Three things happened to me while working at Neutron Products that required that I go see the local General Practitioner, Dr. A (I will not publish his full name)
This is injury # 2
Sprained Wrist
I loved to ride my motorcycle to work. It was only about a 6 mile ride with only 1 light and a few stop signs between my house in Poolesville and the chemical plant in Dickerson.
Becky and I had at least 2 girls back then and I made a promise to them that took a long time to get past. I’ll tell you about that in a moment.
One afternoon I was riding the motorcycle back from Work. I cruised up Rt 28 into Beallsville where the stop light was. I can see it clearly as if it just happened.
I was riding up the hill toward the stop light and I saw it turning to yellow. I knew that I had enough time to hit my right turn signal, drop down a gear and throw some gas at the bike to make the right hand turn before the light turned red. However, I was not aware of the Volkswagen Bug that was pulling out of the parking lot to my right, directly into my path.
I dropped down a gear, threw the gas at the motor and leaned to the right, directly into the side of the Bug. The motorcycle basically stopped and I basically kept moving. Right over the top of the bug and onto the pavement.
I felt OK, but I landed on my wrist and I could tell that something was not right with it.
OK – Let’s pick up the pace of this story now.
I used the pay phone to call Becky who had her mother come to pick up the motorcycle with her truck.
The next day I went to see Dr. A and he told me that the type of sprain I had would heal better if I exercised my wrist.
I started to do the exercise therapy that he suggested and my wrist kept getting worse and worse. It continued to swell and it got to a point that it hurt to move it. This went on for a few weeks before I knew something else needed to be done.
I decided to go see the other local Doctor who immediately X-rayed my wrist and showed me that it had a hairline fracture in it. He said I needed to immediately put it in a soft splint for 3 months. I think I went back to Dr. A and told him what had happened and he then agreed that the other Doctor was right. However he said his treatment plan would have been different if he had X-rayed it as well. Duh – I should have thought about that, but then again I am not a Doctor.
About the promise I made: When I bought my first motorcycle I told my wife and daughters that if I ever wrecked it I would never buy another one. I wrecked the bike around 1986 and I lobbied hard for 15 years to get another one before the teenage daughters relented and let me buy another one. Never say never folks.
This is part 2 of 3 / This has been another story shared by Teddy Burriss. I hope you enjoyed it.
Teddy Burriss 