Thick Jack Clot sits in the stocks and gets pelted with rancid tomatoes
Not many posts this year, I guess. But maybe quality is better than quant.... ah.... best not finish that sentence. Yep, it would seem that 2010 has been my busiest blogging year since 2005 and no mistake. Some of my silence has been intentional, but other bits of it, less so.
In mid August, I was all set for my traditional two week holiday and the only thing I'd decided I really wanted to do was get back out on my bike again. I've been a keen, long-distance cyclist for most of my adult life, but have almost always stuck to roads. And unlike most of the "cyclists" Five-Centres encounters, I have always obeyed the Highway Code, stopped at lights and junctions, and remained courteous to all road users and pedestrians alike. In spite of having never "met my maker", I am usually met with sharp intakes of breath whenever I discuss my cycling preference with friends or colleagues ("Yer takin' yer life in yer hands oan thae roads, pal").
Anyway, what better way to kick my holiday off - and stay safe - than a bit of a off road mountainbiking? Sunday 15 August 2010 is a day I'll never forget. In fact, it's a day I keep reliving when I close my eyes at night... It was the first day for weeks that it hadn't rained; the skies were clear and blue and the sun blazed. I was persuaded to join a few colleagues on a trip to the famed mountainbike trails of Glentress, Peebles.
I won't bore you with all the detail, but suffice to say after taking an hour-and-a-bit to cycle to the top (at a leisurely pace), I was flat on my face within the first two minutes on the way down. Quite how it went wrong I'll never know, but essentially there was a jump where I didn't know there was one. And it wasn't just a pissy wee thing either; the lead-up threw me in the air and because I didn't know there was a drop on the other side, I didn't have time to level the bike up for landing. I went over the handle bars at speed...
Broken nose... severely bruised ribs... torn rotator cuff (right shoulder)... broken left elbow... one week (including my birthday!) spent in hospital... an operation to pin my "shattered" elbow back together... and six weeks off work. How on Earth I've still got two front teeth, I'll never know. Thankfully my nose still looks the same, even if it feels totally different, the ribs are fine and my right shoulder is healing steadily and surely. My elbow is making very slow progress and will continue to do so. I can't bend my arm upwards, can't hold a fork to my mouth and can't scratch my head, but I am assured by the hospital consultants and physio that I will regain this movement through time. I really hope so.
It's not all doom and gloom. This is my third week back at work (albeit on reduced hours) and I'm now finding I can drive the car again (moving the gearstick was the problem - I didn't even have the strength to move into 1st gear before). And most of all, in my heart of hearts, I know things could very well have been far, far worse.
Oh yes... and I've got a right bastard of a scar. You should see it, it looks as hard as fuck.
7 comments:
Christ. And I thought cycling was a great way to stay fit and healthy. I think I'll stick to riding my sofa to the TV and back.
Glad to hear you are recovering. ;-)
Blimey! Poor you. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often in citites, but in the countryside I had no idea it could be so treacherous.
Glad you're on the mend. Get well soon.
An extremely good excuse for your distinct lack of online presence of late. I imagine what happened to you might well be termed as "fucking sore". I wish you a very speedy recovery and glad to hear you are already some way along the road towards that.
Nightmare!!
Only just caught up with this. Sorry to hear about your accident. I fractured my right elbow in September 2009, and had severely restricted motion until a second op last June. I'm now back to about 75% of full ROM and that's as good as it's going to get. How's yours going? Deepest sympathy.
Many thanks to all of you.
@Louis Barfe
Just went to see the consultant at the hospital this week. He was going to decide whether to operate to take the metalwork back out to give me some more movement, but is undecided and is now referring me to another consultant. The whole process will just drag on.
I've certainly had a noticeable improvement in upwards movement which now allows me to do undervalued things like touch my face, but the downward movement is not great. My arm won't straighten (and it's unlikely it'll ever be like it was before). Not relishing the thought of more surgery, but need to think long term...
@CBQ
You are indeed correct. I'd say "fucking sore" sums it up pretty well. In fact, I'm not sure if/when it'll ever stop hurting.
As you've no doubt discovered, an arm that won't extend fully is less of a handicap than one with limited flexion. Where are you at right now? I went hell for leather with the physio after the 1st op, but could only get a range of 40 degrees to 90 degrees. Turned out I had a bony block, which was thought to be heterotopic ossification - rogue bone growth. I couldn't touch my face, and I couldn't scratch my head without looking like Stan Laurel. They ummed and ahhed about a second op before referring me to a different specialist at a different hospital. He said metalwork out, should see slight improvement, but no guarantees. I've now got 30-120, which is more than functional. I suspect that if I'd gone straight to that after the first op, I'd have been moping about it now, but after 9 months with roughly half that range, I'm counting my blessings. Good luck, and if you need to talk through it with someone else whose arm is like a novelty pencil case, let me know. Go for the second op. No question. I have to say, I wish I'd had the specialist who did the second op doing the first. He was top notch. Best of all, he did every follow-up appointment. After the first op, I saw a different one each time.
@Louis Barfe
I must admit, I'm not too sure what range I've got now or what might happen next. I'll need to see what this next consultant has to make of it all. The upward movement has improved significantly since Christmas.
Hah! I totally get the Stan Laurel bit... I was exactly the same and precisely the same thought went through my head.
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