TGIF - 6/11/2010

Since dropping my crutches a couple weeks ago, I have resumed my traditional Friday before-work caffeine stop at Starbucks.  Carrying coffee to work while navigating on crutches is near impossible - though don't think I didn't try.  Anyway, my Friday routine is a beautiful thing and a good thing for everyone around me as it makes for a happy start to the day.  This morning I stood in line, observing other patrons as we slowly made our way around to order and then wait for our order.  I checked out a couple of guys awaiting their order (hey, I'm single, I'm allowed) and noted one of them was super tall and slender and kind of came off as a "too cool" guy with his aviator sunglasses and scruffy face.

The barista missed getting his breakfast sandwich and he was very nice in asking about it and letting them resolve the issue.  The girl next to me loudly said excuse me ... excuse me ... to him as he was walking by, but he kept walking.  She reached across me to grab his arm to get his attention.  I assumed she knew him and was saying hi.  He paused to look at who was touching him and she asked him "Are you Michael Phelps?".  Visibly irritated, he said yeah.  Yeah, I am.  And kept walking. 

Now, people have said that this Olympic star is a jerk in public and maybe he is ... but in this 10 minute experience I witnessed, he was super nice to the Starbucks folks when resolving the sandwich debacle.  He chatted with someone else waiting at the bar for their shot of morning energy. He smiled at me when we passed each other in line ... he didn't appear to be anything but a regular Joe ... I honestly would have never recognized him but then again I don't really get star struck so I'm not on the look out for "famous" people.

He only got irritated when someone felt justified in reaching out and grabbing him.  I'd be pretty unhappy with that as well - what gives people the idea that if someone is famous, they lose their personal space and privacy ?  It would never occur to me to grab a random stranger's arm (unless he was cute and the metro bounced the right way to give me an excuse !), so why would it be okay to grab someone I thought was famous ?  Let the man get his breakfast in peace ... he clearly made the attempt to be incognito so he wasn't looking for attention - he was just looking for a sausage breakfast sandwich.

Enough Already !

Things have improved greatly since my last post ... at least as far as my injury.  I went back to work the week before Memorial Day.  I was staying at a place about a block from work, so it was nice to be able to walk (crutch) to work. Sometime in the middle of that week, I was crutching (is that a verb?) back to the house when I passed a dad and his, say, 8 year old daughter.  I pass by them and hear her comment: "she's walking just fine.  why does she need crutches?".  Is it wrong to call a child a be-yatch ? The next day I dropped down to one crutch, which I needed mostly for the 2 flights of stairs to my office.

I've now been off crutches for two weeks.  My follow up xrays are this afternoon - the doc ordered me to be on crutches, no weight on the right leg, through today.  So, the question is, do I take the crutches in to the dr. appt just for show, or do I simply waltz in and take the tongue lashing with a smile ?  Knowing me, it'll be the latter of the two.

I certainly won't tell him that I went on my first out-of-doors bike ride on Saturday.  That lasted a little over an hour. While it was S-L-O-W, it was glorious - the feel of the road, the sounds of summer birds, the wind on my face ...  Sigh.  Definitely achy-sore afterward, but no permanent damage (at least I don't think - xrays will show the truth today).

So Saturday nite I went out with some good friends in the Parkville-area.   Everyone had a great time, I was the sober-driver and made sure everyone got home safely.  At the last drop off, I went in for a while to hang out.  It was in the middle of nowhere and I didn't think to lock my car.  Realized later that my purse - my ID's, credit cards, money and phone) was gone.  Seriously ?

Have you ever had to re-create your life without anything to do it with ?  First attempt at Verizon: Can I help you ? they say ... I respond with a nutshell version of my story.  They were kind enough to withhold their laughter that I thought they could do anything without my ID.  I held myself together but it wasn't pretty.  Ok, trip to work to get on a phone to start cancelling credit cards.  This is much fun, explaining my story about 6 different times to various people.  Oh, and by the way, I have no cash, no credit card and no ATM card, so I'm worrying about whether I have enough gas to go home.

Second trip to Verizon, I had my passport and the tax ID necessary (my phone is on a corporate plan).  They still say they can't help me, they need to speak to my HR dept, since I'm not authorized on the account.  Can you call them?  they say ... to which I held my tone relatively even ... I don't have a phone.  That's why I'm here.  Oh, we can let you use ours, do you have their number ? Less even tone:  ITS IN MY PHONE !!

I remember my boss's number (which I see on my work phone all the time), so I call him. The second he answers, I go into meltdown.  I had held myself together all day, but when I had to relate my story to him, it hit me for real:  I have no phone.  I have no ID.  I have no cash.  I have no way to get cash.  I'm dead in the water.  I'm sobbing on the phone in the middle of Verizon.  The security guy left his post to get tissues for me.  One of the ladies behind the counter came around to rub my back and tell me it'll be okay, sweetie, we'll figure something out.  The guys next to me looked like they wanted to run or give me a hug, not sure which.  My boss, after deciphering my sob-english, simply said: boy, you're having a run of it, aren't you ? Which made me cry even more.

The lesson I learned is that having a meltdown in Verizon makes the associates much more amenable to making something happen.  They gave me my "new-every-two" upgrade early and waived the fees.  They showed me my phone options and I wound up with a Droid.  They're packing up a phone cover, screen protector, chargers etc and ask if I want a black cover or a pink cover.With my tears still drying on my face, I said in a small voice: can I have the pink one please ? I was pitiful.

My coworkers are trying very hard to get the security video feed of my meltdown.  If they succeed, I may have to leave the country.  At least I'll have my replacement ATM/credit cards and IDs by then.

Can we say ENOUGH ALREADY !  Whatever powers-that-be that I've pissed off ... I'M SORRY - please remove this black cloud I've been living under, I don't know how much more I can take !

PS: a free annual credit report is available here ... good thing to have if you've had credit card or identity theft.  for those that are guilty of these acts ... eff you.  how do you sleep at night ?

If It Weren't For Bad Luck...

...I wouldn't have any luck at all.  Seriously.  These past two weeks can be summarized like this:  hit the deck, resist medical care, finally agree to a hospital trip, excruciating pain, no food or drink, possibly surgery, 4 fractures, good drugs, bad food, good friends and crutches. I could just leave it like that, but then I wouldn't be true to my "rambling" ways. 

As far as what happened, I can only rely on witness accounts because I remember going really fast thinking I would maybe make a jump after the turn into the headwind and then oh-shit, asphalt, curled into the fetal position, bikes and bodies on top of me.  A brief aside: seeing the race roll past as you're laying on the ground lends an interesting perspective.  Witness accounts tell me that the girl in front of the pack swerved to miss a pothole/manhole cover and clipped my front wheel.  Really ?  We passed over that cover a dozen times in laps before.  RIDE OVER IT- yeah, it's bumpy but it's less bumpy than hitting the ground.  Really.
(dinner one night at hospital - thank you ,LJ, for saving me from this !)
One lesson learned in this debacle - Don't Listen to the Girl With the Concussion.  That would be me, by the way. The question: Do you want to go to the hospital ? I guarantee if you asked that in a crowded room, not one person would say yes. My reaction was that of any sane person: No.  And bless them, my friends and concerned citizens listened.  EMT's carried me over to a random lawn chair, where I proceeded to hang out for about an hour.  Trying to stand up, almost passing out from the effort and deciding to wait a little longer to see if things magically improved.  They didn't.  Eventually the adrenaline from the race started wearing off and the pain increased exponentially.  Dammit.  Something was very wrong. 


Z and LJ were super supportive and helpful, managing logistics of car jockeying.  Brigham put my mind at ease by assuring me that aside from a deraileur hanger and maybe truing a wheel, my bike was absolutely fine.  Christine helped LJ carry me to my awaiting car and Erin, seeing that I couldn't walk at all, came through with an assist.  Z quickly chauffered me to St. Agnes, the nearest hospital to my house.  Noting Christine's concern regarding my offensive odor, I somehow managed to change out of my lycra and into the sundress I wore to the race.  Don't ask why this was important to me, I had a concussion, remember ? 

Fast forward to the ER,,where more than one nurse complimented me on my dress. Transferring bed to table for xrays, then again for cat scans.  Having to explain that No, I could not twist sideways for a better shot.  Sobbing when they told me I was broken.  2 fractures on the pelvic bone.  Sobbing again when they added a 3rd fracture and (4) a lateral fracture to the sacrum for good measure.  The strange feeling of morphine as it enters the bloodstream.  LJ and Erik, kindly bringing food because thats what we do in hospitals, and then being informed by nurses that I could not eat or drink because I might need surgery.  ER does NOT believe in sleep.  Literally passing out when the PT girls had me stand up.  They learned to believe me when I said it wasn't a good idea.  FINALLY getting food/water after 25 hrs.  Unfortunately it was hospital food. 
The roommate who couldn't sleep without the TV on . The roommate who couldn't stop talking.  The visits from friends when I least expected them but most needed them.  Gorgeous flowers.  A Harry & David basket that provided sustenance in lieu of aforementioned hospital food.  A walker, then a wheelchair - I was hell on wheels, as you can imagine - finally, crutches.

I'm out and getting back in action- it's amazing how the human body heals itself after trauma.  BIG thank you to LJ and Z, who tag teamed me in the hospital and took care of logistics. Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes or made the time to call or visit. Half of what keeps me coming back to the madness that is bike racing is the community.  Teammate or competitor, in the end, we take care of our own.  Call me tenacious or call me crazy - I'm down but I'm not out.