To cut a long story short, my OH was going to his regular snooker game on Wednesday evening when he had an accident on his bike and was taken to A and E. I was beside myself with worry as he didn’t return home and I was about to go to the police yesterday lunchtime when the hospital rang me to say he was on a neurology ward. He has concussion has no idea what happened, where he is, his date of birth or that he even lives in Basel. He’s also lost the use of his arm and his mouth has slipped on one side, but as he has a small bleed to the brain they’ve told me this is common. He does however recognise me.
Thing is, I have all of the possessions he had with him on Wednesday but I have no idea what has happened to the bike. When the hospital rang me yesterday they said they thought the police had attended, does it get taken away and impounded? I’m not even sure which police station to contact and the website has one of those virtual help assistants in German.
Since between rushing to the hospital yesterday and today I’ve been cancelling appointments he has over the next week, contacting his work colleagues etc. When he didn’t turn up at work one of them rang the snooker hall and they said he hadn’t been there. I assumed it happened on the way home, but the hospital confirmed today he was admitted to A and E at about 17.20 which was only 30 mins after leaving home.
I would imagine that you should be able to call or preferably stop by at any police station (preferably the main station in basel) and give them the situation. if they were involved in any way (i magine they would be), they will be able to help you further and/or guide you …
Insurance will most likely take care of the ‘missing’ bicycle, but I magine this is a lower priority …
All the best … let us know if you need more help …
You’ll need a police report for the accident insurance report so at some point you/hubby and the attending police will find each other. When I had my bike accident a few years ago, the police called me a day or so later for my statement.
If he was transported to hospital by ambulance following an accident the police would have been at the scene and taken care of his bike.
They’ll be in touch with him in due course.
I’m sorry to hear of his accident and the stress and worry you had to endure due to not knowing where he was.
Cherub, best wishes for his quick recovery. So sorry you had this scare, but he’s in good hands and just needs you to stand by him. Don’t worry about the bike; the police will have it in hand.
Thanks for all your replies. One thing I don’t understand is why it took 20 hours for someone to contact me. When I went to the neurological ward at the hospital this afternoon, the info they had from A and E didn’t have a record of where the accident happened, so I don’t know if it was near our apartment or closer to his destination.
Yes, they gave me his personal belongings and blood stained clothing when I went to the hospital yesterday afternoon. His wallet was in his messenger bag and his residency permit and health insurance cards had been taken out and put back in one of the inside pockets of the bag. His iPhone was also there (I can’t unlock it as I don’t have the passcode which is giving me another load of anxiety). Nothing was missing.
The hospital obviously had my details to be able to contact me 20 hours later.
I didn’t think too much about him not being back early as I thought he might have gone to Basel Fasnacht with friends. I sat up until 5am then went to bed, when I woke up later I was in bed on my own so checked the spare room as there’s a sofabed in there for when we have visitors staying over. I then started thinking maybe he’d gone somewhere and then straight to work (they have showers and he keeps toiletries and spare clothes in his locker), but it’s totally out of character for him not to send me a text, wherever he goes he tells me when he’s heading back.
My next thought was to wait a couple of hours then to contact the police and report him missing, that was when the hospital called me.
Going to the hospital is sad, he knows who I am, keeps saying he’s sorry and that he loves me in his confusion, but he doesn’t know anything else and keeps repeating I don’t know what happened They’ve told me the bleed to the brain isn’t serious and what he’s saying is to be expected in his concussed state.
I know someone who had a bad bike accident. She was found on the side of the road: a hit and run. The helmet was probably the thing that saved her life, that and a passing car which called an ambulance.
She could remember nothing for a week and it took a while before the confusion fog disappeared, but she was fine after a while, but to this day remembers nothing of the moments leading up to the accident and after the accident.
Don’t worry, I’m sure your OH will recover soon. My father had a heart attack a couple of years ago and for a month lost a lot of memories and was very confused (not knowing year, not knowing where he was and getting confused and seemingly living in a past childhood in a different country). It took a month before his brain ‘recovered’ but it was quite scary to have his strange behaviour and not knowing if/when he would recover.
I wonder if the police were involved at all… On the two occasions that members of my family were involved in accidents, the police called be from the road side telling me of the accident and where they were transporting victims to etc… The police retained a bicycle, clothes etc for examination for some time afterwards.
What the hospital told me is he wasn’t in a collision with a vehicle or anything, it seems the bike toppled over and he came off it hitting the back of his head. It was the central switchboard service that rang me, they said they believed the police had attended, but as I say there’s nothing on the notes to say where it happened, just that he was admitted to A and E at around 17.20,
It all seems a bit strange tbh, I’ve been slowly trying to piece things together as he can’t tell me anything.
What a horrible experience
I hope you both soon recover, it is more difficult for the one not in the hospital as you don’t have professional help immediately at hand.
A bit late but there is advice around about next of kin after an accident
Emergency Contact Cards: Carry a card in your wallet listing your name, address, next of kin (spouse, partner, or close relative), their phone number, and any vital medical information.
Smartphone Medical ID: Set up the “Medical ID” or “Emergency Contact” feature on iPhone/Android, allowing emergency responders to access contacts without unlocking your phone.
He had a brief very period yesterday where he was able to put the passcode into his phone, then he immediately forgot it. It let me quickly answer the text messages from colleagues who were concerned he hadn’t turned up yesterday morning.
I have one of his female colleagues on Whatsapp, contacted her this morning and she immediately rang me and gave me a load of work colleagues numbers I might need.
I rang the one he works with most, he’s asked me if I need any support from his team and said to contact any of them if I need to have a German speaker with me at any point with all this going on.
It made me feel a bit better tbh.
My sister says depending on how things go she’ll come from Scotland if needed.
So sorry to hear this. Hope your OH recovers speedily but it may take some time.
I’m two months into dealing with concussion after a self-inflicted accidental blow to the head before Christmas and also suffered light bleeding to the brain and it was nowhere as near as severe as your OHs but still scary.
I can’t really offer any advice as concussion can affect people in different ways but all the best anyway.
I had flipped over the handlebars more than once when I was young… it’s just a fraction of a second. I’ve also heard from someone here her story of checking up the phone on the handlebar whilst strolling downhill in the traffic, it was just a blink of an eye when she saw hitting a car so she instinctively contracted the breaks to the max, next thing she remember was talking with some nurse a few days later, she learned that she was waking up a few times but always just talking something in her mother tongue, not reacting to any vocal or visual input
They’ve told me the bleed to the brain isn’t serious and what he’s saying is to be expected in his concussed state.