In the first days after the accident, I felt bruised; I could still limp around. I spent much of the weekend with Zoe, and took her to a playground on Saturday. I went to the office in the mornings, and even went back in the late evenings to fulfill some overdue promises. I gave a talk up in Napa on Tuesday, and delivered a presentation in Martinez on Wednesday.
I felt unbelievably tired and wanted, above all else, to lie alone in a quiet room.
Driving back from Napa Tuesday, I had trouble finding my way home. I kept missing the exits, backtracking, choosing a different route–oh, I’ll just go this way instead–and then missing the next exit, again. Hmmm. Something was definitely wrong.
On Wednesday night, the agony in my legs set in. I upped the dose of Vicodin to the maximum, but the pain was still excruciating. The only relief was to lie perfectly still with my legs slightly elevated.
Thursday, my regular Kaiser doc checked out my legs and changed my prescription to Percocet.
This morning, the pain is resolving a bit, and I can differentiate what’s OK from what’s damaged (other than inside my skull): My left knee took a huge whack on the left side, loosening the patella and overstretching the MCL on the opposite side. My left calf muscle is separated a bit. My left ankle is sprained. The Achilles tendon is strained. My shin and the top of the foot are bruised. The right side faired a little better–sprained ankle, mostly, and considerable bruising on the shins. And a pulled calf muscle on that side as well.
So that’s what’s hurting worst. I also have some upper spine and neck pain, for which I got some chiro adjustments yesterday. Today I’m going back and hoping she’ll work on my shoulders.
I took a closer look at the photos of the car that I took from the gurney. it looks like there was significant damage to the front left fender. The bike came back from the shop OK–wheels knocked slightly out of true, and the handlebar tape scuffed, but with an intact frame–so I’ve got to guess that the impact from my body is what damaged the car. Ouch.