From the hip: by Roger Lee Hayden

NeonspeedRT · 07-09-2008, 11:02 AM

by roger lee hayden
Monday, July 07, 2008

Hi All:
It's been a while since my last column here on Soup and I guess most of you are aware that since then I've been through a little rough patch.
The good news is that I'm ninety-percent healed from my Barber incident and I do intend to race at Laguna Seca in two weeks or so. I lost my finger but I have not lost any desire to race. If anything laying on my back for a while only increased my desire to get back and to do well.

Honestly, I was a little nervous going into Barber because I'd been off the bike for so long, and all the other guys were testing. I figured I'd take advantage of Thursday practice. I went out there and did three 20-minute sessions, which was kind of nice to get up to speed. I hadn't ridden since Daytona. I was definitely a little bit rusty from being off the bike so much. Things were going okay. Friday, we got a slow start to the weekend. We weren't really near the top of the board on any of the sessions. We were struggling a little bit. Mainly on the 600 I was trying to get a little better feeling on the front end. On the Superbike, it was moving around a lot and we were trying to get it to settle down. I think I ended up seventh that day in the first Superbike qualifying.

Friday night, we had a bunch of ideas to try on Saturday. Unfortunately, five minutes into the qualifying, I got hit from behind and banged myself up pretty bad. It was definitely my worst wreck and biggest injury that I've ever had.

I've never laid on the ground like that before, trying to get my breath. The pain I felt coming from my insides ... I was a little bit nervous, and I knew straightaway that I was in bad shape and that I'd have to go to the hospital.

I never really saw my finger until a while later. Then when I saw it, I just knew that was not good.

When I was lying on the ground, I was just thinking, "Man, I cannot believe this happened five minutes into qualifying." I didn't even know for the longest time who it was that hit me. All I remember is getting hit and hitting the ground. That's about it. I don't remember tumbling or anything like that. I just remember trying to get up when I stopped rolling, and I couldn't get up. Honestly, I was thinking the worst, just because of the immense pain I was having from the inside of my body. I've never had that before. I'm not going to lie to you, I was scared. I couldn't breathe.

Next we were up in the medical center and they were helping me breathe. My mom and my girlfriend both came to the care center, but I definitely didn't want them seeing me like that. Because I know it had to scare them. But the people at the track were really good. They got me straight to the hospital, where they cleaned out my hand and took X-rays and things like that. That was a long process and it wasn't the most comfortable thing. They had to do CT scans and things like that.

I almost had to get a catheter, because when your insides take such an impact, I had to pee so bad, but I couldn't. I had so much fluid in my bladder, they couldn't read the X- rays. Luckily, there was a bunch of guy nurses there, and they gave me a lot of extra time, because I think they were feeling my pain and not wanting that to happen.

While I was getting my hand cleaned out, a guy was telling me about this place in Louisville who's really good with hands and fingers. We knew we wanted to save my finger the best we could. The doctor at UAB told me I should go to Louisville to Kleinert Kutz, because that's the best place. My mom and some people looked into that, and they definitely said that was the best one. I was definitely having a problem when I was at UAB--they didn't want to let me leave. They wanted to do the surgery there, and they were kind of being a little bit pushy about it. They wouldn't call the hospital in Louisville and set it up.

I couldn't get in or out of bed on my own or anything like that. Finally, we got that sorted out. My mom and Sara and I drove to Louisville on Monday. That's a long car ride, to be honest with you--five hours, I think. With a broken back, it wasn't much fun. But we just bought a bunch of pillows and made it pretty comfortable. It could've been a lot worse. We drove in my truck and I just laid in the front seat. I guess the worst part the ride wasn't the ride, it was the load;, they didn't have anybody to help me get in the car. They sent me down in the wheelchair with an older guy. He was helping me get in, and he got me in a bear hug trying to lift me in and out. I just about screamed, that was the most I had moved in two days. He didn't know what I started screaming for. Finally, some firefighter guy was walking by, and he helped me get in the truck.

We went to Louisville, and I was there in the hospital for a week. It was a pretty boring trip, really.

I was just glad I didn't have to have surgery on my back and my pelvis, because that would've really put me out for a long time.

When you're hurt like that, you realize the small things that you take for granted. Like for example, just to get up in the middle of the night to walk to the bathroom. You don't realize how much of a privilege that is, because when you lay in bed and you can't get in or out by yourself, you've got to have somebody do something for you the whole time. But I had a lot of people that helped me. My mom and my girlfriend stayed there pretty much the whole time. I can't thank them enough. If it wasn't for them, I'd be hurting.

When I was in Louisville, we started therapy for my back. I had to get a walker and a therapist. I didn't know this until I got my bill, it was $300 a day for this therapist to come help me learn how to walk again, how to walk up and down steps, until I got better. When I walked around my floor, the first day I started out doing one lap, then I did two laps, then I was timing myself and trying to go faster. The therapist guy thought I was crazy. I kind of enjoyed getting up and walking around, but like I said, it put things in perspective. You see people in there paralyzed ... and two little boys came in that got burned really bad. As I was sitting there having a pity party for myself, I kind of felt lucky that I am going to walk again, I am going to be able to ride again, and all these other people are in a lot worse shape than I am. Even though I was in pretty bad shape, I knew I was going to get better.

It's boring lying in bed. When I came home the next week, we had to rent a hospital bed at home. I stayed at my mom and dad's house for another week, because like I said, with my pelvis, I couldn't lift my legs to get in and out of bed. When I'd sit down, somebody had to lift my legs up and put me in the bed. It was definitely a rough couple of weeks there. It wasn't much fun. But that's all over with and behind me now.

One thing was cool: When I was in the Louisville hospital, Martin Adams, who ran a Honda Superbike team here in the late 1980s and early 1990s, came and saw me a couple of times. We just sat around and talked about racing for hours. He brought me some good food from the outside because, as you may have heard, hospital food's not always the best tasting thing there is. I'm sure he's reading this--so thanks for everything Martin!

When they decided to cut my finger off, I was getting a little bit worried. "Am I going to be able to ride again? Are things going to change?" But I knew Troy Bayliss just had it done. Nicky got his phone number for me, and I actually called him and asked him a few questions about it. He's like, "No, you won't have any problems in racing. Some things in everyday life you'll miss it." So that was pretty cool, just giving me a little bit of reassurance that things were going to be all right.

Now with nine fingers it's definitely a little different doing some things. Like sticking my hand in my pocket, a lot of times my finger gets caught out. Everybody always talks about those phantom pains after you lose part of your body. My fingertip itches, but it's not there.

I've been going to therapy for it for the last month. Things have been really going good with it. My whole hand needed some work. It was really tight and sore. My hand overall is just really weak. It's getting better. My back and my pelvis are all healed. I got X-rays a few weeks ago and they said it was healed up. Sometimes I get stiff and things like that, but for the most part, I'm just trying to get my strength back all over.

I've been riding a bicycle for a couple of weeks now. When I started out, I was still wearing a back brace and just cruising around on the bike path on my mountain bike. Trying to stay in the best shape I could, even though I completely didn't do anything for about five weeks except lay around. Two days last week, I rode flat-track at my dad's house. That was fun getting back on the bike. I was pretty sore afterwards, all over, but just muscle soreness. It was nice to ride a bike again. I was having fun. I plan on going to California on Wednesday and I'm going to start doing some Supermotard on a little go-kart track there.

My plan is to race Laguna. I wanted to do the Laguna test, but the team thought it might be better to wait a little bit longer. So we held off for that. I'm just waiting to get back. I miss being at the track. It's kind of funny. When the wreck first happened, when I was getting all the X-rays and waiting for the results, all the doctors were just typical. "So are you going to quit now? Is this wreck going to cause you to quit? Are you going to retire?" But really, I was just thinking to myself, "How many months am I going to be out? When's my next race?" I was thinking the total opposite of what they were thinking. Actually I was wishing I could just punch them but of course I didn't.

Thanks to all my fans and everybody for the cards and messages that were sent. That really helped me get through the tough times.
See you at Laguna Seca.

itgirl · 07-09-2008, 11:22 AM

great article. thanks for sharing it.

Rider · 07-09-2008, 11:33 AM

It will be nice to see him back on the starting grid.

OneSickPsycho · 07-09-2008, 12:36 PM

One question: Which finger?

Rider · 07-09-2008, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

One question: Which finger?

Pinkie not sure what hand though.

t-homo · 07-09-2008, 02:07 PM

I was wondering the same. If I had to lose a finger, it would be my pinky.

OneSickPsycho · 07-09-2008, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t-rock

I was wondering the same. If I had to lose a finger, it would be my pinky.

I dunno... the ring finger is pretty useless... just try using it for something...

Cutty72 · 07-09-2008, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

I dunno... the ring finger is pretty useless... just try using it for something...

I find I sometimes use my middle and ring finger on the brake, unless I'm wearing my A* gloves (pinky and ring finger connected) Don't know why, it just happens.

Rider · 07-09-2008, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

I dunno... the ring finger is pretty useless... just try using it for something...

Werd, it just gets in the way when you are doing the shocker.

Cutty72 · 07-09-2008, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rider

Werd, it just gets in the way when you are doing the shocker.

truth.

07-09-2008, 11:02 AM	#1
NeonspeedRT At Large Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Jax, FL Moto: 2005 R1 Posts: 678	From the hip: by Roger Lee Hayden by roger lee hayden Monday, July 07, 2008 Hi All: It's been a while since my last column here on Soup and I guess most of you are aware that since then I've been through a little rough patch. The good news is that I'm ninety-percent healed from my Barber incident and I do intend to race at Laguna Seca in two weeks or so. I lost my finger but I have not lost any desire to race. If anything laying on my back for a while only increased my desire to get back and to do well. Honestly, I was a little nervous going into Barber because I'd been off the bike for so long, and all the other guys were testing. I figured I'd take advantage of Thursday practice. I went out there and did three 20-minute sessions, which was kind of nice to get up to speed. I hadn't ridden since Daytona. I was definitely a little bit rusty from being off the bike so much. Things were going okay. Friday, we got a slow start to the weekend. We weren't really near the top of the board on any of the sessions. We were struggling a little bit. Mainly on the 600 I was trying to get a little better feeling on the front end. On the Superbike, it was moving around a lot and we were trying to get it to settle down. I think I ended up seventh that day in the first Superbike qualifying. Friday night, we had a bunch of ideas to try on Saturday. Unfortunately, five minutes into the qualifying, I got hit from behind and banged myself up pretty bad. It was definitely my worst wreck and biggest injury that I've ever had. I've never laid on the ground like that before, trying to get my breath. The pain I felt coming from my insides ... I was a little bit nervous, and I knew straightaway that I was in bad shape and that I'd have to go to the hospital. I never really saw my finger until a while later. Then when I saw it, I just knew that was not good. When I was lying on the ground, I was just thinking, "Man, I cannot believe this happened five minutes into qualifying." I didn't even know for the longest time who it was that hit me. All I remember is getting hit and hitting the ground. That's about it. I don't remember tumbling or anything like that. I just remember trying to get up when I stopped rolling, and I couldn't get up. Honestly, I was thinking the worst, just because of the immense pain I was having from the inside of my body. I've never had that before. I'm not going to lie to you, I was scared. I couldn't breathe. Next we were up in the medical center and they were helping me breathe. My mom and my girlfriend both came to the care center, but I definitely didn't want them seeing me like that. Because I know it had to scare them. But the people at the track were really good. They got me straight to the hospital, where they cleaned out my hand and took X-rays and things like that. That was a long process and it wasn't the most comfortable thing. They had to do CT scans and things like that. I almost had to get a catheter, because when your insides take such an impact, I had to pee so bad, but I couldn't. I had so much fluid in my bladder, they couldn't read the X- rays. Luckily, there was a bunch of guy nurses there, and they gave me a lot of extra time, because I think they were feeling my pain and not wanting that to happen. While I was getting my hand cleaned out, a guy was telling me about this place in Louisville who's really good with hands and fingers. We knew we wanted to save my finger the best we could. The doctor at UAB told me I should go to Louisville to Kleinert Kutz, because that's the best place. My mom and some people looked into that, and they definitely said that was the best one. I was definitely having a problem when I was at UAB--they didn't want to let me leave. They wanted to do the surgery there, and they were kind of being a little bit pushy about it. They wouldn't call the hospital in Louisville and set it up. I couldn't get in or out of bed on my own or anything like that. Finally, we got that sorted out. My mom and Sara and I drove to Louisville on Monday. That's a long car ride, to be honest with you--five hours, I think. With a broken back, it wasn't much fun. But we just bought a bunch of pillows and made it pretty comfortable. It could've been a lot worse. We drove in my truck and I just laid in the front seat. I guess the worst part the ride wasn't the ride, it was the load;, they didn't have anybody to help me get in the car. They sent me down in the wheelchair with an older guy. He was helping me get in, and he got me in a bear hug trying to lift me in and out. I just about screamed, that was the most I had moved in two days. He didn't know what I started screaming for. Finally, some firefighter guy was walking by, and he helped me get in the truck. We went to Louisville, and I was there in the hospital for a week. It was a pretty boring trip, really. I was just glad I didn't have to have surgery on my back and my pelvis, because that would've really put me out for a long time. When you're hurt like that, you realize the small things that you take for granted. Like for example, just to get up in the middle of the night to walk to the bathroom. You don't realize how much of a privilege that is, because when you lay in bed and you can't get in or out by yourself, you've got to have somebody do something for you the whole time. But I had a lot of people that helped me. My mom and my girlfriend stayed there pretty much the whole time. I can't thank them enough. If it wasn't for them, I'd be hurting. When I was in Louisville, we started therapy for my back. I had to get a walker and a therapist. I didn't know this until I got my bill, it was $300 a day for this therapist to come help me learn how to walk again, how to walk up and down steps, until I got better. When I walked around my floor, the first day I started out doing one lap, then I did two laps, then I was timing myself and trying to go faster. The therapist guy thought I was crazy. I kind of enjoyed getting up and walking around, but like I said, it put things in perspective. You see people in there paralyzed ... and two little boys came in that got burned really bad. As I was sitting there having a pity party for myself, I kind of felt lucky that I am going to walk again, I am going to be able to ride again, and all these other people are in a lot worse shape than I am. Even though I was in pretty bad shape, I knew I was going to get better. It's boring lying in bed. When I came home the next week, we had to rent a hospital bed at home. I stayed at my mom and dad's house for another week, because like I said, with my pelvis, I couldn't lift my legs to get in and out of bed. When I'd sit down, somebody had to lift my legs up and put me in the bed. It was definitely a rough couple of weeks there. It wasn't much fun. But that's all over with and behind me now. One thing was cool: When I was in the Louisville hospital, Martin Adams, who ran a Honda Superbike team here in the late 1980s and early 1990s, came and saw me a couple of times. We just sat around and talked about racing for hours. He brought me some good food from the outside because, as you may have heard, hospital food's not always the best tasting thing there is. I'm sure he's reading this--so thanks for everything Martin! When they decided to cut my finger off, I was getting a little bit worried. "Am I going to be able to ride again? Are things going to change?" But I knew Troy Bayliss just had it done. Nicky got his phone number for me, and I actually called him and asked him a few questions about it. He's like, "No, you won't have any problems in racing. Some things in everyday life you'll miss it." So that was pretty cool, just giving me a little bit of reassurance that things were going to be all right. Now with nine fingers it's definitely a little different doing some things. Like sticking my hand in my pocket, a lot of times my finger gets caught out. Everybody always talks about those phantom pains after you lose part of your body. My fingertip itches, but it's not there. I've been going to therapy for it for the last month. Things have been really going good with it. My whole hand needed some work. It was really tight and sore. My hand overall is just really weak. It's getting better. My back and my pelvis are all healed. I got X-rays a few weeks ago and they said it was healed up. Sometimes I get stiff and things like that, but for the most part, I'm just trying to get my strength back all over. I've been riding a bicycle for a couple of weeks now. When I started out, I was still wearing a back brace and just cruising around on the bike path on my mountain bike. Trying to stay in the best shape I could, even though I completely didn't do anything for about five weeks except lay around. Two days last week, I rode flat-track at my dad's house. That was fun getting back on the bike. I was pretty sore afterwards, all over, but just muscle soreness. It was nice to ride a bike again. I was having fun. I plan on going to California on Wednesday and I'm going to start doing some Supermotard on a little go-kart track there. My plan is to race Laguna. I wanted to do the Laguna test, but the team thought it might be better to wait a little bit longer. So we held off for that. I'm just waiting to get back. I miss being at the track. It's kind of funny. When the wreck first happened, when I was getting all the X-rays and waiting for the results, all the doctors were just typical. "So are you going to quit now? Is this wreck going to cause you to quit? Are you going to retire?" But really, I was just thinking to myself, "How many months am I going to be out? When's my next race?" I was thinking the total opposite of what they were thinking. Actually I was wishing I could just punch them but of course I didn't. Thanks to all my fans and everybody for the cards and messages that were sent. That really helped me get through the tough times. See you at Laguna Seca. __________________ MSF Rider Coach Motorcycle Training Institue Inc "Riding a motorcycle is like playing chess. Anyone can learn the moves, but it takes a lifetime to master the game."

07-09-2008, 11:33 AM	#3
Rider Moto GP Star Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 12,156	It will be nice to see him back on the starting grid.

07-09-2008, 12:36 PM	#4
OneSickPsycho Ride Like an Asshole Join Date: Feb 2008 Moto: nothing... Posts: 11,254	One question: Which finger?

07-09-2008, 02:07 PM	#6
t-homo WSB Champion Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Springfield, MO Posts: 7,146	I was wondering the same. If I had to lose a finger, it would be my pinky.