I had a non bike related accident last October, that was a bit savage, involving being temporarily paralysed down one side of my body, and a fractured skull with added brain trauma due to a still unexplained fall, and then led to 6 weeks in hospital in a Major Trauma Unit, but also an immediate 6 month riding ban by the DVLA due to a head injury.
According to everyone who sees me i'm doing incredibly well, but i'll be honest and admit that the last 5 months have not been very easy.
I have already reapplied for my licence, as you're allowed to 8 weeks before the 6 months finishes, but i still have a slight issue with pain in my fingers in my left hand, so there's no way i would ever try and ride unless i feel fit enough, which i'm obviously not right now, but the DVLA does tend to take their time processing things, presumably why you're allowed an 8 week head start, and i probably won't get it back until the full 6 months is over anyway.
After daily physio and exercise for my hand i reckon another month or so and the hand will be more than ready, especially if i compare it to the condition it was in 1+ months ago. I've made great progress just at home using gadgets that i bought personally to help speed up the healing process.
I don't recall personally knowing anyone with the injuries i've suffered, but i must say, you really don't realise how many "simple" things you take for granted in every day life, like tying shoe laces, buttons, zips, holding cutlery, pulling something out of a pocket, shaving, etc. I'm right handed primarily, and it's my left hand that took the brunt of the injuries on that side, and i can't even begin to think how much more difficult things would be if my right hand was injured instead, or as well.
I'm on so many meds that i must rattle when i walk, but full respect to the ambulance teams, NHS medical staff, and my GP's because i've been told a few times that i wasn't expected to survive that night, and even if i did was going to be "in a bad way" from there on, to put it politely.
I suddenly fell when walking home in what looks like a sudden bout of dizziness, i certainly wasn't drunk at all, and after repeatedly viewing every possibility of why i felt dizzy it came down to either having my drink tampered with, which is more rife than i expected if you speak to people in the know, or i was on a mild medication for a skin rash that in "very rare" cases can give you all the symptoms i had due to a side effect that can act like an anaphylactic shock.
Whatever caused me to lose my balance made me bump into a wall then finish the job by headbutting a parked car, knocking me out completely.
Unfortunately it gets worse.....my neighbour who i've known since i was a kid was on the way to church with his wife, and had just missed a bus, but as the sun was out decided to stay on that side of the road and take a stroll instead.
They both spotted "what looked like a person on the floor" 9 HOURS after i'd fallen, and i hadn't moved all night in what was a minimum Minus 3 temperature.
After being dealt with by two ambulance teams for another 2 hours, before blue lighting me to hospital, it had been a total of 11 hours, as i had hypothermia that they had to deal with first, then try and find out where else i was injured.
Several fractures of the skull, several internal bleeds of the brain, and a paralysed hand, arm and leg down my left side.
I was in my local hospital for one night but transferred immediately to Paddington Hospital in London due to the mess my head was in.
On the NHS website it clearly said i could have alcohol with the mild medication i was on, but i'd only had 4 pints, after counting the cash i had left in my pocket from that evening, and i don't recall leaving where i was at or anything to do with the fall. In fact i don't even remember the next 4 weeks in the Paddington hospital, before being moved back to my local one.
Doctors at hospital said no signs of a stroke, or anything nasty like that, and because it was 11 to 12hrs later before i got to hospital there was no evidence whatsoever of anything untoward in my blood system. So if my drink was tampered with, the stuff they use these days would've left my system in 3 or 4hrs.
Only reason this is all rather detailed is because on the way home i fell outside an old friend of mine's house, which is where i was laid out all night, and he got the lot on his CCTV.
So to this day i am none the wiser what really happened, and will probably never know. What i do know is that it would take a damn site more than 4 pints to put me down. A friend said he saw me just before i would've left the venue and he said i was absolutely fine after he'd had a chat with me.
I asked for the CCTV from the venue i was at and it gets wiped over every 4 weeks, but i never enquired until 7 or 8 weeks later due to me not being the full ticket mentally, which is shit because i was sat right in front of a camera that night.
Due to the meds i'm on i've not touched a cigarette or booze in the 5 months that it happened, and even though Saturdays were my only night out due to always being mega busy at work i've strangely had no desire whatsoever for either of them or even missed them?
And you know when your GP always says "Give up drinking and smoking, it'll be better for your health."
Well i did that and i feel like shit, so maybe they should mention headbutting cars is bad for you too.