My story

[Gunsurgeon]

I am writing this story to hopefully give everyone better awareness about motorcycle accidents how they can effect your life and how important it is to wear your gear all the time even on short trips. Also to provide people some info about brachial plexus injuries ( I never heard of brachial plexus until my accident). I have been riding street bikes for 18 years I got my license at 16years old. I have owned all sorts of bikes I started on a Suzuki TW200 Enduro. Then I moved up to a Suzuki TL1000R and from there I have owned and rode dozens of bikes. From an 08 Busa to a 98 Harley Fatboy and everything in between. I did track days on my 2008 CBR1000RR for 3 years and have logged well over a hundred thousand miles on the street. Needless to say I am an experienced rider and have avoided quite a few accidents over the years. The fact I didn't minimize or avoid this accident haunts me to this day. This was written as I started to recover and has been updated a couple times. It is also far from finished I add a little to it every couple of days. When complete it will be much longer and have pictures to go with it. So here is the story so far...

My name is Raymond Bailey I am the father of 2 daughters 7 and 11 years old. I have a wonderful Girlfriend named Marcella. We have been together 13 years and she is the mother of both my daughters. I worked as a Property Manager for Oculus Realty and ran a Motorcycle Repair shop called GP Performance Racing on the side out of my garage. So some of you might know me or have received a business card from me. Some of you I might of rode with at bike nights. On the morning of August 19, 2012 I had to run to an apartment complex I manage in NE Washington DC to do a quick emergency lock out call. My work truck was in the shop getting decals installed so I decided to take my motorcycle to work. I always wear my gear when I go riding ! My gear consist of an Arai Corsair helmet, Alpinestar GP-M leather race jacket with , Alpinestar GP-Tech leather gloves, Alpinestar S-MX Plus boots. Anyone that knows me will tell you I preach how important it is to wear gear every time you ride. Since this was gonna be a quick short ride about 8 miles from Greenbelt to NE DC on New Hampshire Ave to the apartment complex that was about a 1/2 mile into the city. I decided to go with just my Alpinestar boots, my light weight gloves, T-shirt, jeans and HJC helmet something I would never normally do and I will pay for it later. So I grabbed my keys and went out to my garage. As I was opening the door I thought to myself "damn those are some dark clouds coming I really should wait for my girlfriend to get home take my car". My girlfriend had took the kids to the farmers market, so I ignored my instinct (something you should never do) and my urge to ride won. I jumped on my bike (2012 ZX14R) and headed to work. The ride there was nice and uneventful. I got there handled my business and got on my bike to leave. As I started to head down New Hampshire Ave it started to rain. I turned my TRC to C mode and the last thing I remember is passing the McDonald's at the Maryland DC line. This recount comes from what I was told happened and the information I received from the police report. As I approached Tacoma shopping center an 84 year old man in a 1998 Dodge Caravan on the way to get coffee with his wife made a left turn with out yielding directly in front of my motorcycle. The police said that I was not speeding, I never hit the brakes and there were no skid marks visible. I hit his passenger front fender right on the wheel well at 35-45mph. When I hit the van as my body flew forward my neck hit my carbon fiber windscreen slicing it open my legs hit the handle bars breaking both legs. I flew off the bike my body hit the side of the mini van forcing my neck one way and my shoulder the other way shattering the face shield on my helmet. I suffered a contusion to the right side of my neck severing an artery to my brain. I broke 11 bones in my face (both eye sockets, both sinus cavities, jaw in 3 places, nose in 2 places and a couple others), 4 ribs ( top 2 on each side), broken left knee cap, broken right femur, and a traumatic Brachial Plexus injury to my right arm. No road rash at all figures... I was rushed by ambulance to Washington Hospital Center. I got to the ER I was not breathing on my own so they did a tracheotomy and put me on a ventilator. They took me right to surgery and installed a platinum coil in the artery to my brain to reattach it and glued the contusion shut. My right femur was broke so they installed a titanium rod and 2 screws in it and stapled the surgical cuts. My left knee cap had a chunk of bone removed from it it was stitched shut. On August 23rd I had facial reconstruction surgery they installed 5 metal plates and 12 screws in my face and wired my mouth shut. I had a traumatic brachial plexus injury ( basically I ripped nerves out of my spine) I have no feeling in my right arm at all from the shoulder down. I have no feeling in my right collar bone and limited feeling from my right ear to my right shoulder. I can shrug my shoulder, but there is no movement in anything below the shoulder. I spent 2 weeks in the ICU there I had chest tubes in both lungs and a feeding tube. I couldn't talk and had to point at letters on a sheet of paper to communicate. After that I spent 3 weeks on their trauma unit under heavy pain medication. On the fourth week the cut the wire that held my mouth shut, but left in the wire holding my teeth together kinda like braces. They put a cap on my tracheotomy so I could finally talk and start a liquid diet. After that I spent 3 weeks at the National Rehabilitation Hospital (that place is horrible but thats another story) learning to do stuff like walking, bathing and learning to live with one arm. I was discharged on Sept 29th 2012. I spent the next few weeks in debilitating pain while they got my medications right. I ended up on 60mg of OxyContin 3 times a day 1200mg of Neurontin 3 times a day .5 mg Xanax once a day and a few other stool softeners and stuff. On Nov 30th 2012 I was accepted into John Hopkins with Dr Alan Beltzberg one of the best neuro surgeons in the world. Along with Dr Beltzberg I was given a PMR doctor and a pain management team which added 150mg of Nortriptilyn . I had multiple mri's that showed root nerve avulsion from the C4-T1 vertebrae. That means my arm is paralyzed from the shoulder down and has no sensation. My right phrenic nerve is paralyzed causing right diaphragm not to function (right lung doesn't function) and my right pectoral muscle is paralyzed. I had medial pectoral nerve transfer surgery for elbow flexation on Feb 28th 2013 at John Hopkins. Surgery went as good as can be expected. I was on the operating table for 13 hours. They transferred 3 nerves from my chest to my arm for elbow movement. They took the nerve I use to shrug my shoulder split it in 2 and ran the other half to another shoulder muscle. Hopefully I will now be able to keep my arm in socket. Doctor Beltzberg said he did everything there was to do and that my brachial plexus injury is as bad as it comes. He said it will be 8-10 months before I will notice if the surgery worked and even then it is a 50-50 chance of success. He also said that with the injuries I had sustained I was a walking miracle. I was in the hospital for 3 days in all and it was a great experience at John Hopkins. Dr Allan Belzberg was amazing and I can't speak highly enough for him. I got accepted into Kennedy Krieger (one of the best rehabilitation centers in the country) for PT and OT on May 2nd 2013 I started my 1st session. So here we are now at the beginning of June 2013. Most of my injuries have recovered and the broken bones have healed. My legs are still weak but they are recovering good and I can almost walk normal. They just don't bend as far as before and I need to build some more muscle back. My face has recovered and I look the same as before. I have 2 smalls scars on my eye brows from the facial surgery. I am having some dental issues from my jaw being broken in so many places but its getting fixed slowly. The right arm still has no movement or sensation. The neuropathic pain in my right hand is still extremely painful. It's a constant burning sensation and is considered one of the most intense types of pain you can have. I take 20mg OxyContin 3 x day, 2400mg Gabapentin and 125mg of Nortriptyline and if things get bad I got 10mg Oxycodone for break through pain. Which is way lower than what I started out at 240mg of OxyContin a day. The doctors were actually surprised how low I have gotten my pain meds. I have been dealing with horrible depression and I have a case of PTSD that I am going to go see a psychiatrist for. Everything is being covered by Workers Compensation who hasn't started fighting me about anything yet. It has taken it's toll on my family my girlfriend has been amazing she slept with me at the hospital every night for 6 weeks and I would never have gotten this far with out her. She was in college for nursing and she was almost done the nursing program, but she missed 2 tests at the beginning of the semester while I was in the hospital. She explained what was going on, but they didn't care and kicked her out of the program. Now when she goes back she has to start over which really sucks. My kids took this the best they could, but once I got home the rebounded really fast. They never missed a beat in school. My 11 year old just graduated elementary school and received the Presidential Academic Award signed by Barrack Obama. Financially we got screwed we blew through are savings. Workers Compensation sends me a check each week, but I am getting $1800 less each month than what I was making at work. I had to voluntarily repo our new Honda Odyssey. We were also hoping to buy a house which is impossible now. We have moved into a 1 bedroom apartment which sucks. If things don't get better we will probably be filing bankruptcy. Another problem I am having is getting health insurance no insurance company is willing to cover me due to pre existing conditions. I hope this helps people understand that at the blink of an eye you whole life can change. I encourage every rider out there to read about brachial plexus injuries. It is a very common injury in motorcycle accidents. Please always wear your protective gear ALWAYS ! I just want everyone to be careful out there and understand no matter how good you can ride your life can change in a split second ! If reading my story can even can help one person then my injury has purpose. Please be careful out there !!


Here is a link to my blog it has photo's of the accident and recovery

http://mymotorcycleaccident.wordpress.com/

[Master DIVER TOM]

Hi Gun
Waring your protective gear is a fact to remember,
I drove motorcycles with birth erbs , What me worry Live my life like evil evil-kunivel I guess So many others do to in the things they can adapt to in life by alot of post Never giving up to try
I drove semi with my erbs arm for 25 years, I injured my good arm driving semis at work and ended up with carpel tunnel radial nerve damage and a torn rotator cuff and ended up worse after surgery. OUCH The doctors told me that the only way I could get further surgery is by having my once good arm tied down for months? Like I was going to do that ever it would of put me in a nursing for this because of my erbs arm

My birth erbs arm and the damage to my other arm gave me PTD from workman's compensation for life
Gun , I am going to try to move you forwards?? If I can
You said you just get WC, but you should think about getting Social Security disability After 6 mo. having these injuries you can apply for Social security Call a lawyer near you and gather all your medical records when seeing them.
This may help with your budget
I file on line for SSD and got it without a appeal, All the injurys and emotioal issues count in applying so all records count in doing so to That in general to.
How depress do we stay when there is always a new try to do or finding a way to move forwards, your own way in time
Help is all ways just a post away

Hope this helps to ???
Tom

[johnmetalman]

I love your story. You had me captivated from beginning to end. I think your a strong willed person and if you take a balanced, motivated approach to your recovery you should do well. Can't wait for the next chapter!!!

[Gunsurgeon]

Here is a link to my blog it has a photo album with pictures of the accident and recovery.

http://mymotorcycleaccident.wordpress.com/

[bill de brooklyn]

find a workers compensation attorney to represent you. There is no cost for this.
Brachial Plexus injuries are fairly common for motorcyclist. They have been for at least the last 50 years! I have my injury from riding a bicycle while a motorist failed to yield to me. I was in the hospital for 9 months. ( compound fracture femur, tibia & fibula, left radius & ulnar and some nerve damage on the left side of my face.) My accident occurred in July, 1968.

It is normal for you to have depression. Workers comp should pay for the treatment of this condition.

[Master DIVER TOM]

Hi GUYS
There is a vast amount of post overtime and motorcycle injuries
If this information adds to past post in this topic from me maybe I will try hear
There are many hear that had a Wc case and applying for Social security disability to that posted in the pass post
Hears my Wc outcome Permit total disability for life and un-trainable to work with limitation.
My injury to my good arm was driving semis for 25 years around Chicago
Wc and me
Do see a lawyer
There is time limits to do so
Get all your medical record together when you go
You are entitle for retraining and placement if not then you end up like me PTD
any Questions????
I am on the private board to if I can help??

I love driving my motorcycle with birth erbs and how much I enjoyed driving semis to , Other get back on a bike
.
Ware does this tenacity to try come from what the next hurtle to overcome overtime a new found ways to try to adapt defeats depression most times I think and the next pain pill by doing trys ????? Nothing like finding the next thing you find to adapt to

Tom

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