Head Injury Introduction

INTRODUCTION

On August 6, 1993 I got home early from work. The weather was beautifully clear, sunny and nice. I decided to take a drive over to my brother's house to discuss our plans about performing music for the LODI Reunion. (The LODI Reunion was a 13-year reunion of friends we grew up with here in the San Francisco Bay Area.) Whereas the weather was so nice, I dressed-down from my freeway leather zip-suit motorcycle outfit to jeans, t-shirt, tennies and a 3/4 shell helmet. I set out eastbound on Shoreview Avenue, noting the beautiful weather and how nice it was to ride my beautiful pearl white 1989 Pacific Coast sport touring machine. I approached an oncoming car that looked like it was going to turn into its driveway. The vehicle appeared to be stopped and waiting. But... the car moved slightly so I tensed up... my right hand fingers cautioned on the front disc brakes lever... my right foot hovering over the rear brake pedal... my left foot preparing for a fast 2 gear drop and emergency maneuver. Well... the car appeared to stay in place, so I continued... still cautious. As the distance between that car and me lessened, I became nervous. Then all of a sudden the car pulls dab-smack in front of me! Using my 28 years of motorcycling expertise, I tried as best I could to avoid a head-on collision. BAM! I was catapulted off of my motorcycle into the air, where I remember seeing the car and bike after contact. After the initial ground landing, rolls and tumble, my body came to a rest with the back of my skull and neck on the edge of the sidewalk. Thank God there was no car parked on the street in the space that was needed for my body to land. On another note; perhaps it would had been better landing on a parked car than to dab smack the base of my skull on concrete.

Since that day, nearly every day has been extremely painful, both physically and emotionally. My ex-wife tried to be supportive, but a year and a half post injury, she up and walked out of our lives saying, "I wasn't the same man she married." It would be years later before I realized her leaving me was the BEST day of my life. That day when I walked into my dwelling and saw the entire place "gutted and empty" with only a few personal belongings staring me in the face. Now, I had to survive on my own and put my life back together without anyone's help. And today, this still is my strength. For I know how to DO things. All the way from having an occupational therapist to teach me to tie my shoes up to designing my own budget system on the computer that I can learn and do "and teach anyone how to use". I have simplified most areas of my life so that the complexities while living with a brain injury, allow me to enjoy the "up time" God grants me from time to time. Funny thing... the down times have been very "insightful" to say the least.
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NOTE: The aforementioned information was obtained from notes and documents prepared days following the accident of August 6, 1993. Now nine years later, I cannot actually recall these details.


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