Clavicle Schmavicle

I broke my clavicle on Sunday. I was out biking with Kelly, trying to get into the habit of biking a couple times a week in preparation for my summer bike trip through Europe. We started from her house up in the NW part of the city (by Land's End), and decided to cross the bridge and head to the Marin Headlands Institute at Fort Chronkite. A nice ~20-mile ride, which was a good distance for me to start back in.

Well, on the way back we were headed through the 5-minute tunnel... it's a one-lane car tunnel that has bike lanes in both directions. Kelly let me go in front because I like to go fast downhill. And fast I went! I was up to ~38 mph at one point, basically pacing the cars next to me. As we emerged from the tunnel, this car in front of me started to drift a bit into my lane. I got nervous and braked, moving a bit towards the curb. Well, either I hit a patch of sand or my rear tire blew... either way I lost control of my bike... struggling to stay up, I hit the curb and somersaulted along the grassy edge into some bushes. I really don't remember details... it was all a crazy blur.

I was totally dazed, and next thing I knew there were people all around me asking if I was alright. Cars were stopped everywhere, and Kelly was rolling up shouting "that's my friend!!" I tried to make sure she saw me giving her the OK symbol with my fingers, cause I didn't want her to worry, even though I couldn't really speak and still wasn't sure what was going on. Finally, I sat up, and tried to assess the situation. I was sore all over. All the car passengers were really kind and concerned; one guy (I think the driver of the drifting car) offered me advil he had in the car. I turned him down because I was worried that I might need something more powerful, and the advil would interfere with the paramedics ability to dose me themselves.

A park ranger who'd randomly been driving by had stopped, and helped me and Kelly get to the other side of the road. He got traffic moving again, and asked if we wanted an ambulance. For a few mins I contemplated biking back to Kelly's (~8 miles, over the GG bridge), but decided it would be smarter to take the ambulance. I was seriously thinking how expensive it was all going to be... :(

So the ambulance picked me up and took me to St. Mary's, only because it's the only hospital I know of in the city (it's near Roger's on Stanyan!). The ranger drove Kelly and the bikes back to her place, and she met up with me later at St. Mary's ER. At the ER, they kept me sitting around for ~4 hrs in pain... the paramedic thought I'd done something to my rotator cuff, which was prioritized lower than a lot of the other people in there (rightly so; some were like 80+ years old and looked pretty bad). A couple hrs in, I got xrayed, and the technician caught the fracture in my clavicle, and decided that it wasn't a shoulder problem at all. She was right.... good call.

In the end, they put my right arm in a sling, gave me some vicoden and a prescription for more, and referred me to an orthopedic surgeon for a follow-up on whether I'd need surgery (eep!). After 4 hours there I was getting up to leave, and as I stood up I started to black out. You know how sometimes when you sit too long, and you stand up, and you get those black speckles in your vision and you realize you need to sit back down right quick? Well, it was like a super-charged version of that. Kelly said I went visibly pale. The nurse offered to get me food; I hadn't eaten much that day, and although Kelly snuck me a banana and some cliff bar, my blood sugar must still have been dangerously low.

So the nurse hooked me up with OJ, chocolate milk, graham crackers and peanut butter. OH MY GOD that was the best food I'd ever eaten.

After the hospital, Kelly took me to Thai Stick 2001 in Pac Heights and we got like 10 different things for take-out. We headed back and gorged, and I sent out e-mails to people at work telling them I wouldn't be in. I had actually called my boss from the hospital to let him know... I didn't even tell my family I'd been hurt until Tuesday. Is that sick? I'm not sure.... seems like it should be considered messed up.

In the end I slept... though the vicoden had remarkably little effect on my awakeness. I actually stayed up late with a beautiful painter I'd met on Friday night... he took care of me during an incredibly vulnerable time for me and it was one of the most romantic and deeply touching nights I've ever had... but more on that another time. ;)