Crash

Having spent some three hundred odd dollars fixing up my bike I decided to join some friends out on a mountain biking trip around Makara Peak (which is essentially in my back garden). I'd taken said bike out on a test run the night before to make sure everything was in order, I'd fixed up the breaks, sorted out the wheels, even got the granny-gears working; I was ready.

The plan was to do an easy-ish route since we were not super experienced and out of practice.

We met up at the car park and set off on the route; things started off with a gentle-ish up hill and once we were all up at the top we set off one-by-one on the downhill.

There wasn't even any injuries on the back of my head

Some five hours later I'm in a hospital ward asking my friends the same questions I've apparently been repeating all night long:

"So was I in a crash?"

Was I in a crash?

Apparently I'd taken an unscheduled shortcut down the mountain after smashing face first into a track marker pole. I can't remember the accident and nobody really saw it, they just heard crashing and swearing. What seems to have occurred is that I lost control, hit the post at full speed then rolled down a ravine hitting rocks on the way down. I remember that I got myself up the slope but don't actually remember doing so.

The next couple of hours involved me being wheeled from specialist to specialist - I got my very own wheelchair - having CT scans and getting stitches and bits of bark removed from my face. They kept me in overnight, which was a new experience for me, for observation and more work in the morning.

The next day consisted of more of the same with me seeing dentists, radiographers, and eye specialists. Eventually I was discharged at around seven pm with appointments to see specialists the next day. Since all my clothes were covered in blood I was allowed to keep my hospital jammies and left in these.

The specialists at the plastics department showed me the results of my CT scans and explained that I have a 'Le Fort II' type fractual in my skull.

For those of you without medical training this basically means that one half of the front part of my skull has been pushed up and rotataed out of position - so if you can imagine the teeth on the top-right hand side of my face are about half and inch higher up than those on the left; so when I said the other day that I'd lost three teeth it was actually only two but the gap is large enough for three to four teeth.

I also have some hairline fractures in my upper jaw where my teeth have been snapped off.

I'll need surgery involving metal plates to get it all fixed properly and some root canals for my teeth.

I'd like to thank everybody for being so supportive and helpful towards me through out this especially:

John & Cath for staying with me in the ER and coordinating everything with my flatmates/work etc. Really appreciate it guys.

Tom for looking after my bike and comming in to visit the next day.

Krys for organinsing a lift home for me and contacting my folks.

Mike & Kim for comming to pick me up and getting me home.

Ange, Matt, and Andy for the Irn-Bru, magazines and support.

Vlad & Maria for the excellent fruit juice.

The staff at Wellington & Hutt Valley hospital who were kinder and more helpful than I could have possibly expected.

And everybody else for their messages and kind wishes.

Apologies to anyone who I've missed or not responded to (my phone is blocked due to unpaid bills). I'll try and keep people posted about what's going on and I'll let you know what happens on Monday - my next appointment.

For now I'm going to sleep some more and watch the A-Team which is the only thing on tele.