Whirlwind Monday

 It was a busy day for Brian today in the ICU. Physical Therapy came in to see about when they would start therapy and decided they needed a collar and back brace that would work together. The doctor came in to see him, as well as the social worker. All these staff were not working over the weekend and had just started their work week. Brian was still sore and said that there are other injuries that add to the hurt other than the major one. 

At one point a very aged lab technician came in to take some blood. She used the name Theodore when referring to Brian which caused Jean to say his name is Brian do you have the correct orders. This made Brian laugh heartily! 

Charles asked why we have so many text threads and I let him know that Jean wanted to add Brian’s friends Tom and Geri. This also caused us to laugh. 

Brian ever the analytical person has started to give the nurses and doctors elaborate long winded answers when just a yes or no will do. 

Jean continues to struggle with thinking so Tracey continues to think for her. When Tracey is working a nurse takes over. 

When it rains it pours.

 Sunday morning we had breakfast and headed out to finally retrieve the RV. Our behind the scenes support guy Charles would drive his truck out and drive the RV home with Tonia and Katie. Tracey would take the truck to the hospital and Jean would drive Tracey’s car. Tracey wanted to head home after visiting with Brian to spend time with her friend Michelle who was visiting. Charles has been cooking watching the kids and taking care of the house and dogs. He is a wonderfully thoughtful behind the scenes problem solver and support. From lending a shoulder to cry on to figuring out logistics he is always there. He makes breakfast, does dishes, drives extra vehicles, lends shoulders, cooks dinner anything we need he is there.  After Jean gave Charles a quick lesson on the features of the RV and let him know the RV would sway terribly.  Charles drove off with the girls. Jean watched him depart the parking lot and said the RV didn’t even sway leaving the parking lot. “I have no concerns about him driving the RV.” She said. We then carried on to visit Brian at the hospital. 

When we arrived we asked Brian how he was doing. He said ok but he had bad news. Through his tears he told us that the Physician’s assistant had been in to see him and let him know that it would be 6 months to a year of therapy to walk again if he would walk at all. Jean asked if they told him about inpatient rehab? He said yes. I told him the surgeon told us yesterday it would be 2 months of in patient rehab and after listening to how he recovered previously it might even be one month. We let Brian know that the surgeon said he would be able to go visit the west coast for Christmas time. He was upset for us. He did not want to be a burden to Jean and I. We reassured him that we already know what will need to be done and we are up for the task and have already been discussing logistics and what we need to do. We have been proud of ourselves so far we had retrieved the bike, found his radio and glasses, shopped at Walmart for clothes for Jean and snacks to keep us going at the hospital, figured out how to get the RV home, researched if these forks have failed other riders (They have), Discussed how to get the word out to other riders, set up communication text threads with friends and family, Discussed and investigated how the accident happened, who called 911, spoken to the police officer to get all possible information, discussed how to make positive things happen for Brian to keep his spirits up. What a team we had become, finishing each others sentences and thinking for one another when the situation numbed our brains. This was all in the last 2 days. 

After a short visit I decided I would go to Brian and Jeans house to pick up some items for them. The computer, head phones, tooth brush, retract the Ham Radio Antenna at the house, grab some medicine and bills, pick up moms prescription. Etc… It was a 40 minute drive to the folks house. I gathered all the things I had written on the post it note and called dad to walk through how to retract the antenna. I went into the kitchen to look for something Jean asked me for … and it was raining. I, having a similar but more vulgar enhanced vocabulary as my father said, “Fuuuuuck…..” Jean still on the phone said “What?” I didn’t want to tell her but I said “It’s raining in your kitchen.” She said “Oh yeah.. That’s ok just find the tap in the wall and turn it 90 degrees and it should stop. The kitchen ceiling was dripping in a 8ft by 4 ft area, water was running down the walls into the wall socket and onto the table covered in charging tool batteries. Jean and I discussed what to do. “Get the wet dry vac. It might be here or there or, ok you got it plug it in.” “Where? I’m gonna die in here if I plug anything in, if you hear a zap call 911.” Jean said wait turn it off at the breaker box.” “How will I vacuum then? What if I turn off the freezer?” Jean said “I am going to call a friend to come help you.” The friend was busy. I called Charles. I told him the situation. He said “do you have shoes on? Pull the plugs out they wont zap you.” I yanked them out tentatively but quickly.” I vacuumed up and dried what I could. I saw some dog pee pads in the corner of the patio, yes! this would work nicely! I laid them all out. Some pads face down and some right side up to dry the floor and catch the leaks. I Laughed for one minute at the little wooden boat floating in the dish on the counter, packed the car and left to get the meds from Price Chopper. The pharmacist said Jean had picked up the script on July 27th. Jean swears they were out and did not get the meds. I called Jean again… after some discussion the pharmacist showed me the screen see here is her signature. I went back to the house, to the  the kitchen and found the medicine bottle on the counter filled July 27th just as the pharmacist said. I cleaned up the water again and changed out the dog pee pads again. I headed home at 3:00 and got home by 4:30. It had been a day, I felt exhausted and on the edge. I spent time with my friend and we got a mani/pedi as she listened to my ranting about the shit day and quietly supported me with compassion and light as only she can. For some dumb reason her mani/pedi always takes longer… she always gets the slow guy. I went next door to the noodle house and grabbed Chicken Curry and Taro Boba, comfort foods. When we got home Charles had made home made spaghetti and sauce from the tomatoes in my garden. Andrew arrived then Jean returned from the hospital. We all ate spaghetti and discussed the past few days events and how Brian was doing. 

The Surgery

Off to Surgery! 

Brian had to have surgery on his spine in order to correct the pinching of the spinal cord and to keep his vertebrae aligned. His surgeon was doctor Lee. A very kind man with an oriental accent who told us. “No more go fast on bike.” He used screws to fuse C3 to C2 and C1 which were already fused from prior damage. Dr. Lee told us he could see lots of old damage in Brian’s spine.

 It was just past noon when they took him out of ICU and up one floor to the surgery suite. The ICU nurse let us know where we could wait and that they would give us updates. We let her know that we were going to go get something to eat and then come back to the waiting room. Jean and I went out to find food and settled on Arby’s. After lunch we searched for a hot drink for Jean. It was pouring down rain and Dunkin’ was out of Hot Chocolate. We returned to the hospital after successfully finding hot chocolate at the McDonalds drive through after a very long wait. Turns out the wait for the hot chocolate seemed long but was very short in comparison to the wait ahead of us. We returned to the waiting room at the hospital outside the surgery suite. We waited and we waited and we watched the rain streak down the windows and we waited and watched a stand up comedian on my iPad. We then saw something that gave us both immense hope. The custodian. He was not just any custodian, he was just what we needed to see. He was in a wheel chair and he had no legs. He sailed past us so fast with a dust broom maneuvering that chair with such speed and grace a huge dust broom in hand performed a 180 degree turn at the end of the hall and whizzed passed us again. We just said wow! Jean told me to take a photo of him and I said “No way!” I’m not about to just take a photo of a random person just doing their job living their life! Finally I grew tired of waiting and Jean was just as impatient and tired so I went up to the surgery doors and knocked on them asking for an update. The surgery had not started until 2:00 they had lots to prepare before starting. They said it may go until 5:30 which was 2 more hours at this point. So more waiting but we were thirsty again at this point so a kind member of the hospital staff helped us find a vending machine that actually had stuff in it! $4 later we had 2 sodas and we were almost content to wait some more… Finally Dr. Lee came out and talked to us for about an hour about Brian’s condition and we gave him an education about Bicycle racing, Brian, will power, and the dangers of being a Bicycle racer on the velodrome and on the road. He said he sees lots of bike accidents but mostly bike with car. We discussed bike handling skills and the fact that they were sometimes obtained by riding around in circles trying to knock each other off for fun. A game the Junior boys used to call Death Cycle. He got quite the education about bike racing and Brian’s life and passion this day. Jean and I were sure he thought us crazy! He told us that Brian may be walking in 2 months of rehab and the surgery had gone well. He showed us the MRI pictures on his phone. He showed us were the damage was. Showed us both the old damage and the new. Brian can take the collar off and that he had fixed the problem. We went back down to see Brian in ICU and once we were convinced he was content (maybe all drugged up and feeling no pain) we drove the hour back to my house. 

History Repeats Itself

 

When trauma of this nature happens to a family involved in bike racing, all the memories and trauma from the past comes back to our thoughts to help us navigate the and understand the process…Been there done that. 

Brian’s daughter Cheyenne was once on a ride in Vista, California, her first solo training ride (Also her last solo training ride.) She was being followed by Jean on Life 360. Jean noticed that she had been in the same spot for 45 minutes and had a bad feeling so she was on her way out the door to see why. The phone rang, “Hello this is…. I am a paramedic… Cheyenne has been in a little accident.” Cheyenne had crashed in a ditch.

In 1982 Brian and Jean were riding his bicycle along Palomar Airport Road towards San Marcos, Ca. When he was struck by a roach coach (food truck.) Brian always rode behind and to the outside of his family so that if anything would happen it would be him. This day Jean heard a bang and watched Brian as if in slow motion pass her quickly wide eyed. Brian landed in the ditch in front of her. He was out cold. He didn’t walk up until 7am the next morning. The doctors said he did not break any bones in the crash but he did receive 5 pints of blood from the bruise that went from the bottom of his rib cage to his pubic bone and wrapped around his torso. He had landed on his backside permanently flattening his left glutinous Maximus. 

Ten months later in 1983 Brian crashed on Encino Veledrome. An entire pack of 19 riders went down. I sat in the infield and watched it happen. I remember laying on our blanket in the infield looking up to the stars in shock. He had skidded on his face, chipped a tooth, grazed his nose, and cut his upper and lower lip. Jean received a call from the doctor at the hospital he said “Brian has been in a crash, he is ok you can take him home but if he moves his head the wrong way it could kill him.” With this thought in mind Jean began the 3 hour drive at 11PM to pick Brian, Alan and Tracey up. 

So when we walk into a hospital we have done this before. We are experienced… We know what we need… 

Oh Shit!

 

Brian was cycling down the road on a balmy 90 degree humid day when most 78 year olds were sitting in their air conditioned homes. He was going along the 12 and climbed the hill before the White Stone Gravel pit near Waterville NY. He crested the hill and began his descent. He dropped down into the drops of his handlebars into a semi aerodynamic position. Brian could get famously low on his bike to let the air flow pass over him and increase his speed. Suddenly the bicycle gave way beneath him. He said “OH SHIT!” and he landed several feet away from the road in a grassy ditch. Brian estimates that he was traveling about 30 miles per hour. A passerby must have witnessed the fall or come across him laying in the ditch and called 911. It must have been a spectacular crash because we estimate from the damage he hit the ground at 30 MPH. His shattered helmet verifies the intensity of the impact to his head and spine.  His bike lay in two pieces the fork and front tire and the rest. The handlebars loose in the head stem. Catastrophic steering failure in the fork. The carbon fiber stressed over the last 20 years had given way and there was no pulling out of this one. He went down hard. He remembers the fall but details are murky. Was it rumble strip then fork failure or fork failure then rumble strip? We may never know. The police came, and paramedics, then it was lights and sirens, 78 MPH, to St. Elizabeth Trauma center in Utica where Jean was already on the way. Life 360 showed the speed of the ambulance to be 78 miles per hour on a one lane two way road for the “little accident.” 

Ut Ohhh

 

Friday July 28, 2023 was a typical ordinary day. The RV was at the service shop and Brian decided it would be good to ride his bike some of the way to pick it up. Jean was going to be his support vehicle. She would drive ahead and wait for him to catch up, pass her and in a little bit she would pass him again to check on him and make sure he didn’t need anything. We call this leapfrogging. This morning Brian started his trip down Bryant road and Jean went into town to pick up her blood pressure medicine. There is more to the story with that but lets continue down the road to what happened after. She called Brian in the parking lot from Price Chopper to express her displeasure that he did not call her when he got to the 12. They had agreed to that phone call but Brian had decided not to make the call because she can see where he is on Life 360. He had forgotten to tell her that part.  He had to stop and fish out his phone. Jean said he sounded so happy and in his element this was his 4th ride out after the long winter, after skin cancer surgery, after the fall out of the RV from the medications urology had given him. Jean was worried that she would pass Bryant road before him and she would not see him on the road after that. She set out and passed him on the 12 quite a long way up the 12 as she had also stoped at McDonalds for coffee. She stopped at the circle K at the intersection of the 12 and 20. By this time it was lunch time and Jean was warming up a pizza at the convenience store. When her phone rang; it was Brian. It was not Brian…. “Hello my name is … I am a paramedic.” Jean replied “Ut Oh” The paramedic continued “Brian has been in a little accident.”