Our uncle, mom's baby brother (hard to see him that way at 6ft 5in, but mom calls him that) was in a bad motorcycle accident on Sunday back in Crystal City. It was one of those weird freaky accidents that probably didn't need to happen but what can you do. His account is that his brakes locked up, luckily, he had slowed down to 10-15 miles an hour, but he still went over the front of the bike and the bike probably went over him, partially. I say the accident probably didn't need to happen because the motorcycle is about twenty years old and he hadn't even used it in a few years, but I guess he got an itch and decided he would do some repairs and get it back on the road. He had just replaced the brakes, but a friend of his did it and I don't think it is the kind of situation that you sue your body when he did it as a favor or with the understanding that shit happens.
The accident was serious enough that they flew him to San Antonio from our hometown. He says he did not remember anything from when he hit the ground to arriving in the hospital. As he was telling us yesterday, they got him in an ambulance and took him to where the helicopter pad is located, then he says he had moments of him opening his eyes on the helicopter when one of the guys would open a little window and the cold air felt great. Although he was completely out of it, his brother was in the hospital when he arrived in San Antonio and he said he could hear him screaming in pain, I guess sometimes it's better not recalling what is happening to you in an emergency.
Mom and her sister went and visited the next day, and he was still in a lot of pain. He was refusing the use of an epidural, I guess the same thing they use on women giving birth, but my mom and the doctor convinced him, as the doctor told him he needed to cough, which he didn't want to do because of the broken ribs and punctured lung, or risk having the phlegm collect in his lungs and give him pneumonia. He sheepishly told my mom he couldn't even focus on what the doctor was saying from the pain he was in. My mom gave him the stern "let them do what they need to, stop saying no" and he said the relief was almost instantaneous once the epidural was inserted in his spine.
By the time we went and saw him Wednesday afternoon, he looked banged up, but he didn't look too bad. He has some scrapes up on his forehead, but they are superficial not deep and scarring. He says he had a hematoma the size of a mini football (the kind they throw at the fans at games), but it seemed to have gone down, I couldn't see it on his head. Apart from the 8 fractured/broken ribs and the punctured lung, he also had a broken clavicle, which he said was preventing him from even raising his left hand, he showed us he could only lift it a couple inches off the bed.
All in all, I would say he was still very lucky he had slowed down the bike to 10-15mph, it might have killed him had he been going faster, or he might have had this happen out in the country, he likes disappearing on solo drives around the county roads back home, not to mention he always used to brag to us how he liked going over 100mph back in the day (he was a cop, so you know, those guys do what they do). The nurses had already got him out of bed and walking, so I think he will make a full recovery. It was good to see him, he was always our favorite uncle growing up.
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