Modern Vespa

Warning some of these images may be disturbing. Audience discretion is advised.


Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2020

Going to my pharmacy downtown 9:00 in the morning the day before Thanksgiving. Some stupid ass cager took an illegal left turn in front of me. I only had the time to break the scooter fishtailed to the right and my right leg hit straight into the front bumper of the car. I don't remember if I did a somersault or I just rolled over on top of the car but I landed on my back. It was a soft landing and I had no brain trauma. The Vespa fly slashed my right knee and broke.

A dude in a car came out and said don't worry bro I have it all on my dash cam. And then EMS came and chaos ensued.

I remember waking up at the hospital's trauma unit in the emergency room and a lot of people trying to take care of me. I was so scared I thought I was going to die. They finally decided that they were going to do a close reduction internal fixation and take me to the operating room.

When I came to I was in traction 45 lb the wound in my knee had been sutured up and my right leg was raised up in the air through wires I remember a lot of wires.

It was an unfortunate but unavoidable circumstance. I just want you to look at the picture of my Vespa and smile. She was a beauty
More to come soon.

Here is the beauty. She was real pretty and we had a lot of good memories together. Take a look at the tube sticker so cool. The Vespa fly was perfect.

Note: I am dedicating this narrative to Amateriat. You hang in there buddy.

More to come.

Thanksgiving Day


I meet my surgeon being wide awake. To cut the b******* he told me in no uncertain terms that I had choices. I was going to die or I was going to have my leg amputated or I was going to have another surgery. Reconstructive surgery of my right hip. I cried a bit and asked for some time alone. Then the surgeon came back with the informed consent for me to sign. I woke up afterwards and he told me I was not to bear weight on my right leg for 3 months. That seemed like an insurmountable task to me but hey it is what it is.

3 months after surgery I began to put some weight on my right leg only to notice that I couldn't bear it. In those 3 months I have developed and avascular necrosis of the head of my leg bone. The two plates that the surgeon had screwed on with four screws had no substrate anymore. The head of the bone was like oatmeal. I have no joint anymore. My leg was hanging.
Stay tuned for the next surgery.

The third surgery was the real shebang. It was a complete hip replacement. Here is an x-ray of what my left hip looks like today. They did not remove the old hardware.

My goodness what an ordeal you've been through. I imagine it was hard, emotionally as well.

I'll let you continue your story without any questions and I hope you made a good recovery.

It was a difficult time. I had to sleep on my back for about half a year I used the walker for about a year. Physical therapy three times a week.

It was a new beginning. Getting dressed was a challenge taking a shower was a pain. I had some depression but it was under control with medications. The whole thing just became the focus of my life. I felt so overwhelmed with doctor's appointments and physical therapy when all I wanted really was just to be alone. I had some nice friends who helped me with transportation. When something like that happens to me first I'm shock but then I soon realized that I need to make a plan. You sort of go into survival mode. Kind of like candy wrapper on the floor doesn't bother you anymore because you can't bend over and pick it up. I think that was the worst for me because I am kind of a clean freak. I went to the garage and I looked at my GTS and I began having dry heaves and I felt like I needed to vomit. Now that's all gone. The PTSD part. I can touch my Vespa and even work on it as much as I can without having flashbacks. I'm in a good place. So thank you for caring and questions are welcome.

I feel horrible for you, Max. Sounds like you have been through hell and back with that hip.

I was in a bad bicycle accident 2.5 yrs ago. Broken hip, broken elbow and buggered up knee. I had a choice of a hip replacement or have them screws it back on, which they did. My use of a walker and rehab was nothing compared to yours. I felt like a worm as I could not use my whole left side. I also understand about the depression. I wasn't expecting that but it was real. It took me about a year to be able to ride again.

It's terrible what you are going through but I hope the hip is feeling better and you are getting around OK.

Thanks for your kind words. It's kind of makes me all teary eyed. I had two of the best orthopedic surgeons. The second surgery after the external fixation was kind of like a Band-Aid and I knew that. It was because of the kind of fracture I had. It's kind of like when you try to break a dry tree limb with your knee and the limb comes out all in little pieces at the end. I think the medical term is a communited fracture. I am a nurse I had a pretty good idea it was not going to last. So I didn't take it as a failure.

Note: Comminuted fractures are a type of broken bone. The term comminuted fracture refers to a bone that is broken in at least two places. Comminuted fractures are caused by severe traumas like car accidents. You will need surgery to repair your bone, and recovery can take a year or longer.

I had no idea, keep on healing 🍀

Damn, I feel for ya Max. Al of that is absolutely horrible to go thru. I can kind of relate as I blew my back out over ten years ago at work, but I was alone when it happened. Workman's comp turned me down, so I worked three more months in excruciating pain but finally, I could not drive to work anymore. Within a month, I was in a wheelchair. I had four children at home and I was the only income. We struggled, and eight months after the accident I had surgery. After that, everything got better. Five years later, the last of the bills were paid off. The worse of it was the utter hopelessness I felt having let my family down and not knowing if it would ever get better. Rough times for sure.
Enough about me. Where are you right now in all of this? Are you able to walk without assistance? Your spirits certainly seem good, but what about the rest of you. Is scootering in your future again?

Max, every hip dn circumstance is different between people but Ms Miguel had a full hip replacement about 12 weeks ago. today, I did a 3 mile walk with her to for have lunch. She is walking normally and fast than she has in recent memory. I hope your's heals as fast.

Miguel

Bless you Max. We'll have you doing slow motion Six Million Dollar runs in no time.

Nice X Ray. You seem to have left your pants on.

Hey Max,

Thanks for sharing. It's good to talk about these things.

I like how, in the last picture, they put a zipper in so that they won't have to make another incision if they have to go in again.

I am glad to hear that your recovery has been progressing and you sound good. It also sounds like you did a good job taking care of yourself physically and emotionally. Asking for, and accepting, help from others who care about you is also important. (I'm not as good with that part.)

This brings back my own collision with a SMIDSY left-turner that, among other insults, crushed my left foot. It swelled so big and so fast that the skin split open. The pain was intense. All they could do was wrap it in elastic bandages and give me some pain meds.

My heel bone was also smashed into "a hundred pieces" according to the doc. I wasn't allowed to put my foot down for twelve weeks and had to clean and dress the wounds every day. Not fun.

They didn't come out and say it at the time, but they were pretty convinced that I was going to lose my foot.

Fifteen years later, my foot still swells every day and there is some level of constant pain, but I am fully ambulatory and still riding.

Well I had a very good group of attorneys working on my behalf. All the bills are paid and that's really all that I cared for.

Orthopedic surgeries sometimes can be like an act of Congress. It's very slow if it's not an emergency. The fact that you had to wait so long to get yours is illustrative of how the system works. My third surgery took almost a year to be approved. Because it was kind of an elective surgery. Also the surgeon wants to know everything about your health so the surgeon basically needed to have the blessing from my general practitioner my immunologist my nephrologist my GI specialist etc. All that took time. Lab work becomes outdated after 2 weeks that's another problem. What you had to go through sounds really terrible and the fact and pressure that you were the breadwinner for your family is for me almost unimaginable. But hey you made it.

A bit about me specifically I am walking without much difficulty. Getting in and out of car is sometimes difficult. My so-called activities of daily living are back to normal. I have not been back to the settle but I know it in my heart when I do it's going to be epic. Right now I keep taking one day at a time. The PTSD according to my general practitioner was mild and as she put it borderline. There is no treatment for it besides talk therapy and gradual exposure to the traumatic incident. I get a lot of the talk therapy on modern vespa actually.

Good to hear. It would be soooo easy to let all this just destroy your whole outlook on life. Keeping up a good, positive I think is key. Any step forward is victory. Acceptance of something that is not going to change, but figuring away around it, is also a victory. It sounds like you are in the running towards a good future. Keep on keeping on, Max

Hi Frank thanks for posting. I like your sense of humor a lot. It seems that right now they will have to go back in but this time on the other side. The jury is out on that and I am having an MRI on Tuesday. Same thing avascular necrosis. Only a surgeon would be able to see that on the X-ray. To me it looks absolutely normal. I'm still confused as to why the left side was affected and I am only now after over 2 years developing this problem. Could it be a contra coupe injury? I don't know. I am including an X-ray and I have circled the area where the injury is developing.

I understand a little bit what you had to go through with your ankle fractures. It sounds really ominous. There are so many little bones in the ankle. The fact that your heel bone was crushed like you said was the coup de gras. Sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles. And like I said I am at peace with myself today.

I can relate to this as well, so I'm glad you brought it up. I did not mention this in my first post, but I reinjured the same disc four years later. Upside is I had some insurance, so it was not as desperate, but I was still paying off my first surgery. Also since it was in the same area, the surgeon told me that because of all the scar tissue he had to go thru, that it would never be 100% recovery. So, then and now, good days and bad days. The pain is always there, but I don't notice it so much as long as I keep moving. I take no meds, never have and hopefully never will. For me, having some constant pain lets me know I'm alive and thankful for being here.

Only you would notice something like that. These are pictures of virgin x-rays which means that they have not been doctored and blurred for maybe something that people shouldn't be seeing. They get blurred before sending them off to the college of medicine.

Max, have you or are you going to continue to ride?

Absolutely yes.

This accident has changed the way I approach life in general. One of the changes is that I'm not going to be going on midnight rides on the interstates at wide open throttle until I run out of gas. From reading a few posts of other folks who have endured peril and bruises and continue to ride I'll take their advice. I'll just take it easy. I'll ride in off rush hour traffic and I am pretty sure I'm not going to be doing any long distance riding. I'll take the side roads slow down and enjoy the scenery.

Good man

Perfect.

Since my bicycle accident that I mentioned earlier, I was never comfortable on my Triumph again. I probably put 100 miles on the bike since my hip fracture two and a half years ago. I kept holding on to it thinking I would ride like I used to. Just didn't happen and I recently sold the Triumph. It has given me a whole new interest in the Vespas again though. The sitting position does not hurt and I'm not constantly thinking about the pain.

A lot of it is attitude also. Mine has changed just like yours' has. I'm not the same person I was before the accident. Breaking a hip will do that to you.

You definitely have the right attitude IMO.

BTW...Like you, my SO has been a nurse for over 40 years. It takes a special kind of person. Your profession rocks!

👍🏽👍🏽
Got rid of my big motorcycles, pushed my luck for many years,
too hard not to gun it, 1st, 2nd, 3rd triple digits on the city streets.

Now I'm a fair weather, non traffic hours, joy riding Vespa spaz.
Love the scenery, smells, cold pockets and hidden worlds found just cruising along.

Yesterday I was able to transfer some more X-ray pictures from a cd-rom to a computer and then email them to my cell phone. Can you believe I don't even have a computer anymore? I went to a friend's house.

These x-rays basically show the second surgery in which they put the hardware and four screws. It shows the damage that the lack of blood to the head of my femur caused. The circled area is the fracture.

I love x-rays

Yeez Max! What a life challenge. I can easily see your depression from having look ahead at years of rehab. You are one strong guy, or have great drugs.

Continue the battle and we appreciate you sharing this ordeal.

Ken

Why not both?

But seriously, you've had a bit of a journey there. I'm trying to remember back as you've surely shared before, but a lot happens in life....

I'm thinking with the avascular necrosis that there could well be other issues that contributed than the trauma, especially with the time passed.

Thanks. I am a strong guy. Trauma is not unknown to me. As to the pain drugs I have taken a week's supply of pain drugs after each surgery and I was fine. I really don't like to take narcotics. So I don't have that problem...

Wow so finally there you are. The radiographs were autographed to you. The risks of arterial venous necrosis are trauma drinking scuba diving and so on. I think my last travail was due to a contra coup injury because I don't drink that much and I don't scuba dive. I do smoke.

I'm honored. The only thing I was going to add to the conversation was the Peter Pointer sign, allegedly helpful in identifying the side of pathology. Sitting in a dark room gazing at X-rays makes people goofy....

Hard to nail down a cause often enough. Any steroid treatments?

No steroids no. Wait yes in the past couple of years oral dose. I hate them. They depress my immune system and mess up with my blood sugar. I hate them. And they make me put on weight too. Got to keep my manly figure.

You kind of have to read this thread backwards. My right hip is 120%. Now the only concern is the left hip and we'll find out that tomorrow if I need surgery or not.

When I first met my surgeon the first thing I said was that hip surgery was a misnomer. And he said how's that? And I asked him to put his hand on his hip. He followed my commands and put a close fist on the lower hip. Then I played along and he asked me how do you do it? And I immediately put my right hand thumb forward on my iliac crest. He rolled his eyes and he said oh so you ARE a real Queen. Laughter filled the room and I responded: I have claimed the Crown years ago and my domain expands all continents. Laughter fills the room again. Nice Icebreaker.

I'm so sorry you have to traverse through this bit of Hell. I hope your journey will soon come to a happy end, and you'll get back to a decent approximation of normal.

Thank you so much. My ultimate goal is getting back on on my Vespa

Also hoping you get back to a decent version of normal !!!

Thanks for all the well wishes so far. I will keep you updated after my MRI today. I may be silent for a while because I might have to talk to the surgeon so what I'm saying is that I may not know right after the MRI. Surgery is definitely in the works and I am preparing for it both mentally and physically. Staying healthy for another round. I am not going to a big hospital with 12 surgery rooms. I am going to a place that only does knees and hips and it's almost almost adjacent to the doctor's office. I had to smile after the complete hip arthroplasty when I woke up in the recovery room. It was almost next to the fire station which explained why I heard sirens all night long. I thought it was pretty ironic to have a recovery room next to a fire station. If you don't wake up it's because you are dead.

This is the most therapeutic post. It's a good example of a sympathetic response. First you break the ice then you commiserate with you. The next step you share a a past challenging experience similar to yours. Trust is gained.

Then you share how you managed the trauma when it happened and how you are adjusting to it as we speak.

This post deserves the gold star⭐

Thank you, Max.

I've been having a difficult week and this really made me feel good.

This is pretty astounding to read, Frank: I'd known a bit of this from past writings of yours, but not to this detail. And seriously happy you've gotten through so well.

Get rest, not too many heavy thoughts. You're absolutely in my thoughts.

Max6200,

Best to you. You definitely have raised my spirits. I am always
a very positive person, but you can get depressed after an
injury. I recently broke my left ankle and was kind of feeling
down and sorry for myself due to the lack of mobility.

So, all this talk has been a good lift for me.

Get well, ride well.

Bob Copeland