"Imitation is the sincerest form of television." - Fred Allen

Cool or scary?

Well, that was quite the adventure!

I have no memory of getting on my bike yesterday morning. But about 6:45 I put on my cleats, put the water bottles in their frames, put my helmet on, and....

What I know is that I made it about 20 yards down the street, just past the next door neighbor's house, and crashed. Didn't hit anything or get hit by anything, just biffed big time and lost consciousness.
I have only a vague recollection of being in the ambulance, although I'm told I conversed with the firemen and paramedics, albeit without making a whole lot of sense. I don't remember the CT scan of my head or the chest x-ray done in the ER, and I don't remember getting transferred to a room on the 3rd floor. The fog gradually lifted but Pam mentions lots of things I don't recall even after being put in a room. The headache remains and I've got some major strawberries and bruising on my left side.

They released me mid-afternoon today after an ultrasound of my carotid arteries and heart, and monitoring my heart through the night. Oh, and taking blood every three hours. Here's what we know:

• One of my heart enzymes was very slightly elevated, but not enough to indicate a heart attack.
• The lower chamber of my heart sometimes beats slightly ahead of the upper chamber, which it ain't supposed to do. 
• My right carotid artery is fine but the left one is borderline.

I'll go to the cardiologist and have a stress test sometime soon. I think he thinks it's just a precaution, and it will provide a baseline.

What bothers me about the whole thing is that I had NO warning something was about to go very wrong. What about next time I'm on the bike? Or behind the wheel?

When we got home I looked at the bike and saw something interesting. The chain - on the right side of the bike - is off the sprockets. My bruising is on the left side. If I landed on the left, why is the chain off the sprockets? Hmmmm.
I push my bike rides pretty hard and record my average speed for each ride with the goal of having that number above 17 mph, and as close to 18 mph as I can get it. That includes time spent at red lights.
So when I leave my driveway I get out of the saddle - stand up on the pedals and push as hard as I can - for the first 50 or 60 yards. That means pulling up on the right end of the handlebar as I push down with the left leg, and visa versa. Aggressive.

My theory: something mechanical failed catastrophically mid-stroke. That threw me to the ground where I smacked my head. The failure, either of the chain or the bottom bracket (where the pedal axle passes through the frame) caused the chain to come off the sprockets. So the event wasn't precipitated by a medical crisis, but a mechanical failure. I'll know more when I open up the bottom bracket tomorrow, but for now, that's my story and I'm sticking with it! Besides, it means I don't have to worry about another medical FAIL coming out of nowhere.

a BIG, yea, HUGE thank you to Steve for preaching in my stead with 24 hours notice, and to Todd for leading the music portion of the service in Matt's absence (they're in Hawaii for the week and I was supposed to pull double duty this morning). Pathway isn't a multiple staff church. We've got something much better: qualified volunteers who will step up whenever needed. That's the Body of Christ functioning as designed.

Some misc. observations about my first ever hospital stay:

• The vast majority of people who work there are qualified and caring. That's important, because typically (though not particularly in my case) patients are stressed out and afraid. "What's wrong? What are they going to do to me? Will it hurt?" 
• Any operation of that size and scope has some holes in the system. This unit was no exception. But they were minor and didn't affect my sense of good medical care. 
• Pam's unit, 5C, has a very good rep throughout the hospital. When I mentioned that she worked there several said, "I've heard that's a good floor to work on." Well of course it is! They have the best HUC in the hospital. 
• The food was outstanding! It was just like room service. I got to choose off a varied menu, called in my order, and it showed up 30 minutes later, hot and tasty. They had me on a "cardiac diet" so I couldn't have bacon with my eggs, ice cream for dessert, or Diet Coke (!), but what I could have was surprisingly good. 

No matter how nice the personnel are, and no matter how good the food is, I much prefer being home. I've gone 61 years without a hospital admission and plan to go another 61 years before the next.