Playing Catch with an Armored Truck, and NOT winning!!!

emeglasson

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Holy Crap! Matt, I just got back from vacation and logged in to see this. Very sorry to hear it, how incredibly frustrating. I hope your attorney is aggressive and helps get things resolved quickly. It's awesome that you are working so hard to keep the orders shipping, but be sure to rest and recover!!!
 

regular_guy

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Hey I know I'm new here, but I've been in a bad wreck before and that being said, hope you get well soon. I've got some residual pains here and there from something a long time ago, and I'll say this, (which you probably already know)...do all the physical therapy that you can. It'll pay off in the end. Hate to see a bad crash.
 

Formula390

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Trial ride results - 3 months post accident

So this afternoon I had a few friends come out, including our intrepid local forum member EdwardP33 plus my buddy Joe, and ride escort for my first test ride since the accident. The results of the trial ride were... not great. I did manage to complete the ride and not need to make use of the contingency plan of park the bike, get a ride back to the ranch, and then go back with the truck and fetch the bike... but the simple fact is that my left arm ain't working right. The screwed up nerves from my C5-C7 disc damage were playing havoc with my ability to hold my line on left curves / turns. It was humbling, and terrifying, both at the same time. Not being able to put the bike where I want a few times ended up with me turning in too far usually, so I'd end up WAY too close to the center line, and on hard lefts my speed and smothness were all over the place. I felt like a total squid who doesn't have a clue how to ride more than a few times. Right turns, no problem. Bang on. At speed. This is totally and completely brain sends signal to left arm, and bike doesn't do what it's supposed to because the signals ain't making it there correctly. I certainly hope that this is something that I can overcome with more time, but I'm feeling rattled. The headache from the instability in C2-C3 also did NOT like the extra weight of the helmet, or buffeting of the wind for that matter. I took out my 02 Gixxer 1000 rather than the RC390, as I've put more butt time on that bike than any other in the fleet. It's the bike I can (or at least could) use as a fine edge razor on pavement. Well... not so much anymore. {sigh}

I also was having severe fatigue in the arm. I don't know how much of that might be muscle wasting, nerve damage, or just gripping the bars too hard and not having good form on the bike. I felt great heading down the driveway, but by the end of that section (my driveway is 1/4 mile) I'd even already started feeling it in my neck, arm, and hand.

In all, it was about 80 miles of riding, with a break for lunch in the middle:
Test_Ride.jpg

This was a sedate ride of some of our (easy) twisties, with nothing the least bit all that challenging at pretty much any speed. I figured the route was one that would at least give me a chance to see how the arm and neck held up and responded, without getting too far away from the ranch if I needed to abort. I'd considered it at one point, but just slowed down a little, tried shaking the arm out and bending the head side to side, and putting all my weight on the right arm to give things a chance to settle out a bit, and that worked.

I will say this, pretty much ANY thoughts I had been entertaining for a chance of racing, or likely even doing any track days, for the 2016 season... are no more. There is just No Way I'd be able to put a bike, any bike, on the track. I know it was just the first ride, but given how my left arm was (NOT!!!) responding while riding today, even with a ton more physical therapy, I just don't see myself being able to go out there and not feel like I would be a danger on the track to myself, and my fellow riders.

I also want to thank Edward and Joe for coming along. I wouldn't have been able to even attempt todays trial without having had them there. At least I did manage to get a little seat time. It'll probably be another month before I consider another attempt. I'm going to have to have a serious heart to heart talk with my orthopedic doc and physical therapist... as well as the lawyer. :(

{SIGH}
 

psych0hans

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:( Major bummer bro, hope you get well soon, but if it's nerve damage, then it probably will take its own course to heal. Good luck and God speed!
 

=maz=

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Glad you're not in a worse way.

Remember to keep taking deep breaths, despite the pain, as it is important to fill all of your lungs during your recovery...good luck with a full recovery.
 

RobbiRob76

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Matt,
Sorry, this is the first I had heard of this... If you have any questions about soft tissue and orthopedic trauma, let me know. I'm not a Dr. but I have been racing since 1974. I have 33 screws, 2 plates, and 3 rods. I am fused from my L4 to my S1. I have broken my left femur, right Tib/Fib, T7 vertebrae, left shoulder and left ankle completely reconstructed. I don't even count ribs, collar bones, fingers and feet in the mix of my broken bones. My point in all this is I can tell you what surgeries work, what injections such as Caudill Epidural, Bi Lateral Facet, and Trigger Point worked for me, and those that didn't work. Everyone is different, so I will never tell you what not do or what you should, that is a Dr.'s job. What I can offer, is what to expect... From a " someone who has been there point of view". I still deal with pain management everyday. It is now a way of life for me. I still ride and race, and it is possible to manage your new issues, and expect a reasonable quality of life. Let me know if you have any questions.
Robbi
 

Treachery

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So this afternoon I had a few friends come out, including our intrepid local forum member EdwardP33 plus my buddy Joe, and ride escort for my first test ride since the accident. The results of the trial ride were... not great.

{snippo}

I will say this, pretty much ANY thoughts I had been entertaining for a chance of racing, or likely even doing any track days, for the 2016 season... are no more. There is just No Way I'd be able to put a bike, any bike, on the track. I know it was just the first ride, but given how my left arm was (NOT!!!) responding while riding today, even with a ton more physical therapy, I just don't see myself being able to go out there and not feel like I would be a danger on the track to myself, and my fellow riders.

Dang, Matt, that's a real shame. I'd been wondering about your recovery; I guess in real time, it hasn't been that long, but from the inside it's gotta seem like forever, and slow progress to boot.

I also want to thank Edward and Joe for coming along. I wouldn't have been able to even attempt todays trial without having had them there. At least I did manage to get a little seat time. It'll probably be another month before I consider another attempt. I'm going to have to have a serious heart to heart talk with my orthopedic doc and physical therapist... as well as the lawyer. :(

{SIGH}

Matt,
Sorry, this is the first I had heard of this... If you have any questions about soft tissue and orthopedic trauma, let me know. I'm not a Dr. but I have been racing since 1974. I have 33 screws, 2 plates, and 3 rods. I am fused from my L4 to my S1. I have broken my left femur, right Tib/Fib, T7 vertebrae, left shoulder and left ankle completely reconstructed. I don't even count ribs, collar bones, fingers and feet in the mix of my broken bones. My point in all this is I can tell you what surgeries work, what injections such as Caudill Epidural, Bi Lateral Facet, and Trigger Point worked for me, and those that didn't work. Everyone is different, so I will never tell you what not do or what you should, that is a Dr.'s job. What I can offer, is what to expect... From a " someone who has been there point of view". I still deal with pain management everyday. It is now a way of life for me. I still ride and race, and it is possible to manage your new issues, and expect a reasonable quality of life. Let me know if you have any questions.
Robbi

Dayum....
 

Mike91

New Member
Dang Matt, sorry to hear about your misfortune. I know that getting hurt is a no no when your trying to run your own business. Get well soon, also I got my backorder parts last week so keep up the good work!
 

Formula390

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So... update time. Some may have noticed I haven't been around on the forum for a while. Well, that's because I've been busy as ******* with trying to keep orders shipping, order replacement inventory, do machining as I can for the job shop side of things, answering calls and talking to new owners or those who aren't sure what mods to make, etc etc etc... and then there's the physical therapy, doctors appointments, tests, more imaging, etc etc etc.

Well, the other day on Jan 12th I finally had my first surgery from the accident. It was a fusion of C4-C5-C6. Ughh. Spent the last two days basically dizzy and in pain... but, it's starting to get better. The tingling and pain in my left hand is gone,.The proprioception of the left arm seems to have improved some. I'm still off target, but neurologist says it may take 6, 9, or even 12 months to see that improvement. If it's going to at all. One of the neurologists things it's brain damage that's causing it. I dunno. I just know I'd fail a field side sobriety test because I can't touch my left arm index finger to my nose... and typically get my cheek, lip, eye... pretty much anything BUT the nose. So, riding has been... difficult! I still can't really turn left. I got some BRIGHT yellow MX gloves, which I can sorta see in my peripheral vision, and that seems to cue my brain SORTA enough that at least I'm not AS wild all over the road, but it's still pretty squidly looking riding for left turns. {sigh}

Recovery.jpg

Recovery for the fusion is aided by having used my own bone for the graft, and they harvested stem cells from my hip (separated from the marrow) which should make everything mesh together a lot faster. Let me tell you what, having bone and marrow harvested like that AIN'T fun either! Jezabob my hip is ******** sore!!!! I've been in a neck brace (again!) since the surgery, taking it off only as needed, but it actually helps! Well, I mean it's uncomfortable as ****all, but it's better than NOT wearing it. I still have that CRUSHING weight on the back of my head, only now since the accident it's from my hairline from the front down to about my shoulder blades. This may be from the brace, or the surgery. I'm apparently going to be 5-6mm taller now... tho that might just be restoring me back to my prior 6'3" which makes me wonder enough to maybe check. I mean, when is the last time someone measured your height??? High school??? I was 6'3" in junior high, and never got any taller. To with my vertebra being so ******** from the accident, it wouldn't surprise me if I turned out to be shorter after all. Oh well!

Packing orders is going to be... difficult. I have a 10# weight restriction for the next 3 weeks, then 20# restriction. Local friends and my apprentice will have to help me pack orders to go out and process inventory coming in... but I tried to time the surgery to fall during the slow season. No way I could have done this surgery in say August or September.

Lawsuit is still ongoing as well... of course... in discovery it was found out that the kid driving had been FIRED for falling asleep behind the wheel 3 months prior to him tossing me and my F250 down the road like a ping pong ball, and he'd run a lady off the road previously. The company destroyed the telemetry data from the truck with the black box recording of speed, brakes, gears, airbags, etc etc etc. So... judge was NOT happy about THAT at all... which is pretty much good for me. The driver maintained the accident was caused by the brakes failing, but they did not. Company tested the truck and brakes were fine... Plus, witnesses said they saw his brakes lock up tires before he smacked me. So it's either A) Brakes did fail which means faulty maintenance or B) they didn't and he's lying, which also, good for me. So the Armored Truck company is pretty much screwed either way. So far, they aren't contesting fault. We'll see what happens if/when we go to trial. Lawyer things it'll settle during the mediation stage, but we'll see. I just wanna get better, and be able to ride again!!! Currently tho, the odds of my being able to do endurance racing ever again are pretty much dashed tho. Dammit. We'll see what happens when it gets closer to the time to do something surgical with my lower back. It'd be nice to be able to put my socks on without sounding like, well, a big guy who can't touch his toes without a *******load of pain. {shrug}

Anyway, now that I'm at a point where for the next 6 weeks I'm basically assigned to being not much more than a couch potato, I'll hopefully be able to show up now and again on the forum... so... that's where I'm at!!

Oh yeah, and the new green brute F250 has been going great. The transmission blew up on her after a few thousand miles (of course!!!!) but got a REALLY nice one rebuilt for her, and it's been one of the cornerstones of my days for hauling packing materials,

Anyway, this has taken about 3 hours to write because I keep nodding off an falling asleep while I'm working on it. So, I'll quit now and hit send before I nod off yet again!!! LOL
 

El Trollo Mejor

New Member
My friend, you need a good personal injury lawyer ASAP. PM me and I can hook you up with a solid and very reputable firm in the motorcycling community (they've gone to bat for numerous riders and secured millions in compensation for injured riders). If you aren't in CA, I can also get you a solid referral. You might not realize this right now, but you are likely gonna see a huge windfall for suffering through this ordeal, especially if you lawyer up before the insurance companies try to screw you.

Edit: I see you are in TX. If you'd like, I can dig up a good referral for you. A lawyer is essential. Getting smacked by a street legal tank is no joke.
 
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Formula390

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My friend, you need a good personal injury lawyer ASAP. PM me and I can hook you up with a solid and very reputable firm in the motorcycling community (they've gone to bat for numerous riders and secured millions in compensation for injured riders). If you aren't in CA, I can also get you a solid referral. You might not realize this right now, but you are likely gonna see a huge windfall for suffering through this ordeal, especially if you lawyer up before the insurance companies try to screw you.

Edit: I see you are in TX. If you'd like, I can dig up a good referral for you. A lawyer is essential. Getting smacked by a street legal tank is no joke.

Thank you ETM for the effort and concern. :) Really! ...but, not to worry, I have a VERY good lawyer on the case. In fact I had the best lawyer in central Texas for this sort of thing on my case before I'd ever even left the ICU... I knew I wasn't at fault, and I knew it was an armored truck that had hit me, so I got a message to a buddy of mine who worked with one of our local KTM dealerships as their head of marketing. He asked me a few questions, and then asked me if he had permission to speak to them on my behalf. I'd trust Dave with everything and anything, even my dogs!!! Without hesitation I said "Sick 'em big guy! Get me THE best damn lawyer that exists for this sort of thing!"

One of the things I should say is that while he's a sales and marketing guy, he's also the ONLY sales and marketing guy I've EVER met who i didn't want to smack within 3 minutes of meeting them. Anyway, marketing folks know people. LOTS of people. Their entire livelihood is build around knowing the right people... and those peoples people... and that's usually power folks. So Dave went off, to find me THE lawyer. The reply back was nearly unanimous, and just like that, it was done. Dave said "This is THE guy." and that was that. We had a quick phone call at some point, I think maybe while I was still in ICU, and he got the info the responding officer had gotten to me... of basically just the report number, the drivers name, that I wasn't at fault, and that there were multiple witnesses... and like that, he was on the case. The firm has been terrific, and has taken care of me very well. if I have a problem, I can get a message to them, and presto, it's handled.

Obviously I can't discuss TOO much about it all, what with due to the lawsuit which is still ongoing, and my lawyer would probably smack me around for divulging as much as I have here, but to me, this community of fellow RC390 owners/riders/racers are my life blood. Y'all are the ones that put groceries on my table, and diesel in my truck, so if I can't share openly here, then what's the point... besides, I'm not saying anything which isn't true or that I'd have any problem with answering questions about in court if they pulled up records and found these threads on the forum through discovery. Whatever.

One of the great things that the lawyer did for me was setup a medical fund with a lien against the eventual judgement/settlement that will come my way... so any bills, they just go against that lien. So basically my lawyers office is my medical insurance for all of this. So my actual out of pocket has been very little. Well, I did have to buy a new truck. That wasn't fun, as I don't have any funds my way still from all of this, but hey, whatever. So I bought a truck. When I eventually get the property damage settlement on all of this (probably about the same time I get the rest of it) that'll cover my truck. One of the things that REALLY made me sad was I lost my tackle boxes!!! They were in the back of the truck as I'd been kayak fishing that morning... well, I dunno where those tackle boxes went, other than possibly low earth orbit, but there was no sign of them anywhere. :( I had tackle in there my grandfather had given me!!! A lifetime of fishing tackle, POOF, gone. I don't even know HOW you put a dollar value on that. There were lures in there you can't buy. Maybe to somebody who doesn't fish that's no big deal, but that's a BIG thing to those who do fish!!!! :( At least the packages I'd put in the truck to send off that day, I'd dropped off at the Goin' Postal on the way TO the river that morning!!!

Anyway yeah... sorry, I get a little flighty and yappy apparently on THIS much narcotics, and I randomly fall asleep... nothing like waking up because you dropped your phone onto your face while in the middle of texting!!! Doh!

The whole getting tossed down the road like a ping pong ball by an Armored Truck, doing 60MPH, with the 22yr old kid driving asleep at the wheel... that was NOT fun. I really am stupidly lucky to even be alive at all. I will say this, anybody who ever says anything about somebody claiming some sort of bogus whiplash BS from an accident around me, is going to get an dressing down to be sure!!!!! This year has been incredibly challenging with trying to keep Formula390 running, and growing, and keeping all the parts in inventory for fast shipment, answering phone calls from racers on a Friday night at 10:30pm and talking with them for an hour and a half and be ready to hit the track the next morning. Or shipping somebody a next day air Saturday delivery part because they tossed their racebike on Friday in practice, and needed rearsets RIGHT THEN so I had to throw the parts he needed in a box, and RACE to the UPS hub to get the parts to them in time to make the flight out that evening so he'd have them the next day... THAT is what and why I do this. It's why I specialize. It's why I released the plans for the R6 shock swap update as an opensource project to give back to the community that gives me so much in return. :)

Right now, it's the slow season for orders, so the surgery timing worked out pretty much perfectly. One of the downsides for the next 6 weeks while I recover from the fusion is that I have lifting restrictions... so packing boxes and moving inventory around, isn't really something I can do. My wife helps. EdwardP333 is local and he's also volunteered to help me out. I've got a few other local friends who I can tap to come help me keep things running. There's no way I could have done this surgery and afforded the downtime say in July, but right now, these days, I'm getting 1-2 orders a day, so if I have to wait an extra day (or maybe two) to get some help with packing and shipping out, I'm hopeful y'all will be understanding that things might not be shipping out as promptly as I typically like. My policy is that I ship out same day if possible, and if an order arrives with not enough time to get it sent out that same day then I have it packed and ready to go on the next business day... unless it's a racer, where again, see RUSH that package to wherever it needs to be however it can be rushed where if it's physically possible, I'd go to pretty much any length to be sure that the racer gets the parts by the time they need them by!!! I've even flagged down and handed off a package to a UPS truck I just saw driving around on one occasion! LOL "HEY! I've got a package I need to go out today. It's already got the shipping label on it, can I just hand it off to you? PLEASE?!!" :) I have zero shame when it comes to things like that!!! But it's all for ya'll is how I see it. :)

As I've said before... don't play around with Armored Trucks, they CHEAT!!! What with all that mass and all. F=MA (Force == Mass * Acceleration) is a BITCH when said MASS is ~13 tons of plate steel doing 60mph through a red light. It's the third worst thing I can think of to be obliterated by... Obviously the TOP contender is a locomotive/train. Number 2 would be a fully loaded triple trailer road train semi (those are up to 58.5 tons) but number 3... yup, Armored Truck!!! Holy HELL do those things hit with a whallop when they catch you broadside. {sigh}

These days, I'm just laying in bed, watching TV, working on the laptop, dropping my cellphone on my face, and just laying there trying to make sure, whatever I do, at whatever cost... DO. NOT. FRACKING. SNEEZE!!!!!1 I also think I now know how it was that Hunter S. Thompson managed to write so prolifically. I'm apparently a total jabber mouth when I'm stoned outta my skull on all these narcotics for the pain.
 

btalont

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Matt.. man I just saw this thread...so sorry for your injuries! Glad you have a good lawyer, you will need some long term financial support from what I see. Hope all the recovery goes well and you get well soon!
 

ianblewitt

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Dang dude, just reading this. Sorry to hear it!

Finally got my 390 out to the track Tuesday/Wednesday, and was just on your site looking at more parts after my last order a few months back.

Hope your road to recovery is swift.
 

Formula390

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Thanks for the good will wishes everyone.

Recovery has been slow, and frustrating at times. I'm well on my way but it's looking like some of the problems just aren't ever going to go away. I got my neck fused (as previously discussed) last January. It's healing, but it's not fused yet.

fusion.jpg

Looks like I swallowed a damn master link, right!!! That's the X-Ray from my first checkup. Just went in this last week for the second xray set, and same results. Not fused yet. So the gave me something they call a bone growth stimulator... looks like a horse collar / harness / cone of shame! All I know is it totally screws up anything around it that can be interfered by manets....:) LOL

My left arm still isn't working right, with the proprioception (the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement) problems... so turning left on a bike is, well, fraught with difficulty. I look like a damn squid who can't maintain my line in a corner and cross the center line or fog line. So, track time in my future is looking less and less likely. Spent a full day at a neuropsychologist the other day. The neurologist thinks the arm issue is brain damage from the accident, so that's why I got sent to the neuropsychologist. Man, if you even wanna fell stupid, go do THOSE tests!!! I'm not even done yet. Get to go back on Wednesday for another day of tests. Got some bone marrow extracted too. Marrow is used to harvest and grow stem cells. They did that for my neck fusion, and now we are going to try and inject my stem cells directly into the discs in my lower back. The hope being that it might regrow some cartilage. I dunno if it'll work, but it's certainly worth trying! The docs think it'll help, so heck even if it just gets me a little pain relief that would be a big win... and if it may help/possibly delay or stave off the need to fuse L3-S1 even if just for a few years, which will ******** suck, it's worth trying!!! So if I -=CAN=- avoid lower back fusion, I'd rather do that. I just don't know if I'll be able to tho. The pain is pretty severe, a hell of a lot more than it ever was before the accident, and the damn near constant need of the cane really sucks. Of course, none of us are getting any younger either. So I may have to resign myself to "Race Team Owner" vs "Racer" at this point. Bah! LOL Still, it would be nice to have the OPTION to again go out for a nice Sunday afternoon bimble about the Texas Hill Country in a search for pie or bbq unknown. I'm still not cleared to wear a helmet yet, tho I did finally get my weight restriction lifted from 10# to 20# and light duty work finally. That 10# limit got real old REAL fast!

To all my customers who's orders have been delayed in shipping these last 2 weeks, I'm sorry! I'm getting some help which will assist me with packing orders up and getting everything shipped out.

Bonus points if you can tell how many times each collar bone has been broken! ;)
 
wow I just saw this thread while I was emailing you regarding the rear shock. My concerns over a crap rear shock seem pretty darn trivial when you read your story and I do apologise for taking up your time with what is probably the usual 1000 silly questions Matt.

All the best and if we lived over your side of the pond I'd gladly offer any help I could.

Andy
 

Koala

New Member
Wow i am felling very lucky to have got away with the same scenario just a couple of weeks ago with no bones damaged just a couple of chipped teeth and a whole lot of hurt. Now if she had insurance my life would so much easier. hope your 110 % soon, and know you understand why i cant order the shock right now . Kevin
 
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