Those of you that follow me on twitter may have heard about my bike accident last week. Though I have a pair of broken elbows and a skinned knee, it could have definitely been worse. Thank goodness for helmets! But… let’s start from the beginning.

Wednesday afternoon I headed home from work on my bike. I had all my stuff in my backpack, but I tossed my lock in my basket. I’ve done this plenty of times before, so I thought nothing of it. As I made my way down a hill I noticed my lock bouncing out of the basket. The next thing I knew I was on the ground. Basically the lock fell out of the basket and tangled in my front wheel, making it screech to a stop, tossing me over the handle bars. I landed on my hands, but banged my head on the ground.

As I picked myself up, I noticed a fire truck behind me and two teenage girls dragging my bike to the sidewalk. Those girls were so nice! Three firefighters popped out of the truck and immediately made sure I was ok and bandaged my bleeding knee. They even fixed up my bike. I’m so thankful they were there. I noticed that my forearms hurt, but I figured they were just sprained. I told the firefighters I was fine and dragged my bike back to work (I wasn’t far) and got a ride home from a co-worker. As time passed my arms hurt more and more, so I called Ross and had him take me to an urgent care facility.

We got to the hospital and had to wait to be seen. At this point my arms KILLED. Still I was convinced they weren’t broken; they couldn’t be! Finally I was taken in and given some x-rays. Oh my, twisting my arms around was super painful. We waited a while for results and I was eventually told both my elbows were fractured.

WHAT??????

The ER doctor put temporary splints on my arms (which were basically casts) until I could be seen by an orthopedist. She told me I would most likely have casts on both arms for a month. All I could do was cry. A month with double casts? I wouldn’t be able to feed myself, bathe, or even be able to go the bathroom by myself. I was so upset, but thankfully I had Ross by my side.

The next day I saw an orthopedist and got the best news – I didn’t need casts or splints! Just some rest and slings when I was up. Apparently the location of the breaks and the severity weren’t bad enough to require immobilization. Oh man, I can’t remember the last time I was that happy. Now, five days later I’m doing really well. They’re still sore but I can do a lot of things by myself. I go back to the orthopedist on Thursday for more x-rays and I’m really hoping they’re healing.

So here’s the takeaway kids:

WEAR YOUR BIKE HELMET!!! Each and every single time you ride a bike. I don’t care if your hair looks cute – not an excuse. If I hadn’t been wearing mine I could have had brain damage. Seriously.

So, promise me you will? I see you all, biking around town, sans-helmet. You look adorable, really. But, you know what’s not adorable? Your brain smashed on the road.

Do it, please.

Oh, and don’t have loose stuff hanging around. Secure your lock, don’t wear loose clothing, tie your shoes, etc. This all could have been avoided if I put my lock in my backpack.

Learn from me, a sad pitiful cripple, please!