Kristin McCarthy update – YET ANOTHER UPDATE. TUESDAY EVENING – now with High Def pics!

Thanks to everyone for the flood of well wishes and offers of help and support. You OBRA folks are the best. And a special thanks to the Murrays, as their usual parental calm and support were the rudder of the night.

Kristin is sedated and her breathing is being assisted with a tube. She has a some slight bleeding in her brain and a shattered collarbone, along with the attendant rash all over. We won’t know more until the morning when the neuro gets a better look at more CAT scans. What we do know is that she’s tough as nails. Please continue with your good thoughts folks, thank you very much.

Also – we’re leading the first laps of the 3/4 race tomorrow  as a team. Out of respect for her.

UPDATE: Some encouraging signs through the night! She was allowed to wake up and she has communicated with Clint and  the nurses. Very good signs. Keep the positive flow coming, people.

UPDATE  #2 – I’ve just returned from the ICU and seeing Kristin. She’s off the breathing tube, and she’s mostly conscious. Apparently when she came to last night she  asked to see Clint, who was summoned around midnight to go back to the hospital and see her. They removed her breathing tube and did not continue the heavy sedation. She  was then asked by the nurse if she remembered what happened and our Kmac, true to form and now dubbed “Real Deal” for her gnarly Holyfield-esque ear injury, said “I crashed. And I was gonna win, too.” Kinda brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it?

So, the GREAT news is she looks to be on track for recovery. The brain injury and bleeding is still to be monitored in the ICU for another day or  so, and  then maybe another day or so of observation before she gets to go home. These things are tricky andwe’re not 100% out of the woods yet, but today is very encouraging. We will post her room number once she gets one for get well wishes. The bad news is that the whack to t he noggin, along with the shattered collarbone and other attendant injuries will result in a long, arduous recovery process already underway. There are possible surgeries looming to fix some things.

The WORSE news (typical bike dorks) is that her tasty Marin is shot. Gone. Kaput. Wheelset is kinda done for, too. So with the gracious help of Mark Duff of Veloforma we’re going to be chipping in for a specially priced “comeback kid” bike so she’ll have a sleek new weapon to ride when she’s medically cleared to  do so. Check back for a paypal site to throw a buck or two in if you are so inclined.

Lastly, Kristin was very touched to hear of  all of the support from all of you, the OBRA community. I second the emotion. Things like this add perspective  to just how silly this thing we do is and how inherently dangerous it is and how crazy we must be for doing it, but it also illustrates the familial bond we all share, regardless of what kit we wear when the numbers are pinned on. We thank you.

We’ll keep you updated as events warrant, and we’ll see you all tonight.

Some lighthearted bit;

1. She was, with a somewhat comical degree of difficulty, able to  remove her contact lenses.

2. She feebly asked when told of the plate-and-screw collarbone surgery “Will I be able to get through airport security?”

3. We were joking about things she didn’t remember from last night (removal of breathing tube, etc) and someone quipped, “you were smoking hella weed in here and got in trouble!” Eyes closed, a smile crossed her face and she said “wassup!”

UPDATE 3 – They’re moving Kristin into her own room today and out of the ICU! The doctors are pretty much floored at the rate of recovery, but warn it’s still a long road ahead. Keep up that good mojo folks.

Here’s a few pics from last night. I did get one of her in the ICU giving the double thumbs up, but my phone is a f*&^%ing cryptic thing and I can’t figure out how to post the damn thing.

The helmet and sunglasses are no longer with us, the person wearing them IS

Here’s Deann (L) and Kristin (R) a few laps before the poop hit the fan