Some before and after photos - From biker to broken

 

Picking up the new bike from the dealership - parked up next to my old M50. See ya girl! I'm off!!

At home in my driveway for the first time. Simply buzzing. This is the shot they put in the paper

 Cheeky miss - turned up to a Thursday night ride to share new pride and joy with my mates. Yuuuus!

The accident happens. I found these two pictures on my cell phone in hospital. I had no idea I took them. Me lying in the grass for 5 hours while I wait to be found, with multiple broken bones.

In hopstial. A friend of mine took these when I first arrived. I'll try to figure out how to rotate these later. Whoops - blonde moment.

The photo for the papers. Once again, I do not remember this happening but I assume at the time I said "sure, why the hell not?!"

Prior to the full halo harness being attached, I had weight traction through the bed, tied to my head. I remember it being a huge relief not having something dangling off my halo.

I fractured my fibular. I also a large flap open on my leg when I struck and got caught on a barbed wire fence. Because I already had a large open would, they operated and inserted a titanium plate on my bone to heal the fracture. They sticked up my impressive would and put me in cast.

Do you see me? See me here? I would just like to point out that I am now sitting up, and this is day one of using my awesome hopeless abs! Let the workout begin. How I had no idea that day that I would develop abs of steel controlling EVERY movement in the halo, including standing.

The final cast. I then looked at my arm and realised the cast was pink! I don't recall that? But I knew then that I MUST have been with it, and choosen the colour of my first cast ever that I would have when I was 13. Personally, I blame the drugs, and Matt.

My lovely teddies that many friends brought in for me. My room was deliciously bright with about 50 bunches of stunning flowers, teddies, chocolate hampers and many more cards filled with love. Gees guys and girls, what a way to lift someones spirits during her 9 days in hospital. Thank you.

Battery of phone now charged after my rescue day, and I begin to work through the hundred of messages I have recieved - not taking a single one of them in at the time. I must have decided to keep each of them, and went through them all again weeks later, when I got my memory back. Beautiful messages from beautiful people.

The day of the accident

It all begins here... on Sunday March 20th 2011.

This is a blog I previously wrote for a motorbike forum that I use daily. It basically just outlines the facts, and the emotion and effects of it all will follow with my future updates. But facts are needed first. This is how I came to be in a halo.


A few moments that shape the rest of your life

on 16th May 2011 at 00:02 (1051 Views)

As many of you on here know, my life recently changed very dramatically. All within a few moments. All that I knew became a thing of the past, all that I had gotten through became minor details, all I was striving to achieve, became a different focus point. It's really fuzzy on my mind how just a few minor seconds can shape how you move forward, and the direction you go for the rest of your life. Well, this has happened to me. And now I find myself with a lot of empty time on my hands at home, a lot of thought and emotion about it, and I feel I need to write it all down properly to get it off my chest. Perhaps this may help me to understand the situation a little better. Perhaps it may assist with my sleep deprivation. Who knows. But I figure there is no harm in just writing a blog, as many have done before.

On Sunday March 20th, I had a major motorcycle crash. Only a few days before this I had finally picked up the Yamaha R6 that I had been trying to buy for the past 8 months. Finally, she was mine. In the few short days that I had her she felt incredible. All of a sudden I could move with the bike. I was previously on a sexy curvy Boulevard M50. Whilst this was a beautiful bike that stole my heart looks wise, my heart wasn't with her on each ride. I got to the point where I felt unsafe on that bike with my riding, and began to grow a rather large fear and block of corners. I knew I had to get off this bike, as ground clearance and riding position grew to be a big problem for me. So after 9 months of test riding sports bikes, I found the bike that fitted my body and size much better. On the R6, all of a sudden there was no pressure on my neck and back. All of a sudden I wasn't using my entire body weight to get her through a corner. All of a sudden I could weight the foot pegs and had more control of the bike. And it felt good. No, I take that back - it felt incredible! I did not buy the R6 for it's power or reputation. It's weight and feel were just perfect for me. And after 3 previous test rides of the same beast, I couldn't leave her be. My house was close to being sold after 12 months on the market, so the time was now or never. So I said goodbye to my beloved M50 at the dealership, and rode very gently home on the new stead.

The rest of the week I was working, and I didn't want to commute on a bike I didn't know just yet. I was completely re-learning to ride after all. I clocked up 500k's over the week from evening leisure rides and a Saturday charity ride, and I couldn't believe how it all felt. It was excited, I was buzzing, I was smiling, I was nervous, I was cautious, I was gentle, I shifted my weight to see how it felt... I knew it was going to take me some time to settle in on such a different bike. And this is the mindset I had every single time I got on it. I would repeat to myself "watch your speed, try to make gear changes smooths, feel the different weight, look round the corners, relax, smile, be gentle, take as much time as you need". I was finding my feet again. After 38,000k's in a little over 18 months on cruisers, I knew this change for me was huge. It was going to take it on my own, and at my own pace for a while. 

On the Sunday, I went over from Wellington to watch the Hill Climb out the back of Carterton. I met a wonderful group of bikers at my local gas station and decided to ride with them for the day, and just catch the end of the event. And what a ride we all had. All older guys, mostly from Palmerston North. I sat at the back of the group and followed their lines, and just took it all in. I didn't push myself once, and they were more than happy to let me do what I needed to do. It was the best ride that I had had in a very very long time. And I had made a wonderful group of new friends. We had a late lunch at the Gladstone Pub, said out goodbyes, and I headed off to the Hill Climb.
At the event, I saw some dear friends there and it was lovely to be able to catch up with them all. The event was coming to an end, and I decided I would head off on my own again, so that I could just take my time getting back and lapping up this stunning new ride I was lucky to have found. I left the car park, and this is where my memory ends.
 

I know that it was 3.45pm when I left the carpark. Only about 15 minutes down there road (now going from facts from the police and from friends) I took a left turn, instead of a right turn at a back country intersection I knew well. This lead me down a dead end farming road. About 500 metres along, I have come up over a brow of a hill and have ridden straight through a corner, off the road, down a 3m bank, past a tree, and am finally stopped by a barbed wire fence.

I assume it is now around 4pm as the crash scene is not far from where I left. At 5.30pm I receive a text from a buddy that I was supposed to catching up with at the White Swan in Grey Town. "Where are you? Hope you haven't forgotten you are meeting me, and that you are O.K". Everything kicks into action from here. I have gone back through my messages that I sent, and I let him know that I have crashed, badly. He calls 111 and the search begins. I have looked over my helmet and there are two decent impact marks on it. I believe I have been unconscious for an hour and a half, and the sound of a text message has made me come to. Apparently I had no idea where I was, and this was of no help to the rescue teams. For hours on end they searched in the wrong area for me. I must have been asked what I could see around me, and I have said I can see two large water tanks on the hill in the far distance. Bingo, the team now have an idea where I am and the search moves to my area. I do remember hearing sirens and seeing them go past on the road. I was 3m below the road level, lying in long grass so was unseen by them. I remember it being so frustrating. I also remember trying to pull myself up the bank, over my bike, to get close to the road. And I soon realised that moving was something I simply couldn't do. My helmet is off as I must have taken it off myself without even thinking about it.

Over the hours, I have received text messages from the 111 service to ask if I could hear sirens, or a helicopter. I respond I can hear them. My battery on my cell phone was very low, and they decided that text was the best way to be keeping in contact with me.

At approx. 9pm, one of the team in one of the fire trucks sees the light on my cell phone down a bank in the long grass as they have driven past. Bingo. They are here. All of a sudden I could breathe and relax, the high stress was over. And all I remember now of that is telling the team that "they had made my day" by finding me. And they had, it was all going to be ok from here. I must have know I was in good hands from that very moment. I do remember being stone cold. I was there for 5 hours, and I can still feel the cold when I think about it. A familiar thought that pases through my mind is if I am any colder, I don't think I'm going to be able to keep going. And I imagine my state of shock, following a decent blow to the head, was not helping my body temperature. So to know people were now there for me, any problems my mind was battling all went away. And I have been told that I did have a smile on my face on a few occasions.
 

The helicopter flew in and landed in the paddock next to where I lay. I wish more than anything that I could remember something about this, and the faces of these wonderful people who were all there to help me, and get me to a safe place. They flew me into Wellington hospital. My mum and dad, who were in contact to the 111 centre up in Auckland, finally received the phone call that I had been found as was being airlifted to the hospital. I can't even imagine their relief. I don't know how any parent would cope knowing for hours that their daughter was missing from a motorbike crash, with unknown injuries.

In hospital the outcome of my injuries were: Hangman fracture in the C2 vertebrae, fractures in each of the T1 - T3 vertebrae, open fibula fracture on the right leg, fracture in the left wrist, left scapula fracture. I had a large open wound on my right leg where the skin had been pulled open from the barbed wire fence.

They put me into halo traction, which is a metal ring on my head that screws into the outer layer on my skull in 4 places. They then stabalised me with a weight through the back of the bed lying down. It was hanging off my head for about 3 days. From there, they attached the rest of the halo vertical rods and the plastic body harness for full support and lack of movement. This very barbaric structure would soon become my best friend, and the best chance I had of full healing of a badly fractured neck and back. They operated on my leg, put a titanium plate on my bone to heal the fracture, and then put my in cast up to my knee. My left arm was then put in cast up to my elbow. I could not lift my left shoulder at all. They inserted a drain into my chest as I think I had fluid on the lungs. So, in halo traction with cast on leg and arm, I was now set and ready to start stepping through the healing process.

The whole 9 days in hospital is a blur. I imagine the drugs were pretty good and I don't remember much pain at all, and seemed to get plenty of sleep (sorry to all those visitors I fell asleep on and snored right through our little conversations. Whoops!). I am told that Dave Greenberg from the Westpac Rescue Helicopter came in to visit me, and see how I was doing. It pains me that I don't remember this at all, as I would like to shake his hand, and thank him and his team for saving my life. Friends came and went and stayed. Mum and dad flew straight in from Auckland on the Monday and hardly left my side. Friends also looks after my dogs at my house as I live alone. They were fed and cared for every day. My hospital room filled up very quickly with beautiful flowers, cards, and teddy bears. I remember so little, and would like to thank anyone who sent me warm wishes, cards, flowers and bears. It all made me feel very loved, and made me realise very quickly that I had so so much to get up and start fighting for. I wasn't going to take all this with a bad attitude. I had too many good friends whom I would have let down. My parents were finding it all very tough, and I needed to be strong for them. So I started to see all of this as pretty minor in the big scheme of things in life, and knew that in no time, I would be right as rain, and back out there fighting for all I had worked so hard for.

I did however get to a new level, and a new low when I had to allow the nurses to bath me. I couldn't walk, and I couldn't move one arm. So all self pride must go out the window, and you have no choice but to allow these incredible professionals to do all they needed to do. And the care in there was exceptional. I do remember that. I became very friendly with my nurses, and had a large support team ready when they discharged me after 9 days. They were simply thrilled to see me walking around on crutches in the halo, with a fractured shoulder. It was painful to do, but I was simply desperate to be mobile again and made sure I wasn't going to give up. I had made it through a personally very challenging 2 years, only 2 days before my accident and this gave me even more of a push to get on with things. No more delays, no more excuses.

Back in hospital the following week to get my halo adjusted, and my nurses asked if I would come and speak to another patient who was in halo traction. They said she was a little older, and struggling hugely with coming to terms on being in one for the next 3 months. I was more than happy to talk with her, as I was now starting to adjust very well to mine. She was thrilled to talk with me. Her and her husband soon started to see things in a different light, and that they WOULD be able to get through this time, no worries. She saw my leg and arm injuries, and congratulated me for getting straight up and taking on all challenges that the halo presented, and with a smile. This make me smile more, as I could see some more fight coming through in her eyes. I have emailed her this week to see how she is coming along. 

The police have shown me a copy of the crash report. Safe speed around the corner was 82km / hour. I was traveling at 72km / hour. They have blamed the road as the cause, I will always have further opinions on that. I know 2 factors that were my fault and I will never make these mistakes again (I correct that, I am GUESSING the 2 factors but am sure I'm not wrong, and guessing may be as good as I will ever get on that one). 

I am in the halo for a further 5 weeks, and then go into a second neck brace for up to 2 months. That means it could be about 5 months of no driving in total. My mum has been living with me as my live in career, and has now returned to Auckland. I am now riding solo (again). I live on my own in the country, and being house bound with lack of body movement is definitely proving to be a challenge. But it seems to be a pattern in my life that I do well when presented with a challenge, and I see all of this as a very good thing. I have now lost my job due to being away (yes, they can do this), but that may be the very best thing that has ever happened to me.

I have a truly incredible family. They have been there for me every single step of the way over these past 7 weeks. And they have given up a lot for me. I also am blessed with the most wonderful friends whom I love to bits. They are all checking in on me, calling me, trying to get me out of the house best they can. I would love to be able to talk to my rescuers. I want my mum and dad to know I couldn't have done this without them. I need my friends to understand how much I appreciate them, and how much they have all changed my life over these past 2 years. 

I am one hell of a lucky girl. Will I ride again? Absolutely! And, the sooner the better. But, realistically, My bones and my neck will not be strong enough to receive bumps and grief from road riding until about November. Then i plan to ride south (hopefully on my R6 if they decide not to right it off) on my own for the Burt Munro Challenge. I will now never travel without a GPS on the bike that can send a signal to the 111 centre - guess that's one thing that no one can change my mind about now. And I will always check in whenever I can with friends and family on my solo trips when reception or internet allows. 

I am walking. I am counting down the days until my halo comes off and I can finally sleep lying down again. I long to wash my hair and feel like a woman again. I am excited about so much, and shall never take any of these small every day things for granted again. Sleeping, bending, balancing, standing up, lying down, washing my hair, scrubbing my back, picking up firewood, getting to a lower level to cuddle my much loved dogs... All these things I have taken for granted, and most definitely have a new respect for all these actions. So much to look forward to.

I need to thank with all of my heart all of the people and teams involved in my rescue. There were a lot of people involved that night. The local police, ambulance, volunteer fire department, and the absolutely incredible Westpac Rescue Helicopter. I have no doubt that I owe every one of these incredible people for saving my life through and through. I wish I could meet some of them, shake their hand and look them in the eye. Just to let them know I am eternally grateful for their help. I will never forget all they have done for me, and nor will my family. Truly remarkable people and services.

Thanks for reading my story. I feel just a little bit lighter being able to finally share the chain of events that have turned my world as I knew it upside down - in such a good way.

xxx Pie 

Good things take time

I have finally statred a blog about my experience in halo traction. Why I have not done this until now I am unsure, as I simply have so much to say. So here I am, 9 weeks into it and the story begins. I shall work at getting up to date over the next week, then update as the days progress.

How exciting! I'm simply bursting with excitement about finally being able to write my story down. And now, as I sit up in bed, in my halo, unable to sleep even for a few minutes tonight, my mind just bubbles with all the thoughts I want to write down. But it is 4.20am and I must be patient. After all, what a perfect and delicious way to fill in these very long days, and start to re-train and re-motivate my brain.

The story, and the fun begins from now. Welcome to my life in a halo.