It's been quite a while since my last post or visit to the Forum, yet by no means out of lack of interest or spite, not at all.

Friday, 17 July I was involved in the worst motorcycle accident I ever had - in some ways, the second in my M/C career.

I was commuting down one of Rome's busiest freeways during the busiest part of Fri morning rush hour... riding my 260Kg BMW (which I prefer to the Savage as it is quicker, faster and with much more powerful brakes) I noticed with the side of nmy eyes there was a gap tin the lane to my left, the guy in front of me was driving slower than traffic conditions demanded, so I cast a quick glance in the rear view mirror to see if I could change lanes in full safety...
...that was when I heard tires screeching and before you know it I shot into the air, felt the hard trunk case slam into my back, somersaulted  into outerspace, and when I came to I was lying on my back, screaming for the pain in my back, and abslolutety, hopelòessy breathless.
I mean, I was gasping for air like a train had hit me in my solar plexus but the PAIN ...

Traffic inched around me, quite a few good samaritans stopped to help (one was a cardiologist who had just stood down from his hospital night shift) as well as a Police car which had just merged behind me (Police meaning LEOs are not "Traffic Police" in Italy, they are two different Agencies) The LEO ensured ... asked the doctor if he thought I was OK, the answer was "he claims severe back pains, I'm not moving him, call an ambulance"

In a short while (don't ask me how long, it could have been minutes, it could have been a week...) the Traffic wardens came, and no less than TWO ambulances (one hailed from the LEO, one hailed from the Traffic Wardens as standard protocol) I was whisked away by ambulance on the hardest, stiffest, most uncomfortable kind of stretcher I ever imagined (standard protocol for back injuries, I later learned) I had a neck brace and couldn't see a thing other than the ceiling of the ambulance. First ambulance ride in my life, ever.

I asked where they were taking me - "Gemelli" was the answer, which comforted me.
Not only was it the closest at hand, but "Gemelli University Hospital" is actually one the Vatican's three hospitals in Rome and the one annexed to the "Università Cattolica" - one of the best Schools of Medicine in Europe, period.
The Pope goes there, all Italian politicians go there, and quite a few foreign politicians as well (to start with, all diplomats go there)
So, I felt comforted... a little...

It felt like a TV reality show. My previous ER experience was limited to silly things - driving my boy to hospital for road rash from falling off his bike, severe ear aches, the like; the kind of "no hazard to life" category where you copuld wait anything frmo an hour to... too long...

Not thjis time: by the time the crew pulled me out of the ambulance, two staff carted me beyond glass doors into what feltr so much like "2001 A Space Odissey" - cool white neons blazing, very chilly air conditioning at full blast, and four (FOUR!) guys "servicing" me:
- one was feeling my feet, legs, arms and hands asking if I had any specific pain when he pressed or pulled or twisted, no pain, thank you,
but my back hurts...
- one was going up and down my abdomen with an unltrasound (to which I joked "is it a boy or a girl?"- they all laughed, "good sign you have a sense of humor, I'm checking to see if you have any internal bleeding") No internal bleeding, no internal pain
BUT MY BACK HURTS...
- one was slowly undressing me pulling off everything I was wearing, leaving me in my underwear... "does it hurt when I move your arm?"
NO THANK YOU BUT MY BACK HURTS!
- One was playing "stick the tail on the donkey" by trying to hit a vein with the IV needle and succeeding perhaps on his 3rd, 4th, 5th try...
AND MY BACK STILL HURTS !!!

So tghey whisked me away to ER Radiology (the room next door) where an extremely kind (and quite pretty) lady tut-tutted they had mauled my elbows but still failed to find a decent vein, she was going to replace the needle and perform a CAT Scan with contrasting liquid...
...whatever that was...

So I was fed into the Mother of all Canned Tuna processing machines, which obviously wasn't working because after all the lights, noises, clicking and chirping and lightning and thunder (not to mention the burning sensation in my eyeballs and ... other parts of myself   when the contrasting liquid was injected...) by the time I came out I was still in my underwear and no Knight in Shininh Armor Tunacan coat for me!

Seriously, folks, that whole process, from the time I was "handed over" from the ambulance paramedics to the time I was told "Sir, the good news is you have two broken thumbs" must have been less than 60'...
OK, two broken thumbs, Hitchhiker of the Galaxy, eat your hear out!
But...
The bad news..."Sir, the bad news is you have three broken vertebrae"
OK
THE NEWS
HIT ME
IN THE STOMACH
LIKE A CANNON BALL
WHEN I WASN'T LOOKING

"You mean... like you'll be sitting in a wheelchair and all that?"
"Oh, goodness, no, if you can move your hands and feet you'll be fine!"
"H3ll, you want to see me do the moonwalk? I'll do the moonwalk, just fix... the ... pain..."

That was it, the pain... I could just barely breathe, finally got them to remove the neck brace (only after the CAT scan revealed I had no neck injuries) and added a painkiller of sorts to the IV drip (just plain saline solution to keep me hydrated)

To make a long story short... I spent a good 36 hours in the ER, with a spinal orthopaedic surgeon checking on me every 6 hours or so "move this, wiggle that, where does it hurt, how does it hurt?"
They were all young doctors, Interns, but it was nice to have someone wake you up in the middle of the night just to ask
"are you sleeping?"  

So... I was discharged / released frmo hospital saturday evening, with two "tutors" on my hands (like casts, but in heavy gauge cordura and steel inserts) and a steel back brace which I am still wearing as you read this.

The bike... was a total write off... not that she was badly damaged... but the damage she did suffer was all on the front forl (BMW Telelever) and the auxiliary aluminium subchassis that link that to the main steel frame; moreover, the steering head was declared out of alignment.
So, all in all, replacing the broken parts and realigning the steering head was going to cost me the very price of an identical bike, 2nd hand, undamaged.

So long, my friend...

Hello Mike, and thanks  

Healing is a funny word... Morale's good, morale's high, but... here's the rest of the story.

Once I got home, the following things happened...

- I realized it's about time I lost some 30-40lbs off my pot belly, which are straining on my spine (hey! have you ever seen a skinny chef?  )

- I shaved off my goatee - much to my wife's delight, the "whatcherthinkyouedoin'?" of my 17-y.o. son (who also sports a full beard) and the utter indifference of my inlaws, who are too old to notice (nearing 90, both of them...)
Kept the moustache, though  

- I... started internet shopping for another bike !!!  

No, really, bones do take their time to heal.

If you noticed, it took me a month 1/2 just to get to grips with having to write about it - I feel like I killed an old friend, or like my dog died...

So what's left of the bike ? I disassembled it for parts, and kept whatever I fancied (mostly the small sellable stuff I can keep on a shelf in the garage) but engine, gearbox, shaft drive, and fuel tank I left with the mechanic.
He's young, enthusiastic, HONEST and listens and participates when I aimlessly talk about my next project; he volunteers his advice or expklains the why's and don'ts about some mods I may come up with.

I still have Big Blue... but she's a real handful to ride !



Oh, and, a few sidenotes on the whole ordeal:
- I was whisked away and treated like an alien abductee, 1st class treatment if may I say so;
- I went through a complete body CAT Scan, a dedicated head&neck CAT scan and X-rays to both hands and wrists;
- I was spoon fed (not much one can clutch when you've got BOTH hands wrapped in what appeared to be pingpong paddles!) by nurses;
- I slept in a ... "long stay ER stretcher" on the Friday night (not the most comfy 5star bed but it's the kind of solution they use just in case they have to cart you straight into OpTheater)

How much did it cost ? It didn't.
They never asked me for my SSN, or my Insurance number, or my credit card number.
They did ask me for my generic data (name, date and place of birth and current address) but it's only to ensure against mistaken identity (Mario Rossi being the equivalent of John Doe) and to make sure they were calling the correct Mrs. Pescatori  

I was offered the option of having both hands&wrists in a cast (but there's not much one can do with BOTH hands in such a contraption)



or I could buy two "orthopaedic tutors" such as there at €40 each, and I did.



I still felt extremely handicapped (I had to recycle my "index+middle finger" combination into a claw in order to clutch/squeeze things I once used with my thumb) but it was better than nothing !

My backbrace... with both hands impaired, I had to rely on my wife to tighten it in the morning and loosen it a bit at night



Once she went off early and I forgot to had her loosen it, by the time I remembered she was fast aspeep...
I did a "Leaning Tower of MPescatori" trick to plop into bed and had... stiff dreams that night!


Anyway... I finally got permission to slip off the left tutor after 4 weeks, and the right tutor after six weeks.
The left thumb was basically just dislodged (but the cartilage in the thumb joint was damaged, so the thumb feels "loose" and sometimes tendons feel "tangled")
The right thumb... is a more serious matter: the head of metacarpal bone shattered into four fragments so I had the option of keeping it immobilized "until we say so", or have them operate.
Who, me? more needles ? Thanks, but no thanks.

Morale's good, morale's high, but I've been shut in the house as if I was in a "House Arrest" kind of situation; I get to go shopping with the wife on weekends but the problem is I can only stand and walk for so much, until my back begins to hurt and my left legs starts having what I call "ghost pains"; burning sensations, cramps for no reason at all, tingling of the skin... all triggered by the vertebrae which are not shattered like they were made of glass... more like "crushed " (like when you pile too many pillows and the ones on the bottom become flat)

I now go to checkups one a week (one week it's the hand surgeon, the next week it's the spinal surgeon) and they cost me the whopping of €26 each time (local taxes, no medical fees)

So... this is the "European style health care system" at work.

Am I satisfied? Yes, I am.
Could it have gone any better ? Give me a time machine so I'll avoid the accident...
Could it have gone any worse ? Well... I could be typing with a straw between my lips... but I'm not ready to play tetraplegic yet...  

So I'm thankful the experience cost me one motorcycle and got me wiser ine xchange.

Ouch! Sorry to hear your story  
I wish you a very speedy recovery, my friend.

Sorry to read about your accident but glad that you made it through the ordeal with more or less "repairable" damage to your body.  The speedy arrival of medical personnel on the site and the transport to a good hospital probably saved you a lot of suffering and aided in your recovery.

My brother had a medical emergency while vacationing in Italy a few years ago and was impressed by the quality of care he received.  

Hope your recovery is complete and please keep us posted on your progress.

mpescatori.. I'm sorry to learn of your accident and injuries.    Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery.

I sympathise Signor Pescatori, I was riding a 350cc Jawa many years ago, when an out of control Morris Oxford rotated across the road and into me. Fortunately no back damage, but I I've a fair sized gash in my right foot where the brake pedal or foot peg entered it. About a year later I was overtaking a woman when a dog ran in front of her and her brakes locked and the car slid into me. Recover well and hopefully get back on a bike a soon as you feel comfortable.

I'm very sorry to hear about your accident, Maurizio.
Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Have you been able to reconstruct the sequence of events in your mind to
know what you would have, could have, or should have done differently?
It appears that the driver in your left lane may have been speeding,
or suddenly pulled out from behind the car directly behind you after
you had already committed to your lane change.

Sorry to hear M.  I feel your pain.  Glad you're on the mend though.  I broke my T11, L1, and L3 back in 2000, also on a BMW.  Was a 1973 R75/5 long swing arm model.  I was allowed a 5 degree incline in bed for the first week after while in the hospital.  I was custom fitted for a full body brace.  Not like the fancy one you have...nylon resin with closed cell plastic inserts and velcro straps.  It was very hot and hard to breath in to say the least.  I then spent 4 weeks in a nursing home in a wheelchair doing leg exercises...no walking or standing allowed.  I had that brace for 6 months!  Now I'm a human barometer.  Most days are "better days". Hurts most of the time.  The "bad days" suck, can't move.  Occasionally I do get a good day.  That's when I skip work and go for a ride.