Posted by Andrew_Cox
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
This story was written by a friend of ours who has been traveling solo through Europe. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Heidelberg, Germany is famous for its castle, university and scenery. I went there on the suggestion of my mom, who studied and traveled in Germany during her college years. She talked highly of it, much like she did of Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg was my favorite city of my journey so far, so I was very excited to see Heidelberg.
I woke up on the 29th of October well rested. I had just gotten into Heidelberg the night before, from Munich. It was a beautiful day outside: sunny, few clouds and 60 degrees. I ate a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon and coffee while studying my guidebook. Sure enough, it told me to enjoy the natural beauty of the city by walking or biking across the river, into the forested hills and look down on the city from ‘Philosopher’s Path.’ It also said to check out the University of Heidelberg, Germany’s oldest and most prestigious university. The plan was to do these two things today, and explore Heidelberg Castle tomorrow.
I rented a bike. The friendly man gave me a map and showed me the way to Philosopher’s Path. I biked the zig-zagging streets for about an hour before I reached the top. The scenery was amazing. I could see Heidelberg Castle in the wooded hills beyond the river, looming over the Old Town. The trees were a mix of red, orange, yellow, brown, and green. The sun was so bright it took some of the color out of my pictures, but the view was awesome nonetheless. I biked along the path for another kilometer or so and finally reached the gravel road that led me downhill.
That’s the last thing I remember.
I awoke to two older Germans looking down at me saying, “Don’t move, the ambulance is on its way.” I couldn’t move if I wanted to. Something terrible happened. My vision was blurred. Immediately, shock and panic set in. I didn’t even feel the pain.
“How did this catastrophe happen, am I going to die, if I survive, is my brain damaged?” These and other thoughts raced through my mind. “I hope I’m not just another horrible bike accident statistic.”
This moment was, without a doubt, the most terrifying of my life.
The ambulance pulled up and drove me to the hospital. The older EMT was very calm, talking to me gently. This brings me comfort. The other, younger EMT, is loud and more aggressive in his tone. This disturbs me.
Adrenaline is pumping through my body like never before. The terror in my mind is overwhelming. I am in crisis mode. The future does not look as bright as it did this morning. Why did this happen?
They wheel me into the hospital and put me into the CT scanner. My legs shake and tremble uncontrollably. Finally, one of the doctors notices and puts a warm blanket over me. They pump a warm fluid through my body while I lay in the scanner. After, they wheel me to ER and nurses start bandaging my face. Next, they take a wet towel and wipe the blood from my face and arms.
God, what do I look like?! She has been wiping blood off my face for minutes!
I continue bleeding profusely out of cuts around my right eye even after being bandaged up. Nurses hook IVs into the tops of each hand and in my left arm. Throughout the day and evening, they are continuously pumping IV fluid, pain killers and antibiotics into me. Like every other patient in the ER, I am half man, half machine.
All around me nurses and doctors are working on older people. The woman to the left of me has been unconscious for hours. She is naked and doctors continue to try to keep her alive using various machines, plugged into her nose and mouth and arms and legs. One nurse looks at woman and begins to cry a little before moving onto another patient.
I am still hoping I will be alright. Finally, after they have stitched up the cuts around my right eye and have put me through the CT scanner one more time, one of my many doctor tells me “Herr Peterson, you have 4 fractures in your face. Your right jaw, your sinus, and above and below your right eye. We don’t think you will need surgery though.”
I also suffered a concussion. I can’t bend my right elbow. They tell me my arm isn’t broken or fractured but it might have soft muscle damage. Late that night a man comes to put it in a cast. Later on I find a huge gash on my right shoulder.
I make the hypothesis that I landed face first, then my shoulder hit, and my body crushed my right arm after.
I take pictures of my face with my phone. I look like Two Face. My right eye is almost completely swollen shut. Bandages are above and below it. There are cuts on the right side of my face from my chin past my hairline. Dried blood is all over my forehead and ear and in my hair. There isn’t a scratch on the left side of my face.
I look at one of the nurse’s name tags and it says University of Heidelberg Hospital. I made it to the University. At least I know they’re the best.
I’ve been in the hospital for 4 days now. I’m taking painkillers around the clock. They’ve tested my vision and hearing and so far things are checking out fine. I’m extremely lucky I didn’t have more serious injuries: worse head or neck damage, separated shoulder, missing teeth. It’s sad to say, but I honestly feel like I cheated death.
On my third day I got one expected visitor and one unexpected, yet familiar face. The owner of the hostel I was staying at came by and dropped off some belongings the police forgot to drop off the day earlier. Most importantly my cell phone and Ipod chargers. Finally, I can entertain myself again! He also gave me back 16 euro for the second night at the hostel, and said, “Come by when you get out of here and I’ll give you a free meal and a free night, if you wish.” I thanked him.
The second visitor was a surprise. Friedemann Schulz was his name and I immediately recognized his face. He was the one, with his wife, who had found me laying on the path after my accident. What a nice man he was to come and see me in the hospital. His English was good and he said he saw the accident.
He was walking up the path, maybe a few hundred feet from me when he saw my wheel turn sharply left and my body fly over the handle bars. I landed face first on the gravel and my backpack flew over my shoulders. He made a gesture toward his neck and said, “At first I thought you lost your head!” I sat in my hospital bed, fully captivated.
Friedemann went on to say, “I sent my wife up to help you and I ran down to the neighborhood to call the ambulance because I didn’t have my handi on me. I went to the first house and an old woman came to the door, she looked sleepy, but once I explained to her she immediately let me use the phone.”
He went on to say “The path of the park is blocked by a gate, but the neighbors have a key to open the gate, so she opened the gate to let the ambulance through. The ambulance came very quickly.”
“When I got to you, you looked awful. If I wanted to film a horror movie, I would film you! Blood was all over your face and arms. I didn’t know if you would be okay. I didn’t know if you had a serious neck or spine injury. You awoke, and then passed out again before the ambulance arrived.”
I thanked him so much for his help and shed a few tears, while telling him how lucky I felt not to be dead or have more serious injuries. He reassured me by saying “But all is okay now!”
Friedemann said the police looked at the bike and thought something may have been wrong with the front breaks or front wheel but he could not elaborate more. We talked about my trip and about what he does. He is a cello teacher at the University of Mainz and also plays first cello in the Mainz Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied for one year in Bloomington, Indiana and has a son who is studying architecture in San Francisco. I told him I was interested in teaching and have a brother studying architecture in Minnesota.
Friedemann wished me well said we should get coffee when I get out of the hospital and I gladly agreed. I thanked him again. He said if anything ever happened to his son in America, he would want a stranger to do the same thing and told me to pass the help along if someone ever needs it. He gave me his address, phone number and email. I emailed him shortly after, thanking him and his wife one more time.
When I rented the bike I remember thinking to myself, “There is barely any traction on these tires. They are very bald.” But that was the last I thought of it. Perhaps a combination of high speed, bad traction, loose gravel, and possibly bad/malfunctioning breaks did me in. I’ll never know for sure. It was the first major bike accident of my life. Far and away the most violent moment of my life too, even if I don’t remember it. The wounds on my face tell the story.
Doctors say I should make a full recovery. After four days in the hospital the swelling around my eye has started to subside. I don’t know how long my arm will be in this cast or if I can continue my travels. I still had to see Luxembourg, Paris, Barcelona, Switzerland and Italy.
From now on I will always, always wear a helmet. Its funny, the bike rental man never offered me a helmet, and I never thought to ask. I was on vacation, having the time of my life, an accident surely wouldn’t happen. How wrong I was.
