Two months to the day of my get-off in Wyoming and thought a status report would be in order.
The insurance company sent me a check for the balance of my '14 ES and parts. I was purposely upside down a bit given a great interest rate, but being mailed a check for $1196.68 represents the farkles I went ahead an left with the bike to start over. Once again the metaphor I use is, "When Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader had some words with each other on Cloud City and Luke ended up losing his arm and light saber...he didn't go back to rescue them. He got his arm replaced and built a new light saber." Suck is true for my clavicle surgery and a replacement bike I'll be considering.
It's taking longer to heal than I would have thought. I know I'm 47 and knew I wouldn't heal as quickly as when I was younger, but I think I knocked myself around so much that it's taking extra weeks--also given that I didn't actually get to start fully healing until shoulder surgery 3 weeks after the accident.
Last week I returned half time and this week I'm technically full time, but can't quite hack the 10 hours a day x 4 days a week. So, I've shifted to an 8x5 and will probably do it next week as well. Most days I have to take a nap during the day or I'm completely useless.
For those counting in the cost department I'll say that the overall bill for this so far is right about $110,000 and I think most of the big ticket items have gone through. I have insurance and certainly not going to pay that amount and only out of pocket $3000 so far, but 3 of the big ticket items (helicopter, emergency room, and hospital bill for the surgery) haven't cleared yet.
And for lessons learned and how this was clearly a big event in my life I haven't yet decided exactly where I'm going next. I KNOW I will ride again...no doubt about that. Whether I add a 2016 with the teasing Skooter is doing, find a low-mileage '14 ES because they're just plain cool with features and color, a '15 ES because they're the same and easier to find, or...and I say this carefully as I may decide to just dust off my '05 for a while and instead go spend money the next year getting my private pilots license.
If I've learned anything from this accident is that I'm now a middle-aged guy, I'm not getting younger, and now might be a good time to do another bucket list item. And doing ground school, flight school, and being able to rent a Cessna 172 on a whim sounds very interesting to me......
Meanwhile, I'm still not able to sleep 8 hours straight without waking up from a sore set of ribs or stiff shoulder, but usually can manage 6 or so. I go in for another appointment in two weeks and expect to then start physical therapy to bring my shoulder back to full mobility, and expect somewhere by the end of the year I'll be back as close as I get to normal..or at least a new normal that's almost as good as the old normal.
Thanks forum for being here. You've been an important part of my recovery.
A few pictures along the way:
My dad and iPhones don't mix as it's comical to watch him shake the camera everytime he presses the shutter button. But these are the only photos I have of the toasted FJR.
Sheep jokes are inevitable..and welcome. I deserve it! Step mom and co-workers separately and unwittingly recreated in stuff animal form the family unit that I snuffed. They sit proudly on my cubicle shelf.
Doing an over-the-handlebar flip yielded a smoked helmet...that completely did its job. I'll be buying another Neotec for sure.
Being off work mostly healing at home yields some down time and a trip to the local Target to buy $150 worth of legos and then build it mostly one-handed. I just couldn't bring myself to watch Oprah and had to do something. Yes, those flaps hinge up to then see Chewbacca and others having a party in the Aluminum Falcon.
Two weeks ago the cloudy area in the middle is new bone growth. Usually a plate has 6 screws or so...I got to have 10 plus three rounds of bailing wire. After I woke up I was specifically warned by the doctor and a PA that this surgery wasn't their average one and I REALLY needed to not screw things up.
One of the four Cessna 172's offered by my local flight school. It's interesting that a four person plane has about the same amount of horsepower as an FJR....
$150 for Legos? Glad I kept the two huge containers stuffed with Legos from 20 years ago, I'm loaded now.
