Of bikes and car collisions

Since we've moved here, John has taken advantage of the bike-friendly paths, and the short distance to work, and has biked whenever he can. Monday morning, I got the called that every wife dreads:

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Keisling, this is the Coralville Police Department-" (at which point I kind of stopped comprehending things for a minute)

As soon as I was able to understand that John was okay, I was able to start breathing again. The policeman assured me that while my husband had been hit by a car, he seemed okay (nothing broken), and was just on his way to the hospital for observation. His things were at the police station when we were ready to pick them up.

I called John's cell, and he sounded okay. He in the ambulance, and said he'd call me as soon as they were done checking him out at the ER. He might even go into work after he was done.

Eventually, I was able to put the whole story together:

John was biking to work, and had the "walk" sign in his favor. A car at the cross street began turning right without checking for pedestrians, and ran into him. Thankfully, neither of them were going very fast, so while John was thrown onto the hood of the car, then onto the road, nothing was broken. Just very badly bruised.

The ambulance took him to the ER where they took over a dozen x-rays of every possible broken area, especially his ankle, which swelled alarmingly. Then they put him on some fun pain medication, and let him sleep for a little while before he called me to come pick him up around lunchtime.

Needless to say, he didn't go into work that day. He's still so sore today that he hasn't gone in more than a few minutes. There are some really pretty bruises forming, but he has happy oxy-codiene when the pain gets really bad, and he's spent a lot of time just resting. Timothy has been really helpful in "taking care of Daddy" bringing him water, ace packs, and whatever else he needs. It's so sweet! (of course, for Timothy, the highlight of Monday was seeing the ambulance that brought Daddy to the hospital)

While John is recovering, his bike may not. Thankfully the other guy's insurance is going to pay for repairs or a new bike, depending on the extent of the damage. Mostly it's the wheel that's ruined, but we'll see about the frame when we take it to the repair shop.

In the meantime, I am amazed at and grateful for God's protection in our lives. According to the police officer, John's accident was fairly minor compared to many he's seen. And, since John's vacation starts next week, he has extra time to recover. =)