There’s not much I can do to remove the clots from my lungs and my leg. I just have to take my medicine and wait. Unfortunately the medicine itself can cause big problems. So I have taken some steps to shore up my defenses.
For much of 2017 I rode without a helmet. I hate helmets. So it was a little bit ironic that I bought a new helmet with the multi-dimensional impact protection system or MIPS. This type of helmet has a plastic liner that moves. The idea is that if you hit your helmet on something your head won’t just smash into the inside of the helmet. Instead the plastic liner will allow your melon to move a bit, reducing (so they say) the chance of a concussion. For me, that might mean reducing the chance of blood building up in my brain – which can be fatal.
Fatal is not good.
Before my bike tour to Florida, I bought an Ortlieb mirror. It was a godsend, especially when I looked at it and saw a dump truck bearing down on me in West Palm Beach. I was about to lose my lane. Instead of proceeding I stopped and the dump truck didn’t. I’d have been toast.
Toast is not good.
So I bought another mirror for my Cross Check which will make riding in traffic around and in DC a bit safer.
My third acquisition is a Road ID. It’s a wrist band with a small metal clip attached. The clip has my name, my wife’s name and phone numbers, and critical medical information: Xarelto, Asthma, and A+, my blood type. In the event that I am unconscious medical professionals will know that I am likely to bleed uncontrollably.
Bleeding uncontrollably is not good.
So, it’s all good.
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 
It never hurts to be prepared. I am definitely going to look into the Road ID thing. when I am with the club, they are supposed to have this information…but I wonder if that is true. And even if it is, that doesn’t help me when I am alone and it doesn’t hurt to have a backup.
I should have had one for my bike tours. Even before the clots.
i haven’t gotten a Road ID yet, but i keep my state-issued ID & insurance card in a holder that has a loop to hang around my neck. i’m considering a mirror since it’s getting harder to look over my shoulder due to my arthritic neck.
I tried mirrors on my helmet and on my glasses. Hated them. The critical piece of info for me is Xarelto. This is why: https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/12/27/astros-rich-dauer-head-injury-world-series-parade
A few years ago i had a touch of midlife crisis (or a second childhood) and took out my racing license after a 20+ year hiatus. What i didn’t tell my wife until after that first season back on the velodrome, was that at the season opener at the track, a fellow my same age (50+) had suffered a fatal injury. He’d fallen toward the infield from the top of the banking. The first official -who BTW is a nurse- to reach him seconds later told me that the man was bleeding from the ears and nose, and was already gone.
As it turned out, the rider was a recovering heart patient (!) and was taking coumadin, and was racing against the advice of his doctors. He really had no business being on a bike at all.
No helmet could have prevented the injury that killed him. The fall would’ve been nasty for almost anyone, but not likely fatal in most cases.
That event has been on my mind the whole time i’ve been reading the account of your recovery. Please be careful out there!
I’ve hit my head twice in 45 years. Once was on ice. Dumb. Once was an endo over a curb. Really dumb. I like my odds.
No helmet!!?!?!!? Ohh my goodness, what’re you thinking! A helmet is always a must. I got a road ID a handful of years ago and I loved it. I don’t wear it much anymore though I should. Thanks for the reminder. I have my name, parents phone numbers, blood type, ORG donor, and a phrase I no longer live by: “Will run for cookies.” I’d change run to hike because my running is non existent these days.
They really are unnecessary for the kind of slowpoke riding I do. But the blood thinners make anything physical risky.
I should probably blow the dust off my Road ID and update my info and oh yeah ride my bike!!! Attitude is everything keep riding (cautiously) and keep finding the silver lining.
Reminds me of an old Seinfeld bit about Scuba Diving -where the main goal is not dying.