My First Stitches

My Monday has not gone according to plan. But then, who plans to have another bicyclist pull out in front of them without a glance (and without listening to the mad ringing of one’s bike bell), on a wet and slippery downhill slope, causing one to slam on both brakes and flip head first over the handlebars into the pavement because the back brake is in need of replacement and the front brake caught first? Yes, folks, I just got back from the emergency room about an hour ago with my first ever stitches (not counting the dissolvable ones I got when my wisdom teeth were removed, though the numb-jaw feeling of having been to the dentist is ominously similar). Three of them. In my chin. Black ones. With big knots on the ends. For a week.

The semifinal toll of scrapes and bruises and soreness (I’m sure I’ll find more tomorrow when the shock has worn off): Hole in the chin with flap of fat & skin (thoroughly cleaned and sutured), slightly scraped nose, big lump over the right eyebrow (which threatens to turn purple in a few hours and develop into a beautiful black eye), skinned left knee, small skinned area on the chest (from a snap on my raincoat), badly skinned and sore right pinky finger, really bruised palms (thank goodness for padded bike gloves – no skinned palms!), and pain in both wrists when I turn them (no fractures, though). Tomorrow I expect to add some significant back and neck soreness and overall stiffness to the list. Oh, and a bloodstained white turtleneck (I knew I should have worn red today).

Many thanks go to the two very kind gentlemen who stopped and picked me (and my bike, and all of my stuff) off the ground and took the time to make sure I was okay, to the gentleman who allowed me to borrow his cell phone to “call in injured” to work, and most of all, to Catherine, my coworker who insisted upon driving out to pick me up at my house and take me to the emergency room (and home again), because I was too stubborn to admit I needed medical attention (and, by the time I got myself home (yes, on my bike), not in any condition to seek it). There are some truly wonderful people in this world.

The irony is that I was going to go to the bike shop after work today and get a new set of brakes. Maybe I should get an air horn while I’m at it. The other biker never had a clue what she caused – she just kept right on pedaling and never heard a thing. At least I managed to avoid a collision in which two people would get hurt.

Please, everybody, if you ride a bike, ALWAYS wear your helmet. It may not be able to help you predict the actions of other bikers or avoid accidents, but it can save your head – literally. Oh, and look both ways before pulling out onto a major bike thoroughfare.

I think the anesthetic is beginning to wear off. Time for more ibuprofen.