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collarbone / cycling / iPhone / Monday / photo — Comments Off
30
Jul 12

In the saddle again

Guess what I did today?

I put my bike on the trainer today. So I turned a cautious wheel for the first time today, three weeks after I crashed and broke my collarbone and two weeks after surgery.

“How did you go from hurting to riding,” my lovely bride asked.

I’d just gotten so tired of hurting, that I wanted to try something else. So I rolled out the mat. I quietly put the trainer in place. I figured out how to mount the bike more-or-less one-handed. I put the front wheel in the plastic brick and had to really stretch my leg to get over the now-taller bike.

Clip. Clip. Pedal. I stood up and leaned over the handlebars. I could feel my collarbone — there is only one position I can be in where I don’t feel it right now — but it didn’t hurt.

Best 45 minutes of the day.

Now. If I can only shake this new crick in my neck.

collarbone / cycling / photo / Tumblr / Twitter / Wednesday — Comments Off
25
Jul 12

Stitch free

Visited the orthopedic surgeon again for another checkup today. He moved my arm once, glanced at his handiwork, answered three questions, asked two and referenced something we said conversationally when we met two weeks ago.

One of his assistants removed my two cosmetic stitches. They look like fishing line. Removing them was like pulling out one hair by its super-long root. The Yankee pronounced the incision “not as bad as I thought” saying later “it looks like a bad scratch.” And so it does.

Therapy starts in two weeks. I’ll be on my bike on the indoor trainer by then.

I finally got around to taking a few more pictures of my now destroyed bike helmet. The original picture was taken on my wife’s iPhone, side-lit by my friend’s iPhone, when we were all calmly waiting for someone in the emergency room to call my name. Now that I have two hands again, for the most part, I decided to use my real camera for more detail.

[If this is all new to you, here’s the accident, the hospital and the surgery.]

This is the back of the helmet, as seen from above. So you’d be wearing this and facing the top of the frame. The thin plastic aesthetic cover popped right off when I hit the ground. (I brought it home for posterity, but it didn’t suffer any serious damage like you’ll see here.) Note the chunk that the road just sheared off. Part of that is resting beside the helmet:

Again the back, this time from straight on. See how the upper left and center of the back was ground away? Note the small cracking at the base of the helmet’s back as well. See that crack on the left side? We’ll get to that next:

Here’s that left-side damage. Hardly a hairline crack:

This is a little farther up the side, but still on the left. As you’re wearing the helmet this crack would be directly over the left ear. The fracturing only stops at the air vent. Who knows how far it could have gone beyond that in a solid form, like a skull. From these pictures we can surmise that, without the helmet, the crown of my head over to my ear would have been heavily damaged:

Finally, looking up into the helmet. That’s one-piece, molded crash foam. Look how much it separated:

Tomorrow I’m going to write about something else, promise. Pictures of other things on Tumblr. Lots more on Twitter.

collarbone / cycling / Friday / iPhone / photo — Comments Off
20
Jul 12

Just lying around

Went out for our weekly breakfast today to Price’s Barbecue House. The Yankee I ordered, I grabbed a table so I could find a seat safely. I’ve become very protective of my self since the injury.

I have the BLT with egg and cheese. She has a biscuit. We split an order of hashbrowns. We glance at the news, watch the people, and try to guess at the athletes that sometimes come and go.

My favorite time is after we eat. When we’re just sitting there in the quiet and slow late morning. That little part of the week is one of my favorite, and should last much longer.

After that we went to James Brothers Bikes, the local bike shop we chose to frequent because most of the people that work there are great, and none of them identify with flower power. They are great for advice and for all of the smaller things I might need to buy.

I prefer a bike shop in Homewood for maintenance, I think, because when I ask them about things, or to do things, they jump right on it.

But James Brothers is great. The Yankee bought me a trainer the other day and had to stop back by to pick up the front wheel mount. They’d been out of stock because no one buys trainers in the summer. That’s a winter activity. Or an injured activity. And since I can’t ride on the road for five or six weeks I need a new activity. Anyway, when they found out I was hurt (“He was just in here!” and I had been. I bought some chain lubricant just four days before I hurt myself.) they gave me a nice store-branded glass as a consolation prize.

(I can’t ride the trainer for several more weeks. I can rest my hand on the handlebars right now, but I can’t put any weight on it.)

So we picked up the front wheel mount and said hello. They asked about my recovery and I demonstrated my toughness by taking off the brace, which I don’t even wear anymore anyway. And then we promptly returned home, where I could sit in my chair and rest my aching shoulder for the rest of the day.

She’s keeping me company:

More of the same all weekend, too!

collarbone / cycling / friends / iPhone / photo / Wednesday — 1 Comment
18
Jul 12

Taking it easy

Those are my orders. Saw the orthopedist today, who told me to my incision looks good. We saw that for the first time today, it is much larger than we’d anticipated.

I am to lift nothing heavier than a glass of water. And I have been given gravity/pendulum therapy.

Bend over at the waist, let your arm dang freely. Move your hand back and forth, left and right, front and back and in circles. Do this daily. That’s my therapy for the first week. He did not tell me how many times a day to do this, or how many reps of each. I’d like a little more precision …

I can ride my bike in five or six weeks he said and a trainer in two. My complete recovery time, he said, was 12 weeks, making this the longest personal recovery of anything I can recall.

Anyway, since I’m sitting comfortably and resting, here is a picture. This is the tangerine bonsai tree that Kelly sent us:

She’s so very wonderfully giving and thoughtful. Kelly says it will eventually yield us dainty fruits to enjoy. Also, I must take care of it daily:

Water daily through hot spells and every other day in the spring and fall. As needed in the winter. A well balanced liquid fertilizer should be used with every 2nd or 3rd watering. Citrus in general are heavy feeders, especially iron, manganese and zinc. The local nursery should have an adequate liquid feed available.

[…]

Prune to shape as you desire, keeping in mind the small- scale size of the plant and its container. Flowers will appear from small shoots that originate where the leaves meet the stem. Flowers sporadically throughout the year, heaviest in the spring. Remove the tree from its pot every 2-3 years and remove about 1/3 of the roots. Re-pot with a blended potting soil. This will encourage new roots and keep it growing happily.

Maybe I can trim a leaf with each week of recovery. Or is that too impatient for bonsai?

collarbone / cycling / iPhone / photo / Tuesday / Tumblr / Twitter — Comments Off
17
Jul 12

Fall risk: a warning, a memento

I woke up at 6:26 this morning. I know this because at 6:30 it was time for another dose of Lortab. My lovely bride had woken up punctually every four hours to give me the good stuff. We ignored the Ibuprofen dosages during the overnight, because that would have meant waking up every two hours. And one of us, we figured, should get some sleep.

Clearly my collarbone and greater shoulder area were ready for their next painkiller before the clock said I should be. But that’s OK. I had the chance to open the blinds and watch the sun play on the tangerine bonsai tree that Kelly sent us.

I considered the fate of my medical bracelets.

The white one, with the names and hospital UPC codes, is coming off. So is the red one, which warns the medical staff of allergies. The yellow one though … considering how I got here … well it seems appropriate.

The nurse told me yesterday that everyone that gets sedation gets the yellow bracelet. I think I’ll put it on my bike when I can finally hit the road again and wear it with pride.

The surgeon was right: I’m hurting today, but I feel a bit better today than I have since I broke my collarbone. I’m taking painkillers precisely on schedule, don’t get me wrong, but the post-operation pain is less and different than the post-accident pain.

The downside to this injury, I’m guessing, is that it becomes a very boring recovery. You sit and don’t overtax yourself. You rest a lot. You don’t hold things in your hand before rehab. You try not to wear on the nerves of the people around you. So I’m resolved to celebrate every highlight.

We got a Harry & David box, a thoughtful gift from dear friends. (A night we don’t have to cook!)

I received the kindest Get Well email from someone I don’t even know:

Regardless of your topic you are a joy to read. Thus, having learned of your recent accident, I want you to know that I’m thinking of you.

Please feel better soon . . . very, very soon . . .

Wasn’t that thoughtful?

I moved from the arm chair … to the sofa! I’ve been in the chair, even sleeping in it, for a week. (A great half hour of variety!)

I stood up for about 20 minutes. And then my arm insisted I sit down. (More variety!)

The Yankee got me an awesome Get Well gift, a CycleOps indoor trainer. (I can ride while hurt!)

She wouldn’t let me use it today, though.

The final highlight, just like at 6:26 this morning: more Lortab.

Back on Twitter today. Returning to Tumblr tomorrow.