Well, it's very old news to my real-life friends, but two weeks ago this evening, I was in a serious bike accident. While going on a routine bike ride with my brother and his girlfriend through the neighborhood, they passed me up a bit. I rolled up a cul de sac uphill hoping I could come back down it at a higher speed and catch back up with them. However, across the street, there happened to be a house with numerous bags of leaves set upon the curb, but also pouring out into the street. Some were ripped open, exposing the leaves to be blown out into the street. These leaves covered quite a bit of the street I was coming back down towards, and hoping to turn on so that I could catch up with my bro. When it came time to turn, I was hauling ass and breaking 'cause I knew I wasn't going to make it with the speed I was going, and my brother had come back with his girlfriend and were waiting for me to turn around. Breaking, though, my tires slipped on the leaves in the street, and I ended up flying over the curb into a large, green electrical power box. Catch: I would have been fine save for maybe a few bruises and cuts, but there was a 4 in. rusted over bolt extruding from the power box. My jaw hit this bolt, and ergo, was shattered all the way through on the left side of my chin. My brother immediately tried to wrap the wound with his shirt, but I kept bleeding because the wound went all the way through into my mouth; hence, I lost about 2 pints of blood (out of the average 6) but thankfully didn't have to endure a blood transfusion. I also actually don't remember much of the immediate pain because I was in shock.
I made it to the hospital and had 2 reconstructive surgeries done, and thanks to one of the most talented doctors in the city (Plastic surgeon Dr. Wang, imperatively pronounced "Wong"), I didn't have to have a bone graft from my hip, didn't lose any teeth, and escape with a completely reconstructed jaw including some pins and a metal plate.
It does suck, however, that I have to live with a full liquid diet until my jaw's healed enough to chew soft/solid foods (I.E. about 2 more weeks, which is also how long I'm released from school and placed in a home-bound schooling program). Eugh.
I'm thankful for a lot of things, and this is one of them. Had I hit that bolt a few more inches north, I could have rammed my brain in with my nose. Gruesome, yes, but all I can say is "Phew!" I had been planning to write this journal since I got out of the hospital (a week ago, now), but I've been too tired and too weak to do much else but sit around the house and rest.
Thank you, all the people that were there in the hospital with me, keeping me laughing (despite how much it hurt, heh) enough to get my mind off all the crap that transpired. You know who you are. Thank you.
This is my extensive excuse for not replying to the 31 stockpiled comments I've had in my message box for about a month XD Be assured that I WILL read them, but I can't guarantee that you will have a reply from me. As it stands now, I am still weak from losing so much blood :< I'm sorry, all!