30 Days In the Hole

Shoot it'll be a miracle if I get going in 30 days.  I'm doing my PT now.  I look forward to it.  It's as close to a gym workout as I get.  I also have an hour of exercises that I do daily.  Last week in PT I got on a stationary bike, I couldn't make a full revolution but I got close.  That doesn't seem like much does it?  And I guess that's whats so frustrating.

Progress

It's hard to go from 5 days a week on the bike to just being able to turn the crank one time.  Small things become huge.  Like putting on my socks.  Damn that hurts, and I don't make it every try.  

The days go by quickly right now.  I'm lucky to be able to work from the house so that takes up quite a bit of my day time.  Evenings are the worst.  Acceptance of my fate is tricky.  Sometimes I can get my head around it and then there's times I fight against it.  The reality can't be ignored though.

Stories

I meet others at PT with cycling injuries.  Most are younger than me.  Then there's the stories of folks getting injured while doing the most mundane things.  Getting out of the shower, running across a parking lot, walking along the side of the road, cleaning the gutters, falling out of a tree stand.

I get pissed at people who insinuate that I was doing something I shouldn't have been doing when I got hurt.  They make a face and say something like "I bet you won't be doing that anymore."  I was just riding a bike along a multi use path, not even going fast, not taking any big risks.  

If it's one thing I've learned you can get hurt doing anything.  And that's a scary thing.

Invincible

41 years of riding moto, racing enduro, hare scrambles, and motocross, and only a broken wrist to show for it.  10 years of cycling, and until this ordeal, nothing more than a scraped knee.  I really thought I had something, call it luck, preparation, concentration, or just the ability to foresee danger. I had dodged the bullet for so long I really thought I was different.  To realize that I am not as invincible as I thought is another lesson I've learned.

Changes

You hear folks say your life can change in an instant.  I knew that was true but until now I hadn't experienced any thing like this.  It has certainly given me a renewed sense of appreciation for so many things that I had been taking for granted.  Accepting help and kindness, humbling myself to accept it, has been a big change for me.

New Direction?

Others have been hurt much worse than I.  Had larger set backs than this.  I am learning something new all the time.  It would be a shame to go through this and not have it change me, I hope for the better.

You can't go through life worrying about something bad happening.  You'd miss so much!  In the end it's not really what happens but how you react to it that tells what kind of a person you are.

Will I ride again?  I am most certainly planning on it.  Will I be scared?  Yes, terrified.  Will I race?  I hope so.  Suffice to say the 60+ XC class doesn't look as easy to dominate as it did last month.

I miss the fellowship that goes along with cycling.  The post ride beers (which had gotten few and far between for some reason) and of course this is the best time of the year weather wise.

Anyhoo, if I could just put my socks on and sleep on my side I'd be ecstatic right now.   

It Ain't Easy

I have all kinds of stories from my short stay at TMH.  Suffice to say that the staff was kind.  They operated on me, put me back together, got me up on crutches, and got me out the door.  Since we are new to this health care thing there were a few subjects they could have done a better job of covering but we didn't know what we didn't know.

Home

I got myself folded into the Subaru and we made it home in a driving rain.  The crutch walk from the street to the front door was like a qualifier.  I made it but was terrified.  They had me climb steps with crutches that day at TMH but it was a different story having to do it by myself at 6 in the evening. The Lovely Wife (TLW) helped as much as she could.  I am not a good patient.

A New Life

Those first few days are a blur.  Let me say right now I could not have made any of this happen without TLW.  I wore out thank you and I'm sorry in those first two days.  I have no idea how anyone could get through something like this without help.

Friends stopped by, neighbors brought food, one even stopped by to see if I'd died, since the truck had been in the driveway all week.  I was surprised by how much I could do, and it got a little better every day.  The pain wasn't that high just constant and it worked on me so that by the afternoon I was getting down.  I did some of the exercises the PT had given me the day I checked out, and made laps around the kitchen, but the mental part was hard to get a grip on.

Last Thursday evening TLW starts to count pain pills and discovers I don't have enough to make it through the weekend.  I had incorrectly assumed they would give me enough to last until my next doctors visit.  Turns out they can't call in pain med scripts and you have to have a actual written one in your hand.  After 3 hours of automated phones and transfers TLW went to TOC and got the prescription.  She went directly to the pharmacy and got it filled.  This is on a Friday afternoon mind you.  If we hadn't counted pills I would have been without pain meds by Saturday night.  I can't imagine how that would have worked out.  At the pharmacy they acted like she was crazy when she told them she didn't know any of this.

Day by Day

The Kid came home Friday night, he's a little freaked out by all of this.  Welcome to the club.

I am able to work from the house.  I am getting cabin fever already.  I stopped looking at FB for now. My PT starts Monday and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do.  Sure it's scary knowing how much pain they will put me through but it's better than sitting at the house, at least I guess it will be.

Anyhoo, as Dr. Sworks told me "You'll get through this, ya got no choice."

Tuesday Afternoon

A week ago today.  It had been misting most of the day and I was jonesing for a CX ride.  I'd just bought a new training plan from Training Peaks and I was anxious to get started.  It called for 1.5 hours on the bike followed by a .5 run.  I was almost done with the bike portion of the ride so I decided to cross Meridian and roll the multi-use since I was planning on doing my run there.

It All Goes Terribly Wrong

The face you make when the drugs go in.

I have probably ridden this section of multi-use hundreds of times, I wasn't even going fast.  It was just a little slicker than I thought it would be.  I lost the front end so fast I didn't even have a chance to take my hands off the bars.

As soon as I hit I knew I had screwed up bad.  I couldn't move my right leg so I just grabbed it and threw it on top of my left.  I got out my cell phone and started dialing.

The first person to answer was Big Jim, I told him the deal and asked him to head toward TMH so The Lovely Wife would have some company.  I called her.  Then I called 911.

May I Have a Cross Road Sir?

I'll admit to being more than a little stressed out.  By this time people had stopped and I was making some progress toward getting out.

I call Leon 911:

"What is the nature of your emergency?"

"I've fallen off my bicycle and have either broken or dislocate my hip."

"Where are you located?"

"On the multi-use trail at Overstreet, across from Forest Meadows on Meridian."

"Ok sir, please stay on the line with me.  I'll need a cross street."

"Mam, I'm in the woods and getting real shaky.  There's not any other streets out here.  Just send EMS and Fire with an ATV to the flashing light on Meridian and I'll have someone meet them there."

By this time I had drawn quite a crowd.  I was having trouble holding my phone. I told her I had to hang up. I finally heard sirens.

Rescued

I could hear the Rino/Mule/Gator easing its way down the path.  I was wet, cold, and dirty and had been on the ground about an hour.  I was sure glad to see those guys.  They gave me some meds and with much screaming on my part loaded me up and we began the long slow bumpy ride back to the ambulance.

Another Tuesday Afternoon

I'll stop here for today.  I have broken my hip, gone through surgery, and am at home convalescing.  We are over the hardest part (I hope).

So much changed in such a small amount time.

I'm looking forward to getting this all out.