Greetings to B3D old timers. It's been a long time since I've spent any time around here. Thought I'd drop in and say hello and tell a bit about my absence.
Long story short, a year ago I was paralyzed by a reckless driver who, with the sun in her eyes, tried to beat the light on a left turn and wound up nearly cutting me in half with the roof of her car. I was cycling. My head went through her windshield and my legs over her roof. Combined speed on excess of 50 mph. Spent five weeks in the hospital where they fused my spine from T5 to T9. I'm paralyzed from the chest (T7) down.
I had taken up racing (bicycles) two years earlier and was a competitive cat 3 at 48 years old. I was riding about 10,000 miles per year for training etc.
The good news is I have an amazing wife and, between the two of us, we've successfully dodged the anger, depression and self-destructive tendencies that often plague spinal cord injury victims during their first year. In fact, most couples don't survive the first year as the injured partner often withdraws and takes out their anger on the able bodied partner who is struggling with difficult changes and a new role as a caregiver. Divorce is the norm.
Work, conversely, was not so nice a story. After sixteen years with the same business (that I owned at one time) where I managed sites in Ohio, Wisconsin, Beijing and Shanghai, I was told that I couldn't lead from a wheelchair. They refused to let me come back to work.. At first they wanted a doctor's note, then another stating I could work full time in there office, then another stating I could travel extensively, each time raising the bar when I met the last. It was clear they wanted to keep me on disability until my contact lapsed. Nice bunch of folks.
Anyway, I'm doing well. I drive, I'm mostly independent and I'm working on two new ventures that will, I hope, generate some income while making a positive difference in the world.
I haven't been gaming much. My main rig was in my basement which isn't accessible for me and I just haven't had the urge. I did play some Fallout 4 remotely on my ps4 using a dual shock and an Android tablet after I first got home from the hospital but I got bored with it quickly.
So that's my update. Hope the other old timers are all well.
See you around... Probably in rpsc ;-)
Long story short, a year ago I was paralyzed by a reckless driver who, with the sun in her eyes, tried to beat the light on a left turn and wound up nearly cutting me in half with the roof of her car. I was cycling. My head went through her windshield and my legs over her roof. Combined speed on excess of 50 mph. Spent five weeks in the hospital where they fused my spine from T5 to T9. I'm paralyzed from the chest (T7) down.
I had taken up racing (bicycles) two years earlier and was a competitive cat 3 at 48 years old. I was riding about 10,000 miles per year for training etc.
The good news is I have an amazing wife and, between the two of us, we've successfully dodged the anger, depression and self-destructive tendencies that often plague spinal cord injury victims during their first year. In fact, most couples don't survive the first year as the injured partner often withdraws and takes out their anger on the able bodied partner who is struggling with difficult changes and a new role as a caregiver. Divorce is the norm.
Work, conversely, was not so nice a story. After sixteen years with the same business (that I owned at one time) where I managed sites in Ohio, Wisconsin, Beijing and Shanghai, I was told that I couldn't lead from a wheelchair. They refused to let me come back to work.. At first they wanted a doctor's note, then another stating I could work full time in there office, then another stating I could travel extensively, each time raising the bar when I met the last. It was clear they wanted to keep me on disability until my contact lapsed. Nice bunch of folks.
Anyway, I'm doing well. I drive, I'm mostly independent and I'm working on two new ventures that will, I hope, generate some income while making a positive difference in the world.
I haven't been gaming much. My main rig was in my basement which isn't accessible for me and I just haven't had the urge. I did play some Fallout 4 remotely on my ps4 using a dual shock and an Android tablet after I first got home from the hospital but I got bored with it quickly.
So that's my update. Hope the other old timers are all well.
See you around... Probably in rpsc ;-)