20 Years Ago Tonight

Holy crap do I ever feel old for writing that title!

Tonight is the 20th anniversary of my infamous bike accident that led to the loss of two of my front teeth and many thousands of dollars worth of dental surgery. It was Labour Day Monday and I was ten years old. My friend, Lisa, and I were goofing around on our bikes in the farmer's field behind my parents' house. My curfew was 8:00 and as that time drew near, Lisa was encouraging me to start making my way home. Me, being the rebellious little shit that I sometimes was, talked Lisa into going back to some bigger jumps we had seen earlier.

There was a motor bike pit about a 1/2 kilometer back in the fields. One jump consisted of a path down a steep hill with three smaller subsequent jumps. I flew down the hill and jumped over the first two jumps with ease. I don't know what went wrong on the third jump and I don't even remember the actual fall. Lisa said that my handle bars pulled up, I banged my head on them somehow and then somersaulted over the bars. I landed face first on the dirt with a loud SMACK.

At first, Lisa was going to applaud my incredible trick, but she quickly realized I wasn't getting back up. She came running over and shook me "awake". My face was already swelling up and there was blood coming from my nose and mouth. My lips were swollen to the size of bananas, but Lisa noticed I was missing my front tooth and the one next to it. The teeth had fallen out roots and all. Lisa found one of the teeth and put it in my shirt pocket. Kudos to her for her quick thinking of grabbing the tooth.

My first memory is pushing my bike back along the dirt road and I remember asking Lisa, "Did I lose a tooth?" only it sounded more like, "Die loo a too?". We walked towards a house where I thought my brother might be skateboarding with his friends. We walked up the driveway and the dad was outside. He took one look at me (he knew who I was) and packed us and our bikes into his van to drive me home.

My parents were outside in the front yard when Mr. Bergrandt pulled into the driveway. My parents first thoughts were wondering what kind of trouble I had caused for him. When they caught a glimpse of my face, a flurry of activity ensued. Mom rushed me into the bathroom to start tending to my wounds while Dad unpacked our bikes. While Mom phoned the emergency dentist line, Dad went back out to look for my other tooth. It was getting dark by this time, but he was still able to find my tooth. By only the headlights of the car, Lisa pointed out the general area of where I fell and they found the tooth.

My dentist's office was in the mall at this time. It was the coolest thing EVER to be escorted through the mall at 9:30 at night when everything was dark and the stores were closed. My dentist was able to put my teeth back in and anchored them with some make shift braces. Over the next year, my body would eventually reject my teeth (by eating the roots) and in June of the following year, I suffered more pain by having to get the teeth pulled out and replaced with dentures.

I got to miss the first week of school. My brothers and sister each took turns staying home from school to watch me. By the time I returned to school, the rumours had run rampant. In my fall, I supposedly broke my leg, my ribs, my arm and so on. I think the other students were disappointed to discover it was just some bruising and swelling :-)

I won't go into detail at this time about the surgeries that followed in order for me to end up with dental implants. But I will say that one of the surgeries left me in the most pain I have ever been in in my life...so far. Instead, I will leave you with a picture taken several days after the bike accident. A lot of the swelling had already gone down, but it at least gives you an idea of the damage to my face. And I apologize for the "cut out"...remember the days of cutting up pics to make collages on your bulletin board or mirror?


I think this is the most pathetic I have ever looked...what a sorry-looking 10 year old! Man, do I miss those pajamas though :-)