Pass me the milk, will you?

I called my buddy John to swing by and take me for a ride to get out of the house for a spell on Friday. "Where to?" he said.

"Can we stop at the shop and look at the battered bike?" I asked. I hadn't mustered the courage through the pain of 11 broken ribs, to even look at the remains of my leather jacket let alone the Hawg, until now.

"Sure!" he announced as we rolled away in his Jeep. Automobile rides have been a hurdle for me, what with getting a comfortable seat for my darn ribs, and all. The passenger seat of my car is suitable for short distances but anything beyond a small commute requires adjusting the seat periodically. My good friend, Joe, took me to Maroviantown earlier in the week and we had to stop so I could walk a few laps around his Lincoln SUV to satisfy my agonizing rib cage, along the way. John's Jeep seemed to excel at appealing my injuries in the passenger seat, thank the healing powers that be, or, perhaps the meds were performing beyond the call of duty.

The bike was surprisingly pristine, comparatively speaking, for the shape I had found myself to be. I had imagined a twisted ball of Milwaukee "Pig Iron" resembling the Hawg I had known so well. I had to question the shop owner that he was mistaken when he directed me to a Harley that resembled the colour of mine, when he answered, "Yea!! the bike is in good condition as a result of your body cushioning the ground impacts" he summarised. I later relayed the memory clip to my friend Denny who concluded, that line of thinking relegated my body to the equivalent of an "air bag" for the motorcycle. LOL

Anyhow....small baby steps seems to be the core principle of my recovery at this point. Yesterday morning I popped a rib or two while reaching for the milk in the fridge. Sometimes those ribs are like the faultlines of the earth's crust when they rub and pop against each other. It took me several minutes to catch my breath and reline my ribs by hobbling next door and sitting in the neighbour's patio chairs (I discovered a few days earlier the contour of the chairs seem to have a natural ability to remedy any breathing distress from my rib cage) and return to my typical breathing patterns. This weeks schedule is full of tests and medicals which will ultimately conclude how the recovery is progressing so far.

I'll be in touch.