Jason got his bike computer back last Friday. He has been looking forward to this moment with a mixture of dread and excitement. Dread because there has always been a part of him that worried he was at fault for his accident-that he was going too fast down that last hill. On the other hand, he was really hoping to be able to fill in some of the blanks related to the accident. Jason doesn’t remember much of the accident or, to be entirely honest, much of the week spent in the ICU in Reno (morphine will do that to you...). He can remember some sounds, but has very little visual memory of the accident: he remembers beginning the descent, seeing a lake towards the end of Ebbett’s Pass, and then he remembers having a physician at his side trying to stabilize him. He remembers bits and pieces of the hours following that: the airlift to Reno, the initial trauma consultation in the ER, having the gash in his head stapled (apparently, he says this didn’t hurt any), and that’s about it. I’ve told him about the first day or two in the ICU, but, for the most part, that period is something of a haze for him, with only select moments remembered with anything approaching clarity.
What the computer recorded is as follows: he crashed going just under 40 mph, a few hundred yards past the lake he remembered seeing. This means there’s only about 45-60 seconds of the course that he’s totally forgotten. That made him feel better. Also, 40 mph was not an unreasonable speed for that section of the course. Plus, he does know from others who were at the event that that particular section was bumpy and had some debris in the road. So, our original hypothesis that he hit something (perhaps debris, perhaps a pot hole) that caused his front tire to blow out, seems to hold up. Based on his injuries, it would seem he went over the handlebars, hitting his forehead (this needed to be stitched up), the back of his head (his helmet was a mess, but it saved his life), lightly hitting one of the vertebrae in his neck, before landing, hard, on his back...in a stream. The cold water in the stream reduced the initial swelling. His accident happened around 2:30 or so. He was in surgery in Reno, 90 miles away, by 5pm. Because people acted so quickly, the damage was contained. It could’ve been so much worse. Honestly, it should’ve been so much worse, but he’s had some guardian angels looking out for him.
Knowing all of this doesn’t really change where we are now (which is a good place actually), but it does make Jason feel a lot better to know 1) he wasn’t at fault and, 2) more or less what happened.
That’s the major news on our front. He’s got PT and a meeting with his rehab doctor today. SCI FIT on Thursday and Saturday, and (hopefully) a massage and chiropractic appointment on Friday...assuming the doctor today gives the okay.
Love you all,
Ashley
What the computer recorded is as follows: he crashed going just under 40 mph, a few hundred yards past the lake he remembered seeing. This means there’s only about 45-60 seconds of the course that he’s totally forgotten. That made him feel better. Also, 40 mph was not an unreasonable speed for that section of the course. Plus, he does know from others who were at the event that that particular section was bumpy and had some debris in the road. So, our original hypothesis that he hit something (perhaps debris, perhaps a pot hole) that caused his front tire to blow out, seems to hold up. Based on his injuries, it would seem he went over the handlebars, hitting his forehead (this needed to be stitched up), the back of his head (his helmet was a mess, but it saved his life), lightly hitting one of the vertebrae in his neck, before landing, hard, on his back...in a stream. The cold water in the stream reduced the initial swelling. His accident happened around 2:30 or so. He was in surgery in Reno, 90 miles away, by 5pm. Because people acted so quickly, the damage was contained. It could’ve been so much worse. Honestly, it should’ve been so much worse, but he’s had some guardian angels looking out for him.
Knowing all of this doesn’t really change where we are now (which is a good place actually), but it does make Jason feel a lot better to know 1) he wasn’t at fault and, 2) more or less what happened.
That’s the major news on our front. He’s got PT and a meeting with his rehab doctor today. SCI FIT on Thursday and Saturday, and (hopefully) a massage and chiropractic appointment on Friday...assuming the doctor today gives the okay.
Love you all,
Ashley
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