Regression Success!
It’s been a week since some mean gravity stole me from the air and threw me down on Lumberyard wood, breaking my clavicle. Mean, mean gravity. That choice little moment cut in half everything that preceded it, and what followed, into two separate worlds. Here I am in bed strapped together with braces and slings, in awful pain. This time last week I was just figuring out how to clear all the tables in the beginner flow sequence, looking a little more like this:
You can see exactly where I fell 11 seconds into this video (the first 15 seconds of the video shows what I’ve been working on). There is a little jump I was experimenting with, trying to get some extra speed. The third or fourth time on it, I just bailed straight off it, landing down on my shoulder at the bottom. I felt something break but wasn’t sure what. I was pretty stunned. I’ve never broken a big bone before and certainly never felt pain like that, even though I crash and hurt myself ALL THE TIME. For a little while I joked around optimistically. But it became clear I’d broken my collarbone, and I just have to climb in bed and sit pretty for a while… until I can ride again.
I’ve had to shut down Little Package custom cap orders for the meantime. But everything posted in my shop is still ready to ship! I am also considering tabling at the SE Sunday Parkways this weekend on the west end of the Ankeny part of the loop. I’m trying to not let this get me down.
I have a lot of friends already to thank BIG TIME: Elly, Lizbon, Brian, Leah, JJ, Mac, Tori, Dan, Barb, Nik, Gretchen, Boone, Bruce, Art, April and on and on…
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Hey, really good reading your blog. I just broke mine last Saturday. A simple break but a bit annoying as the bones are not aligned. Strangely it hardly hurts so I guess I’m lucky. I was given a sling first and yesterday got a brace which pulls both sholders back. Wore in bed and woke to lots of clicking andsome pain of which I want to know if its the bone aligning / moving out of line! Need my own x-ray machine! Managed to work out how to remove and put on brace which is good for nights and washing! Have specialist tomorrow to say if I need surgery to align bone. Anyway it was good to read your breakdown of week to week recovery in stages. Hope you are healed and strong now!
I wished I had my own XRay machine as well! Hang in there, it’s hard. Just take your pain meds, eat really well and hold your shoulders up and back. Hope you don’t need surgery, though that is an easier way out of the predicament.
I’m 9 months out and hiking the Pct with a 25lb pack on my back as I type. No joke. Total recovery, absolutely no lingering issues. 🙂
Hi – thanks! Good to hear your healed and hiking, that is great. I met consultant today and after seeing xray – bones are very separated and when hearing about healing times and options I opted for surgery as it seems right for me. Hopefully next week. I couldn’t view your crash due to copyright or something. I ride bmx and indoor trails / rhythms is something we dream about here for winter as its so wet here – especially this summer! 🙁 The consultant said after that all the cyclists he sees opt for surgery. I was quoted 8 weeks and full mobility subject to some stiffness soon after the op so I’m going to see.. So anyone reading this can see there are options. I’ll update how things are going.
Hi – News.. Had surgery, it went really well. Dr Pierce at St Georges, Tooting, London is very skilled indeed so much thanks to him. Its a really good NHS (free) hospital, props to all the staff who work there and those who helped me. Also thanks to my folks who did some running around for me in the car. Anyway – I’ve been very lucky as the pain has been minimal throughout the whole experience. Yes it hurt a bit and pre op it was knocking around which wasn’t good. Immediately after surgery I had plenty of morphine which helped during waking up to ease the pain then I just took anti-inflamotaries and paracetamol for a week or so to make things easier. I had 2(ish) weeks of sling and now 3 weeks have past I have almost full movement. I can start adding weights in around 5 more weeks – based on my assumption of 8 weeks bone healing time. I can opt to have the plate out after a year I’m told. The reason for this is that if I were to fall and break the collar bone again it may break either side of the plate. This would be difficult to repair due to proximity to organs etc and not something the surgeon recommends. If removed I’m told the screw holes can take up to two years to repair during which time the holes are a weakness. Well considering this is the first collar bone break and 2rd bone break incident in 36 years (I broke humorous head and radius head 2 years ago) I should be ok. Well I hope this helps people looking at their options. All the best!