Yesterday morning I wiped out on my bike.

A wasp landed on my hand while I was going pretty fast so I went to swat it off my hand. The recent maintenance on my bike made any handle bar movement or pump of the breaks super sensitive, and I think, although I really can’t recall, I must have hit the front break first because of where my hand was at that moment.

Next thing I know I’m falling, I black out for a moment, my head is ringing, and two maybe three people had their hands on me, and they all seemed like they were yelling. I think two of them had me by my arms and were trying to help me up.

I was disoriented. I couldn’t tell who was talking, I remember I kept on saying, “who are you? “Where am I?”

The initial concussion symptoms didn’t last long, ringing, disorientation, blurred vision, etc. I’m pro helmet when I bike, and I also remember one of the guys helping me up saying that it’s good you’re one of those cyclists who wears a helmet.

I agreed with him, at least I think I did. It also may have just been me grunting in the affirmative for all I can recall.

Bleeding all over the bike path, the next thing I remember doing was calling my first client of the day to let her know I wouldn’t be able to make our appointment. Talk about work ethic! Am I right?!

Fortunately I wasn’t very far from home so I coasted back to the house where my sisters helped patch me up. I did a quick self-assessment and didn’t suspect anything had broken. I took a pro active dose of ibuprofen and made an appointment with my chiropractor later that afternoon to be on the safe side.

Call me crazy, but when I arrived at Dr. Greg’s office, part of me loved seeing the look on his face when I told him I had a slight concussion. I’ve had one before, and I noticed a few similarities from how I felt then to how I was feeling now. When he told me he couldn’t rule out a fracture, I was like, “well shit!”

Victoria hospital was the best option for me to secure an x-ray of my hand. My social media posting left plenty of work to keep me busy while I was waiting in urgent care. There was sure a lot of activity going on in triage, but in spite of all that, I managed to get in and out of the hospital in about three hours.

The doctor said he couldn’t see evidence of a fracture on the x-ray, to which i replied, “that is exactly what I wanted you say.”

After a tetanus shot in my lesser affected left shoulder, just to be on the safe side, I bolted out of urgent care into the sun light. My choice of clothing was ideal for the temperature that day and for assessing my injuries, but not so much for keeping me warm in the refrigerated hospital air.

It wasn’t until getting picked up from my ever awesome friend Jill, that the aftermath from the bike injuries started rearing their ugly heads.

I’m off work for at least a week. The open gash on my left palm made sure of that. The gash on my right knee is superficial at best, so fairly unremarkable. My right should however is gonna be a bit more difficult.

Reciprocal inhibition is already setting in, which basically means my shoulder is curled in, because any sudden movement flips my long head of biceps tendon around, that’s one of the shoulder muscles, along with a compressed disc in my AC joint leaves my whole shoulder feeling wonky and unsettling. I can’t hold or grip anything properly, I have two patched up hands, a groovy thumb splint, and unless I want to live off smoothies for the next few days, a mom who is more than happy to cut up my vegetables for me once again.

Special shout out to all those who helped me out, who chatted with me while I was in the waiting room, and to those whom I would have had plans with that would typically require fine motor control of my upper extremities to get the job done. I’m giving you all one and a half of a thumbs up!