I was on my way to office in my KTM on a Monday morning (23rd December 2019). The ride to my office was around 17 kms and it was a daily commute of 34 kms back then. Currently, it's around 30 kms to office after I shifted my unit. Don't ponder on the fact as to why I prefer to travel this far everyday. It's Mysore where traffic isn't a point of concern and you enjoy the ride. You can reach anywhere in Mysore within 20-30 mins in bike. As I was riding to office on that very day, feeling fresh from the early morning winter bath and dressed in formals, right near Mysore Airport, an SUV hard braked right in front of me with just probably 1-1.5 meter distance ahead. I was on the right lane of the on going traffic (4 lane highway) and my instinct immediately made me try to steer left wherein I notice there's another SUV right next to me. Within fraction of a second, I tried to steer my KTM to fit in between the gap of the two cars, but to my utter bad luck, my right handle bar hit the left rear of the SUV in front and "BAAM", I fell from the bike when it was at 70 kms/hr. Your brain doesn't process that moment in a logical way as you cannot believe what just happened. I was lying flat on the road when I realized that my head was right in front of the SUV bumper that was on my left before the accident. Had that person braked a microsecond late, my head would've been crushed. I got up immediately and saw my KTM lying on the road, switched off the engine and just walked to the roadside. Luckily, a colleague/ friend was also on his way to office who saw me there and immediately stopped to help. he picked up my bike and got it to the roadside. A big crowd had gathered and people had come to ask my condition. The SUV person who braked right before my head got out drinking water from his car for me and was very supportive. People started blaming the SUV that hard braked but in all this turmoil, he had long escaped. He didn't even stop.
As I stood by the roadside and was checking my injuries, I was glad to see that there were minor injuries on elbows and knees, my fresh formals torn apart. As per road safety, I always wear a helmet and hand gloves no matter how short distance I'm riding. So luckily, my head and hands were safe. As I was talking to my friend who had helped me out and was asking me to go to a hospital, I realized that I wasn't able raise my right hand above my waist. I tried many times but it just wasn't happening. That's when I realized that my RIGHT shoulder was F****D and it came to me as a shock as I stood there next to my friend on the start of a fresh week approaching the new year 2020. Little did I know at that moment that 2020 was going to get even more worse as we go into that year.
My friend took me to a hospital in my KTM as I sat on the back seat contemplating every thought coming to me. As I reached the hospital emergency (it was a medical college and a hospital), they brought students in the emergency ward and were training them for first aid on my elbow and knee bruises. I was lying in the emergency bed, still not able to digest the entire thought of what had happened while newbie doctors treated my bruises. I was then put me on a wheelchair and taken to a doctor. I had to wait outside the doctor's chamber for almost half an hour and with every minute passing by, the pain was becoming excruciating. Even a slight movement of shoulder was painful as hell. Finally the doctor saw me with the X-ray report in his hand and directly told that immediate surgery will be required. The doctor was surprised to the question I asked him which was "When will I be able join work?". He started laughing and mentioned that this isn't a small injury and that you'll need to take quite some days off. I left the hospital and went to another hospital for a second opinion, met another doctor wherein he mentioned that surgery isn't required which brought some sort of satisfaction in me but it wasn't visible in my face as the pain was at it's peak. By this time, other friends had also come. The doctor gave a shoulder support and advised for applying ice pack frequently.
When my parents got to know, they immediately booked the next flight and came to visit me. Even my brother had come. They stayed with me for next 3 days in Mysore wherein we visited one more doctor for another opinion who suggested that if surgery isn't done soon, there can be serious complications later. My dad took the call to get the surgery done in Sparsh Hospital-Bangalore. The very next morning on 25th December 2019, we left for Bangalore and it was so painful to travel in road from Bangalore to Mysore (around 160 kms) with a broken shoulder. It was a solar eclipse that day (Google it if you don't believe :))and while on the way, we could see the solar eclipse so properly from the car. The day had suddenly turned dark because of the eclipse.
Finally we reached Bangalore, checked in a hotel near to the hospital and went to meet the doctor. We had to wait till evening and when we met the doctor, he was so positive on the recovery after the surgery and he even mentioned that it was a wise decision not to wait and go for the surgery. With everything in place, I was assigned to be operated on the morning of 26th December 2019 and hence I got admitted to the hospital the day before. The night was long and full of horrors of the thought of undergoing a surgery. As daylight peeped in through my window, I got prepped for the surgery, somehow even took bath with the help of my brother as it was mandatory before a surgery. If you're a right hander and suddenly you can't use your right hand, it becomes impossible to continue daily activities with just the left hand.
I was taken to the OT and seeing my pain, my mom started crying. Leaving her with a heavy heart, as I entered the OT in a stretcher, doctors and nurses gathered around me like a swarm of bees. I wanted to ask them how long the surgery would take and the moment I asked them the same, before I could even hear the reply, within a fraction of a second, anaesthesia affect hit me already and I was out. I don't remember a single thing after that till I woke up in recovery.
Waking up after a surgery with anaesthesia affect is very different. You cannot speak for quite sometime except mumbling. I couldn't feel any pain as I was heavily sedated. The surgery had taken around 1-1.5 hours. After half the day, they took me back into my room after a post surgery X-ray. After speaking to my parents and brother, I realized that I had been implanted with 3 dissolvable and 2 metal implants on my right shoulder during the surgery. The first impact on the road was on my right shoulder which made a small portion of the bone joining the shoulder to the arm crack and get detached along with the muscle from the actual bone. So they had to rejoin that bone to the exact location and fix implants to nail it to that location. Doctors had mentioned that the surgery was successful even though they had to attach more implants than they expected.
As the day went by and the anaesthesia affect started to wear out gradually, I could feel the pain returning to me and this time a lot worse as there was a finger length cut on my right shoulder as well this time after the surgery. I couldn't sleep that night as the pain wasn't subsiding at all even with the million pain killers I was being given. Words fall short to describe the pain I felt that night. In my entire 25 years, never had I felt anything so painful as that night.
The next day I got discharged and had to go back to the hotel, the drive to there was so painful. I could feel every bump on the road in my shoulder bone that had implants. I could feel the implants colliding against the bone with every bump, no matter how slow the cab was. Somehow, reaching the hotel, I lied down. I could lie down only at one single position and even a centimeter movement created a painful discomfort which wouldn't let me sleep. This became the new normal to me on 27th December night.
Finally, we decided to head back home to Guwahati for my recovery. We went back to the hospital on 29th December, doctor advised to start physiotherapy after 15 days of surgery, got a "fit to fly" certificate and off we went to Guwahati on 31st December 2019. This is how my 2019 ended and 2020 started. For most people, Covid-19 brought a new 2020 to them, but for me, it was quite before Covid-19. As all my friends partied on the New year eve, I was lying on the bed finding that right spot without any movement to get some sleep.
15 days passed by, counting one day after the other and after that, my physiotherapy session started. That was the day I realized that if you stop using a particular part of your body, your muscles become so hard that they don't move at all even with the maximum efforts you put. It was 16th January 2020 when I started the therapy session. Doctors had advised to have an hour session everyday for recovery. After the first session, I realized that if I continued in the same pace, it will take me a month more to even start moving my hand. I made my sessions twice a day (an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening). I pushed myself to the maximum extent possible as I had a target of returning to work by the end of January. Therapy sessions were too painful as I was exerting myself a lot, just for quicker recovery. With every hand movement, there used to be screams coming out which my mom couldn't even bear to look at. However, physiotherapy helped me to a great extent and I was in a condition to lift my hands to 90°. I started driving car by 25th January which helped to exercise my hands even more. Analyzing my condition, I decided to return to work on 30th January 2020. I continued my therapy sessions for further 1 month even after returning to work. Physiotherapy is a must if you're recovering from any major surgeries as such. After a year from that, I restarted playing badminton a month back and it really feels good to see that doctors had done a wonderful job with the surgery. Sparsh Bangalore is one of the best places you can visit if you have anything related to orthopedics that needs consultation with. Doctors are super friendly and even the staff.
This experience had given me a totally different insight on life, an experience of a lifetime. Words aren't enough to thank my friends, my brother, my mom and dad, the doctors, the physiotherapists who were there throughout with me. I realized how strong you can become internally and just strive towards getting back up on your feet. It was hard to write this as it brings tears in my eyes remembering everything in utter detail but it's an experience that needs to be spoken about so that everyone who goes through something like this can get back up on his/ her feet no matter how worse the situation is.
No matter what shit you're in, doesn't matter how bad that shit is, always strive towards the goal you want to achieve. Just hang on there. You'll surely reach it. Do share your experiences in a gist in the comments if possible. Don't hold back. Stories like this should be a motivation and an inspiration for anyone reading them.
