Starlifter
Serious Thumper
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It only snows seven months of the year here.
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Eastern Michigan
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gcsdls, no this happened a few years ago. You seem interested in Karen's story. The accident blog goes on concerning her recovery, so I will continue the story for you and others who might be interested:
Saturday November 18
In 35 years of riding this was only the second serious accident I have witnessed. The first was almost one year ago when another of the Lone Star Ladies (Evelyn) did a highside on an interstate road because her rear brakes locked. The second was Karen's accident in which she sideswiped a pickup truck.
The first accident witnessed had the most significant immediate reactions on my part. I was two bikes behind her, Elaine was immediately behind her. When I saw Evelyn begin her skid a rush of adrenaline hit me instantly. A four-letter word left my lips (sh*t!) and then she did the highside. My thoughts raced from "Control stop this baby" to "Please don't let me hit Elaine" to "Evelyn's not going to survive this."
All of the bikes in our tour who were behind Evelyn stopped before even reaching the point where she dismounted her bike, all without skid marks of our own or other incident.
We managed to take care of her, get a 911 call placed, and to direct traffic around the accident as if we knew what we were doing. But, we were ALL confused! There was gasoline all over the road yet I, for example, lit a cigarette at the scene (quickly put it out, but that is an example of the personal confusion.)
Mounting the bikes after seeing this accident was difficult for all of us. We did what we had to do, of course, but speeds were reduced, and knees wobbled (literally!)
[Evelyn was not crushed in the accident. She suffered only a mild bruise to her head (helmet saved her life!), major rode rash, and a fractured bone in her left hand. Her bike was totaled. Three months later this gal had a new bike and did the same tour again (1,200 miles) in order to get over it.]
I had flashbacks for months - seeing how her bike disintegrated as it spun over and over and high into the air. On the other hand, there was very little blood and no gore associated with this accident.
Karen's accident was much the more difficult to see, but so far there has not been as much in the way of flashbacks in my mind.
I will tell you that as I saw her cross the center-line and realized that an accident was imminent, that same four-letter word left my lips. The adrenalin rush was profound, again. When she hit the truck I had thoughts that ranged from "Oh, no - not again" to "Control stop this baby" to "I hope Judy (my passenger) does not go over my handlebars."
I hit my brakes and my CB button at almost the same time and announced to Elaine that "Karen's down!", and weaved through the debris on the road to a stop just past where Karen landed on the right side of the road. I could have stopped even faster, but elected to park off the road so went past her. Again, no skid marks on my part and I stopped safely.
Now, I here confess that there is about a one-second gap in my memory. That is, I saw her hit the truck and bounce TOWARDS the right. I next remember her hitting the ground and stopping, but I do not remember the transition. I believe it is part of the adrenaline rush and being focused ABSOLUTELY on bringing my bike to a safe stop. [Similarly, though I remember seeing Evelyn's bike skid, flip and bounce high into the air, tumble over three times and skid to a stop next to her, I cannot remember stopping my bike that time at all.]
When I ordered my passenger to disembark, I said: "Get off the bike and see if you can help Karen!" It turns out that Judy had not witnessed the accident and did not even know that Karen was in trouble. She (Judy) thought Karen had a mechanical problem of some kind that forced her to have to pull off the road. When she saw Karen down with her leg pointed towards her head, Judy went instantly into shock.
As Judy was getting off my bike I once again hit my PTT and repeated my message to Elaine: "Karen's down!" Meanwhile, Elaine had already pulled off the road and had responded to my first message, but I cannot remember her doing so.
Upon getting to Karen's side I observed what I then assumed was her body partly under the bike, face down. Her left leg was pointed towards her head at an impossible angle. I went to her head and heard her groans. This was uplifting in the extreme! I now knew that she was alive and breathing.
I knelt down at her head and told her that she had been in an accident, help was on it's way, that she would be alright, and asked her not to move. Three other men arrived almost at once as did Elaine. I asked Elaine, who got there shortly after these other men, to call 911. All three men announced that they were CPR trained and said that they could help. Two of them took over a head watch as I first inspected Karen for signs of serious bleeding then ran back to my bike for first aid gear and to help Elaine connect her cell-phone. Adrenaline was really pumping by now and I was once again getting very confused. [Again, to observers it appeared that we knew what we were all doing - but I assure you it was adlib as we went along.]
Evidence of that confusion, as I said once before, was that in response to a decision to put latex gloves on I WATCHED MYSELF open the breathing mask package instead of the zip-lock bag containing the gloves. Remembering how confused I was a year earlier, I then knew I was confused again and decided to take the gear and deposit it all with the other three men for their use and go out and direct traffic. As it turns out, I only managed to retrieve my first aid kit after the accident - I forgot completely that the other equipment (breathing mask, triangle bandages, three sets of latex gloves) was still on the ground where I had left it.
When we had to roll Karen over onto her back onto the stretcher board, I am very aware of seeing, up close, the open leg, and a pool of blood and gore on the ground. Elaine was standing right next to me at the time and I remember saying something stupid like: 'Talk about road rash!" (Quietly, nobody else could hear me - certainly not Karen.)
I replayed the crash many times in my head while we waited for the ambulance, and then while we waited for the chopper. Since then, I have had to replay it to family members and other motorcyclists that have been more than a little curious. I have flashed on it a dozen times, but those images are fading fast now.
Wobbly knees did not occur this time, at least for me. Flashbacks of the sight of her leg and the blood and gore are also fading fast. Strangely, I made myself some dinner the other night using some ground round. I was immediately reminded of the sight of that leg. Still, this seemed of academic interest to me then, rather than being troubling.
At the hospital I was affected in a new way, totally unexpected. I became increasingly angry! I tried to find a person to put the blame of the accident on, other than Karen. I could not do so. It was entirely Karen's fault, but that, too, made me angry. "How could she do something so stupid?" "Look at how devastated her family and friends are! We will be affected for YEARS!" Things like that. This, of course, made me feel cheap and selfish and further drove me into a combined sense of anger and confusion.
The hospital Chaplin picked up on my distress and put his arm around me to try to talk me down. I was then embarrassed - but that did not stop the first tear from running down my cheek. I slept badly the first night, but have had no trouble since then.
Elaine has also reported being able to finally get over the incident in two ways: first, she reconstructed Karen in reverse. That is, in her mind she put Karen's leg back to the way it was before the accident. This made Karen a 'real person' again - meaning that with her leg exposed as it was, Elaine saw that Karen was very 'animal'. That humans tend to ignore the reality of their bodies normally is the point. So, she put Karen's body back the way it was, in her mind, and now deals with the fact that 'Karen' was hurt, rather than 'it' was hurt. Second, Elaine also got angry - about four days after the accident. It was cathartic. It purged her of what was built up within her. She readily admits, as I do, that it was not a fair thing to do, but had to get rid of the pent up emotions. This has served to do so.
Tuesday November 21
Karen has been taken off of the respirator, and the tubes in her mouth have also been removed. She still wears an oxygen mask (30% oxygen is being used partly because she is asthmatic), but she is now free for the first time to move her lips and jaw. It is a joy to see her smile from time to time!
Of major interest to me is that she has begun being weaned from her morphine and appears to be tolerating the pain better and better. Further, she is self-medicating! That is, they gave her a control that allows her to add morphine when she needs it. Unlike earlier fears that patients would abuse this capability, studies have shown that they do not - that they actually tend to diminish dosage to themselves faster than the doctors would have.
Karen cannot talk yet, her throat is still swollen from the tubes that were just removed. But she nods and shakes her head appropriately, the pupils are more dilated than they have been, she focuses on the speakers around her, she uses her right hand to squeeze any hand holding hers, and to point and control her medication, she moves her right leg restlessly, and she is now able to wiggle the toes of her left foot! These are all very positive improvements.
The doctors, when asked if our daily visits to her are too tiring, responded that the lady sleeps 18 hours a day and can and does easily tolerate our visits. More, she looks forward to them and they are improving her image of herself. Similarly, upon receipt of the first batch of get well cards from those of you that sent them (from all over the country as well as Canada!), she has done better still! We have read each one of them to her and she acknowledges each with a smile and a nod of her head.
Today she receives a present - a walkman radio/tape player. We are going to the library to get some books on tape for her. She emphatically nodded when we asked if she would like us to do that for her, so that is on the list of to-do's for the day.
Karen now knows that she is badly hurt. She has not been told, yet, the extent of her injuries, but she is one smart lady and has figured most of it out for herself. She was obviously a little sad last night but worked mightily to keep that under control. Today at noon her doctors will meet with the family to discuss her prognosis and to review her treatment. The family is anxious but have observed that over the past nine days there has only been one day in which there was not significant improvement in Karen's condition. Eight out of nine days of positive news may be lulling them into a false set of hopes, so the doctors want them to come back to reality today. In a few days the doctors will talk with Karen about her leg. It is still not clear that they can save the leg, though that certainly looks good at the moment. They have decided that they need Karen to be part of the decision process on what to do about it. In many ways it will be easier for Karen if the leg is removed, but that is going to be partly her decision.
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To Be Continued
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