Run Over by a Taxi!

This being downtown San Francisco, I naturally made sure it was ok to cross at each intersection, and always used the crosswalk. You'd think that would be enough...

But unfortunately, as I was crossing Pine Street, I disproved that theory the hard way. The street seemed clear of oncoming traffic, but about half way through the crosswalk, I had a sense. I looked to my right, and there was a taxi a few feet away, accelerating towards me. I remember thinking "That taxi's not going to hit me.... that taxi's going to hit me!" As I rolled up onto the hood, I remember thinking this was kind of like you see in the movies. Then I rolled up against the windshield. At that point, the taxi driver realized he'd made impact with something, and hit the brakes. This caused me to fly off the car onto the road, just like in the movies.

I believe the taxi had been blocked from view by another accident a short distance away, and that he decided to swerve around it, which is why he was accelerating when he hit me.

Smart civilians closed the street and made me lie back down right there in the middle of Pine Street. The ambulence came, and took me to the Emergency Room two blocks from home. The left side of my face was completely black and blue, my left eye and temple swolen like a balloon. Those new Italian glasses had lacerated my face, and I hadn't even gotten to wear them for a full day yet! Oh, and my right hand hurt.

It turns out that my hand is the most serious problem. The ER doctor scheduled me for a consultation the next morning with a surgeon specializing in hand reconstruction. It turns out that people with serious hand problems (severed hands or digits) come from great distances to visit the Buncke Hand Clinic, which I'm (fortunately) able to walk to. Anyway, the surgeon, Dr. Kind (yes, really), wanted me to get immediate surgery, since my right meta carpel was basically shattered into 5 pieces. We're talking about the part of your thumb that's in the base of the palm of your hand. The part that makes the opposable thumb thing so cool.

Surgery knocked me for a loop. I thought I'd be in and out, no problems. I even thought the experience of being anesthesized would be interesting. Wrong. I was out of it well into the evening (surgery wsa at 9AM). And boy did my hand hurt when I woke up. And the next day. And the next. I'm only now feeling well enough to type with my left hand... ugh.

Here's what my hand looked like before surgery. And here it is now... I wear a splint, but yes, those pins really are sticking out of my hand. Not fun. Dr. Kind tried to put metal screws into the bone fragments, but apparently the screws couldn't find acceptable purchase on the remaining bone. So he had to move them into place manually, then pin them to hold them there.

It's been a few days since the surgery now, and things seem to be healing very nicely. My face is no longer swolen, and more than half of the black and blue has turned yellow. Several of the many other aches and pains associated with being run over have subsided. With luck, I'll get the use of my right hand back in another 4 weeks or so.

in the mean time, thanks for the email, and for your patience in waiting for a reply... I'm not typing so much these days...

Hey, you asked!

-Rob