Stepping it up to National Level

[Mr. Cleetus]

craaaaap! noooooooooooooooooooooo! sorry to hear that. Four months for a dislocated wrist, that is amazing.

[Frostfire]

Aw, man - what a sucky last couple of weeks! My sympathies for sure. Make sure to keep your log updated at least now and then on how healing progress is going, don't just leave us in the dark!

[soniczip]

ah, what a crap day you had! maybe you'll heal faster though ... put effort on it. also, that could be an opportunity to try something else, like running for example. keep us posted!

[downhillingdemon]

Well, this being borked thing - it's actually been a rather rewarding experience!

Lemme do a quick recap:
Saturday + Sunday - Did some of the biggest and best riding I have, probably ever, pulled off. Rode everything I was planning to on the holiday, and was pretty pleased with how things were progressing.

Monday - Did some good jumps, washed out on way into a massive gap and went off the lip with the bike and fell a long ol' way, got borked spent night in hospital on liquid morphine (loverely)

Tuesday - finally got in for 2 hr's on the emergency surgery table in the morning = more morphine + general

Wednesday - bit wasted, but managed to get back to work reporting from home, with my left hand. Right hand feeling very strange

Thursday - massive painkiller comedown, but still felt pretty positive. Movement starting to return in my fingers and nasty pins and needles reducing. Worked a fair bit.

Friday - worked a bit, went to hospital, found out didn't need carpel op as nerve problems were definitely reducing with the swelling. Woot!

Saturday - Chilled a lot, still ended up back in A&E on Saturday night with a nasty infection which had left me weeing blood Definitely my lowest point.

Sunday - super antibiotics kicked in - by the evening I was feeling much better

Monday - went up on the hills to walk, but ended up running the flat and downhills - 30 mins of CV, felt amazing after. Pins and needles pretty much gone, more and more movement coming back. Shooting pains in fingers that were relieved if I bit them! Struggling with the left-hand challenge - although very enjoyable, very mentally demanding and was finding reporting time tripled, plus I struggled to do a full day.

Tuesday - reported as best i could for work. went down gym, arranged to get advice later in week regarding machines and what I would be able to work with, 45 mins hard CV on bikes. Arm swelled up a bit, but went down quickly once I was walking home.

Wednesday - walked to town, realised I could finally type again with my right hand a bit. It got sore, but I managed to churn out shed loads of work and was so grateful for it. Realised I could clean my teeth as quickly with my left hand as my right, which certainly wasn't the case the week before! Left hand still very sore from accident and it's not getting much rest, but I'm dealing with it ok.

Thursday - got taken to site and spent two surveys writing survey notes with my left hand, was amazed at how well I managed and that they were mostly legible! Amazing how quickly the brain adapts to need. Truely amazing actually. Arm swelled up badly on site, two surveys was prolly overdoing it, even though I tried to keep it upright, I think just walking around causes it to swell after a while. Walked to gym in evening, did 30 mins on stationary bikes then legpress, leg extension, abs, walked home

My legs are shot from all the walking, my brain is shot from all the thinking! It's been such a rewarding experience though, working out the best way to do things with only one, slightly sore, and already retarded from previous break, left hand

Had some gorgeous evenings walking about in the sun as I can't drive, so many things I have had chance to appreciate. And the time is flying by already.

craaaaap! noooooooooooooooooooooo! sorry to hear that. Four months for a dislocated wrist, that is amazing.

Yeah, funny cos my initial thought was 'oh, dislocation, thank gawd it's not broken'........but actually it's a more serious injury than a standard break - the scaphoid popped out and rotated 180 degrees and they had to reattach a load of tendons and ligaments etc etc so the recovery time is related more to the soft tissue recovery than anything else.

I suspect I'll be back before that though, unless I do anything stupid. I keep accidently using the hand because I am soo incredibly right dominant, and kick myself every time I hurt it!

[soniczip]

I suspect I'll be back before that though

you will

[downhillingdemon]

Friday - lunchtime 42 min trail run. Felt like hard, but enjoyable, work.

[bob_summers]

Not sure how I missed this - sorry to hear you're broken. Hope all goes well with the recovery and you can stay active in the meantime. On the plus side... you're gonna have one hell of a mojo when you get back on a bike

[downhillingdemon]

Not sure how I missed this - sorry to hear you're broken. Hope all goes well with the recovery and you can stay active in the meantime. On the plus side... you're gonna have one hell of a mojo when you get back on a bike

Cheers Bob

Too right about the mojo!!! In fact I'm prolly gonna be back on the HT this weekend.....on flat smooth trails where I don't really need a front brake though (sssshhh don't tell the consultant). But as long as I am pedalling, then that's gonna make me more than spectacularly happy.

This weekend was very much fun as..........I got to try out a tandem care of a rather awesome riding buddy who booked one for Saturday afternoon! How awesome is that? It was brilliant fun. Obviously with the borked arm I was on the back and it took a while to get used to the fact I had absolutely no control over the situation and that my job was pretty much to pedal and give hand signals if we were on the road. But once I stopped feeling nervous and relaxed into it it was really awesome. The climbing power of two people on one bike is immense and it was such a strange, but chilled feeling being able to cruise along and look at the scenery without worrying about having to steer/brake. Everyone should have a go!

Sunday - 30 minute run

Monday - Cast change day

Got to see the damage, get pics of the x-rays and a rather fetching blue cast - couldn't really ask for much more!

So this is the soon-to-be scar - it's only gonna be a feint one I think, very neat cut!


This is my lovely fibreglass cast which is already giving sooo much more support and allowing me to do a lot more without pain.


This is the original x-ray - difficult to tell the damage unless you know what you are looking for, but the lunate and scaphoid has bunched up where they shifted out of the joint.


...and this is the fix with the screw through them to hold them still


This was the bruising to both hands about a week after I did it...

[Big Good Wolf]

There were two guys riding 24 hours solo on a tandem at Bontrager TwentyFour12 a couple of weeks ago. They were surprisingly fast through the woods.
Be good to see you back on the bike soon, even if it is just flat smooth trails.

[downhillingdemon]

Cheers BGW

Monday - rest

Tuesday morning 11 am - 55 minute run. Was only gonna do 30 mins but lost track of the time. Pain threshold is very high atm, this is not always a good thing; was running thinking ooh, my heel is a bit sore, must be some gravel in my trainer. Couldn't be arsked with stopping so just ran through it only to get home and find it was my trainer that had been rubbing and was now covered in a fair amount of blood

Tuesday evening - gym. Walked to gym so didn't need warm up. Leg press, leg extensions, abs work. Walked home.

I is a wee bit sore today

[Johnstuff]

Interesting read DHD, I figured you must have gone off the gap after washing out. That's probably one of the wrost things that can happen.
It amazes me how well you're taking this in your stride. I remember getting a lil peed off with my wrist recently.
Sounds like your recovery is going well, with a bit of luck you'll heal a fair bit quicker than they predict. Hope you can make it to the FoD this weekend

[downhillingdemon]

Interesting read DHD, I figured you must have gone off the gap after washing out. That's probably one of the wrost things that can happen.
It amazes me how well you're taking this in your stride. I remember getting a lil peed off with my wrist recently.
Sounds like your recovery is going well, with a bit of luck you'll heal a fair bit quicker than they predict. Hope you can make it to the FoD this weekend

Yeah, it was an arse of a time to wash out Prolly the biggest gap I'd tried as well, but you know, shit happens, it'll be there for another day! Had done so much I wasn't expecting to already so was still pleased where my riding had got to, although I do wonder if I could've saved it with a bit more experience. It'll take a long while to get back there again, but that's fine, I'm in no rush.

I don't think it's gonna phase me much. So much stuff had been going on over the few months before the crash if anything it's been a blessing more than a curse as it's given me chance to slow down, regroup and reassess what's important.

Bit of a fucker being stuck in the cast (and not getting go ahead to drive) until at least the 4th October, but time goes so fast that it'll be here before I know it anyway.

Wednesday - rest

Thursday - 30 mins biking and abs at gym

Friday - rest

Saturday - few hours easy paced (mostly) on the, yup, MTB! Ok, not off-road, but paved cycle routes n parks, but it was sooo great to be out.

Sunday - rest

[downhillingdemon]

Monday - Gym
Didn't think I was gonna make it, site went on longer than planned and then the van I was brought home in automatically locked itself, with my colleague's keys inside! Luckily the wait for the AA gave me time to get ready AND blag a lift off him to the gym, so it all worked out well in the end

30 minutes stationary bike
Leg press/leg extensions/more leg press/abs stuff
Walk home

Tuesday - Run
52 minutes on the hills. Running endurance has definitely come back. Still slow, but I could've run for hours this morning. As it was I had to get back for work and to escape the impending storm as I had nothing waterproof to cover my plaster cast.

[downhillingdemon]

Wednesday - 40 run (plus 10 minute walk in middle!)

Thought I'd managed to overcome those horrendous cramps that stopped me running a while back. Today they came back Managed 15 minutes and then just had the worst pelvic pain that made me stop and nearly throw up; absolute agony and up there on the pain scale with the dislocated wrist, I am NOT joking. Really really bad pain. Walked it off though, and within 10 minutes was running again like nothing had happened.

Can't quite work out what causes them, although I do have some ideas. Bizarre, I shall have to test some theories. I'm stuck in this cast until at least October 4th (unless I end up cutting the bluddy thing off myself) so have plans to do a decent off-road 10 miler run before then and will be reet pissed if that plan is scuppered cos of some stupid cramps.

Although I am planning to do some more riding this weekend. I am so tempted to modify the cast so I can hold the bars better.....

This week I have managed to......... carry a bag of shopping, pick up a heavy saucepan, use a hammer, turn my tap off, unlock the door and generally use my right hand a lot more than last week. They cannot be serious that I have to stay in plaster until the 4th and not give me permission to drive. Grrr

(you may have noticed the novelty of being broken is wearing off rapidly with the increasing annoyance at not being allowed to drive)

[JohnBarleycorn]

Ouch !

Impressed at everything you're doing while still injured !

Respect !