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31 August 2009 our little world suddenly changed. It’s funny, you know your life can always change in an instant but I don’t think you can ever be prepared for it when it does happen?

So Al recently got his first real bike, a rather mad Suzuki DR650. Mainly been for commuting to work. On 31 Aug though Al didn’t feel quite right leaving home on the bike. Skipping breaky and dinna the night before didn’t help!

This is a long noodle, really something I had to start getting out for myself?

Turned first corner. Head not right. But I think, I’ll be right and keep going.

Turn second corner (stupid!). Really not feeling right. Now it’s too late. Blackout! Slump on bike which now steers where it wants to steer. Probably accelerates at the same time! Bike veers across the road. Thrown off bike into steel fence. Must have hit knees first.

Come too. In that state of “shock” you’ll know about if you’ve been in an accident before. Ambulance here. Pretty fast for Darwin (we have only 4-5 on the road at any time in the whole Darwin region!). They are cutting out my clothes and bike gear.  I remember thinking my new helmet is trashed already!

Zoe arrives. She is comforting me. I wonder what she is thinking.

Finally they get me into the ambo and out to Darwin Hospital.  Blood tests, catheter, morphine pump, jelcos, drips, needles etc etc. Many x-rays. Most injuries from hip down.

Main Damage Report:

- Right hip. Ball socket joint, ball split in half then flipped 180!

- 3 Pelvis fractures, one a big bugger

- Femur (upper leg) and patella (knees) smashed on both legs.

- Tibula (lower leg) broken on left leg

- Other damage like small rib fractures, hand fracture, external bruising etc, trauma around kidneys…

Stay overnight. Next day the docs say I’m best to go to Adelaide for the surgery. So they fly me there that night in a dedicated medical jet. Eventually end up in Adelaide “Step down” ward, get monitored plenty here.

Zoe, Mum, Mia and Eli fly down the next day. Dad drives over from Melbourne.

Adelaide is slow and painful at first. They want to do all the xrays and scans again. They say I’m really unstable. Temp, pulse etc jumping around. Soon I meet a surgeon “Tony Pohl”.  He’s a key reason I’m in Adelaide – very experienced and well known orthopedic surgeon. Also a really nice guy. He books me for surgery the next day.

Next day (Wed Sep 2) operation goes ahead. Tony mends hip ball with 3 “nails” and puts it back in place. If the ball regrows blood vessels it may live, otherwise hip replacement would be needed. You can guess where my hope lies! Also stabilises both legs with external “fixtures”. Robot type look, feral metal braces going through leg to hold it together!

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Come too feeling a little better around hip. Taking a lot of pain killer drugs. Legs swollen massively, you would not believe they could swell so much. 3X size! I don’t know how the skin stretched so far! Zoe needed help from a nurse after seeing it. We have no photo of that feralness which is a good thing!

Time passes. Given a lot of blood (thankyou whoever donated it!). Blood sample taken 1-3 times a day. Still plenty of tubes. Drain tube from hip. More x-rays.

Moved to orthopedic ward. Dirty, ugly room, but the plus is I got my own room! Nurses very good and they make all the difference when you are stuck in bed, unable to move.

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Right leg operation scheduled for following Friday (Sep 11). Dr Pohl has gone to consult at Darwin RDH hospital for a few weeks. Another great surgeon, “Chris” does my leg. External fixture removed (very good!) Plates and screws from knees up towards hip. Used wire to hold the knee together! Another ~7 hour operation. leg swells some more. Need more blood. Over next few days leg does a lot of draining.

Messages of kindness. Generosity. Plenty of visitors in Adelaide, many unexpected! Family, new and old friends all encourage and help us to move on. We come to know God is with us in all this crap.

Zoe not getting much sleep, Eli won’t sleep where they are staying. My folks helping as much as they can. Her mum also flies down for a week to help her out.

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Left leg ready to go. Booked Tue Sep 15. Similar to right leg operation except plates and screws extend to lower leg! No wire needed thankfully. Again really knocked about for a few days after the op. Need yet more blood! Must be a total of 8 bags (4 litres) now?

Recovery continues. Can’t move legs at all, other than to twitch knees up and push them down into the bed. Limited to 30 degrees at the hip, so everything really happens on my back, from eating,  brushing teeth, etc (you can imagine the rest).

When on your back like this, they want to prevent you from getting blood clots (very dangerous), so they do weird stuff to help with that. This includes powered slippers that “pump” the soles of your feet 24/7, blood thinner injection and pill drugs, tight “TED” stockings.

Fevers won’t go away still. Been breaking into massive sweats about 4 times a day. One temp reading was 40.5. Panadol critical to keepem under control. Main form of pain kill is oxycodone. Scripted for up to 30ml every 2+ hours, usually take 20ml now. Earlier 10ml was enough, but by now have got pretty immune  to the stuff. Main side effect I notice at this stage is tiredness – they put you to sleep quick. Later I find out it also causes the sweating.

50/50 on if I need a Pelvis operation. Works out well, as Dr Pohl, a pelvis expert is still in Darwin. Once my fevers settle a bit, they are happy to send me to Royal Darwin Hospital. If I need the pelvis operation he can do it there. We are keen to get home. I think especially Zoe, it seems she hasn’t slept for weeks. She gets a flight back on Tue Sep 22.

Comfort from God (for the first time in a long time I really know God is with us, grieving with us, supporting us….). Family. Friends……