Not all that much

[solarbird]

My bike helmet is not nearly as bad as I'd expected. spazzkat said, "Oh, look! There's even a bloodstain!" but that really isn't the skeeriest-looking thing. The actual skerriest part is the way the helmet's got all squared off. That's actually much more frightening than the bloodstains, or the part where it looks like hamburger, but those are a lot more subtle than blood.

Comments

[banner.livejournal.com]

Okay, wait a second. You were wearing a bike helmet and you still got a serious head injury? Most of the bike helmets I've seen are pretty good so I have to be curious about this one. Did the helmet not cover the area of impact? If it did cover it, then who made the helmet, and who rated it? (I don't know if snell does bike helmets, have to look).

I thought you weren't wearing one, so now that I know otherwise I have to scratch my head and wonder what's up with that?

[sarakate.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's physically possible to make a bike helmet that will never, under any circumstances, transfer some of the force through to the head beneath. It's always going to be possible to overload its capabilities, no matter how tough those capabilities are. The thing to note here is that she got a serious head injury -- she didn't get a fatal one. If she'd hit with the same force (which was, as she mentioned, enough to permanently deform the helmet) on an unhelmeted head, we wouldn't be having this conversation -- we'd be sending condolences to Anna.

[solarbird]

You were wearing a bike helmet and you still got a serious head injury?
The head injury was not nearly as serious as the rest. The lung thing is what nearly killed me, as it was.

At first glance, the helmet mostly looks okay. Then you look again and notice that the (compressed foam) exposed back end looks like hamburger, which would have been my, you know, head. And then you notice it's shaped wrong, which means it absorbed a lot of impact/compression damage. The general concensus is that without it I'd have been very dead without one - I got bounced around nicely, whatever happened. So I don't mean not to give the helmet props. I just expected it to look worse for the wear it took.

Giro Sport Design, Santa Cruz, CA; US CPSC certified and compliant.

[banner.livejournal.com]

Well I'm glad you were wearing a helmet obviously, but welcome to the world of helmets and helmet safety. The CPSC rating is (sadly) not that good (personally I feel it's worthless). What you want is a helmet with a Snell certification (www.smf.org), they do certify bike helmets and I personally won't wear a helmet with out the Snell tag (one exception, there is a European agency that is the equivelent of Snell, I will also accept their certs). Snell helmets do cost more, but they are way better than non-Snell helmets. To be honest, I'd rather not wear a helmet at all then wear a non-certified one because if I have to give up visibility and hearing (remember this is on a motorcycle now) I want some guarentee of protection in exchange.

Of course I would also recommend that you get some nice fingerless riding gloves to protect your hands, because after head injuries, hand injuries are life changing as well. You just don't realize it till you have one (trust me on this one).

As for the lung injury, well unless you want to wear armor (and to be honest for like 50 bucks I think I can point you to an armored denim jacket that is more than enough for a bicycle- http://www.newenough.com/joe_rocket_orbit_jacket_page.htm I will swear by the effectiveness of Joe Rocket gear, saved me from a broken hip and shoulder) I don't know what can be done to protect from that. Other than spending a lot of time learning to fall.

Again, glad you're still with us Dara, -very- glad.

[annathepiper]

The lung issue Dara had was that she threw up in the ambulance and aspirated the material--not something protective gear could have prevented, unfortunately. :(

That said, certainly something like the denim jacket you describe sounds wise, as do the fingerless gloves!

And yeah, we're all very relieved she is still with us, and thankful beyond measure that the helmet did its best to take one for the team.

[solarbird]

VERY good to know about the Snell certification. Thank you VERY much, and I'll definitely be looking for a new helmet that meets that cert level. Thanks!

[banner.livejournal.com]

No problem. To be honest I wasn't sure Snell did bicycle helmets until I looked, but I'm not surprised that they do. I am a bit surprised that everyone who rides bicycles don't know about it, in the motorcycle world everyone is familar with Snell in the US. Perhaps you might want to tell your friends who ride bikes as well. After all, if you're going to wear gear, you might as well get the good stuff, right?

[solarbird]

Indeed. The helmet I was wearing was recommended by the shop where I bought it - and it wasn't even the most expensive helmet, they just said it tested well in their experience. But having an outside agency is even better! Thanks again.

[grian-ruadh.livejournal.com]

I'm plenty glad it wasn't your HEAD that got all squared off! *hugs*

Congrats on homeness! :D

[windbourne.livejournal.com]

Um. Yikes. O_o
Yay for being no longer in the hospital. :D

Welcome back!

[zeekar.livejournal.com]

So how is Mexico this time of year? :)

Very glad that you're home.

(You do not, in fact, know me from Adam, for which reason I didn't want to post too soon and add to your confusion. I found Anna's blog while researching the history of the term "Mary Sue" and stuck around, and have been following your saga over there...)

Re: Welcome back!

[solarbird]

So how is Mexico this time of year? :)
TIJUANA: THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

[janne.livejournal.com]

Hooray for being home! And eeee, skeerie helmet.

I've been taking the opportunity to give my offspring an object lession in wearing a helmet (it saved Dara's life!) but alas that backfired as she decided that if one can end up in hospital even while wearing helmet, a helmet obviously isn't much use after all...

[solarbird]

The universal opinion amoungst the doctors is that otherwise I would be very dead. My head hit the asphalt several times, from several different directions, very hard - whatever happened, it bounced me around good. So yeah, I'm giving the helmet plenty of props here. I'm mostly surprised it has the integrity it still has. The back end of it looks like hamburger - that would have been my brain.

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

You'll forgive me for the thought, but the idea of you bouncing on your head from several different directions calls a different picture to mind: The solarbird weeble wobble. You'd just think the other end would be the part to do the bouncing.

[janne.livejournal.com]

Brrr. Many props to the helmet, indeed. And I'm going to read that description to Cat the next time she feels that maybe a helmet isn't all that important. *hug*. Glad to have you back among us!

[aikigreg.livejournal.com]

this is probably obvious, but just FYI, helmets are a one-use thing only. They should be replaced every couple years even if there is no crash, and they are designed to warp and crack, etc, on impact - that's part of what helps absorb some of the force. Glad you were wearing one.

The major suckage for me, or more specifically, my wife, was that she first read of your injuries at the exact same moment as I was making my first pre-dawn bike commute. Gave her quite a scare!

Still, I'm amazed that so much force was tranferred to your head. The only conclusion I can make it that it wasn't your size or was ill-fitting or loose at the time of the accident. Or you just are paying back karma for something :)

Glad you're out of the hospital.

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

A woman I know who does hard core mountain biking and the like made a point of nothing that no amount of helmet or armor is going to protect you 100% in an accident, especially not one of Dara's degree. Since it is likely that she hit the pavement head first with most if not all of her weight, it's perfectly natural that her head would have suffered the injuries that it did, even with the best helmet available.

[shikyrie.livejournal.com]

Glad to see you're back and functioning. I did get you a card, however, with being sick most of last week, left it sitting on my desk when I left for Ann Arbor on Friday. Will send it friday when I get back, if you don't mind a very late "return to functionality" card.

[solarbird]

I am not close to normal or really functional. I need supervision on stairs. Feeding my bird Zoe exhausted me - I needed a 20 minute nap afterwards, and wasn't able to feed my budgies. I've lost at least 10 pounds of muscle mass. This blows.

[shikyrie.livejournal.com]

But, you are alive, and that is what matters most. ::hugs::

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i am SO GLAD you were wearing a helmet. you have no idea.

[quen-elf.livejournal.com]

Your last post was teh funny. :)

I'd assumed you weren't wearing a helmet, too; perhaps this is partly because I never do. :) I kind of think they're part of the anti-cycling conspiracy... Good thing you were, though!