Today I am one pissed off mom, wife, lady. One night of sleep has calmed my nerves
but fueled my anger and there are so many things I need to say.
As some of you know my husband was in an accident
yesterday. After a full day of
spending time with our kids on our last weekend of summer doing all the things
they wanted to do, we came home to rest before dinner. It was a great day and I was feeling happy. As I began getting ready to cook, Mike
told me he was going to go for a short little ride. He left and I got down to the business of cooking
dinner. As I was getting ready to feed
the kids and make their plates, I got a call. I picked up my cell and saw that it was Mike. My first
thought was, “he’s not supposed to be calling, he’s on his bike.” I knew of course that something was
wrong. He told me, “I had a crash
come outside, someone is bringing me home” and hung up. I ran outside with a million emotions
and thoughts running through my head.
There were a million questions running through my head and panic as
well. My kids must have sensed it
as well because they came running outside of the house to see what was going on
and I was yelling at them to get back into the house because I didn’t want them
to see their dad in his “crashed” state. I kept looking up and down the street with no idea how long I was going to be waiting and what state my husband would be coming home in.
After what seemed like an eternity a truck came down the
hill and parked in front of our yard.
I remember Mike getting out of the truck, the man getting out of the
truck me checking to make sure all his body parts were okay, not seeing blood
and the nice man telling me to take Mike to the ER, lifting the bike out of the
truck and a little bit of chaos. I
ran in the house grabbed some food, got some warm clothing and jumped in the
van speeding off to Kaiser ER. I was in a frenzy, trying to stay calm, needing someone to check my husband out and tell me that he was okay.
On the drive to Kaiser Mike told me what happened. He wanted to bike up the hill and was
riding near Mililani Shopping Center.
Out of the side of his eye he saw a white car speeding toward him from behind. He tried to move to the side of the
road to get out of her way and through his mind tried to do all of the
Emergency procedures that our friend Reid Yoshida gave him. He braked and moved to the side but hit a lot of debris in the roadway (shame on you Mililani Town Association) and next thing he
knew he was flipping over the handlebars and landed on his shoulder hard. He told me that a dad pushing a double
stroller got to him first, and then a man in a truck (our angel Neal Honda)
stopped to help him, offered to take him to the Emergency Room, and ultimately
brought him home with the bike.
Seriously, talk about Guardian Angels!!!!
At the ER we again lucked out with a fabulous ER Nurse,
Nurse Michael who kept everything lighthearted with a lot of laughs, and a
Doctor that we had had before who was also a runner. His prognosis was a separated shoulder but he’ll have an
appointment with an Orthopedic Surgeon on Wednesday.
All that being said we are truly lucky. There were definitely angels protecting Mike yesterday. His singlet is not torn, he has minor
scratches on his shoulder and knees, and he did not hit his head at all. He
will not be able to race on Sunday, but there will be other races. He can’t work his job this week because
he needs to be able to use his arm, he won’t be able to set up his classroom
for the new school year BUT he will eventually be able to run, bike and swim
again, he will be there to coach and watch his kids, and he will be able to
train for the Honolulu Marathon with me again. Believe me, we are both very THANKFUL and know that we are
BLESSED.
Nevertheless, today I am angry. Very angry.
True, I have my husband by my side today but it could have been so much
worse. Luckily, he was able to
move out of the way in time, but others have not been so lucky lately and it
seems as though every week there is news of a pedestrian, car, bicyclist
accident. I am so very mad because
my man trained really hard for this race.
He set a huge goal for himself and worked the hardest I have ever seen
him work in the over 25 years I have known him. Week after week I sat at the pool and at the beach to watch
him swim in big south swells. Many
a night I put the kids to bed so that he could train with his buddies. Last week I followed him in our van as
he rode his bike from Diamond Head to Hawaii Kai to make sure he would be
okay. Through all my fears of all
the horrible things that could happen to him, yesterday it all came to a head
just a few miles from our home, in a small little town where most of the speed
limits are 25 mph. A little town
that is supposed to be family friendly with wide roads, little traffic, and
places for people to be healthy through running, biking, walking. Today I am angry as I had to help my strong
and fit husband put deodorant and his shirt on before I left him with my kids
to go to work. I reflected on the
fact that he is finally able to stay home and not work (which is what we always
wanted) but humorously unable to rest due to pain, and unable to do ANY of the
housework that I need him to do.
The next few days and weeks we’ll see just exactly how this accident
affects our family. What will he
be able to do and not do? How will
he recover physically? How will he recover mentally? So many questions unanswered that are tormenting me
today.
If you know me you know that I am a Do-er. I do. I want action.
I get angry, come up with plans, and expect change.
So here I am with all these ideas and wants running through my head. I
want to make a change. I want to do something. Pedestrian and bicyclist safety
has hit home. I want my husband to
be able to train on the road in the future without me sitting at home
worried. I want others to be able
to train safely as well. How do I
get the word out there to make this happen? Well, it starts here.
It starts with me on Social Media asking my friends and family to be
aware when they are out on the road.
By talking to their friends and family to ask them to be aware when
they’re on the road. And as I do
so I continue to plan and brain storm what I am going to do next. Because this cannot go on. Thank you for spreading the word.
J
