Last night I got back home after spending eight days in the hospital recovering from a motorcycle accident.

On Saturday, Jan 21, I was out riding my motorcycle with some friends. We were out near Pioneer Town, just outside Yucca Valley, in the California Mojave Desert. The road was meandering up and down some of the hills out there, and was full of dips. One of the dips had running water across it, and none of us could see the water until we came too close.

I had to hit the brakes because it was a lot of water, and it was running pretty fast. Unfortunately, I locked up the tires, and the bike fishtailed out of control and threw me off. I hit the asphalt and tumbled around quite a bit, finally banging my head against a rock before coming to rest. I didn't feel any pain, because I don't remember any of it. My friends described the whole thing to me.

I had road-rash all over one side of my face, and a sore wrist. Otherwise, I was up walking around upset over the wreck of my bike. Someone called the paramedics, and they arrived. They asked if I wanted them to take me to a hospital. I debated it, but my friends convinced me it was a good idea to go. So, I went.

The hospital found I had a "bruised kidney". It had swelled up with water, and there was some blood in the urine, but no bleeding into the body cavity. That was the worst injury. The sore wrist turned out to be a fracture, and I had a black & blue left-big-toe. For a motorcycle accident victim, I came out requiring no surgeries, awfully lucky for me, but an awful disappointment for the hospital.

So, they transferred me to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. They have a trauma center, and justified the transfer by means of the kidney contusion. I think Desert Regional was salivating at the mouth over receiving a motorcycle accident victim, but was probably just as disappointed when they learned I required no surgery, just care.

But to make up for it, they kept me there under observation. They actually put me in ICU the following day, Sunday. I really didn't belong in ICU. All the other patients were unconscious. I was the only one cracking jokes with the nurses. In fact, that was the day of the NFL Conference Finals. I watched both games, and the nurses and techs would stand in my room and watch the game with me. I think they had a pool going.

Funny thing about hospitals is that they won't give you any kind of medication without doctor's orders. I was getting a headache in ICU that night, and asked the nurse for some Tylenol. She came back and said that the doctor didn't write Tylenol on my chart, but could offer me some Morphine instead. I couldn't believe it! Tylenol is not ok, but Morphine, you can have all you want.

Monday, they transferred me to their trauma recovery floor dubbed "5 Sinatra", where every room is a private room. By the time Wednesday came around, I put up an argument with the doctor to discharge me, since they weren't really treating me, only laying down and watching television all day. The doctor said I was lucky, because in some other places, and in past decades, they would've just resected my kidney out and sent me home. They were actually trying to save my kidney with careful watch and rest. I guess I couldn't argue. They sent a psychiatrist in to talk to me because they thought I was threatening to leave against medical advice.

However, a really nice nurse named Lindsay who worked in that area spent a some more time with me, cheered me up and made me feel a lot better. Another nurse who changed shifts with her named Luanne was also really nice, made the stay a lot better. I really want to thank them for their attention and patience. Really great nurses like them make the biggest difference in hospital stays.

Friday came along, and the doctor was actually going to discharge me. However, I had developed a nasty rash on my right arm. This was the arm where I suffered the fractured wrist. They had put a fiberglass cast on it. The rash was REALLY nasty, with large bubbly welts covering the entire forearm and parts of the upperarm. These welts were full of puss, and they would fill up until they bursted. My arm was in a constant state of puss drip. My bed and sheets were stained with crusty yellow puss residue.

They took the cast off, and were dumbfounded as to what it was and how to treat it. They kept me another night until Saturday to get a dermatologist in for a consultation. In the meantime, they had Luanne, one of the nice nurses, put some Silvadene Cream on it and dress it up. She must have had fun popping all the fat juicy welts. She got puss all over the floor until she finally put a towel under my arm, and even squirted some on the wall. It didn't hurt at all to pop them.

The dermatologist finally arrived at 9:00pm that evening and diagnosed it as an allergic reaction, probably from the cast. I've never known myself to be allergic to fiberglass, but then again, they had to put some kind of resin on it to harden it. Maybe that's what I was allergic to.

The dermatologist prescribed a course of treatment and kept me over yet another night to Sunday just to make sure the treatment was working. Sunday morning came, and yes, the treatment was working. The puss had subsided and my dressings were staying clean. As I write this today, the next day after, most of the bubbly welts have died down, but my arm is still pretty ugly.

I'm back home now, but will have a long road to recovery. The doctor said it'll take a year for the kidney to heal, but I can't wait a year to get back on my motorcycle, and I can't spend a year not being allowed to exert any energy or having to walk like my bones are made of Tiffany glass. So, I'm going to have a talk with my regular physician tomorrow and see what I can do get myself back into health expediciously.

If you're wondering how I'm typing all this, I can use both hands, but my right hand (which is my strong hand) is rather immobilized. I can't stretch my fingers out to reach the furthest keys, I have to either move my hand over, or use my left hand. I'm learning how to use my left-hand an awful lot now.