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Published: September 1st 2008
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Jeff proves that going to work is bad for your health!
On the 11th of July our lives changed in a big way…hence adding two blogs at the same time and some of the first blog being now “old news”. Sorry to all those finding out about the accident just now through our blog, but we just didn’t get around to letting everyone know separately.
First things first, Jeff is alive and can walk & talk…in a split second that outcome could have been a lot different. Thank you to his guardian angel, whoever you are, love ya work!
On a cold, wet & windy Margs Friday Jeff headed off to work on Boris II (the motorbike) like normal at about 6:40am. At 7:10 the mobile phone rang at home (usually Jeff has the mobile with him, for some reason it was left beside the bed…thank god!), it was Jeff’s supervisor Steve ringing to say Jeff had been in a serious accident on the way to work, but was alright, in fact Jeff had asked Steve to ring Tab to let her know. Like a bat outta hell Tab flew out the door, into Boris and made it
out to the scene before the ambulance even arrived. Boris, you deserve a medal for momentarily becoming a sports car!
As you can see from the photo, it was SOME “branch”. More like half a tree. After what seemed like forever the ambulance arrived and another eternity later he was loaded into the back & we made our way “slowly” to Margaret River Hospital. Unsure of the extent of bone breakage, a trip that would normally take about 7 minutes took more like 15-20, as Jeff discovered ambulances don’t have very good suspension!
There he was cut out of all his clothing (lost all the bike gear too, only his helmet & gloves were unscathed) and quick assessment assumed he had broken ribs & possibly a broken hip/pelvis. Into xrays they discovered definitely 3 cracked ribs and shortly afterwards he was sent via road ambulance to Bunbury Hospital, about and hour and a half north of Margs. Tab followed up in the bus after sorting out some food for the moggies and some clothes for the patient. There were no facilities to check for internal bleeding at Margs, so he was entered straight into the Emergency Dept and
A state of emergency
Jeff in Bunbury Emergency Ward...stuck here for about 8-9 hours, but the peace sign still in action...or was that the morphine talking???? was intensely xrayed & ultrasounded.
The worst of the injuries besides the cracked ribs was a torn lung (he was unable to inflate properly, but thankfully did not require surgery to repair) and severe muscle damage to his whole left side, mainly from the hip down, but also to his left hand. He also had blood in his urine (possibly a result of trauma to spleen) and a few decent scrapes and bruises. After hours upon hours in the emergency ward he was finally transferred into the hospital proper at about 7:30pm that night, more than 12 hours after the accident!
There he was kept doped up on pethadine (self-dosing woohoo!), was very well fed and cared for by a great team of nurses for the next 5 days. Unfortunately Tab had to go back to Margs to look after the boys after leaving in such a hurry, and went back to work as well. It was a top day when finally we got the go-ahead to bring Jeff home. The boys were so happy to see him and LOVED having someone home all the time to cuddle up to!
Set up in the lounge, Jeff began
Hospital feast
Check out the grub, not as bad as they say! the slow process of recovery, but day by day he made improvements, and by the end of second week was hardly using his crutches at all and was able to get in and out of the shower himself. Slowly but surely he was able to do more and on week 5 started back at work 3 hours each day. The following week increased to 5 hours per day which is when he started to get some niggling pains across the top of his hips and lower spine.
The doctors attempted physio, but this seemed to aggravate things even more so now we are waiting for a catscan to be done early Sept. Depending on the results (they think there might be some damage to his lower back that perhaps wasn’t detected at first) will mean his recovery will take a bit longer and may involve other treatments. Until then, he has been sticking with 3-4 hours work a day, trying to rest for a few hours a day, and going to the indoor heated pool a few times a week to keep active. We are both so frustrated about the new soreness, but until we know more about “why”
we just have to take each day as it comes.
So despite not having much of a life over the past 7-8 weeks, we have still been enjoying living in Margs. Winter has been beautiful and not nearly as bad as all the locals made out it would be. Jeff recently took some winter morning photos at the Leeuwin vineyards and we also spent a purely indulgent afternoon at the restaurant at his work too.
We arrived to the best seat in the house out on the balcony, at which point a complimentary glass of bubbly was poured and we were left to enjoy the ambience. Tab spent the afternoon sipping on Art Series Chardonnay (hello…$18 A GLASS) and Jeff got stuck into several Art Series Cab Sav 2003 while we both enjoyed beautiful seafood entrees and a tender steak for lunch. This was our first proper “outing” since the accident so we had a truly special day, just soaking up the sunshine & wine. As we had driven out there (and incapable of driving home) we used a new business called “Designated Drivers” to get us home. Basically they drive you home in your own car and
Bed buddies
Jeff had two permanent companions on his recovery bed at home meet you wherever you are. It’s cheaper than a local taxi and then you don’t have to worry about going to pick up your car the next day…sweet! I’m sure we will be making use of them again in the near future!
We are both looking forward to Jeff making a full recovery, if not speedy at the moment, and by summer being back to our old selves. In terms of the timing Jeff couldn’t have picked a better time of year to be off work, he missed all the rain & wind, and has gone back just as the weather started picking up again! So, hopefully it won’t be so long in between blogs next time, we’ll keep you up to date on his progress.
Oh, and if you are wondering about the bike, it is being repaired through our insurance. We went up to Busselton to have a look at it a few weeks ago and depending how long the parts take to arrive we should have it back in the next month or so. Looking forward to our first tentative ride, after we deck Jeff out in all new bike gear of course! Until next
time…be safe & thanks to all who sent get well soon wishes. He’s a lucky boy indeed.
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Gibbsy
non-member comment
Tree
Joffa, Good to see you back on your feet mate!!!!! Love the write up in the paper, are you guy in the motorcycle accident or the guy arrested?????????? Sorry I had to say that!!!!!! They said it was a tree branch, thats a bl00dy tree in the picture!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you cut the bastard up for firewood and burn it for the pain it bought!