Close Shaves Series – part 6. The ruff rider story

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On February 25, 2010, I left client site, with the intent of going for my Business Unit meeting at the office. I had been loaned to another Business Unit for some time, and literally had to insist that they allow me go for my meeting, if they didn’t want to go for theirs. Both the client site, and my office were on the island, and I was not driving then, so I had to take a bus, since my other team members were not interested in going to the office.

In front of silverbird galleria, I saw hands hailing from a car. It was three of my colleagues, and they were going to the office for the BU meeting, from their own client site, so they parked, and waited for me, so I could join them in the car. I was about to cross to go and meet them when…

From their point of view, they waved at me, and beckoned on me to come, and then, I disappeared from the face of the earth. They were wondering what kind of magic just happened, since I wasn’t Enoch that walked with God, when they noticed a commotion.

From my point of view, I was crossing to go and meet them, and few seconds later, something was climbing my body.

Yes, a bike was riding on top of me, like actually riding. Now, to the story of how I did not die. Everyone in my office carries a laptop bag everywhere they go, and we normally prefer to carry the back pack, rather that the shoulder sling one. So I had my back pack on me, and as the bike was riding on me, the laptop bag on my back kept protecting me, and causing the bike to move backwards, as he tried to climb back on me. So it was like a back and forth ride on me, with the back pack pushing it back all the time. To cut the long story short, the back pack protected my real back, and the prevented the bike from climbing fully over my head. I shudder to think of the state of my skull, were it not for the back pack.

The next thing I knew, my body was sprawled all over the ground, my shoes gone, my phone scattered. I just thank God that my colleagues were actually around. They got me safely into the car, picked all my items, took me to a pharmacy to sort me out, put me in a taxi, that then took me straight to the hospital. They couldn’t take me to the hospital themselves because the hospital I chose using my HMO was not an island one, and my skull wasn’t shattered anyway. Till today, I don’t know what the bike or the bike guy that ran me over (and ran over me) looks like. My colleagues did not even stay on the scene for a second, after they moved me into the car.

I had bruises on my face, my knees (the fall was so bad, my trousers couldn’t protect my knees), my upper arm, my wrist, etc. I had bruises all over my body, but the worst was my right ankle.  In fact, if you apply pressure there today, I will still scream. I still have all the scars from the accident, except the on my face.
So I went to the hospital, and got dressed up. My brother came to pick me from the hospital, and my mum kept calling from the US to be sure I was very much alive. See pictures of some of the bruises below. These are by no means the only injures sustained, but the ones I have in picture

See the knife scar on my cheek. That wasn't a
close shave though. Another story

If the bike accident, the dressing of the bruises, and the daily visits to the hospital were all, it would have been great, and I would just give testimony.

But…

About a day or 2 later, my body started swelling. In fact, if you saw me, you would have thought I had miraculously grown fat. It started with my legs, and after a while I couldn’t really walk again. Even though I was not supposed to go to work, I was bored at home, and I went to work. By the time I sit for some hours, my whole body will swell. The only solution was to raise my leg, so I used a carton to support it. My team lead did not like the way the whole thing looked, so he told me to stop coming to work. He said it would look to clients like they were making me suffer, by making me work under such conditions, and would not know I was the one who wanted to work. As for me, I think my whole sight just irritated him. See pictures of swollen leg below.

Even though my whole body was swollen, the right foot, in
particular, was the biggest, since it was the most affected part

Anyway, that is how I left that team. I did not stay at home for long before my own BU called me back from the BU they loaned me to, and sent me to another client site, where I was free to wear slippers for as long as I pleased. See picture of when the would started to heal. You can see that tissues were affected. I think that is why I still feel pain till today.

In summary, the reason I am alive today is because of a the grace of laptop bag

And this is the end of the Close Shaves series, part 1-6. I hope you guys enjoyed the stories that caused me pain, and many times, brought tears to my eyes. But remember, the goal here is to celebrate the many occasions God has delivered me from the claws of death. If you missed any of the editions in this series, you can click here to catch up on them.

P.S: The worst physical pain I have ever experienced was not featured in this series. It was something I went through as a result of complication after a dental/jawbone surgery, in 2006. I would not wish the experience on my enemy. Even though it was the worst experience so far, it wasn’t a close shave with death.