experimental surgery was done to graft bone from my upper iliac crest to the femur and it worked. I did carry a lot of metal in my body for several years, including a screw / plate apparatus that was used to keep the femur ball attached to the femur, more plates alongside the femur, wired jaws shut for a few months, then more wires in my jaws and face, screws and pins in the ankle, etc. And later, I had an ankle fusion (very painful surgery, but it worked). All the metal weighed a few pounds, most of it is now lying around here somewhere in a plastic bag, the other bits, pieces, screws and wires are still in me.
They told me I would never walk again. They were wrong. I not only went back to doing everything I did before (hiking, biking, hunting, fishing, motorcycle riding) I never really let this hold me back or stop me from doing what I felt like doing. I've built houses, fixed cars, dug ditches, all kinds of hard, physical labor. The point being, injuries aren't as permanent as some might think, the human body wants to be healthy and can endure quite a lot given time. Attitude is critically important to both your recovery and your desire to get back to 'normal'. You need a 'can do' attitude, a mental fortitude that your life is still yours and you 'can'.
I had no insurance for medical costs, and the idiot that did this to me had limited insurance. I had to lawyer up of course and get what I could. I wound up dirt poor (worse then before), homeless, in pain, and the lawyer got the most (of course). I had to endure decades of pain and suffering especially if I overdid it. I was instantly permanently disabled, but never used this for any advantage except the $13 in food stamps per month given to me immediately following the accident (try living on that). Went back to work four months later, but working on my feet was extremely painful, so wound up becoming a computer systems analyst and did that for some years. That also finally got me some medical insurance and I had several more surgeries to deal with the injuries.
Fast forward 30+ years and I have significant issues with the old injuries, pain, arthritis, spinal stenosis, etc. You will need to get as much $$ as you can for future medical needs and costs. I've had numerous surgeries since, either paid out-of-pocket or back when I did have some medical insurance, all as a long-term result of this accident. My last surgery cost me $90k out-of-pocket and broke the bank (I'm broke now). I've finally applied for a disability "sticker" so I can park closer, but that's the only help I've ever asked for. But I'm actually 100% disabled and have been for over 30 years. I can't work even at a desk job, so I just do what I can, which frankly, is failing quite badly (online business) . Now I'm making plans to do nothing at all (not work) and just live simply, cheaply until I'm dead. I am still debt free so far, but not sure how long that's going to last. I can't remotely afford medical insurance so still pay out-of-pocket for everything, mostly I just do without because I have to.
Bikes are cheap and replaceable, but you're not. Personal health is or rather should be, the #1 priority in anyone's life. Taking care of oneself becomes very noticeable post-crash, but not so much if you've never been significantly injured. For some unasked for advice - that's what you do now, take very good care of yourself, go to rehab, continue to do your exercises at home, look out for yourself financially knowing that you will have long-term medical costs and issues, do your very best to plan for those, but don't stop living either. Re-embrace life and living, fully. Don't let this beat you in any way. You're not dead.
Lots of riders say they'll quit and that's entirely their business, but they also think that life is sort of 'over'. It's not. Not really. You adjust, more then you might think. Your body is capable of fantastic recovery even in the wake of severe injury. Good health, diet, exercise can do absolute wonders for your recovery. I was extremely healthy at the time of the accident (bicycle racer) and actually had an 'amazing' recovery, but I put it down more to attitude and willingness to 'recover' then anything else. A number of the doctors (over 70) did not believe me when I told them I'd walk out of that hospital, but I did in just 3 weeks (on crutches), ate out of straw for months and then returned to the work force after just 4 months. I'm not bragging, but people CAN do a lot when they set their minds to it, they can do absolutely amazing things.
Every day can be 'hard' or it can be a series of small accomplishments. Just being able to sit up, or open a window, or take a step, it's a fantastic thing (which we all take for granted). But you can build on this, day after day until 'normalcy' returns (the new normal, whatever that is for you).
Doctors don't know everything. In fact, they are often simply wrong. I've been misdiagnosed several times, been given bad and wrong 'advice' about what I 'need' and even told what I can and cannot do, all which were dead wrong. Do your own research. Make sure you're getting the right treatment, make sure they're using the best medicine available. My last $90k surgery would have literally killed me if I had taken the 'advice' of my primary surgeon. Two days before surgery, I cancelled out and took a totally different route, because he had zero plans for my reconstruction and recovery and would have left me seriously disfigured and even more disabled. And he was considered one of the 'best' surgeons in his field. I challenged his proposal and he backed down, I went to the Mayo instead and came home totally fixed. The point being - you need to educate yourself on what your body needs, it's STUNNING what doctors WON'T tell you about your options, and the crap they're trying to sell you on. You're an ATM machine to the medical industry and you need to be certain you're not being mishandled because more money can be made.
Sorry for the long post. I don't intend to write much more about any of this and don't often log in here, so wanted to share the outline, you can definitely get through this. I still ride, still live life as fully as I can. Life wasn't 'over', it was just a change of direction. I don't regret any of it either. It's just "is". It's what happened. Riding is dangerous, but so is living life.
Nightengale, this is so horrific and you went through hell... but your story is so true.
Never relay on one doctor diagnosis, always take a second opinion if complicated or your inner voice tells you so. As you said, after this ordeal, proper rehabilitation and recovery is at most importance, as well as believing in full recovery and great spirit to never give up. We all only have one life, there is no second chance....
Good luck to you with everything, and I wish you all your dreams to come through!!!
A sobering share Nightengale. Strong perspective.