Paralysis

Next time I'm there then, brother...

Haha for sure.. I'm actually not growing it but you definitely weren't dating yourself haha it's still prevalent around here..

Nimbin still holds "Mardi Grass" every year haha

Get the fuck over yourself, I said nothing about almost dying, I said people with dangerous jobs bust each other's balls. If that offends your delicate sensibilities, that’s a you problem, not the rest of us. Have the best day ever. 

I'm so completely over myself at this point. I have no control. I've resigned and have been handed my ass over and over. You called me out for not living and working on the edge of danger, in a dangerous environment, so I responded with true to life experiences and questions, and this is your cowardly response? C'mon, man, fuck off. Jesus, share a story you vagina. You've got nothing abut a shit opinion. Get lost. You can't keep up.

How many days have you spent broken in a hospital? Answer! You have spent none!

Seriously. Answer. You have nothing. Talk to these guys in this thread.

@Zycki11, I’m sorry for my part in fucking up your thread. 

Pussy. I wish you were standing in front of me. I don't understand why you are turning on me knowing my deal.

Edited…

you are so dumb.

No depth, no criticality. "You went back an fixed typing errors!" No validity. Fucking cunt.

Yeeesh! Talk about triggered

Based on your comments I believe the proper response back is “ I know you are but what am I?”   


 

I wasn't asking you. And so what? Get outside.

I had the same with MRSA and sepsis and time in the hospital. 

Oh, wait hospital acquired pneumonia was fun too.

So you are Sully?

I think everybody gets it but you. We have a lot of laughs. I drove 80 miles one way, a couple times a week to watch him do PT when he started his recovery. I took him cheeseburgers when he broke his leg and was in the hospital for 10 days. Fucker got me good in front of a hot nurse once too. Our other riding pal is a dentist and I tell him all the time I hate dentists. You must not have any friends you give shit to or maybe you have no friends at all. 

dirtyhead451 - I feel sad that you are so unhinged/triggered; hope you figure it out.

Awesome thread otherwise....nothing but respect for you guys!  

I have a question that you might think is dumb or offensive but hopefully you don't take it as offensive because it's not meant to be. Does it piss you off when people want things like dirt over the concrete to lessen the danger to the riders and others post things like "this is not a pussy sport" and "those guys know the risks". Because I believe those guys "don't really know the risk". I don't think anyone can truly know the consequences of how you have to live your life until it happens. It seems kind of like a person wearing a blindfold and claiming they know what it's like to be blind. That's just my opinion. Am I wrong?

TM

Hey guys I'm still around. 

My wife and I were living in a condo in Folsom, CA. for 5 years but an opportunity came up to buy 5 acres of undeveloped land way out in the middle of nowhere away from it all next to where my sister and her husband & young kids live. We along with my parents bought the 5 acres (soon to expand to 7) to build a house for them and for us on so the whole family can all be nearby. My parents just finished their house while we sold our condo and lived in a hotel for nearly a year. Bad weather and covid delayed supplies so now we're just starting on my house while we live with them during the build. 

Unfortunately I also had some major medical issues come up recently. In September I suddenly felt very sick and ended up being diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which apparently runs in the family on my mom's side. My diet has always been very healthy, I'm very physically active, 6'1 tall and about 185 lbs and I hardly drink so it came as a surprise. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital for that back in September. During my stay there I developed a damn sore on my ass that was being managed but the first week of January it suddenly got real bad. 23 years as a paraplegic I never had any issues with sores until this. I spent another week in the hospital dealing with that. Things were going well until last week it got infected so I just spent another week in the hospital. I literally just got home today from that. 

As far as my original injury, back in 2001 I was 12 years old and had a factory support ride with Kawi/PC. I raced the 85 A class and Supermini. During an arenacross race I made a mistake on the catapult finish double and overjumped the landing once and it was such a hard landing it busted my throttle body and jammed it wide open. I didn't realize it until I got to the turn and went to shut it off but couldn't. Before I could even think to grab the clutch and brakes weren't enough I went flying over the turn and was ejected from my bike out into the concrete wall that was covered with only a black tarp, no padding. The vinyl net on the top of the turn caught my bike and slingshot me into the air out into the wall. I broke my back, vertebra T4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9. I had a burst fracture of 7,8,9.  I hit the wall kinda on my right side rolling to my back so I also broke my right arm, shoulder, sternum bone, and some ribs. I had a top of the line Shoei helmet, a neckbrace, and Thor chest protector. Had it not been for the neck brace the Dr said I would have broken my neck and been a quad but instead I was a "incomplete paraplegic". Technically I'm paralyzed from the chest down. I have full use of my upper body but very limited core muscles. 

I wasn't actually paralyzed until halfway to the hospital. I'll never forget being in the back of the ambulance they kept checking my legs and toes and I could feel everything and move everything still. Suddenly everything just went numb and I couldn't feel or move my legs/toes anymore. The swelling caused fragments of bone to tear the outside of my spinal cord causing the paralysis. I had a fusion surgery where they put in rods and hardware from T3 - T10.  I was still growing so much that I had to have it all removed about 1-2 years later because it was so painful. I then had a 3rd back surgery a couple years later to remove scar tissue from my spinal cord and they injected Blue Shark stem cells (all experimental treatments) and kept receiving injections for the next 6 months until my body started rejecting them. It made a huge difference though because my legs used to be flaccid where now they would spasm a lot and although I was still unable to urinate or shit like normal I could at least now feel when I needed to go. I don't have a super-pubic thing or a colostomy bag, I never ever wanted nor do I want to have that stuff so to urinate I use a cathetar every time and to shit I get on the toilet every 3 days and stick a suppository up there. It takes a couple hours to complete my bowel but it beats having any bags attached to me. Plus the treatments gave me the use of my dick back so I could get normal erections and ejaculate so I can have normal sex which for a man is a huge deal, at least for me. I don't take any medication for leg spasms because they help keep my legs strong and looking normal and not like little twigs you usually see on guys in chairs. 

I work a normal job as a real estate underwriter for mortgage loans, drive a Ram 1500 pickup truck with hand controls, use a lightweight manual wheelchair. No major medical issues until last September with the liver issue and the sore that developed from the terrible bed they had me on. At home I sleep on a special memory foam bed and my chair has a jelly cushion to prevent sores. It's just in such a bad spot since I'm rolling around in my chair all day sitting on it so it's taking long to heal.  

One last word to the dirtyhead guy...I'm not really sure what your angle here is. You're a new member so not sure if you're just trolling or don't understand how guys like me in chairs actually are. We tend to make humor out of our situations and don't take shit personal. I make as many wheelchair jokes as anyone and enjoy hearing them myself.  I've been around some guys in chairs who are so cynical and pissed off about what happened to them and they are the most miserable people to be around. I found that just being a chill person about it and having fun with it not only makes me happier but makes people like being around me. Before I found my wife I had many girlfriends, I went on some dates and had the chick straight up tell me she didn't think she could handle being with someone in a chair which I respect them for being honest. Some people can, some can't, nothing wrong with that and we certainly don't need anyone to stick up for us, we're a tough bunch of dudes that have been to Hell and back. I even have it tattooed on my arm.  The other arm is the old Fox saying "Attitude is Everything". On my back is lyrics from a TOOL song "Pain is an Illusion". 

This thread is a reminder of how quick things can turn for any of us. And I truly hope in the not so distant future there is a technological breakthrough. Of all the technology and medical advancements mankind has made, that's one "Wire" they can't seem to repair. Sorry if that sounds like I'm trying to simplify the problem, not my intention, but I hope and pray one day we will get there. I feel a little odd posting in here since I'm not paralyzed, I totally understand wanting to share experiences with other in the same situation. I hope it turns into a place you can do that. Sure got off to an .......interesting start.  But it is Vital wtf else would you expect ?   I have a question for you guys, and I am by no means pretending to comprehend where you guys are coming from, but here it is. I spent 7 months in a wheelchair in 2020. During that short stint I noticed how different people would act, some would look away like "Oh shit" and avoid eye contact altogether like being in a chair was contagious or something, others would be so overly helpful it was almost irritating, and some would talk to me like I was 6, sometimes I felt like "My brains fine people"....  And then I had my "friends" who made light of the situation, came up with stupid nicknames for me, and treated me like they always had. Like a typical asshole friend who'd do anything for you, then tell you to go suck a dick  Obviously my situation wasn't going to be permanent so it's comparing apples and oranges, amputation wasn't off the table, but it was still a temporary situation and I feel lucky everyday.  I hope this doesn't offend you guys and if you don't want to talk about it it's cool. But how do you deal with people who seem to see "the chair more than the person" ? Does that make sense ?  Best of luck and If I'm out of line tell me to f off.          

F YOU "Sumdood" you have no idea what it's like and don't belong here.

LOL jk man, I actually appreciate when people ask questions and it never bothers me at all to explain how it all works or what it's like. The best question I ever got was from some airhead chick at a party once who wanted to know how I sleep at night cus she thought people in chairs like back up against the wall and plug their chair into a charger and just fall asleep, no joke. I don't even have a motorized chair or battery to charge so that one had me laughing my ass off. 

I struggled a lot with it early because being injured at 12 I was just becoming a teenager and wheelchair or not that's a tough age to figure out who you are and emotions are already out of whack. I was very self conscious about it, insecure and had major ups and downs. I was already in homeschool for racing which helped because I was constantly in and out of hospitals for the first few years doing treatments, surgeries, PT. It was especially difficult because I was still figuring out how my body worked and dealt with a lot of urinary and bowel incontinence while I was figuring out how and when to urinate with a cathetar and doing my bowel sessions. Nothing worse than being out in public and shitting or pissing your pants. I started racing R/C cars and would spend 3-4 days a week at the track all day which not only scratched my itch for racing but allowed me to interact with similar minded people and many of them also rode bikes so that was really cool. I'd say once I started college and got my first job at 17 is when everything changed completely. I went to Folsom Lake College, my first time back in a public school setting since I was 10. I started working at a local grocery store in the deli making sandwhiches and salads. I got my first vehicle, a Dodge Dakota pickup. I felt such a tremendous amount of freedom and independence that boosted my self confidence tremendously. I started making friends and going to parties, started dating chicks, etc.  I even ended up in a 2 year relationship with the daughter of the store owner I worked at. 

When it comes to how people treat me or look at me, it's kinda hard to explain. There will always be people who stare but I turn it into a positive. For example, when I go to gas up my truck and people see me get into my chair a lot of people will stare and watch and instead of being like "stop staring at me" I embrace it and like to have people watch how quick I can get in my chair, plug the hose in the tank, I might roll into the store to grab a gatorade and come back to have them see how quick I get back in my truck. It's not uncommon I'll even have someone come over just to tell me how cool it is to see me do that and it makes me feel good about myself. When I'm at the grocery store and I'm pushing a cart full of groceries, I like when people stare cus it's like me showing them yeah I'm pretty badass I can push a cart with 1 hand and roll with the other. If someone offers to help me when I don't need it, I'll politely say something like "oh thanks I appreciate the offer but I'm good". Other times I'm like "Hell yeah I could use a hand if you don't mind" especially if it's a good looking chick. That's actually how I met my wife, I was at Bed Bath & Beyond getting my mom a gift and she offered to help me which struck up a convo and now we've been together 9 years. 

Being in a chair comes with some serious perks too. Anytime I go to a SX race, a concert, any special event - they treat me like royalty. That picture in my previous post is my wife and I at the Santa Clara SX where the usher stood by us the whole time making sure people weren't trying to move down closer to the action and get in our area so we had tons of open space. All night he would call someone on the radio to get us beers and snacks, I had my own private bathroom nearby, it was awesome. I slipped him 2 $20's at the end for being such a cool dude and helpful.  Pretty much the same thing happens anytime we go to other races or concerts or ball games.  I've learned that you and only you can control your attitude in life no matter what happens. You can choose to be miserable and think everyone looks at you like a freak, you can embrace it as motivation, or just be indifferent to it all. The older I get the more I don't like being around people hence the reason we bought this property to live away from it all but the chair has nothing to do with that. When I was younger I wanted to live in the hustle & bustle but now I just really love living on property away from everything with just my close family all nearby. I have space to build my own R/C car track when the house is done, a nice big garden, my brother in law and I ride ATV's out here. Being able to work from home was a HUGE help for me because not only are my shoulders worn out from old injuries and pushing a chair for 23 years but being in the office I was always a little paranoid about having urinary or bowel issues. Even after all these years I still have accidents for various reasons and being in an office 9-5 for 5 days a week it's bound to happen once in a while which is very embarrassing.  That's just life though and I know it's cliche but there's a lot of people out there wayyy worse off than me. Personally I don't know how quadriplegics do it. I can't imagine not being able to use my hands and arms. People with mental disabilities who can never have a fully independent life, etc. I'm very thankful for what I have. I do have some tough days especially when dealing with incontinence where being paralyzed really sucks or going to someone's house with a bunch of stairs or steps and I can't move around freely. Some restaurants are so small or packed that it's tough to move around in my chair. I'd be lying if I said there aren't some days or moments when it really can bother me.  Anyone who knew OCScottie (RIP) he was going through a lot mentally and physically. He'd been in a chair much longer than me and I know he was really struggling with things near the end. Unfortunately he just had enough of it. I didn't know him as well as some others but we did talk a lot about our situations and he fought as long and hard as he could. I've had those demons creep into my head and as upset as I was at what happened I can also understand. I'll just conclude that discussion with I miss him, we all miss him, and he was a hell of a good dude to know. 

The reason I didn't stay involved in MX in some capacity is because it simply hurts too much to be out at the track and not be able to ride.  I still love the sport though, I watch every SX/MX every weekend, I watch RDL, play the fantasy games, etc. I would never try to use my story to scare people away from riding. I knew the risks when I was racing and still chose to do it. Hell if I walked tomorrow I'd get me a new bike and be back out on the track in a heartbeat.  I'm 35 now so I'm purely fine with just watching it on TV, cracking a beer and eating some good food. Although now with the liver disease I can't have any alcohol at all so I swapped it out for ice cold sweet tea as my special weekend drinks. 

Pro Kawi, you have the most badass, positive attitude- your post was inspirational 

X2 !

You got me dude I thought I stepped in it big time for a second there lol.