Thanks for all the pertinent info! I'm thinking of ways I can file and carry that with me once I get back out on the bike.

Speaking of: Still in a sling, ribs still tender, the doc yelled at me not to get on the trainer because he doesn't want me to sweat into the post-surgery incision for another week. Looks like I'll still not be able to use my left arm much for a least another month. But thanks to a friend, I'm using a Compex to try to keep some muscle tone in my legs. Hm, you can also use these on the abs... hey ladies!

As I find out more about my blabbering immediately post-accident, the more I realize what a sorry example of a human I am. I guess some reactions are biologically determined at a low level, but apparently (I don't remember) I didn't take the pain all that stoically. Apologies to all.

Hope to get out and spectate soon, to watch you magnificent bastards give it your all (safely)!

Found another more complete list of emergency numbers for cell phones that includes many cities in NCNCA territory http://www.getice.com/news/emergencynumbers

IN most places if you call 911 on your cell phone your call is routed to the CHP dispatch center. Then the CHP dispatch center has to route your call to the proper local 911 call center. If you look in the phone book for each city you can find the 7 digit phone number for the local 911 call center. If you have a cell phone it would be faster to call the 7 digit number for the city you are in and that 7 digit number will get you to the local 911 dispatch.

You can look in the front pages of your white pages phone book to get the 7 digit numbers for local cities. For example

Oakland Fire/medical rescue 911 or 510-444-1616
Alameda 510-337-2100
Berkeley 510-981-5911

See http://www.stanford.edu/dept/EHS/prod/training/resource/911Alt_Phone.pdf for a bunch of other 7 digit phone numbers for bay area cities.

Best wishes, Dan, for a rapid and complete recovery, and to Taitt as well!

In the event of an accident like Dan's, is there a faster way of getting medical help to the scene than dialing 911? The gentleman who called 911 when Dan crashed was on hold for what I'm guessing to be about 10 minutes before he was connected to an operator. Can one call the local police or fire/rescue directly, or do you just get routed back to the 911 system?

tripartite = three place, so his clavicle was broken in three places, not just the busman's two places.

Good to hear that you're starting on your road to recovery Dan. Since this is your thread, posting here is not spam. Your positive attitude is great to hear.

tripartite break of the clavicle

i don't even know what that means.

and now that you have all that time on your hands ... give me a blog to read.

i've been waiting, and waiting ...

Morning Dan,

Glad to hear that your slowly getting better.
I'm just months off a double fracture of the
calvical and a rib. (Over the bars)
I know, you know not to panic about training,
make sure everything heals properly.
Rushing back can have long terms effects down
the road. As Warren had stated, get PT. Their
supervision will speed you to a faster recovery.
Once you start training everything comes back fast.

:D

Your riding was probably fine since there wasn't going to be much in the way of bone healing in that first week. In fact it's kind of a reverse healing that goes on that first week as the dead/damaged tissue dies back and stabilizes itself.

My coach was also my doctor, so I couldn't cheat much, but riding and movement helps get bloodflow into the area that doesn't normally get much, and that helps speed the healing as long as there isn't movement that keeps the bone from healing.

The old school approach of immobilizing the shoulder for clavicle and scapula fractures results in far more re-hab time for the surrounding tissues/muscles. For my shoulder fracture and then AC separation last season my coach/doctor had me doing passive range of motion the first day. For those exercises, have a look at the pulley system that fits over the top of a door. And by now you probably know about the "pendulum" movements, or you soon will. :-)

thanks, warren. it's a tripartite break of the clavicle, not the scapula, but good to hear about your experience.

(don't tell my doctor i was doing an hour a day on the trainer the week before my surgery.)

I had a bad fracture of the scapula last year. You can immobilize the arm with one of those good slings that holds it against your torso, and ride a trainer, or do like I did and join a gym for 3 months for riding on their bikes and using the leg machines. And the gym scenery is generally better than around your trainer. Riding a recumbent seemed like a good idea, but the change in position and gravity ended that idea in 5 minutes.

I thought I might be able to ride my mtb sooner than my road bike because of the shocks, cushioning, but the position on the mtb has my arms closer to vertical and that hurt my shoulder. My first outdoor rides were on my road bike with a raised stem. I suggest a Ritchey adjustable stem. They allow up to 45 degree of rise and you can gradually lower it as you heal and get more comfortable.

I was fortunate to work with Max Testa (my coach) and the fine people at UC Davis Sports Medicine and one thing I liked was the x-rays every 10-14 days so my healing progress could be closely monitored, and so I could get the green light to ride outdoors asap. Sprints had to wait an additional 3-4 weeks, but I did do some in the saddle before that.

You're in for a few months of restrengthening your rotator cuff muscles. The elastic bands and the ball will become your friends. Probably a sponge roller too. Be very careful not to overdo, or compensate too much with your healthy arm. I got used to doing with one arm, what I used to do with two arms, and ended up straining a tendon that took longer to heal than the fracture.

You'll gain a whole new appreciation for your fitness and your ability to exercise and train, when that's unimpeded by injury.

spamming my own thread... i guess this is what one does when one doesn't have a blog.

had shoulder reconstruction today. they numbed my left arm from the neck down from it; if you've never experienced this, it's pretty amazing to realize how heavy that thing is, and how it'll just drop into your way, right out of a sling. as for the sling, supposed to have it for some weeks and do damn little with that arm in that time, so no outdoors for me, and probably no trainer for a while. certainly no golfing. not that i golf, but now i can't.

if anyone has experience with this and what i should expect, i'd be glad to hear. if anyone is curious about what this is like, or is about to go through this, i'm glad to share.

spammer out,

d

Yeah, I _am_ missing some wit, aren't I? At least half.

Thanks, Mr. H!

so good to have you back, DT.

missed the wit.
m

First of all, thanks to everyone for the help (Zig and Lar go into permanent exhibit in the Hall of Justice/Fame/Heroes), the well-wishing, the phone calls (sorry, took it off the hook at times), the visits, everything. Gifts on conversation, news, reading materials were all much appreciated and the chocolate -- not a fan, myself -- were an effective lure to keep the girlfriend coming back.

I am sorry and embarrassed the whole thing happened. I do not remember the incident itself (or anything of that night, but I know I wasn't really in Florida to watch the Space Shuttle, despite my insistence at the time) and apologize if it was my fault, though I've been mostly told it was just "one of those things". Had bad dreams that others went down but was relieved to hear that wasn't the case.

Lar runs a great program on Tuesday nights when he doesn't have to and probably does not get a whiff of a challenge from duffers such as myself. The man gives metric tonnes to the sport -- Respect .

So it took most of the day and the threat of just walking out, but finally got discharged on the 8th and went home. The lung's reinflated and has no barbed tube it in no more -- I'll spare you the gory about how it came out -- and the ribs are knitting away as I type. Or grinding. The sound's about the same. Seems like I'll have to have surgery to make my hella displaced clavicle behave, but that could expedite healing. Learned fact: unlike most bones, the clavicle gets blood not by a direct artery but through the muscle tissues attached to it. This is why that bone is often slow to heal.

Hope to get in some secret trainer training as soon as possible and be back out on the road, knocking down -- I mean, knocking elbows -- with you all soon. I will be out doing the Briggs thing, cheering on my girl, as soon as she's good to race again (there's another story there, but for her to tell).

Little facts about week-long hospital stays:

1. You may lose weight (dropped 3-4 lbs) and fat (down to ~3.5%), but you also lose muscle and do not come out looking 2-3% more buff.

2. Blood does pool in your butt muscles. Gotta move if you can.

3. If you don't have a single room, at least one of your roommates will snore. It's been a while since I've shared sleeping situations with strangers (um, my mom doesn't read this, does she?), so I'd forgotten that fact.

4. There's always someone down the hall who makes the place sound like Gitmo. Was sad.

5. TV you don't get to pick sucks. Had never watched The Situation Room but thought, this guy does this professionally?

6. You may catch up on your smart-person reading list, but always have a "beach book"/thriller/page-turning junk book at hand... painkillers are great, and help you breathe, but don't help the concentration.

Again, thanks to everyone. Stay safe, watch out for evil drivers, watch out for each other.

Not good - Hope you heal up quickly Dan. That's horrible news. :(