[Poseidon]

I heard from MAT!!!! He is recovering slowly, hopefully he can check in here soon!

[SouthBayPhoto]

Wow...a whole thread on me?

I truly appreciate the concern you all have shown for me here. I really do. I've missed all of you...Cynthia, Mike, Charlie, Louise, Scott, Gene, Ninong, Urban and Ramer!

Urban...forgive me, but I cannot remember your name right off the top of my head...I know I spoke with you a couple of times. My memory works and doesn't work at times lately. Please forgive me...

Ramer - I don't think I ever got your name...wait...is it Brandon? If not..OOOPS! Don't mind me...I probably have brain damage. LOL

Hey, if I can't make fun at myself, who can I make fun of, eh?

I do want to thank everyone for their words of encouragement...both here and on email. I truly appreciate it. It has helped my spirits immensely. I can't spend much time right now because it's hard for me to type and even move my body much. To say the least, I'm sore as heck!!!!

About the only thing I can do is this ----> And even that hurts. LOL

As I see my bro has told you...I has a motorcycle accident. Some idiot decided to pull in front of me, so I had no where to go. Last I remember is that I knew I was going to hit it and I knew it was gonna hurt. I tried my damndest to get around the front of the suv, but ended up hitting the front fender. From my understanding from police, they said the driver tried to swerve last minute and ended up pinning me against the Kbar (concrete barrier), the bike I was riding and the grille of his SUV. Nice, huh?

Anyway...I'm all messed up. got out of the hospital and had to go back in because of blackouts. They had to mess with my brain a bit to get it back on track and reduce swelling. I took a pretty big hit in my head...one of the parts that got "crushed" against the wall.

Anyway...the part I feel bad most are two things...

1) Charlie - I'm sorry I didn't get to work on the website for you. I feel like crap for not being able to do it after I said I would. I'll do my best to help when i can, but for now, there isn't much I can do. I'm truly sorry....

2) The motorcycle I was riding wasn't even mine. WHOOOPSIE! LOL All I can say is this...I'm glad I didn't have to make the phone call to my friend to say, "uhhhh...remember your bike you lent me for a couple of days?"

Always remember this though folks...always, ALLLLLLWWAAAAYYYSSSS remember to wear your safety gear...if it wasn't for my awesome a$$ Shoei helmet and my full leathers and back protector I was wearing...I'd be dead...that scares me...but I also take comfort in knowing that I ALWAYS wear my gear...now I know why!!!! Oh, and I plan on writing to each one of those companies that made my gear to thank them as well...they truly deserve it.

Okay, now that I've probably depressed the hell out of everyone.... (gotta love smilies. LOL)

K, I gotta rest...hope to be back on soon to say hi again.

Take care all and again..thank you from the bottom of my bruised lil' heart.
Mat

[charlie]

Mat............................................... .......................................

It is just real good to have you back. Take your time, do what you can, and go from there. I am pretty sure I can speak for everyone here, we are just glad to have you around!!

[Samper]

I'm sorry that I missed this. From another motorcycle rider my thoughts and prayers are with you Mat. Riding as long as I have I've seen some pretty bad accidents and thankfully have never been in one myself. I've seen the safety gear save two lives for sure and I wear it all everytime. One of those situations was very similar to yours but Michael almost lost his right leg. It wouldn't have mattered had he not had his helmet on. Here's to a speedy recovery bro!

[weez1959]

OMG Your back!
Glad to see you're well enough to type..... and it doesn't look like this: vmkdfgjldfi dkn skhia aiua sduj ddiu9qwe8
I can't say enough about the safety gear myself, it really does save lives!
My 24 year old nephew was riding along side his friend on his ninja late at night and his friend sped off in front of him and did a wheelie, wiped out and died. My nephew didn't see him until the last minute because it was dark and rode right over his body and wiped out himself. He was really devastated as this was his best friend since early childhood
He had a very hard time dealing with the loss of his best friend! He was lucky to not have broken anything although he was pretty banged up.
My nephew was wearing safety gear but his friend wasn't!
Anyways, it's 2am, gotta go hit the sack,
take care, heal up and do alot of this

[SouthBayPhoto]

Charlie, Chuck & Louise...

Thanks a bunch for the welcome back. It's nice to finally be able to write back...even if I'm not as fast as I used to be at typing...yet.

The safety gear definitely saved my butt...along with every other part of my body.

Louise - Sorry to hear about your nephew...I've known a few people that have either died or gotten seriously injured (paralyzed) due to accidents. Some their fault, some not.

The scary part is...I'm ready and willing to get back on a bike...tomorrow, if I could. (and that scares the heck out of my family) I've been down before...on and off the track...it happens. Am I ticked at the person for what happened...heck yes..but what can I do? All I can do is get better and move on, ya know?

Okay, I have to log off and try and get some sleep (and move...UGGGHH!).

Hope to read more tomorrow.

[Poseidon]

Welcome back!!!! Here I was hoping you had just run off with that Russian Model, but NOOO... You had to go and get in a wreck instead!

Glad to see back around Mat, take your time getting better, we are just happy to "see" you again!

[weez1959]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

Welcome back!!!! Here I was hoping you had just run off with that Russian Model, but NOOO... You had to go and get in a wreck instead!

I bet Mat wishes he had just run off with the Russian model too!

[charlie]

Originally Posted by weez1959

I bet Mat wishes he had just run off with the Russian model too!

It would have been a funnier story, that's for sure!!!!

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by SouthBayPhoto

The safety gear definitely saved my butt...along with every other part of my body.

My accident was in late June in Louisiana, so I was wearing only the helmet with face shield. Thank God for that. The face shield was completely gouged but it held in place. Without the helmet, I would have been in really bad shape.

The scary part is...I'm ready and willing to get back on a bike...tomorrow, if I could. (and that scares the heck out of my family) I've been down before...on and off the track...it happens.

My accident was my first in 14 years of riding. I was in the hospital for four weeks and then flat on my back in bed at home for the following five weeks, but I was back on my bike about a month later (three months after the accident), even though I still had my left leg in a cast (knee down) and needed a walker to get to the bike. I sold the bike about six months after that to keep my sisters happy.

Am I ticked at the person for what happened...heck yes..but what can I do? All I can do is get better and move on, ya know?

In my case the driver of the car was a 17-yr-old with no insurance at all. I was passing him at the moment that he decided to change lanes (I was in his blind spot).

Okay, I have to log off and try and get some sleep (and move...UGGGHH!).

Hope to read more tomorrow.

How much metal do you have in you now? I still set off the metal detectors at the airports.

Be sure to get as much rest as possible whenever you feel like it.

[Ramer]

Ramer - I don't think I ever got your name...wait...is it Brandon? If not..OOOPS! Don't mind me...I probably have brain damage. LOL

Matt you are right. The name side of your head must be ok. Gladd to see you back. Take it easy, and well see you around on here

Brandon.

[cdearing]

Mat,

Glad to see you are back with us. We need to start a new thread with a smiley face saying South Bay Photo is back! We were all worried about you. Tell your brother Jay thank you for keeping us posted on your whereabouts. I know he had a lot of other more important things to do but he took the time to e-mail many of us and we really appreciate that.

You will never see me on a motorcycle. I used to ride on the back of a bike and it was laid down several times with me on it. Not fun. I'm too old for that anymore. This is the only kind of bike you'll see me on. This is me in Glacier National Park a few weeks ago. I hope you will appreciate the "composition" Mat! Welcome back! Cyn

[SouthBayPhoto]

Hey there Mike...I was on the way to see the Russian model so we could take off together. Ya, don't I wish! LOL She was cute and all, but I usually need bigger features for me to go after the ladies and she didn't quite have that (or should I say "them" ? LOL)

Okay, I'll be good now...darn meds!

Charlie - You're right...it would have been a heck of a lot funnier if I was logging in from Russia to say hi. LOL

Ninong - Now that doesn't sound like fun at all! Ouch! Oh and you'll be shocked at this...I have no metal in me. They didn't have to repair anything like that. Because of my back protector and my boots, I only broke bones "normally", per the doc. I don't quite know how you would think that breaking something is normal though!

Brandon - At least I got something right! LOL

Cyn - Darn good composition on that shot. I like it. Sorry to hear you've gone down...that's never fun. Even if it's on a track, it still ticks you off. LOL Or is that just me?

I really do appreciate all the concern for me here...I feel like you all are part of my family and it means a lot to see the posts and stuff. Truly cool! Oh and I have told my brother thanks from me and you all for the communication.

[Poseidon]

Originally Posted by SouthBayPhoto

Hey there Mike...I was on the way to see the Russian model so we could take off together. Ya, don't I wish! LOL She was cute and all, but I usually need bigger features for me to go after the ladies and she didn't quite have that (or should I say "them" ? LOL)

Okay, I'll be good now...darn meds!

That would "figure"!

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by SouthBayPhoto

Ninong - Now that doesn't sound like fun at all! Ouch! Oh and you'll be shocked at this...I have no metal in me. They didn't have to repair anything like that. Because of my back protector and my boots, I only broke bones "normally", per the doc. I don't quite know how you would think that breaking something is normal though!

Mat,

I guess what they mean by that is that the bones could be reset without a lot of surgical intervention. My left leg happened to get bent in half just above the ankle because of the weight of the motorcycle on top of it. Both the tibia and the fibula broke completely. Fortunately for me neither bone came through the skin but the tibia in particular was really messed up. It was a spiral fracture about four inches long and the bone separated a good distance, so it had to be put back together with a six-hole compression plate and six 1.25" screws. That's what sets off the metal detectors at the airports.

None of my other fractures (left forearm at the elbow and left shoulder) required surgical intervention but they did insist on keeping my left arm strapped in a sling for six weeks. And because I wasn't wearing any protective clothing (other than the helmet), I sustained a lot of road rash on the palms of my hands and my forearms, meaning that my hands and forearms were bandaged for the first three weeks or so. That means I couldn't do anything for myself, if you know what I mean. It's amazing how fast the palms of the hands can heal from serious damage. Fortunately the bandages came off about a week before I was released from the hospital.

What do you have that's still in a cast? One of my most painful memories was the first day I tried to get out of bed (this would be six weeks after the accident) and when I stood up (with the help of a walker), all of the blood rushed down into my messed up left leg. It burned like crazy and felt like it was going to explode. That's because of all the vascular and lymphatic damage that they didn't repair during the surgery. If I had been Joe Montana or Tiger Woods, I guess they would have done a more thorough job. At that point I was still in a cast from the knee down. I think they left that cast on me for a good three months, maybe longer. The reason I couldn't use crutches and had to use one of those old-folks walkers was because of the fractures to the left forearm and left clavicle.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Ninong

It was a spiral fracture about four inches long and the bone separated a good distance, so it had to be put back together with a six-hole compression plate and six 1.25" screws.

The funniest thing is that my daughter stepped into her bedroom and stepped on the toy that her daughter left on the floor and ended up with the same surgery. Didn't even had to ride a motorcycle....
I smashed my ribs to funny state while in the Navy, falling from about 25' feet on on the dock below....
You should have seen my face after that...

[SouthBayPhoto]

Ninong - Ouch, now that's gotta hurt! Maybe I wasn't so unfortunate after all.

Gene - that fall doesn't sound like too much fun at all either!

I wanted to drop in and say hi to everyone. I have my good days and bad. Just the way it works I guess.

However, I believe I'm going to have to sell my 90g tank set up. I need the money for bills and to keep my apt going since I'm not working. My family can only help so much.

I may even split it up...sell the T5 lighting system separately. It's brand new...I've only fired it like 4 times and that was for maybe 5 minutes each time.

Anyway...I'll probably post it here, but won't be able to ship the tank, so I might have to put that on Craig's list or a local aquarium board...but I can ship the lighting setup...still have the original box I got it in.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well!

Take care,
Mat