Tough weekend in the CCU family

This is more to help me clear my head than anything else.

Mrs CCU was in a moto crash this past Sunday, following a bike race. As many of you know we are USA Cycling officials, and a sub set of that is being on a motorcycle “chasing” bike riders around a course.

Fortunately she will be fine. She is in a ton of pain, and has a fair number of, relatively, minor injuries. I’m so glad that she had on her PPE, otherwise this would have been an even worse weekend.

1st: nurses don’t get paid enough, period, end of story. Just the little bit I’ve been doing since we go home has not been easy.

2nd: doctor’s offices and their admin staff (mostly admin staff) are less than enjoyable to work with. The doctors are fine, when you can see them, the admin side has me all sorts of irritated.

3rd: her company is great, once I got into Mrs CCU’s phone I was able to contact her supervisor, and he’s been a breath of fresh air.

4th: the South Carolina State Police officer who helped is a great guy. He called to check up on her Sunday evening. He didn’t want to write a citation, but he had to due to SC state law. He’s under the impression that we could fight it, and he indicated that we was willing to help.

5th: Mrs CCU isn’t allowed in a moto until she completes another motorcycle safety course. Her accident was/is rider error. No, I did not witness crash, but I did talk to eyewitnesses. None of the race officials would let me go see the site, or pick up her moto.

6th: I can’t stress this one enough, wear your damned PPE when you ride a moto. Helmets and armor keep you alive, and make sure what injuries you have are lessened.

You may be wondering about the moto. Fortunately it was a low speed crash. That said the moto has plenty of broken pieces. So, I now need to contact our insurance (yay?), and start getting estimates. Being a Ducati, and 13 years old, parts may not be easy to find. We’ll see I suppose.

Mrs. CCU only had to spend 1 night in the hospital in Greenville, SC. She was initially a Jane Doe, because no one could find her ID. But once I got here, after the race team was mostly convinced I could drive safely, we got her ID’d and set up in the system. She was coherent, but in a ton of pain upon arrival. Back to my gripe about admin, that was a 2 hour stint where my nerves were frayed and bureaucrats were bureaucrats (not a great combo). There was on lady at the front desk who, helped me get it all straitened out. She deserves all sorts of kudos. Sadly I don’t remember her name.

Family is great, but having them 2k miles away is hard. Having you guys as family, in a manner of speaking helps. You guys listen, and have good advise when it’s needed.

So, like I said, this was mostly to clear my head, so that I can think straight.

Sorry to hear this. Hang in there and take it day by day (hour by hour). Hope Mrs CCU recovers quickly and can manage pain and heal up. Leave the citation and other stuff for later.

1 Like

Admin annoyances aside, I’m very glad to hear she’s OK.

Sending best wishes to both you and Mrs. CCU.

1 Like

Hope she gets better soon. Everyone who rides dumps a motorcycle at least once in their riding. You are right, PPE keeps you safe from a guy who saw a motorcycle wreck on I 70 back in the day of a rider who wasn’t wearing their PPE (helmet specifically noted here). Needless to say, the rider died of their injuries at the wreck.

1 Like

Working in an Emergency Room convinced me at an early age to sell my motorcycle.
So happy to hear she is doing well and will hopefully be back to 100% soon!
I’m sure it’s been emotional for you as well. Sometimes when I talk to family members’ of our patients I get choked up, because you can feel the intensity of their love and concern.
Be well!

3 Likes

I hit the floor 2x Sunday. The first was when I was first told about her being in an ambulance. The second when I finally got to see her, as she was being rolled into her room.

I still, and expect more to come, get very emotional thinking about it. The amount of support from everyone has been almost overwhelming.

She has mentioned getting back on the moto. I WILL NOT let her until she takes the moto safety course again. I won’t let her drive one, let alone be a passenger for the foreseeable future. It wouldn’t hurt me to take the course again.

I can understand why you sold your moto. I’m eternally grateful that she had on her PPE. It works, period. It works one time, period. Those who don’t wear it are morons, asking to put their families through hell.

Doing my best. I’ll pass on that her Ute family is thinking of her.

6 Likes

Get well soon. Best wishes.

1 Like

So sorry to hear this, CCU. Mrs. LA Ute was almost killed in a left turn collision with a semi almost 2 years ago. She’s lucky to be alive and is still recovering. When you told us about your race to the hospital to see your wife, in my mind I was back on 700 East and 600 South (leaving my car parked illegally due to the traffic jam caused by the accident), sprinting to the accident scene at the 800 South intersection. I think I know how you felt. There’s nothing like that feeling. May Mrs. CCU heal up quickly and completely.

5 Likes

Fight On, Mrs. CCU!!

FTFO!

3 Likes

Finally got the call that helped lower my blood pressure immediately today. The oral surgeon’s office, in Chapel Hill, finally got back to us. Mrs CCU sees the surgeon on Monday. Hopefully no surgery, but we need this specialist to know for certain.

It was funny, as soon as I knew who I was talking to on the phone, I felt my blood pressure drop. It was an interesting feeling.

2 Likes

Here is a text that I received from one of the other officials at the race where Mrs CCU crashed. It was so touching.

"A few days later, having talked to a few people - I wanted to share a few things I have “learned” happened.

The field was shocked, and quickly stopped to deal with the situation. From what I heard, NOBODY cared about the bike race any more.

One local rider, I know well, said “I didn’t know what to do, but I remembered there was an ambulance, so I turned around and went as hard as I could.”

Other riders immediately controlled the traffic and the situation until help arrived.

I am told that the Lees McRae students, who are apparently in med school, quickly began administering care.

As we sorted out the situation, riders were unbelievably patient and helpful. I heard stories of a couple people being upset, but when the learned of the situation, it became a “how can I help” type thing.

Once the scene was controlled by emergency vehicles, the riders went home… I received many DMs, txts, etc asking about Missy.

Overall - our “family” did well. I’m glad Missy is recovering!"

5 Likes

Quick update. Mrs CCU had her jaw surgery this past Tues. As expected she’s quite swollen, and in pain. I’m still amazed by her pain tolerance. Her soft tissue injuries have mostly healed. Still waiting on one where her glasses cut open her face just above her eyebrow. It looks much better than it did, but is still slowly healing.

On a side note, being nurse, admin for insurance and what not, and advocate for her has proven to be very tiring. I’m doing what I can to take care of myself, but I find that I occasionally ignore myself to help her. I have to marvel at those who do this long term for family, or even professionally. It’s not easy.

9 Likes

So happy to? Hear. She’s doing better and hope you are both getting back to full activity as soon as you can together

1 Like