After his accident he forced me to buy a full face helmet as well. He said that my driving ability didn't matter, someday I would get in an accident. Everyone does. And I did.
While driving home from a late night noodle run with my friend Bethany, I was completely cut off. I was about half a kilometer from my house, and passing another motorbike. There was plenty of distance between us, and I was driving at a safe speed. I saw the entire accident happen in slow motion. The bike was on my left, and made a ninety degree right turn directly in front of me. I jammed on my brakes, but I hit the back of his bike. The next thing I remember was lying on the pavement and being put on a backboard and lifted into the ambulance. I was admitted to the hospital with a fractured collar bone, two fractured ribs, and one broken rib. And let me tell you, I'm no expert, but this was a gnarly xray. I was kept in the hospital, in the trauma ward, to monitor my head injury. I took a pretty hard spill, and while I didn't have a throbbing headache, I had pain in multiple places around my skull.
I had road rash on both my knees, shoulders, hands, elbows and scrapes on my face. Bethany said she and the man I hit had to lift my bike off of me after the accident. Luckily, he stayed with us, which is almost unheard of in Thailand. He called the ambulance, filed the police report, and took full responsibility for the accident. Honestly, ninety-nine percent of accidents in this country are hit and runs. Thank goodness this was not.I thought it was a bit bizarre to have scrapes on my chin and to have pain in multiple places around my head, but one look at my helmet puts everything in perspective. My helmet is severely damaged around my chin, and the inside of my helmet is what scraped me. There are scrape marks and dents around the entire helmet, proving a crazy and very dangerous fall. I will be eternally grateful to Paul for forcing me to purchase my huge, silly-looking, bobble head- like, full face helmet. If it weren't for that helmet I would not have a functioning jaw right now. And I definitely wouldn't have any teeth.
After about 36 hours in the hospital, I came home to my wonderful roommate, Cait. She has been absolutely wonderful, and has taken amazing care of me. I am recovering quickly, and I was even able to go on the school trip to the beach. It still hurts for me to sneeze, but I'll be just fine. My bike is a bit scratched, but nothing a new coat of paint can't help.
I'm okay, and I will be home on April 1 for the entire month. I'm looking forward to healing at home, driving in a car, and having an American doctor take xrays.
For now I'm relaxing, finishing up my grades for the school year, and counting my blessings. Again and again.
