Love heals. Here's the beginning of the story of my injury and coming back to be fully mobile.
It was June 7, 2018. I'd gotten a new road bike a couple months earlier and just purchased clip-less shoes and peddles. I'd been practicing clipping out and back in again when I needed to stop. Clip-less shoes and peddles are the kind that literally clip you onto the peddle. It increases speed. Veteran bicyclists would not bike without this great invention. I'd been a bit unsure. After talking with the woman at our local bike shop, I decided to go for it! I was up for the challenge and excited about a full summer ahead for riding, paddling, walking, dancing and making art.
Bob, my husband and I were heading across the new bridge in Winona on our way to Fountain City, Wisconsin. I don't have any pictures of how cool all of this looked. It was a hot day, still early enough in the day to enjoy. The breeze from the bike was great! Bob and I are both teachers and having a bit of freedom from our busy teaching responsibilities was a great feeling.
We were almost to the signal light. We were going to get to the left to make a left turn to Hwy 35. The road shoulder had a soft down hill curve from the road. I needed to bump over to get to the road. Instead of hitting that bump at a 45 degree angle, I hit it parallel. My skinny road bike tires reacted to this dilemma by throwing me and the bike over to the right. I hit my elbow and came crashing to a stop.
Everyone asks, "Were you wearing a helmet?" Yes, I was. Or another question, "How was the bike?" Bike was fine. I was not so fine. My elbow hurt so bad and I was bleeding from a small rock that entered my arm. I began crying, wailing actually as I sat on the edge of the road. I called to Bob who was riding ahead of me. I told him that I didn't think that I could go all the way. He said no. He got me off the road and to the edge. He washed my bleeding arm and we rested there for a bit.
A very kind person in a white car stopped and asked if we needed help or a ride to the emergency room. We said no. I didn't think that I needed to go and I didn't want to bleed all over her nice white car.
We got up and began walking back. I was still crying and quite a mess. Bob offered to walk both of our bikes. At that point, I thought that I'd calm down and get on my bike and ride home. But in my mind and heart, I was hoping for a ride.
And then along came a Fish and Wildlife Ranger from the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge. He asked if I needed to go to the hospital. I said no thanks. He didn't have enough room for both of us and our bikes in his truck. Bob said he could stash the bikes in the weeds along the side of the road. I was so scared that someone would steal our bikes. Bob said no, they'd be ok. The wildlife guy told us to wait here a bit and he'd be right back.
What he did was radio another ranger fellow to give us a ride. And within about 10 minutes, another truck came that could haul two humans and two bikes. He gave us a ride home. What a relief.
When we got home, Bob helped me clean us my injury. He asked again, if we should go to the doctor. I decided that we should go. We went to Urgent Care. They took an X-ray and found that I'd broken my elbow in three places. I'd need a surgery to repair the broken bone.
More to come; stay tuned.
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