Update on Neups after Hit by Car While on Bike

Many of you have been asking about fellow SVBC member, Michael Neupauer or known by most of you as “Neups.” Neups was hit from behind by a car, while on his bicycle on August 15 near Fulks Run on Brocks Gap Road. Neups would love to hear from you, feel free to email him (neups@verizon.net). We finally have an update on Neups’ condition from Neups himself:

“I thought I’d send an update out to let you know how I’m doing.

First, my injuries. All I remember about the accident is an explosion (rear wheel blowout?), seeing blue sky, and being in the grass alongside the road. Somehow in between there I got road rash on my left hip, right hand, right elbow, and back. I was on my right side with my left leg bent and foot near my chest. That hurt, so I pushed the leg straight. After that is was a quick trip by ambulance to Fulks Run, into Pegasus, and off to UVA.

Loads of scans and x-rays. They found a fractured L2 (maybe L3) vertebrae node, so some soreness there. A bruised left rib – it’s now about bearable to cough. My right hand was bruised and swollen. The swelling went down early, but the hand still hurts a lot. The main injury was to my left leg – two breaks to the fibula, and the tibia got pushed into the knee and a little displaced.

I got lucky in that I didn’t go into surgery Thursday, the day of the accident. If so, they would have set me up for an external fixiter. That would have been two surgeries, an external bar along the leg to stretch it, and more complications. The surgeon came in on Friday and discussed things. We wound up deciding on one surgery and everything internal. It was Tuesday, the 20th, until the swelling was down enough and I got into surgery. My surgeon was in the Olympic track trials in 1980! The surgery went well, but I ended up with a swollen foot and ankle. That took a while to go down. I still have some ankle swelling.

On Friday I went back to UVA. They removed all 23 staples and all looked good. I had some heel problems from the splint – it rubbed me wrong. So I got a new splint and the heel got worked on a little bit. That feels a lot better now. The surgeon even took the brace off and bent my knee. He said that was doing fine. He also bent my ankle, but really far. Far enough to give me pain. I need to work on bending that every 15 minutes now when I’m awake.

I’ve been at the Harrisonburg Health and Rehabilitation Center on Reservoir Street now since 8/23. From my recovery map, it looks to me like I’ll be here another four weeks. But I need someone here to talk to me about it. I’m in Room 76 if you care to visit. I’ve had lots of you come by so far – thanks. I generally have therapy twice a day for about an hour. I don’t know the schedule until the morning. I do some walking with a walker, but I can’t put any pressure on the leg for another four to six weeks. That is due to how the surgery went. I saw the x-rays. They didn’t have to touch the fibula – I guess that started fusing on its own. They put plates in a V-shape at the top of the tibia, a plate along the tibia, and then screws through the side plate to attached everything. Looked really nice.

Well, I know this is long, but it’s partly for my own history as well. I’ve told so many people what a good Club we have, along with such good friends. Thanks for everything. I hope your riding is going well and you all enjoy this Labor Day weekend.

Enjoy,
Neups