My ride did NOT end the way I wanted it to!

[old2soon]

Yesterday I went for a ride after I had installed the new alt. Hot humid and High heat indexes. BUT I had ice water and energy bars with me. Was stopping about every 25 miles or so to remain hydrated and mop the sweat off my face. U S 60 West to Mountain Grove and Mo. 95 South to Mo. 14 East to Mo 181 South to I believe County Hwy H south to U S 160 East. The other side of Caufield and before South Fork on U S 160 All of a sudden I felt weird-sorta like high and my vision went double and tunneled-sorta like high Gs in Air Combat Manuevers but WITHOUT the G load. I started slowing down-been right at 75 M P H or so-and started looking for a place to pull over and off the road! I ALMOST made it! There was absofrikkenlutely NO/NONE/NADA/ZERO traffic around me as I passed out on the Phatt Ghurl! By this time I was down to walking speed but STILL on the highway. When I came to my foot was pinned under my Valkyrie and NOBODY ran over me. Most of the Phatt Ghurl was on the berm of the West bound lane of 160 and the saddle bag was splitting the difference on the yellow line. A couple and a guy by himself stopped to help-2 rather LARGE young men. The pushed my bike up on the grass and after they made sure I was O K they went about their business-good samaratins are STILL alive and well and helpful After about 45 mins or so i got back on and rode about 12 miles to a M/C shop I know BUT he was closed. Was gonna leave it there and make arrangements to pick Her up later. Made another 4 miles to Wally Wurld-gassed the bike up and called a neighbor of mine who is a 'Rider". I drove his pickup back and he rode my Phatt Ghurl!  Weird BEYOND belief following your own M/C with someone Else on her!. The smaller bone in my left leg above the ankle joint has multiple fractures-Its splinted right now but both of my Doctors are 90% certain I will need some surgery to complete he repairs! As of today I'm on Oxygen full time. So when you see me riding again with an Oxygen cannula-TRY to NOT act surprised!  They will get me a battery powered concentrator as I don't have enough room for a cylinder on the bike-PLUS if I do have another accident and I have an O2 cylinder with me it could explode!  A preliminary inspection shows only the left road peg further back than it should be. I'll update as the medicos let me know what's going on. AND the Doctors prescribed Norco for the pain.  RIDE SAFE.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Holy crap Dennis !!! Was it just the lack of oxygen or did you have a blood sugar problem ? Be careful my friend. I won't make too much fun of you when I see you with the concentrator. 

[..]

Crap.

Good you were able to slow down.

I have come close to doing the same once but it was self inflicted.

I was being followed downhill thru a series of tight switchbacks by a friend on a Yamaha cruise with foot boards.

He was scraping so hard at such slow speeds it made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe. All I could hear was Screeeek and every time I looked in my mirror I could see clouds of sparks.

[Valkorado]

Sorry to hear this, Dennis.  Glad you had some heads up before going down!  I know you'll be back in the wind soon, you've got another 100,000 miles in you easy!  Prayers from Gunnison.

[Jess Tolbirt]

praying for ya man,,, i have never passed out but i have had vertigo kick in,,,sorta the same weird feeling

[signart]

Glad to read it's not as bad as it could have been. You dodged a big ol cannon ball there. Sounds like when I was on too much blood pressure medicine, only I was just in a bucket truck. Blood pressure dropped and lights out. Like you, I felt it coming on and lowered the bucket to the ground in the n.o.t.

[Firefighter]

Prayers for your fast recovery. I just healed from a broken fibula myself, now fighting a blood clot all after dodging a dog while in a curve in the road. Not much fun.

I thought I would pass out once with my spouse riding with me, I was actually fasting for a medical proceedure, dehydrated, high heat day, I was stupid we were lucky, pulled of the expressway into a gas station and I could barley get off the bike and into the store. Get well soon.

[MP]

Get well soon!  Sorry about the bone.  But, as you say, it could have been sooooo much worse.  Will be praying for you.  Charlene sends her best too.

MP

[Oss]

damn it dennis, you take better care of your self we still have more roads to ride

[Rams]

Damn Man, what ever is wrong, get it fixed before you really screw up yourself.   

I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.   

[John Schmidt]

OK, between you and Willow, it's beginning to affect my creaky old knees.    Just glad you were moving slow, keep us posted on your progress and no more of this kind of stuff.

[RainMaker]

You were extremely lucky.  Find out what caused the blackout before you ride again. Then don't do that.

I plan to share wind with you again and that won't happen if you are too banged up to ride!  Get well quick - prayers raised 

RainMaker

[Bigwolf]

Dogonit Dennis, that was a rough get off.  I am glad you had enough warning to get the speed down before ya went down and good that there was no other traffic to complicate matters.  Heal fast and heal well. 

[Black Dog]

That SUX Dennis 

Hope the Doc's can find something conclusive, so that don't happen again.

Heal fast my friend, Gotta do the BS swappin with ya at the next InZane 

Black Dog

[cookiedough]

heal quickly and take an easy.  so glad you had the smarts to slow down knowing something was way off before taking a spill.

i have felt light headed before and woozy/weak, but just have slowed down some under say 50 mph and take it easy going the rest of the way home, probably lack of sugar or food or water or all 3? 

I sometimes have very minor chest pains though but so far, not while riding.  Guessing acid reflux vs. heart related??? 

[DirtyDan]

Sorry to hear about the crash. Everything sounds fixable. Heal up

Dan

[SpidyJ]

Wow, that was no joke O2S....get better before riding again.

[DDT (12)]

Aging is sure filled with surprises, huh Dennis? Hate to hear this for a lot of reasons, but one of those obviously is that it reminds me of my own vulnerabilities! I'm glad you had the presence of mind to react well to what can only be described as a potentially life-ending event...

Hope you and your medicos can get to the bottom of this and correct. In the meantime, we'll all keep a good thought for ya... Take care, amigo, you're important to us!

DDT

[..]

heal quickly and take an easy.  so glad you had the smarts to slow down knowing something was way off before taking a spill.

i have felt light headed before and woozy/weak, but just have slowed down some under say 50 mph and take it easy going the rest of the way home, probably lack of sugar or food or water or all 3? 

I sometimes have very minor chest pains though but so far, not while riding.  Guessing acid reflux vs. heart related??? 

Howabout quit guessing and go see a Dr.

You have kids?

Do you want them to say at your funeral "he guessed something was wrong but......"?

[Karen]

Sounds scary & painful. Glad it wasn't worse. let the Doctors find the root cause, then work from there. Low blood sugar, low blood pressure, low oxygen levels... the heat makes all of these worse. I'll be praying for fast healing, Dennis, please take care...  

[solo1]

Really sorry to hear, Dennis. Glad to hear it was a low speed getoff but sorry to hear about the fibula break.  Do as Karen suggested, have a doctor find the cause.  Prayers, Dennis, for getting back on the bike in reasonable health.

Getting old is NOT for sissies. Don'r ask me how I know.

[jim@98valkyrie.com]

Dennis, sorry to hear about the blackout and lay down, but glad you are on the mend. Chest pain should never be dismissed. Get that looked at buddy.
I had an incident at IZ in June. Kept it to myself, but had it checked out when I got back home. At the end of the day, I had/have a clot in my heart and was in the hospital for 4 days getting regulated on blood thinners.
Get better, my friend.

[henry 008]

that's some scary sh!t Dennis! take some time and heal up... hope to see you again sometime soon 

[old2soon]

What it was was low Oxygen. I need NO further proof that GOD was watching out for me.  It was after 1500-3 P M-school buses should have been an issue-BUT! In more ways than I can count I am indeed-BLESSED. I drove 18 wheeler for a living worked construction operated heavy equipment raced cars boats and motorcycles-wrenched on ALL the aforementioned stuff-but these cursed crutches and my left foot being splinted IS kickin my butt!  The pain meds they prescribed let me sleep a rock solid 7 and a half hours.  So as I'm getting my caffeine ready this morning and I hear a lawn mower very close-W T F over? My neighbor to the North of me-retired school teacher and full time minister-is cutting my grass! He's also the guy I get my eggs from. Thanks Ed. I know my neighbors here and I NOW Know how we take care of each other. I've already had three offers of folks willing to drive me to my next Doctor or hospital appt. My senior P G R Ride Captain-Mark Williams-posted on the Missouri P G R board about my incident and I've gotten E-mails and phone calls from my P G R Bros and Sisters. Who on earth would think much less believe-sides us-that these older M/Cs we ride are the cause of these friendships we have! I'm sitting at my computer just humbled by the outpouring of Concern and the get well wishes expressed here. The extended families I am part of are due to our love of Motorcycling. Yall gonna have ta trust me on this one-I did NOT go down on purpose-BUT there is a silver lining in this git off-made me more aware of my physical needs and MORE important-my physical limitations. To ALL my BROTHERS and SISTERS here on this board-just a simple THANKS somehow doesn't seem like enough. KNOW that I love and respect every one of y'all. And-YUP-lookin forward to sharin wind again-A S A P.  RIDE SAFE.

[Pete]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery and improved health.

[Gavin_Sons]

glad you made it out relatively OK. Get better soon O2S

[Tailgate Tommy]

You're indeed a lucky man my friend! Hoping for a speedy recover. I hope you get healed up in time for IZ, I don't want to have to ride  there with just Ross  - LOL.
By the way I used to work for the company that makes the InogenOne oxygen concentrator. It would fit nicely on your passenger set 
Tom

[Hooter]

It's funny (not ha..ha) how things go. It could have been much worse. I'm sure you know that. When in my cycle accident 12 years ago they thought they had found cancer after a CT scan. Turned out to be Sarcoidosis and not cancer.

   This explained some medical issues I had just started experiencing but the cause was unknown. I found out the hard way! Now you know as well and you can manage the problem. Heal up and get back at it. I'm sure you will. 

[RDAbull]

Bad to go down, good to know the cause and the precautions that you need to take.
Heal well.  Looking forward to seeing you next summer it IZ.
Roger

[Woton]

Well, here I was -- over on the Tech Board fretting about backordered U-Joints...

Glanced over to the General and see one of our best Inzane buddies has had a real spill! 

Dennis - you know BikerGirl and I are thinking about you!  Wish we were closer and could keep watch on you.   Mainly, that is to make sure you DON'T get back on the Valk until you are healed up physically AND have some certainty on why you went all fuzzy on us... ???

Sounds like you feel it is a heat/dehydration and an O2 issue, but as some have mentioned earlier it is time to confirm blood pressure, blood sugar, etc...

Inzane would NOT be the same without you.   Heal up, and we'll see you out West next June!!!

Love you, my friend...  Keep the Board informed as you know more...

Woton and BikerGirl

[G-Man]

Sorry to hear, brother!  My jaw is still on the floor.  Thank goodness you are OK.  Let's hope you have a speedy recovery.  I'm sending one of OSS's secretaries and a nurse on over to help you with ALL your needs.....

[Wolfhound]

That's been a close call! Glad you are still around Dennis!
Hope you will heal up fast and the oxygen issue will be under control eventually.
Hope to see you again at the next InZane.
Best wishes from the other side of the big pond...

[old2soon]

UPDATE Went to the Doctor this morning-Nice looking Lady B T W-took off the cloth splint more X-rays a waking boot-if I had another one for the right foot I MIGHT consider motocrossing again!  While it is a walking boot I'm NOT sposed to walk on it especially if I WANT to Avoid surgery. And I DUZ wanna avoid surgery. Said if I don't displace the fracture I can Avoid surgery. Surgery would entail cutting and a steel plate-oh wait-knda like what I did on my race bikes and race cars!  She also explained the very REAL danger of infection involved that MIGHT happen because of the surgery. Soooooo gonna listen to good lookin Doctor and try durned hard to Avoid the cutting thingy.  BUT I'm here to tell y'all this idleness thing is already startin to drive me bonkers. And she don't want to see me for two more weeks!  Well-gotz ta keep reminding myself that NO matter HOW Minor I wuz in a Motorcycle accident.  Thanks to ALL my bros and sisters here on the board and most importantly-thanks to m friends.  RIDE SAFE.

[Karen]

I have a right foot walking boot that I could send you, Dennis, but it sounds like your doctor knows her stuff. Prepare to be frustrated for a while, fractures suck, but infected fractures suck more. We can discuss this all within 500 miles of Yellowstone next summer... heal quickly!

[Willow]

... We can discuss this all within 500 miles of Yellowstone next summer... heal quickly!

Perhaps within 240 miles when the bikes are parked and it's time to relax at the hotel for the evening.   

[wiggydotcom]

Sorry I'm just now reading this news.. I need to checkin here more often. So sorry to read this, Dennis, my friend. At first I was thinking I was going to read about another road incident like I had at the tail end of the Wounded Warrior ride.

It's worse to read that you suffered an injury and are now laid up. Please take it easy....that's what recovery---and retirement is for. There'll be plenty of opportunity to get back on the Dragon.

Yep, good Samaritans still do exist. It's also cool that your neighbors are taking care of you. As Wooten said, wish we lived closer to check in on you.

Keep us updated with good reports from the Doc.