ALTIMA420
(Post Master)
09/10/09 04:00 PM
One year ago today...

I was almost killed in a motorcycle accident when a lady made a left in front of me on my way from work. I spent a very long time in the hospital getting a grip of surgeries. I was stuck in a wheelchair until mid June when I started learning how to walk again. Now, a year later all my injuries have healed with the exception of my right tib/fib. However, I'm able to walk fairly well. I'm missing 5" of bone right under my knee and am lucky to have a leg still. I still may lose it, but keeping it is looking good at this point. I broke about 20 bones, including clavicle, femur, a bunch of ribs, and my left hand/wrist. I also had a bruised heart, ruptured kidney, and torn lungs. I was fully geared with the exception of full length boots. My legs look pretty butchered. They took a huge chunk out of my left thigh to cover the gaping hole my tibia came out. Picture Stewie from the family guy's head on my shin. \:D I have a titanium cage in the bone deficit now, and hopefully bone will grow around and through the cage.

I cannot stress enough to treat each day as your last, and to give blood! I received 9 pints and am forever indebted to donors. Also, I will NEVER eat Tom's BBQ again haha. When I was in ICU, still intubated, I ralphed up my lunch twice and thought I was going to drown in my own vomit. I will never be able to bbq without thinking about that. \:D

Here's my leg 8 days after the accident and 1 day after the surgery that put my thigh piece on my shin. \:D (it looks gnarly now, but A LOT better than this pic)



AzRider
(Post Master Sr)
09/12/09 03:57 PM
Re: One year ago today...

god damn. you got fucked up!

glad you are still with us csi'ers and hope it all works well in the end.


alex053
(Post Master Supreme)
09/26/09 11:40 PM
Re: One year ago today...

damn man! glad to hear youre getting better.

JT
(Post Master Sr)
05/10/10 08:42 PM
Re: One year ago today...

Holy shit Rick, I just stopped in to check the SW board and saw this. How is your recovery going?

AZSnake
(Post Master Sr)
05/26/10 09:31 PM
Re: One year ago today...

That is crazy man, I'm glad you seem to be doing a lot better. \:\( Sorry to hear you had to go through so much!

94lsvtec
(Post Master)
08/01/10 10:01 AM
Re: One year ago today...

Man that looks terrible. Makes me not want to get a bike now, had a lot of close calls myself...Best of luck with your continued recovery!

ALTIMA420
(Post Master)
08/14/10 11:09 AM
Re: One year ago today...

Almost 2 years now! \:D My recovery has been awesome. I have not let my disability stop me from doing much of anything except riding motorcycles for the time being. My recovery has been remarkable from a medical standpoint. I shouldn't have a leg, much less walking as good as I do now. My x-rays indicate a great deal of bone growth in the huge deficit where the cage was placed. My main limitations are running and jumping. I'm cleared to run by my doctor, I'm just not really able to do anything more than a brisk walk at this point. I traded my 540i in for a quad cab SRT-10 back in March \:D I didn't put it all the way in park the other day and had to do a gimp run after it before it rolled off a huge hill where it would have likely met its demise \:D Afterwards I was quite impressed with my ability to move that quickly haha.

Thanks everyone!