Low grade spinal cord injury

[WorldSBK]

Sorry to hear this and very glad that you're ok. It could have been much worse.
Have a very blessed Thanksgiving.

 

[Frisco]

Hey Earnie,

I met you years ago, you sold me an Arai, we met at Lanesplitters.

I haven’t had the trauma, but I literally feel your pain. I had a posterior foraminotomy 2 weeks ago C5-7. For me it’s degenerative disc disease. The nerve pain and weakness in my left arm are a real drag. Neurontin helps the pain and I’m hoping the strength will return as I recover from my procedure.

It’s great that you’re recovering without surgery! Heal fast and please don’t slack off on offering expert opinions on BARF. Much appreciated.

 

[afm199]

Hey Earnie,

I met you years ago, you sold me an Arai, we met at Lanesplitters.

I haven’t had the trauma, but I literally feel your pain. I had a posterior foraminotomy 2 weeks ago C5-7. For me it’s degenerative disc disease. The nerve pain and weakness in my left arm are a real drag. Neurontin helps the pain and I’m hoping the strength will return as I recover from my procedure.

It’s great that you’re recovering without surgery! Heal fast and please don’t slack off on offering expert opinions on BARF. Much appreciated.

I remember you!

Yeah, the nerve pain and weakness is a trip. It made me aware of the idea of "mind-body." When your head says: "Pick this up," and your arm says: "Fuck you, you're not my boss," it's kinda strange.

 

[afm199]

Sorry to hear about this Ernie!

Great to hear the injuries were not worse!

Hope you heal up soon and back to 100%

This a testament that any of us can crash, regardless of experience and that none of us are immune from injury.

Amen. I suspect that a Helite vest would have prevented this. All it takes is one second of brain fade to crash.

 

[Frisco]

I remember you!

Yeah, the nerve pain and weakness is a trip. It made me aware of the idea of "mind-body." When your head says: "Pick this up," and your arm says: "Fuck you, you're not my boss," it's kinda strange.

I was still riding before my surgery despite some pain and left arm weakness. On a sporty ride out to Tomales I drifted a bit wide on my first fast left hander. What the!?! Thought about it and realized that my mind told my arm to make the required steering input and the arm just couldn’t do it. Really makes me appreciate how important it is to get it all right when riding. Time to recalibrate.

 

[Butch]

We are quite the community, eh? Heal up dude.
Shit, I think we might have exchanged pleasantries at Laguna on Sept 11, 2011. I hope we can expand beyond our online relationship.

Again, best wishes.

 

[afm199]

We are quite the community, eh? Heal up dude.
Shit, I think we might have exchanged pleasantries at Laguna on Sept 11, 2011. I hope we can expand beyond our online relationship.

Again, best wishes.

Yes, pretty sure. You were riding the yellow Yammy! Was it that long ago?

 

[Butch]

Yes, pretty sure. You were riding the yellow Yammy! Was it that long ago?

Old age confusion here.
2011 I did a Laguna day on my red R6. 2015 I was on the KR version. Still, a while ago. Yer mem seems better than mine.

That was like June 2015, two weeks after I quit my job. Now I am busier than ever. Damn.

 

[wilit]

Damn Ernie! Hope you heal up quick sir. I fractured a vertebrae once (not serious) and it's no fun.

 

[Butch]

the wifey is having spinal surgery in two weeks. Some magic plastic injection process by Jeffrey Coe.

It seems pretty effective.
He's like an engineer, or something.
https://www.orthonorcal.com/our-doctors/jeffrey-d-coe-md/

 

[Cincinnatus]

the wifey is having spinal surgery in two weeks. Some magic plastic injection process by Jeffrey Coe.

It seems pretty effective.
He's like an engineer, or something.
https://www.orthonorcal.com/our-doctors/jeffrey-d-coe-md/

I'll take a full spinal replacement, thanks very much and have a nice day....

Butch, my best wishes to your wife for that treatment, I hope it goes well!

Ernie, what's your current status, getting better & healing up??

Old injured peeps want to know... :thumbup

 

[dtrides]

Ernie, sorry to hear about your incident.
Hope your healing is coming along for a full recovery.:thumbup

the wifey is having spinal surgery in two weeks. Some magic plastic injection process by Jeffrey Coe./QUOTE]
Butch, If she is having a kyphoplasty,
I had that done back in 09 and it is still strong!
In fact, I went down just two days before Earnie on the 5 mile day... broke a few ribs, smashed both hands (they couldn't believe nothing was broken), shaved the side of my index finger down, put a nice hole in my knee, etc.
They took X-rays from top to bottom and noticed my kyphoplasty and said it looked great.
They then cleaned out my knee and stitched it up...Doc looks at my chart and says "we didn't give you any pain meds yet?":wtf
I said "nope"....he says "would you like some?" I say" yes please!":laughing
DT

 

[afm199]

I'll take a full spinal replacement, thanks very much and have a nice day....

Butch, my best wishes to your wife for that treatment, I hope it goes well!

Ernie, what's your current status, getting better & healing up??

Old injured peeps want to know... :thumbup

Well thanks!

Pain levels have pretty much returned to pre crash levels, thankful for that!

Getting most of my strength back, up to 13 pushups now, curling 25-30 pounds, pretty happy with the results. Still have some residual nerve tingling in the arms but it seems to be going slowly away.

Soon I'll be back to normal decrepitude.

 

[1962siia]

Glad you are continuing to progress! Best wishes for a full recovery!

 

[NSR500]

Well, I had a crash at T14, Thunderhill, on Oct. 15. This was totally my fault. I was tired, and pushing too hard. Carried a bit too much lean angle into T14 and let off the brake a bit early, before max lean. BAM, front end tucked instantly ( I've done the same crash on the same bike in the same place several years ago.)

I hit the track and slid a tiny bit and then someone hit me in the back from behind. Whomp. I kept sliding, and it was as if someone threw a light switch. I was only aware of and feeling what I could see inside my helmet. I didn't get it until I stopped sliding. I lay there a bit, looking at the inside of my helmet, a bit of track, and my left arm.

At that point I realized that it was hot inside the helmet and reached to open my visor. Nope, arm didn't work. Tried the other one. Nope. Tried both my legs. Nope. It was oddly peaceful. I wasn't worried, almost as if I had no worries because I couldn't do anything!

Anyway, within a couple minutes ( all the while talking to one my fellow instructors) feeling started to come back. I could move my arms with difficulty, and ditto my legs. I stood up slowly and got an ambulance ride back to the pits.

My legs were feeling fine, my arms had some huge tingling and zapping and pain, as well as my back and neck. Got checked out in the aid station. He recommended I go get some xrays. Good idea.

The next day I got a complete workup at Kaiser, scans, xrays, etc, turns out that I fractured the anterior process of C5. I think that's what it was, lol.

Both of my arms felt like they had been broken, some really serious pain, and pain going from the neck all the way down the arm to the tip of the thumb and index finger. That's kind of a radial nerve pathway. The interesting part is that the injury was bilateral and symmetrical. Both arms hurt, the pain path was the same, and the feelings were and are the same.

So the next month was a journey of lots of pain, as the nerve function slowly returned. I was using morphine for three weeks. There's still a bit of nerve pain in my index fingers and thumbs, but 90% of the pain has gone away, along with the morphine. i learned a lot about pain management. It's super important to schedule medication and keep the level in your body up. If you wait till you feel pain, it's going to hurt longer and you lose sleep.

The suck part is that I am still recovering neural pathways for my arms, and initially, right after the crash, I could not do any pushups and could curl maybe 5 pounds. ( My baseline was 25 pushups and 35 pound curl.) I'm up to 9-10 pushups now, and 25 pounds is easy to curl, but I still have a way to go. That part is slow. I get stuck at each level of pushup and it takes me 2-3 days to add one fucking pushup. Bicycling again, lost some wind, that's for sure.

So, all in all, it could have been a lot worse.

I'm buying a Helite vest. Don't ride when you're tired.

Any particular reason for Helite vs the others?

 

[afm199]

Any particular reason for Helite vs the others?

Lots of good reviews from friends who have crashed, and good neck extension protection. I am open to others.

 

[afm199]

This shit is slow. 15 pushups last night. Real pushups, down to floor, full arm extension.

 

[bikeama]

This shit is slow. 15 pushups last night. Real pushups, down to floor, full arm extension.

Thanks for the update. Keep on keeping on, it is still better than the alternative.

 

[moto-rama]

Holy Schmoly...
That's some very serious stuff.

I hope your recovery is rapid, and complete. When we geezer riders hit the bricks, it can be tough climbing back to your previous self.

I hope Sandy Claws brings you a speedy recovery!

 

[NSR500]

Keep up the good progress with Recovery!

BTW...

How does a trackday provider deal with something like the Helite Turtle? Since the back protector is on the vest and you don't have to wear one in your suit, will they let you ride that way; or will they still want the back protector in the suit as well?