AHH my spleen!

I have never injured myself too hard whilst riding my bicycle. I have never been a person too hurt themselves in general. I've never broken a bone or been to the hospital, and consider myself very lucky. The only injuries that have any merit have occurred on my bike. I have scraped and scratched my elbows and shins too many times and one time my brake lever managed to stab me in the leg (with only 5 stitches to patch it). None of my crashes have ever ended that horribly, until this 4th of july.



If you've ever ridden a pumptrack and gotten good at it you will understand how addictive it can become. My friend and fellow riding buddy recently had one built in his backyard, courtesy of Alex at Action Sports Construction, a company specializing in building bmx race tracks and custom pumptracks. After seeing the one they had built at sea otter my friends father (who is also very into bikes) decided his backyard would be perfect for such a sculpture of dirt. June 23rd was the first day of building and over the course of only 3 days Alex had successfully built one of the coolest, most complex pumptracks in one of the smallest spaces. It was hard at first, with only the local dirtjumpers barely making it around without pedalling. But soon we caught on. Everyday i would ride over to my friends house and ride for hours, into the night when the lights were on. We had never had a better summer. What could beat riding all day, getting barely enough gu in our bodies to keep us going and not enough sleep to heal our aching muscles!

At the beginning of august My friend, his dad and i were going to go to make the trip to whistler. I had been one time before when i had first gotten into the sport (i know, lucky, right?) but this time was to be much much better. 15 days of riding. nonstop. It was the last hooray before school started and we had been planning this trip for months. Saving up every paycheck, purchasing new gear, we were all more than stoked. With the pumptrack, whistler, new bikes and the thought of riding every single day, all summer long, i was more than happy.

July 4th: It was just like any other day at the pumptrack, accept this time we decided to show our friends, the non-riding ones. They were equally as excited to see it and after a few hours of messing about we took a break. We discussed our plans for the evening and ate some food. I soon heard the sweet berms of the pumptrack calling my name and regretfully decided to give it one last go. Mounting my BMX (specifically purchased for the track haha) i followed one of my friends down the way where i could really rail the berm. The first lap was good, i saw him roll over some soft sand right before entering the corner and remembered to miss that the next time around. I didn't remember. coming into the lower right berm at a whopping 7 miles an hour i washed out. Flew over the handles bars and landed with all the force on my arm which transferred it all too my stomach, more specifically my spleen. I got up just like any other crash but soon fell back down. I was dizzy, and clammy, sweating everywhere. My stomach hurt like nothing i had ever felt before. My buddies all laughed thinking it was nothing too serious and i was just weak. It was definitely serious.

I stumbled home soon after getting a ride and thought maybe eating something and a nice shower would do the trick. "I probably just bruised a rib or something its not that bad". I wish i had bruised a rib. I sat down after a quick bite and began to feel somewhat normal. No one was home having it being the 4th of july and i was alright. Then my shoulder felt like it had been stabbed. I hadnt landed on it or hurt it but it was the most pain i had ever been in. The rest of my family came home shortly after and realized i was in some serious pain. I had tried to walk to the bathroom and had almost feinted, too weak to move maybe 15 steps. Then it began. The long night of laying on the cold bathroom floor, the only place i felt somewhat comfortable. I barely got too my bed and didnt sleep. I know i should have gone to the hospital by now but for some reason i thought it would go away by the morning. I didnt want the hassle of the ER and the tough guy in me wanted to stick it out. At almost 3 in the afternoon the next day, i couldnt take it, to the hospital it was!

Here i am, Bloated from all the internal bleeding waiting for the ct scan. I look pretty awful.

Sitting in the bed with an IV stuck in my right arm the doctor gave me an ultrasound and determined it to be a "splenic rupture" and attributed the pain in my left shoulder to the nerve running from the spleen to the collarbone, "Phantom pain" is what its called. I was rushed to a ct scan and all of the radiology doctors were called in. Thankfully i hadn't fully ripped my spleen, it was just a tear and they didn't have to remove it. They inserted a tiny titanium coil through my femoral artery and stitched it up (too bad it wasn't carbon fiber). I spent the next 4 days in the ICU with a tube down my throat and regular injections of morphine. The doctors said If the tear had been any bigger i would have lost so much blood i could have blacked out for good. But thankfully it was a slow leak and i had only lost two pints of blood.

This was the biggest injury i have ever had happen. Its event the biggest in my family. I guess life was just saving up all the times i had rescued myself and decided to cash out. On july 11th i went home and started the 10 week recovery period. No lifting anything over 10 pounds, no running, no driving and absolutely no bicycle riding. But what about Whistler? What about all the other plans i had for the summer? The Pumptrack? Sorry kid that'll have to wait.

So know that brings me here. I'm on week 4 and feel close to normal. I'm still very week and tired and my pain meds ran out about a day ago. My friends are in whistler and summer is almost over. I'm writing this now because today i became really angry at myself. I felt like i could have done something to prevent such a crash. I was mad at my friends for not understanding how much it sucks to be injured and not able to do the things you enjoy most. But i try not to pity myself. I'm not in a third world country, its not a terminal illness, i will still be able to ride my bike at the end of the day. I don't have it bad at all. But for me, right now, i would rather be sending it in whistler than anything else.

If you've ever had to deal with an injury like this, you'll know i mean. I try not to sound cynical but its really hard not too when i cant ride my bike.