Paramedics show up and shit themselves, you see I still had my helmet on. It was broken. I was airlifted to one of the best trauma centers in the Valley. The pilot greased the landing and I told him so, they love when you do that.
They wheel me into the trauma center and I should have been scared I suppose, there were 8 people working on me. The paramedics had put my keys and wallet in my helmet and it rode with me in the chopper. Every single trauma specialist was shown the helmet and every one asked me some sort of question related to it. It saved my life. At the time I wasn't aware of that, I was on all kinds of IV drugs to help with the pain. I had posted on Facebook that "today looks like a fantastic day to ride". The nurse gave me my phone and said I should call someone. In my stoned state I posted again on FB, that I had broken my neck and I was in the trauma center. Hell of a way to let your friends know how you're doing. Some thought it was a joke, but I had called my sis and my mom and my sis posted that it was indeed true. I wasn't being a dick. So my doctor shows up, wanting me to make a decision. I had a broken C2 vertebrae, typically called the hangman's break. Usually, if you do it right you're paralyzed from the neck down and your diaphragm is paralyzed as well. You die. Evidently Ruggie ain't that easy to kill. So doc says here's your choices: 1) they put a "halo" on me and in 8 months to a year it comes off and I'm healed 2) he cuts my throat, moves all the stuff to the side and he puts a plate on C2 and C3, fusing both vertebrae together. Now my sis nor my mom had arrived and decisions needed to be made. I had a buddy who had a halo. All I remember was him telling me how horrible it was. So I tell the doc, "plate me". I made the correct decision. I don't remember anything much after that conversation, except for the doctor telling me if I didn't believe in God that I should. Cuz as bad as the break was I should not have been able to survive the ride back for help.I open my eyes and I immediately have an overwhelming sensation of thirst. I can't talk and my throat is full of something. I was still intubated. I start waving my hands, a nurse comes up and I make the signal with my hands that I want paper and pencil. I write down, and I shit you not I said "get this fucking thing out of my throat before I take it out myself". She tells me no, no, and gives me all kinds of reasons why I can't. As I become more lucid I see my mother there. I start writing questions and I find out that the doctor kept me under for another full day as my O2 levels were low after coming out of surgery. So there I sit, with this thing down my throat. It took them 4 hours before they decided to even give me a piece of ice. I was fucking furious. Finally, they remove the the stuff from down my throat and they "remember" that I have a catheter in too. Oh man, this shit is getting better!!! So I prepare for the worst and nothing happened. The catheter came right out, no pain. Or maybe just not enough pain to register cuz the neck hurt like fuck. How bad was it broken? Y'all remember Christopher Reeve? Superman? He had a C2 break. Yeah, scary shit. So after a little more time in recovery I get put in a semi private room. This is a Sunday night or Monday morning. I broke my neck Saturday at 11 am (or so). On Thursday doc says time to go home, and I'm all about that! I hadn't eaten anything. I hope to God none of you ever have a break like mine, but the pain is different than say a broken ankle (which I've had). I call it "bone pain". There's no way to describe it but even now as I type it I feel sick to my stomach. That's what bone pain does to you.
So now it's Thursday and I'm home. I'm wearing a cervical collar and it's going to be my companion for the next 4 1/2 months. It does not come off, except to shower and in that instance I have to put on the waterproof collar. True sleep was impossible. I didn't dream for 4 months. Never really slept. Hell, I didn't start eating any kind of food for 3 weeks. Not even Jello. As I started to heal the appetite came back and I basically lived on my couch. Couldn't get comfortable laying down. To this day, I sleep better upright even though it hurts my back. Doc gives me percocet. Not alot. As in 60 10mg tabs need to last me a month and a half (which is the interval between doctor visits). Even though I'm not prone to addiction I sure as hell didn't wanna "need" those Perks. So I saved 'em. Only for when it was really really bad. When it was all said and done I had a couple dozen left. So 4 1/2 months later I get a clean bill of health. Doc is shocked at how well I recovered. I have 90-95% of my range of motion. I still have some pain but it's mostly in the shoulders, which I'm used to cuz I work for a living. I don't work for the rest of 2014. Thank god my employees do.
Now it's over a year later, I call it a year past my expiration date. Cuz I've got a fucked sense of humor. Just getting back to the point where I can work half a day. Again, my employees help me make my living. 'Merica, fuck yeah! Somewhere along the line, when my collar was still on I took the quad back to the dealership, traded it in. No way was I gonna listen to anyone and everyone tell me to get rid of it. The saying goes, "with age comes the cage". So what do I do? Bought a Polaris RZR. I have a love affair with that thing. There's nothing that makes me happier then getting outdoors, away from the city and just riding. I wear a helmet even though it has a roll cage. I even bought a neck donut for when I'm riding rocky areas so I don't aggravate my neck. In the cool weather I went riding almost every weekend. Now that it's summer when we ride down here I go early. Like leave my place at 5 a.m. Found a bunch of dudes to ride with, we've done several rides up north. Stayed 3 nights up on the Mogollon Rim in cabins. Ride all day, cabins at night. Before that 14 RZRs pull into the podunk town of Williams AZ and we completely filled up one motel. So we have some fun and I get to be out in God's country.
Oh yeah, about the doctor asking if I believed in God? Of course I do, was raised that way. I asked the big guy when I crashed to please let me make it back to civilization and that if I had to die to do it there. Didn't wanna go like my cousin Mitch. The saying goes that we aren't given any more than we can handle. Judging by that, I'm a badass sonuvabitch.
Seriously though, I went through most of my life doing much more dangerous activity than riding a quad on a sight seeing tour. Not sure why this happened but we're sum of all our experiences and the universe has it's reasons why this happened to me. I try not to over think it. I just appreciate things for what they are. 
