On Sunday July 9th at 10am, I was headed eastbound on Union Hills Road. I entered the intersection at 7th Street and saw a vehicle westbound. When we both got to the intersection, the drier of the other vehicle made a sharp left turn and T-boned me. Her front bumper hit me broadside and I took the hit on my left ankle. I was thrown from my bike. Witnesses said that I flipped end for end three times, flew the distance of two and a half car lengths landed on the pavement and rolled another twenty feet. I never lost consciousness and came to rest in a sitting position. I did a quick check of my arms and head. Felt no pain in my ribcage or back and attempted to stand up. It was at this time that I noticed that my left foot was turned around backwards. I sat back down in the street and took out my cell phone and called some friends to let them know that I would be headed to a hospital.
I was taken by ambulance to a trauma one hospital, John C. Lincoln and was in surgery with an hour. I had suffered a compound open fracture of the fibula and tibia.. I later found out that all my toes had been fractured at least once and that the big toe, 3rd, 4th, and 5th had been fractured in two places. The talus bone had been displaced and dislocated and the bones that make up the ball of the food had all been crushed. Everything was surgically repaired with pins, plates, screws and rods.
The bones are all healing well. They all appear to be in good alignment and where new bone growth has started, it looks good. Except for the toes!! There is not too much that can be done with them. I believe my days as a foot model are over.
Besides quite a bit of road rash on both knees and lower legs, I only had three major flesh wounds. The first was the wound on the inside of the ankle that was about the size of a silver dollar. Another was the base of the big toe and the third was a huge blood blister on top of my foot at the base of the middle and 4th toe. This blood blister developed into an ulcer that was covered by dead tissue.
At this time, 11 weeks later, I am still walking on crutches, a walker or using a wheelchair because my orthopedic surgeon has not released me to rehab. The podiatrust that the wound clinic thinks I am looking at another 8 to 12 weeks for this ulcer to heal completely. I am going to a specialized wound clinic where they have managed to get the two smaller wounds almost completely closed. The wound on top of the foot is still giving us problems. The tissue on top of the wound became gangrene and naturally had to be removed and the wound derided. It is beginning to heal slowly and I believe I am seeing a light at the end of this long tunnel.
All of my Choirboy brothers and sisters have been very supportive and that has helped allot. I am looking at buying a new bike when this is all over and cannot wait to get back into the wind and riding with all my brothers and sisters. I will be at CUFFS and also at Tombstone. I traveled by truck to El Paso and those Texas brothers sure know how to throw a party.
I am 60 years old and have been riding a motorcycle of one kind or another for over 45 years. I have made contact with the ground on several occasions. I always saw it coming and knew I was headed for a blow to my pride, which was usually worse then the physical injury. But this one was different, I had no chance! One second I was cruising along at 40 mph (posted speed was 45) and the next instant, the car was smashing into me. I had seen her approach from the opposite direction and was looking past her to see what was coming next. She had no turn signal on and turned sharply to the left and got me. I suppose what I am trying to get across to my brothers and sisters is that you cannot dismiss anything as a possible threat to your life. The only thing that saved my life was my ability to remember and use my old martial arts training by tucking my head and rolling over my arms, back and legs. I was wearing jeans, heavy leather boots, a t-shirt and no helmet., I am a very luck man.
Dutch
Arizona Region 1
Sgt of Arms
