Riding, a hard crash, ambulance ride, and recovery

Rick & I rode Guacamole & Rockville Bench then Gooseberry in perhaps 50 mph winds, and Little Creek in excellent S Utah weather.

Cut to chase: I had a hard crash on Little Creek; front wheel trap threw me over the left handlebar if it was still there, i landed hard on the rock on my left thigh, left arm, and left side of my head. My Spot stopped partially over the cliff. I laid splattered on the rock checking for damage. My shoulder hurt first and thoughts of damaged rotator cuff &/ or collar bone flashed. I moved my arm and everything worked correctly. My thigh was just horribly bruised, and my head hurts. The trail was right on the edge of the mesa and was turning to the left. the bike went right and fortunately i fell to the left onto the mesa side. the bike was 2 lambs tails from a plummet off the edge. We rode another 30  mins back to TH. I managed to ride most of the remaining tech stuff w/ my left leg protesting spinning. At the TH I opened my ride concluding beer and took 2 sips. I needed to pee. The first stream of pee was blood red, not the yellow i expected. I hollered to rick that we had to go. I dumped the beer. Rick had driven to the TH from our camp out near the highway to save my driving on the rough road. I loaded my bike & gear back in my van and drove quickly for me back into Hurricane to an instant care clinic outside of town. i saw the dr. He diagnosed an infection and prescribed an antibiotic as treatment for the bloody urine. The clinic lacked x-ray or CAT scan to look inside my body. Nausea overcame me while still in the exam room. i started sweating like profusely and the pain jumped up to 100 on a pain scale of 1 to 10. The dr admitted something more was going on and I needed to go to the hospital in ST George about 20 miles away. No way was I able to drive myself.  He called an ambulance. I was strapped in and driven to the hospital emergency room. The pain was extreme. I was sent for a CAT scan and veinous iodine injection. results showed that I had lacerated my left kidney and I had bled internally about 1 unit of blood. the bleeding was causing the pain. I was given dilaudid  which lessened the pain. A urologist was consulted. I was admitted to Dixie regional medical center. the urologist visited the next day, Sunday, and offered his treatment: the kidney was lacerated, my crits level indicated that I was no longer bleeding. His treatment is to ground me for 3 weeks for the wound to heal. I have a blood draw on Wed to check the crit level to assure no bleeding and a followup exam on Thurs. Blood loss can be determined by crit level.

I spent 2 nights in the hospital and received wonderful care in a private room. I took 2 showers, their cost will be more than the normal $5.00. Saline solution was plumbed into me along w/ pain meds. I stretched the time intervals between the pain relief.

Crash site:

So, I am hanging here in ST George for several days. I am staying in Jubilee house which is like a motel but operated by the hospital. I have a very comfortable room for $25 a night for a week. I am restricted to lifting less 20 pounds so i can not lift my bed in the van. I will have to sleep on the van floor until I can lift the weight.

Today I have an orthopedic exam for my shoulder as I suspect damage. Got to go for that appointment.

My repaired fork is leaking again which needs repairing, this down time will meet that need.

More later about the actual rides which were good technical slow speed rides.