Recovery, V2.0

Later today, I have surgery to put another plate in my collarbone.   Before shifting into whatever recovery reality will follow that, here are a few notes on how it’s gone so far.

Week 1:  Friday, May 11th – Thursday, May 17th

I had the bike wreck on Friday morning.  (Here’s the write-up of the accident details.)   The result:  broken left collarbone (single fracture) and a lot of road rash.

Collarbone: On Friday in the emergency room, I had x-rays, indicating a single break in my left collarbone.  Same bone as before, but a new break spot – right in the middle.  Otherwise, the bone was fairly well aligned.   My orthopedist was able to fit me in for an office visit on Monday morning, so I spent the weekend waiting the verdict on surgery or not.   On Saturday morning, while moving my right arm (the uninjured one), something popped in my left shoulder area and the bone moved.  Very exciting.   On Monday, my doctor’s recommendation was surgery, as the bone was no longer aligned.  Surgery has higher odds of successful healing than otherwise… so here we go again.   It took a few days to schedule surgery, as the doctor appears to be incredibly busy this time of year — booked into July — however some waiting, they were able to fit me into Thursday of the next week.   If it had been longer than that I might have looked for a second opinion and hoped for earlier surgery.  However, since I’ve had surgery on this bone twice before, I’d prefer the same doctor go in to put the new plate in…     I wore the sling all week, but by the end of the week, it was optional and more to keep people from bumping into me than for support.    It continually aches, and in certain positions or under movement, it could be incredibly painful.  Sleeping was difficult, as I had to sleep on my back in one spot, and any movement from that woke me up.

Road rash: in some ways, the road rash was the most difficult part of the first week.   I had major cuts and tears on both hands (back sides), all fingertips, and up and down my left side.  Spots on my left thigh and shoulder were 4-6 inches in diameter, requiring tricky bandaging.   The cuts on my fingers made it hard to do nearly anything, like type, reach into pockets or button shirts.  The larger spots stuck to clothing, sheets, and rubbed painfully on anything I was sitting on.    I treated the medium and large spots with a combination of New Skin (per Skip Foley – it’s smelly and stings like hell, worked great on the medium spots, not so well on the large spots because I couldn’t reapply it often enough during the day) and Bacitricin + non-stick bandages + surgical tape (on the large spots).   By the end of the week, all but the large spots were pretty much non-issues.

Meds:  Ibuprofen on first two days, nothing after that.

Energy / exercise:  I was back on the trainer (SIGH) on Sunday for about 20 minutes, very easy effort, just seeing how the movement worked out.    The sling was too hot to wear during exercise, but I could hold on to my shoulder strap with my left hand to keep my arm immobile.   I got in two or three more workouts during the week, working up to something fairly serious on Thursday.

Week 2: Friday, May 18th – Thursday, May 24th

As I write this, it’s Thursday.  Surgery is this afternoon.

Collarbone: It’s generally settled in.  Every day is a bit less painful and a bit more “normal”.  I find myself using my left arm in standard ways.. usually with no problem, sometimes with a bit of regret.  I’m using the sling largely as a way to keep myself from using the arm and as a signal.  It doesn’t actually help much, because it holds the arm in a position that makes the pain in my shoulder worse.   Sometimes I bump something or clench my muscles in the wrong way, and the pain can be tremendous.  The bone has moved a few times.  Owch.  Sneezes are best avoided.  Sleep is still the worst part and very difficult… averaging about 5 hours a night, with lots of waking up.  At this point I’m glad I’m going into surgery, because this path to healing feels haphazard at best.

Road rash:  All the minor spots are gone.  My shoulder is settled.  The patch on my left thigh has finally sealed over and is starting to scab.  It’s still causing pain, but is probably a few days away from being a non-issue.

Meds: nada

Energy / exercise:  Have shifted into hour-long trainer sessions, using Sufferfest videos.  (Thanks Thomas.)   Probably got 5 in this week.  Effort level is almost normal, regularly taking intervals into RPE 10/10, HR >= 170, sprint-level efforts, etc.   I can’t ride standing up and put out any effort, but I can rest my arm on the handlebars and balance myself fine.      That said, I’m also finding it hard to concentrate on work for an entire work day.  The ongoing pain is draining, and the lack of sleep is probably contributing significantly to this.   I’m definitely less effective at work than normal.

Other: Did sag wagon support for the Monsters in NH this weekend, driving 100+ miles on Saturday.  No problems doing so.   Not riding was a major drag, but driving the van was fun and sure beat sitting at home wishing I was out riding.   Staying active in the cycling community is great motivation to recover and keep fitness up.

Here we go again…

Whoops, fell off the bike at high speed again.

Sigh.

Here’s the email that I sent to my cycling friends describing the incident…

A cross-generational bike chat

I strolled out of the coffee shop, a hot mocha in my bike bottle, and headed to my bike. I nodded a smile at the silver-haired gentleman in the yellow neon jacket who was leaning his rusty city cycle against a post. He smiled back, then said, “my, that’s a lot of gears you’ve got on that!”, while motioning at my back wheel. I glanced at his rear wheel, half-expecting to see a fixy. Nope – but he did only have 5 gears, and they were all pretty small. I laughed, and asked about how he ended up with just five. He started telling me about his bike, and we compared notes about gears and hills (he admitted he might struggle just a bit on tough hills).

I looked closer at his bike, realized it wasn’t just your standard generic city bike, and asked about it. “It’s a Raleigh. Take a look at the detail work on the front fork here! And the lugs! She’s a bit in bad shape right now, but a nice paint job and she’ll be a beaut again!” From there we chatted changes in gear technology, the fun of riding into Cambridge and over Belmont hill with 20 lbs of commuting gear, what’s up with tubulars these days, the advantages of steel over carbon. He told me about a bike he had back in the 50s that was from the 20s… it had wooden rims, a Major Taylor extension, tubular tires… but his Dad sold it when he was off in the army, and he’s still angry!

Somehow we passed 20 minutes chatting bikes. It was great, and somewhat surreal. Some old guy in boots, a rear-view mirror on his head, and a neon jacket, chatting with a guy with too much black lycra and mirror-shade Oakleys. All that cycling history I’ve been reading lately was somehow more real. He’d had these bikes, he’d seen some of the track era of cycling, he’d watched bike gear fads come and go. Eventually we finished up and shook hands, having shared a few moments of truly pleasurable conversation. I rode away, mulling over the experience in my head, bemused. The old bike, with a trace of beauty and style. The old man, with a lot more wisdom and experience than you’d guess would come from a guy riding a beater.

Yet another reason I like cycling – it leads to fascinating conversations with strangers you might otherwise never speak to, making the world just a bit more friendly and sensible.

A little adventure, and misc notes

This morning, after a few hours out on my mountain bike, I arrived home and asked my daughter, Rose, if she wanted to go for a quick ride with me.  “Sure!”   We’ve been talking about going on a daughter-dad mountain bike ride for a long time, but haven’t done it yet.

She saddled up on her little 5-speed 20″ bike.  She’s starting to outgrow it, but can still ride it pretty well.   Like many kids’ bikes these days, it’s got a set of shocks on the front wheel, which tells me it should be ridden in the woods.

We went down our driveway (an adventure in and of itself), up the road (another one), and after passing a few houses, cut into the woods, following a trail most people never realize is there.   We rode through the forest, down a hill, and up another one.  Rose got a few sticks stuck in her wheels, struggled a little with gearing, and learned why you walk bikes uphill sometimes.

I haven’t yet tried to push any of the kids into cycling.  If they’re interested, great, happy to support them.  But cycling (rather than riding a bike) isn’t a simple thing – it’s a complex mix of fitness, competition, skills, and safety analysis.  At their age, plenty of other sports make a lot more sense.  And I still don’t want our kids out on the roads around our house.

But … I’m always looking for that spark of interest.  What do the kids enjoy doing?  How can we support them in exploring that?  Or, today.. would Rose enjoy pushing that bike through the woods, at least some?  Would she catch the magic of the silent forest or the wonder of the undiscovered trail?

I don’t know if she did.  But, despite the mosquitoes, despite the hike-a-bike, despite the twigs, she had fun.  She laughed, she was upbeat about the effort, she enjoyed the exploration.  I sure enjoyed the little trip and seeing her overcome a few challenges.

After about a mile and several hills, we popped back out on our road, and cruised our way back to the house.  I took it slow up our killer driveway, knowing she’d probably struggle with it, but she crushed it and beat me to the garage door.  Home!

-r’m

P.S.  On an unrelated note, I have a huge amount of biking and hiking to post about.  Sawtooths, Monster rides, the PMC, and several others.  I’ve been too busy getting out to sit down and write about it.  As/If I get caught up on those, I’ll post them here roughly around the date they took place.

Fetching sticks

IMG_20110904_090300, a photo by remy.evard on Flickr.

Managed to get out on the mountain bike this morning for the first time since my California rides. GeorgeT and I hit the Stow Town Forest this quiet Labor Day weekend morning. It was great to cruise silent paths, dodge trees, bounce over roots, zip through the forest. Hurricane Irene made a mess of the trails, with wood shrapnel everywhere. My bike picked up a pretty large stick in space between the back disc brake and the spokes. Fortunately no damage was done and I was able to keep riding.

The Creature in the Garage

Admittedly this has little to do with cycling, but you’ll see that bike gear plays a few key roles in this story that has to be told.

Gather round, my kids, and hear a tale of things that go bump in the night.

Nevada City MTB excursions

This year, I’ve had the opportunity to spend around three weeks in the region of California around Nevada City, which is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in the heart of California’s gold rush region.   We have relatives here, so I’ve spent many weeks hiking the trails in the mountains over the last decade.  I know the region pretty well, at least from a 4wd and my feet.

As I’ve only picked up serious cycling in the past few years, I’ve never ridden a bike out here.  Man.  What a missed opportunity.