Bad Sad Times!

I always knew it would happen, it was pretty much inevitable, but I just wasn't ready for it. Crash, bang, boom, I was in a bike accident! I was cruising along to work, just like every other day. There was a cute little girl riding in front of me, most likely on her way to school. We reached an intersection and she turned without signalling. I wasn't paying enough attention and crashed right into her back tire. The girl continued riding and seemed unphased, but things turned out a bit differently for me. Upon hitting her bike I was catapulted off of mine onto the path, while my bike went flying in the other direction. My injuries were minimal, a gash on my finger, a scraped knee, a couple bruises, but the damage to my pride was far greater. Of all people to crash into, a little girl! Once she realized my fate she rode back to talk to me. I believe she was asking if I was ok, but she only spoke Dutch and I couldn't understand. Eventually we reached some sort of understanding and I hurried to work. What a start to my day!!

This same day was quite difficult for Chris as well. He was part of another medical study and again spent the day two floors below my office. His day started with the insertion of cathers into his arm and hand. Then it just went downhill from there, and he had to have a muscle biopsy in each leg. Basically the process went like this: his leg was numbed with local anaesthesia, a 3/4 inch incision was made into his leg, a metal rod the size of a #2 pencil (shown in the picture below) was inserted into the incision and pushed down into the muscle, a vacuum force was applied to the rod, and a smaller inner needle in the rod extracted a sample of muscle. Unfortunately on both legs the tissue sample they cut out the first time was too small and they had to go back in. Poor Chris! They bandaged up his leg, put on a compression wrap, and from there he was free to go. He's tough and didn't complain at all, but you could tell he was one sore boy. Check out all his wounds in the photo. Poor guy! Luckily he's feeling much better now, less sore, and will be able to remove the bandages very soon. The things we do for those precious Euros!

I met Chris at the end of his study and we rode home together, but 10 minutes into our ride we encountered a monsoon!! We were absolutely soaked by the time we got home! What a way to end a bad day!

Now onto the sad news...Oranje is finished. They lost last night in a hard fought battle against the Russians. It was a sad evening for all and the entire spirit of the city is down. It was certainly fun while it lasted though! Until World Cup Oranje! I'll leave you with some memories of voetbal.

Oh yes, if you are interested in the muscle biopsy procedure you can visit the link below and watch the process (not on Chris, but another subject). Please be forewarned, it is very graphic and not for the weak of stomach!! I watched Chris's biopsy and felt a bit faint, so please only watch the video if you truly want to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc4HJj3THuw