Soma Purana

human body is marvelous. it forced me to rest and sleep a lot and was quietly working furiously inside to heal the injuries and repair the damaged bones and tissues. my job is to provide it all the necessary supplies, basically, a lot of calcium, vitamins, antioxidants. i have been consuming tons of vegetables, milk, vitami d and calcium supplements. i use tumeric, ginger, and garlic liberally in my food. very little carbohydrates. even with zero exercise i have maintained my weight so far. this regimen has worked very well so far. all non-fracture injuries have almost healed. i don't know how well fractures have healed. i would know when i meet the orthopedist in a couple of weeks and he takes new x-rays. i have stopped taking pain killers. i don't like them. they constipate and interfere with healing. sleeping continuously for more than 3-4 hours at night is difficult since i feel co much discomfort with immobile left hand in sling and not being able to turn on the side.

i saw dr. iturbides yesterday. i love him. he is the best doctor and the best human being. he is my doctor for the last 17 years. i consider him my brother. he had called me twice after the accident. he really cares about his patients. he examined me and told me there is no new bad news. so, i have scapular and pelvic fractures and a lot of abrasions, muscle damage, internal swelling, and pain. fortunately no internal organ damage. this is going to take many weeks to heal. after that i start physiotherapy. could be several months before i am back on my bike. i may never recover 100%. i am not mad at the lady who hit me. it was an accident. i believe human body is amazingly adaptive and will heal.

met orthopedist today. he took more x-rays and said i have pelvic bone fracture also. he wants me to see my regular physician dr. iturbides so he can check abdominal area again since i still have some pain there. i am eager to get back on bike. it is going to take some more weeks i am sure. my boss and colleagues are extremely supportive. they have told me i have to focus my health first. but i should be able to get back to my regular work within a few days if not sooner. i am immobile and will be for a while. i cannot drive. pari has to drive me around. fortunately, she has summer break. i am so much dependent on her now. i cannot even button my shirt. after i take my bath she cleans and bandages all the open wounds and puts and buttons my shirt on. i can put on my brief and pants myself. i feel tired easily and has been sleeping most of the time.

what a difference a day makes! when i was riding my bike yesterday morning, i was hit by a car driven by an indian lady. i spent five hours in the emergency department of robertwood johnson hospital. i have suffered scapular fracture and pretty banged up on my left side. i am in terrible pain. i am seeing an orthopedist tomorrow. this is going to be long road to complete recovery. parvathi is helping me a lot. i still went to teach my evening class at mccc. parvathi drove me there. the students were very cooperative. teaching is one thing that will make me forget the severest of pain. i feel so helpless, it is very difficult to do simple things, like putting on a seat belt. i found out there is not much you can do with physically sound right side but messed up left. i have severe abrasions, a lot of swelling on my waist, upper arm, wrist, shoulder. i will get through this with others help over time. i am more afraid of discovering what else may have happened in the shoulder area.

Lest someone think I make over 400 Km week every week, let me assure you, it does not happen. My week's goal is 200Km but some weeks I cannot make it because of some reason such as rain or my knees are hurting. When it is ideal I try to put some kilometers in the bank to compensate for bleak weeks (or should I say weak weeks!). When it is raining or snowing, of course I cannot ride, even though I have been caught in the rain after I started in which case I rush back. If it is just a drizzle I don't care, I continue riding. I ride in winter too, just dress up well. If the roads are covered with snow, even slight amount of snow, I don't go. If it is too windy, I don't ride. Riding against wind is so hard.

My bike ride week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday. The last week (7/1/2012 through 7/7/2012) was probably the best week and deserves a post. Rode the bike all 7 days of the week. 18 hours of riding (average 2.57 Hrs/day) 433 Km (270 mi) Average of 24 Km per hr (or 15 mi per hr) 7645 calories burned 979 fat calories burned