Last Wednesday I heard that sickening sound of a human skull being smashed into pavement.If you have ever heard that "thud" sound you know what I am talking about. No one's fault but my own. A split moment when a perfect storm of events (each one of which is not much on it's own) occurred. Riding in a line with my cycling club a bit of over braking put me face first into the pavement only 2 mi. into a ride. As I lay there I was sure that the left side of my face was crushed. My first thought was "Don't move." My gf rushed over and said "let me take you helmet off"..."No. Don't touch the helmet." By that point I had checked my fingers and toes to see if I had movement...I did...and had looked up and seen a beautiful sky with my right eye and nothing but a dull white blob with my left eye. I thought, ""Well, you will still have vision out of one eye." By then the EMTs had arrived the neck brace was on and I was off to the local hospital. This was to be a short stop. Within hours I was at Hartford (CT) Hospital.The first MRI had showed some serious destruction to C2 but the one at Hartford Hosp. showed worse damage for the C2 and found two more fractures. The next day (Thursday) I was in surgery for 5 hrs. Post surgery was accompanied by the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life.Sitting up all night, tears in the eyes, "give me a gun and let me kill myself" pain. The next day the surgeon told me he has seen the post-op MRI and wanted to go in for a quick re-angle of one of the screws because he was concerned it might cause a problem sometime in the future. So, off I went to surgery for a quick tweak.Turns out this took over 3 hours followed by the new "worst night of my life." By this time my definition of "pain" had grown my immense proportions. I am home now, 10 days later...wearing a collar and trying to believe life will someday become normal again.

In between all the surgeries there was the surgical repair of the "through and through" tear my now shattered front tooth had but in my lower lip. the 1 1/2 hrs. of stitches that a cosmetic surgeon put in my nose and the 7 stitches in my right hand.

This was not easy and I have a new found empathy for so many people who have had their bodies shattered and manage to pick up the pieces and go forward.
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