That time I broke my face and needed stitches.

Let me start off by saying that even though I've only been cycling for a little over a year, that I have put hundreds of miles on my bike and I swear I know what I'm doing…. Even though it might seem like I need training wheels after crashing twice in 3 weeks.  

So, you want to know the whole story?  Here goes….

It was a gorgeous weekend and I was really looking forward to the two races we had planned.  No butterflies in my stomach because I had a huge major race.  It was going to be a nice break.  Saturday was the Fiesta 5K Ole and Husband, VK Sista and I planned to ride our bikes from Alki to Volunteer Park (10 miles) and back to get a nice little water-front ride in and not have to worry about parking up on the hill.  Sunday was the Bike n' Brew.  So both days full of fitness and beers in the sunshine.  Sounded so great!

So Saturday morning VK Sista' met at our house and the 3 of us drove down to Alki to park.  We rode our bikes down the Alki Beach Trail, down the Seattle waterfront, and then all the way up Cherry Street (OMG BIGGEST HILL EVER!) stopping to huff and puff and drink water at every stoplight all the way to Broadway.  Brutal… but fun.  

We made it to Volunteer Park with about a half hour to spare before the 5K.  We found Cousin and her brother, and Husband and VK Sista' changed into running shorts.  I decided just to cycle in my running capris rather than changing in the porta-potty.  I figured last weekend I ran in bike capris, this weekend I'd cycle in running capris.  Here's a couple pics from the start line…

Cousin and Me

The whole gang

The whole gang again with husband's go-go gadget arm

This was a screenshot I took of the start line video that the race had on their Facebook page.
You can see husband, me, and VK Sista back there… we're blurry but there we go!  

This was my husband's very first 5K unless you count the Warrior Dash the past two years.  (But there's so much standing around waiting for obstacles on that race that it hardly counts.)  He took off like the crazy long-legged person he is and I didn't see him again until he passed me at the turnaround for a high-five.  He averaged a 9:42 mile and finished in 30:52.  Freaking nuts.  And he says, "I don't run."  Pshaw.  I'm making him do more of these with me.  Although he's super sore now and would much rather cycle.  I finished in 34 something.. (I forgot to start my garmin at the start.  Oops.) 

So, we finished our fun little morning 5K and it was off to the beer garden and to visit the taco trucks.  Here's a couple finishing pics…

Husband took this of me coming in

And this is when I noticed him and smiled

Here's me super proud of my husband and his first real 5K.
(I was trying out my skirt for Disney next weekend btw)

Free tiny cans of Bud Light Straw-ber-itas at 10am.

Our variety of tacos.  Yum!

So we sat in the grass a while eating tacos and drinking little margarita-beer things.  We were there for about 3 hours in the sunshine listening to music.  I had a hair appointment at 4pm so we decided we'd head out around 1pm.  Gorgeous day.

Then we were off on our bikes again.  We stopped at a stoplight and the Space Needle looked cool sticking out over the trees so I had husband snap a picture…

And then our good day took a turn for the worse.  Literally.  We turned the corner and we were riding along slowly with traffic.  VK Sista' leading the way, Husband behind her, and me in the back.  I saw VK Sista' hit the trolley tracks that run parallel to the road.  She wobbled and recovered.  Then my husband hit them but he was on his randonneuring bike so he has thicker tires than we do and went over them no problem.  And then it was my turn.  I hit the first track and wobbled wobbled wobbled, and recovered (Phew!).  But apparently when I turned my wheel to recover, I started going too far to the left and hit the other track.  It all happened so fast that I can't be completely positive but I'm pretty sure my wheel caught in the track, my bike came to a halt, and I didn't.  

Next thing I know, I'm laying on the road on my left side (same side I fell on 3 weeks ago) and I was listening to this "drip, drip, drip" noise.  I thought, "Oh man, I hope that's my water bottle leaking up near my head."  I turned slightly to look at the ground and I was lying in a huge puddle of blood and the dripping was clearly coming from my face.  That's not good.  It also felt like I had sand in my mouth and I thought maybe I chipped a tooth.  My teeth felt weird, like they didn't line up quite right.  It was so weird and surreal, I was totally calm laying there.  I was kind of laughing inside thinking, "Here I am again!  And it's the same side!  Really?!"  My next thought was, "Well, head wounds tend to bleed a lot.  I'm sure I'll be fine."  My next thought was, "I hope someone is getting pictures of this for my blog!"  Hahaha. 

I was trying to look around but my sunglasses were all streaked.  I figured they were all scraped up, but later found out they were covered in blood.   There was a lot of commotion all over.  Someone asked if they should call 911 and I heard my husband say "Yes, that looks like a lot of blood."  A lady came up and told me she was a nurse and saw what happened.  She asked me my name, birthdate, how old I was, etc. to make sure I was with it I guess.  She then put what felt like a soft cloth on my bleeding face and pressed really hard.  That hurt.  She said her name was Cathy and she was really sorry she had to press so hard but she had to try to stop the bleeding.  She was amazing.  I don't even know what she looked like.  I wish I could thank her.  

After what felt like 30 seconds later, I saw an ambulance pull up.  I guess there was a fire truck and some police cars too.  I was just listening to Cathy and not paying attention to much else except the pain in my head.  More commotion, lots of questions to my husband, and some EMT's asking me pretty much the same questions Cathy already asked me.  My husband said they checked my back, my legs, my arms, etc.  I really don't remember any of that.  I don't remember taking my helmet or my sunglasses off either.  They had me roll over onto my back onto a stretcher and strapped me in.  Then they wrapped my head in gauze.  (Or maybe it was the other way around, idk)  I was feeling pretty comfortable then.  One guy said, "Yeah, you're going to need quite a few stitches."  Fantastic.  Let's get some stitches then.  They asked if I wanted to be transported to the ER or if I was ok just to walk there since it was only 2 blocks away.  I said I really didn't know and that it was up to my husband.  They unstrapped me and had me sit up.  I felt surprisingly ok.  

He decided I'd walk down the street rather than pay a billion dollars to hop in the ambulance.  They helped me up, and again, I felt alright.  I saw the blood all over the pavement and I said, "Whoa.  Take a picture of that!"  

I signed something that said I refused transport, and got an incident report number from a police officer who said that he had to document that I got into a cycling accident by myself and there were no cars involved.  I looked around and saw that the whole street was blocked off and there were a lot of people standing around watching.  Here's a couple of pics VK Sista' took from the curb.  She totally knew I would want these and risked looking like an insensitive friend.  Ha.  

Husband took these ones.  I look like a zombie.
I see a lot of people grouped around over there watching the train wreck that was me.

I'm still smiling as the firemen wash my blood off the street behind me.

So I walked over to the other side of the street where VK Sista' was standing and a nice lady from Bonney Watson Funeral Home asked if I'd like some water.  I looked up at the sign and said, "Funeral home, huh?  Good thing I don't need that."  She and another gentleman offered to store our bikes there and give us a ride to the hospital.  I said, "Like in a hearse?"  They said, "No a limo."  Sweet.  So I sat down on the steps for a bit to wait for them to pull the limo around.  Husband took this photo too and I didn't even notice...  

And then we were off to the hospital for stitches in a limo from a funeral home.  I can't make this stuff up!!

VK Sista' taking a limo selfie.  I was seriously cracking up.

Here's a nice little limo selfie I took to text to my MA BFF who text me right before
I got on my bike to tell me to be careful.  She jinxed me.  

Here's me in front of the limo with a smile and a thumbs up before walking into the hospital.

  

And then here we are in the elevator trying to find the ER

In the waiting room showing me pics of all my blood.

Checking in.  "What is your pain level 1-10"  Me, "Um, I've had gallstones and a child without drugs.  5 maybe?"   I was thinking, "This is probably halfway between cutting my finger and natural childbirth.  So.. 5."

And then I finally got to lay down and chill out.

With ice packs.  Aaah.  Yay for ice packs.

Looking lovely.

Well, there's the "drip, drip, drip" problem right there.  I hope I don't scar!

Getting numbed up for stitches.

They had me x-ray my elbow since it was so bruised and swollen I look like I have an extra bone.  No broken bones there.  Then they had me kind of lay around for a while so the adrenaline would wear off and I'd notice if anything else hurt. (My left ankle, both knees, right thumb are all pretty bruised up too.) I was still waiting to get the stitches in.  It was taking forever because someone who was in worse shape than me came in I guess.  They gave me some ibuprofen, and then moved on to a percoset.  I mentioned that my teeth hurt and they didn't feel like they were lining up right.  So she poked around on my face a bit and decided she wanted me to have a Cat Scan to make sure I didn't fracture any facial bones.  So we waited and waited… and took some photos.  This is when husband realized my sunglasses were in his back pocket.  Holy cow!  No wonder I couldn't see out of them anymore!

And then I finally got my stitches.  Didn't hurt.  Glad that numbing medicine lasts hours.

ER Selfie

I just thought it was funny I changed from my cycling shoes to
my five-fingered vibrams to lay around in the hospital.

So after taking a mandatory pregnancy test, and taking out every single one of my barbell earrings,  I finally went in for my Cat Scan.  Then we waited around forever to hear the results.  I thought it was a waste of time.  I didn't really think I had broken anything.  Well, turns out I did.  I had a tiny fracture of my left Maxilla.  What?!  I broke my face?  Literally. Broke. My. Face.

Funky Cat Scan photo.  Can you see where the arrow is pointing?

Well, now I know when my oral surgeon thought I had fractured my jaw back in November but wouldn't be able to tell without a Cat Scan… I'm 100% sure now that it was broken because this hurts much less than that did.  

So, there ya have it.  4 hours in the ER, 7 stitches, and a broken sinus bone.  Trolley tracks are no joke!

I was so, so bummed to miss out on the Bike n' Brew the next day.  It was really tempting to go ride anyway but my husband talked me out of it.  My handlebars are kinda crooked, and I need a new helmet because it's pretty banged up.  We gave my bib # to BFF's husband because he wanted to come and it was sold out by the time he got online to book it.  So at least it didn't go to waste.  And BFF came over to hang out with me and the kids while they all went on the ride.  

It's been 3 days now.  I have this never-ending sinus headache which I guess makes sense.  They prescribed me percoset and some antibiotics.  My upper left teeth hurt when I chew and my teeth still feel misaligned.  I see an ENT doctor on Thursday to make sure the fracture will heal on it's own and I don't need surgery (That would suck!)  They'll take my stitches out for me then too.  I have 5 on the outside and two really deep stitches that will dissolve.  The road rash on my face is oozing.  It's gross and I've had to scrub it and apply more bacitracin a few times.  That hurts.  I also have a pretty good shiner now and it feels really weird to open my left eye.

Oh yeah and here's my poor elbow.  Just when it was almost healed!  Grr!

The first night was a horrible nights sleep.  I can only sleep on the one side but being on that side hurts my elbow and my knee… Or on my back and I tried to sleep on a couple pillows to keep my head elevated to help with the swelling but I can never sleep on my back.  I woke up to take some pain killers, and at least 3 times I had a dream I was cycling down the street and my handlebars got all wonky and I fell off and hit the pavement.  I woke up with a gasp as I hit the ground, my heart still racing.  THREE TIMES that happened.  I thought I was a pretty good sport about this whole thing but maybe I'm more traumatized than I thought.  I figured falling the second time was kind of like having my second child.  I already knew what to expect and I knew I'd be alright.  Maybe that's why I was so easy-going and joking about it this time.  (And I got to ride in a limo!)

I just hope I'll be ok for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon on Sunday.  I know I can probably just walk the whole thing with the time limit we have so I'm not so much worried about finishing it.  We leave on Saturday and I'm so thrilled to look so lovely for all these family photos we'll have taking the kids to Disneyland.  I think I need to re-think my costume too.  I think I'll tear up one fairy wing and only put pretty sparkly makeup on one half of my face so I look like a creepy two-faced fairy.  Everyone will think it's stage makeup.  I kinda worry about what people think when they look at me so I avoided leaving the house the rest of the weekend.  I took the kids to school and told the whole story to my daycare lady.  I really need to go to work tomorrow but I hope I can just hide in my office.  I'm like Quasimoto.  I'll get all sorts of looks at the airport I'm sure.  They'll be looking at my face, and looking at my husband's knuckles.  lol.  I hope I can fly with a broken sinus bone!  I guess I find out Thursday and if not, we'll have to pack up the car and start driving!  Not going to miss this half marathon!!!

Oh, by the way, turns out the piece of fabric the nurse used to stop the bleeding was VK Sista's Vanderkitten Running Tank…

She said it came clean!  Thanks for being there kitten!  :)  I'll update you all after my Thursday appointment!  Thanks for reading!