It seems that recently I’ve gone through a streak of high stress (and possibly bad luck). I’ve gone through a thyroid ablation procedure, I was in a car accident in Los Angeles (as a passenger), I had to shut down a company I worked on, and most recently I experienced a bicycling accident. I’m not feeling down, but at the same time, my spirits aren’t the highest. It feels like tough times, and it’s going to take some focus to get through it all.
As some of you may know, I got in to a bike accident yesterday morning around 9AM. It all happened when I was heading to the hospital to get my blood work done as a follow up to my thyroid ablation. Ironic, right?
I was on the phone with Annie, and the next thing I knew I was in an ambulance. I literally was riding, and then I woke up inside an ambulance. I can’t remember what happened exactly, but I think my bike slipped or got caught on one of the railings in the road. To give you a little more context, it was raining lightly and the road was slippery. However, I can’t rule out that I could have been hit by a car.
Whatever happened, I had a memory loss and I was unconscious for about 20-30 minutes. I’m still trying to piece it all together.
So, what were the results of my accident? Well, I suffered a moderate concussion, messed up my teeth, got a black eye (which is swollen shut), and busted up my lip. In short, it looks like I got into a fight and lost big time. I also have some small abrasions and bruises on my body, but nothing substantial.
The good news is that most of the damage is superficial, and in time it’ll all get fixed. The key word to recovery is “time”. My head aches, my body is sore, but I’m able to walk around. I’ve spent most of my time resting and messaging friends/family about my status.
So let’s rewind to the moment when I crashed–Annie was on the phone with me. According to her, she heard me say “whoaaaa”, and then the phone was silent. She was freaking out and kept asking me if I was okay. She assumed that I had crashed, and then about a minute later, she heard people talking to me. She yelled to get people’s attention, but no-one could hear her over my headpiece. She hung up, and then called back constantly to see if she could get someone’s attention. Apparently a pedestrian or driver saw me on the side of the road and called 911. It wasn’t until about an hour later that Annie got a phone call from the hospital.
I can’t imagine the terror I must have put Annie through.
All I remember was riding my bike and then I woke up in an ambulance with a massive headache. The paramedics were cutting off my clothing as I opened my eyes. I asked the paramedics if I was dreaming, and they said, “No sir, you are not dreaming. You were in a bike accident and we’re taking you to the hospital. You’re hurt, and you have a chipped tooth. Your bike will be stored at a fire station”. I blacked out several times, so my recollection of the entire experience is extremely fragmented. When I was in the ambulance, the main thing I remember was telling myself that it was all a bad dream and I was going to wake up later.
Nope. It wasn’t a dream. The really scary thing about this whole experience is that I can’t remember what happened at the moment of the crash.
When I was in the emergency room, I kept asking everyone their name. I wanted to test myself and see if I could retain some information, but I kept forgetting everyone’s name… and that’s when I knew something was wrong. It was hard to focus, and I was extremely disoriented.
Fortunately, one of the nurses and social workers found my phone and was able to help me make some phone calls. They saw that Annie called a hundred times. Finally I was able to speak to her and told her exactly what happened. I told her to call my parents, Vinny and Hooman.
Finally, the nurse gave me my phone and I took a picture of myself. When I saw my face, I realized that I was really beat up and my situation was serious. Everything crystalized at that moment, and this was now my reality. It wasn’t a dream.
Since then, I’ve taken several photos to document my recovery. I’ll post the photos later when I’ve recovered. I don’t want to freak everyone out right now, because they look pretty bad. I’m not going to lie, my face is wrecked right now and it’s going to take a couple weeks to recover.
Side note: When I got my phone, the first thing I did was turn down the brightness, turned off bluetooth, and tried to conserve as much battery life as possible. I knew that my phone was going to be a critical tool to contact everyone.
Hooman and Aram came by later that evening to check on me. They were nice enough to pick up a little food and some liquids. It was good to see some familiar faces, and they were really supportive. Also, I was able to talk to Vinny and his parents. As you know, Vinny’s parents are doctors, and they gave me some more context about the entire situation. They saw my pictures and accessed the situation. Pretty much they said that I was not in any danger and it’ll take some time to recover. They reassured me that any injuries were cosmetic and could be fixed.
I ended up staying at the hospital a little later than expected because my blood work revealed that I had low phosphorus levels. Most likely, it’s related to my thyroid issues, so I’m going to follow up with my endocrinologist. Patrick ended up picking me up and helping me get my medication from a 24 hour Walgreens.
So, now here I am, in my bed, blogging. My head is woozy, and I can only see out of one eye. Hopefully you guys can make some sense out of all these fractured thoughts. Annie will be here tomorrow morning. Hopefully I can get my bike back soon, and set up some time with a dentist.
