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near death


refugeepj
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grandson and I were broadsided by an SUV, on our way to get him a Dairy Queen. August 8.

my Harley was totaled.

grandson had minor injuries, banged up, nothing broken, no internal injuries.

I had brain injury, broken eye socket, cheek bone.

all ribs left side, broken, lung collapsed.

left shoulder broken.

left leg shattered, bone missing, ankle dislocated. doctors wanted to amputate.

one surgeon decided he could save it. five surgeries. still have three halo rings, seven pins. might be on until next August. 

initial thought was I might not survive. 

as I came around in ICU, the prediction was 6-8 months in hospital and rehab nursing home. 

home one day short of three months. taking care of myself with family support. 

first three weeks in the hospital, minus the surgeon, $505,000.my attorney will take care of all this, and has decided to seek a sizable check for my grandson, and bigger one for what I have lost, still losing. 

69 years old, rode for 54 years. leg might never allow it again. 

can not spoil grandchildren until I heal a great deal more. 

family is everything.

thank God Seth and I lived.

now comes the frustration due to the crash, loss of my personal life. 

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always think  yall are alive that is most important .  i lost a childhood friend  dec 10 2016  waiting behind a dumptruck on the nasa causeway bridge to come back down ,  19 year old never braked and pancaked my friend into back of truck . estimated he was going 40 mph .  only saving grace is he never knew what hit him . 

prayers to you and your family .

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Not long ago,  a guy pulled out into the four lane road,  directly in front of me.  I guess my screeching tires startled him and he came to a complete stop, most of the way out.  I actually bumped into his door, sideways.

He turned,  looked at me,  never took the phone away from his ear....

and drove on.

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I wish we could do more to heal you than just pray and send wishes for a continuing fast recovery.  You know you can vent here, and you'll probably find someone who can relate to any particular frustrating thing, whether it's medical or legal or whatever.  So very glad your grandson is ok!

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Hang in there.  And I wish you the strength to get through this. 

Same for your Grandson!  I'm glad he wasn't injured badly.

 

Yah - let the lawyer work this out - but speaking from experience, You will probably rather have done that day differently than have the check.

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Wow, glad you made it!  God speed your recovery.

I'm glad your grandson came through it fairly well.  And, while I don't wish any of it on you, I suspect you're glad that if one of you had to take the brunt of it, it was you and not him.

I think I'll let my son read your story.  He knows I rode for some years and is close to the age I was when I started riding.  At the moment, he prefers cars to bikes.  If reading this helps keep it that way, I'd be OK with that.

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Glad you and the grandson survived. I'm 66 and hardly ride my Victory any more. Too many people not paying attention to their driving. Either texting or have a cell phone jammed in their ear. I know at my age a spill on the Victory would be much harder to recover from that it would have been 20 years ago.

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Wow. Make sure to count your blessings this holiday season. And forever ;) 

Seems we have motorcycle fatalities daily here. I would think our ridership is possibly higher here since the weather is (mostly) conducive but it saddens the mother in me non-the-less. Usually young people with so much life ahead of them. 
 

Give that grandson a BIG hug from me. 

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6 minutes ago, Zonny said:

Wow. Make sure to count your blessings this holiday season. And forever ;) 

Seems we have motorcycle fatalities daily here. I would think our ridership is possibly higher here since the weather is (mostly) conducive but it saddens the mother in me non-the-less. Usually young people with so much life ahead of them. 
 

Give that grandson a BIG hug from me. 

You might be surprised to learn the percentage of Motorcycle riders in Alaska. Especially if you overlook the Bush.  Of course most don't ride in the winter months. We also have the highest percentage of pilots here, although there are a ton of them without the license.

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5 minutes ago, Walt Longmire said:

You might be surprised to learn the percentage of Motorcycle riders in Alaska. Especially if you overlook the Bush.  Of course most don't ride in the winter months. We also have the highest percentage of pilots here, although there are a ton of them without the license.

I'm aware of the pilots. When people have planes in their front yard, I think it's safe to assume :)

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As a fellow grandad, I wish you the best in your recovery. Concentrate on healing up so you can resume activities with family. Motorcycles and firearms are just things we own... your grandson will long remember your character and your spirit, and they will endure. All the best...

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