The day he almost died. Valentine's Day 2006

You guys always get to see me in the photos. ~LOL~ That is my beloved hubby, Nick in the photo. That picture was taken about a week before the accident. He was on his way to work just like any other day. We shared a kiss and an "I love you" as he strolled out the door to get on his bike.

About a half an our later I heard HIS cell phone ringing from the kitchen counter. He had never left it behind before! When I answered it, it was one of his friends from work thinking they would get Nick on the other end so they could harass him about being late for their usual Tuesday lunch. While on the phone with them, I heard someone in the background say "oh no" and then "I'll have to call you right back". I knew in my heart that something was wrong!

I got a call a few minutes later saying that Nick had been in an accident that they didn't know anything but that he was being transported to the hospital by ambulance. At the time I didn't know that he was being transported to a trauma center 20 miles away when there was a hospital just around the corner.

I arrived at the hospital and found Nick still being attended to in the hallway of the ER. Also there were the chaplain and a motorcycle cop that followed the ambulance to the hostpital! No one would give me details but I knew from the solemn looks and the concern in their voices that things weren't good at all. When I made my way over to Nick and looked down at him, he looked up at me through tear filled eyes and said "I love you" and I'm sorry about this". He said he knew I was there before he ever saw me.

It turns out that Nick was one block from work when the accident happened. A lady that was busy on her cell phone ran a stop sign less than 20 ft in front of him. He broadsided the back of her car at about 35mph. His head hit her car first, exploding the right side of his helmet. He then went airborne and landed on the roof of her before flipping again and landing on the asphalt. His injuries were numerous and severe. His right leg was broken at the hip, his left knee was broken as well. His back was broken in 5 places as well as ALL of the ribs on his left side. He also broke several ribs on the right. Along with that his left shoulder blade was broken in so many pieces that the doctors could not count them in the x-ray nor could they repair that and the damage to the rotator cuff. His right shoulder blade was broken in 6 pieces. Add to that the head trauma, a lacerated spleen and bruised and bleeding kidneys. What did she get? She got a ticket for under $100!

In the ER with Nick that night he kept slipping away. They had him hooked up to so many monitors and machines I could not evn begin to tell you what they all were. Every few minutes he would close his eyes and his breathing would slow to the point that the machines would set off alarms and the doctors would come running. Finally I postioned myself where I could let him feel my breath on his face and just call his name. He would come back to me! The doctors finally told everyone to leave me alone and leave me there that I was the only thing keeping Nick in this world right now. we spent almost 14 hours in the ER that night and I was right there with him all the way. They took him in for surgery the next morning and repaired the damage to his legs. They had to let his body take care of the rest. For the first three days of this ordeal they could not tell me that Nick was going to live!

Nick stayed in the hospital almost two weeks. He was then sent to a nursing home which I promptly took him out of and brought him home. I cleared out our living room and made it into a hospital room, bed and all. Nick could not care for himself at all. For weeks I had to do everything for him. He could barely move and had little use of his arms or legs. One month to the day of the accident he sat up for the first time! We had some of his biker friends over for Daytona Bike Week and the helped me sit him up. It was such a beautiful day for us as this would be the first time he was able to see all the work that had been done in our house courtesy of his bikerfriends.

 

I'll add more to this as I have time....

 

Nick is better now and back to work and on the bike after 7 months! He still hurts and he is still limited in some ways, but he is here with me! His doctor says that Nick is the "Toughest son of a bitch that he has ever seen"! And to quote another doctor ..."he is built like a horse", ~LOL~