One of our brothers has fallen...
Discussion
bigdom said:
I thought the thread title was originally related to this - https://www.surrey.police.uk/news/appeal-for-witne...
Sobering thought. I'd been down that stretch of road about an hour earlier with the missus.
Fast, downhill, sweeping corner and riddled with nasty potholes. Surprised they need a witness! I Avoid that stretch and tend to go the other way....via the nice tea shop by Wyndy MillaSobering thought. I'd been down that stretch of road about an hour earlier with the missus.
Coin Slot. said:
...Any idea on if/when you can get back on a bike?
Nothing yet, the surgeon wouldn't even discuss the idea when I asked before discharge. I'm not going to worry about that yet. I've set "getting about without using crutches" as my first goal when the cast comes off. Anything more ambitious will have to be guided by doctors and physios when the time comes... yellowjack said:
TwistingMyMelon said:
...At least the TDF is starting soon 
Ah, yes. I've already watched some of the Tour Series, and Dauphine (highlights) from start to finish. Oddly enough, I seldom watch bike racing, as I prefer to be out riding my own bike at this time of year...
Echo what everyone else has said, get well soon, got to say your post did make me laugh about the pain kicking in.
Good save on the mug, I have a few favourites and always get annoyed if someone breaks them.
I assume you have some decent crutches, if not I can pop my spare set around.
Good save on the mug, I have a few favourites and always get annoyed if someone breaks them.
I assume you have some decent crutches, if not I can pop my spare set around.
t thing to happen. Hope the healing all goes well.I did something very similar back in January so I feel your pain.
Mine, however was 3 breaks in my ankle so I have scars both sides. Mines still uncomfortable 6 months later although I did manage 5 miles on my mountain bike (on the road) it's getting better everyday but it's taking longer than I hoped it would.
Mine, however was 3 breaks in my ankle so I have scars both sides. Mines still uncomfortable 6 months later although I did manage 5 miles on my mountain bike (on the road) it's getting better everyday but it's taking longer than I hoped it would.
yellowjack said:
If DC does come round, I'm sure we can arrange for a Zimmer frame and PH cycle jersey picture to post up here 
It is "only" the one leg.
Yes, I'll try to MTFU just as soon as the doctor says I'm OK.
Literally slipped on the edge of a stair taking a coffee cup downstairs. Just before midnight on 19th May. Absolutely sober too. My wife was at work (ironically at the hospital Radiology Department) having been called in for a case. I had a coffee before getting ready to fetch her home, and somehow slipped.
It was four of five steps maximum, and I only slid down on my butt, there was no head-over-heals tumbling into a tangled heap. As I tried to get up I saw my foot was at a rather disconcerting angle, with the shaft of my Tibia pressing on the skin of my leg as if trying to escape! Needless to say, that was my cue to feel pain.
My son called an ambulance, but the controller said none was available. So a trawl of neighbours turned up three who could help, one of whom was sober to drive me in to hospital.
Right Tibia and Fibula broken, very close to my ankle. Preferred repair was pins ('nails') inserted below the knee into the centre of the larger bone, and screwed into the lower bit that had broken off. Sadly that lower bit wasn't enough to screw into so open surgery to plate it, screwed into the upper part of the Tibia. Up-side down 'T' shape, bent around the "bits" at the bottom to try to draw it all together to heal. I was 'bumped' off the emergency list on the Sunday due to a more urgent case coming in and occupying the only on-duty theatre team. So a temporary straightening out and cast was done and I was doped up with opiates to get me through the night. I finally got operated on late Monday afternoon.
12 days in hospital too. A drip for a couple of days, then lots of elevation and a partial ("back-slab") cast to allow swelling to recede. Then, at ten days, I got a full cast, followed by two days to persuade the physios that I was safe to discharge. Back at home now, continuing with loads of meds, and an anti-coagulant jab every night (lucky the wife's a nurse, eh!)
Been home 11 days on strict rest and instructions to elevate the leg. Back to hospital on Thursday this week for a follow-up, cast off to check the operation scar, new X-rays, etc. More news then, hopefully, but for now it's "8 weeks non weight-bearing" and go from there.
Worst part is that no matter how hard I try to remember, I can't work out exactly what the issue was that caused me to fall. I managed to save my "Shakespear's best insults" coffee cup though!
No idea when I'll be back on my feet properly yet. Not making any plans for now, just going to wait and see what the doctors/surgeon say and take it from there, one step at a time. Maybe I'll post something to Strava once I start to get out and about on my crutches...
Cheers all!
It is "only" the one leg.
Yes, I'll try to MTFU just as soon as the doctor says I'm OK.
Literally slipped on the edge of a stair taking a coffee cup downstairs. Just before midnight on 19th May. Absolutely sober too. My wife was at work (ironically at the hospital Radiology Department) having been called in for a case. I had a coffee before getting ready to fetch her home, and somehow slipped.
It was four of five steps maximum, and I only slid down on my butt, there was no head-over-heals tumbling into a tangled heap. As I tried to get up I saw my foot was at a rather disconcerting angle, with the shaft of my Tibia pressing on the skin of my leg as if trying to escape! Needless to say, that was my cue to feel pain.
My son called an ambulance, but the controller said none was available. So a trawl of neighbours turned up three who could help, one of whom was sober to drive me in to hospital.
Right Tibia and Fibula broken, very close to my ankle. Preferred repair was pins ('nails') inserted below the knee into the centre of the larger bone, and screwed into the lower bit that had broken off. Sadly that lower bit wasn't enough to screw into so open surgery to plate it, screwed into the upper part of the Tibia. Up-side down 'T' shape, bent around the "bits" at the bottom to try to draw it all together to heal. I was 'bumped' off the emergency list on the Sunday due to a more urgent case coming in and occupying the only on-duty theatre team. So a temporary straightening out and cast was done and I was doped up with opiates to get me through the night. I finally got operated on late Monday afternoon.
12 days in hospital too. A drip for a couple of days, then lots of elevation and a partial ("back-slab") cast to allow swelling to recede. Then, at ten days, I got a full cast, followed by two days to persuade the physios that I was safe to discharge. Back at home now, continuing with loads of meds, and an anti-coagulant jab every night (lucky the wife's a nurse, eh!)
Been home 11 days on strict rest and instructions to elevate the leg. Back to hospital on Thursday this week for a follow-up, cast off to check the operation scar, new X-rays, etc. More news then, hopefully, but for now it's "8 weeks non weight-bearing" and go from there.
Worst part is that no matter how hard I try to remember, I can't work out exactly what the issue was that caused me to fall. I managed to save my "Shakespear's best insults" coffee cup though!
No idea when I'll be back on my feet properly yet. Not making any plans for now, just going to wait and see what the doctors/surgeon say and take it from there, one step at a time. Maybe I'll post something to Strava once I start to get out and about on my crutches...
Cheers all!
Back with a bit of an update.
And the first minor complaint about my treatment too. Sadly.
All was going so swimmingly too, no complaints from the original hospital stay, from housekeeping through catering up to nurses and doctors, and especially the surgeon. But I went back for my follow-up appointment at the fracture clinic, and to say it felt like a very rushed affair is understating things. It started well too.
My wife insisted I get a cab to the hospital, but I managed the relatively short hobble to the bus stop. My son walked with me to see me safe onto the bus. On arrival I nipped in to see my wife, and then up to the ward to see if I could say thank you to the staff up there, but there was an entirely different roster working and I didn't recognise any of them. Back downstairs (or more accurately down a floor in the lift! ) I signed in on the self-service machine half an hour early and had barely sat down when I was sent off to X-Ray to get fresh pictures done. A 40 minute wait due to them "misplacing me" in the wrong waiting area wasn't really an issue, and a friend working there eventually sorted things out.
Pictures taken, it was back to fracture clinic. That's where it felt very rushed. I didn't see the Consultant, but that wasn't the issue. The junior doctor who saw me just zoomed through the consultation. "So much for a review" I thought. A few questions about pain, a head nod to confirm that everything appeared to be healing OK, and he was ready to push me out of the door. No fresh cast, no wound check, no review of medication, nothing. Fortunately the consultant overheard my question, and he stuck his head round and ordered the cast be removed and the sutures inspected, exactly as he'd told me was going to happen when I was discharged from the ward.
My foot made for pretty grim viewing. It was various shades of black, purple and yellow where bruising was still showing, as well as appearing to be a completely different size and shape to the uninjured one (
) The scar was pretty "icky" too, and I couldn't really watch as the 'Dream Team' (two plaster room nurses who my wife knows very well) got it cleaned, dried, re-dressed and then set about putting me into a fetching pink cast. That required an extra nurse to hold down my knee, as I kept (involuntarily) raising it off the cushion.
Sadly work got in the way of my wife's lunch break plans, so I set off to catch the bus home, but a fortuitous encounter with a neighbour's son meant I got a lift home in a Transit van. Which was interesting to try to get into on crutches. But I made it home without issue.
I'm still knackered by the most humble of journeys. A few hundred yards to the local newsagent on Sunday left me needing an afternoon snooze, and I was panting for breath last night after hobbling upstairs and brushing my teeth. Scary just how quickly what fitness I had has deserted me.
In other news, though, I've got to watch a fair bit of cycling on telly (except when some dodgy mare is having a "do you know who I am?" style tantrum and the tennis overruns). Women's Tour of Britain, Route d'Occitanie, Tour of switzerland, etc, all watched or recorded to watch. Plus it means I've got a genuine excuse to watch every single match of the FIFA World Cup.
Apart from fellow PHers visiting (thanks for the MTB mag 'daddy cool'!) I've had invites from my neighbour to sit out with a coffee (and a stack of decent paperbacks too), visits from another Strava buddy, and two chaps I ride MTB with have offered to get me out to a pub on Thursday evening.
To everyone who has wished me well, thank you. I am humbled and most grateful for all of your concern and good wishes. I only hope that I can recover enough to get back on the bike again before the summer is finished, and maybe get out to say thank you in person.
And the first minor complaint about my treatment too. Sadly.
All was going so swimmingly too, no complaints from the original hospital stay, from housekeeping through catering up to nurses and doctors, and especially the surgeon. But I went back for my follow-up appointment at the fracture clinic, and to say it felt like a very rushed affair is understating things. It started well too.
My wife insisted I get a cab to the hospital, but I managed the relatively short hobble to the bus stop. My son walked with me to see me safe onto the bus. On arrival I nipped in to see my wife, and then up to the ward to see if I could say thank you to the staff up there, but there was an entirely different roster working and I didn't recognise any of them. Back downstairs (or more accurately down a floor in the lift!
) I signed in on the self-service machine half an hour early and had barely sat down when I was sent off to X-Ray to get fresh pictures done. A 40 minute wait due to them "misplacing me" in the wrong waiting area wasn't really an issue, and a friend working there eventually sorted things out.Pictures taken, it was back to fracture clinic. That's where it felt very rushed. I didn't see the Consultant, but that wasn't the issue. The junior doctor who saw me just zoomed through the consultation. "So much for a review" I thought. A few questions about pain, a head nod to confirm that everything appeared to be healing OK, and he was ready to push me out of the door. No fresh cast, no wound check, no review of medication, nothing. Fortunately the consultant overheard my question, and he stuck his head round and ordered the cast be removed and the sutures inspected, exactly as he'd told me was going to happen when I was discharged from the ward.
My foot made for pretty grim viewing. It was various shades of black, purple and yellow where bruising was still showing, as well as appearing to be a completely different size and shape to the uninjured one (
) The scar was pretty "icky" too, and I couldn't really watch as the 'Dream Team' (two plaster room nurses who my wife knows very well) got it cleaned, dried, re-dressed and then set about putting me into a fetching pink cast. That required an extra nurse to hold down my knee, as I kept (involuntarily) raising it off the cushion.Sadly work got in the way of my wife's lunch break plans, so I set off to catch the bus home, but a fortuitous encounter with a neighbour's son meant I got a lift home in a Transit van. Which was interesting to try to get into on crutches. But I made it home without issue.
I'm still knackered by the most humble of journeys. A few hundred yards to the local newsagent on Sunday left me needing an afternoon snooze, and I was panting for breath last night after hobbling upstairs and brushing my teeth. Scary just how quickly what fitness I had has deserted me.
In other news, though, I've got to watch a fair bit of cycling on telly (except when some dodgy mare is having a "do you know who I am?" style tantrum and the tennis overruns). Women's Tour of Britain, Route d'Occitanie, Tour of switzerland, etc, all watched or recorded to watch. Plus it means I've got a genuine excuse to watch every single match of the FIFA World Cup.
Apart from fellow PHers visiting (thanks for the MTB mag 'daddy cool'!) I've had invites from my neighbour to sit out with a coffee (and a stack of decent paperbacks too), visits from another Strava buddy, and two chaps I ride MTB with have offered to get me out to a pub on Thursday evening.
To everyone who has wished me well, thank you. I am humbled and most grateful for all of your concern and good wishes. I only hope that I can recover enough to get back on the bike again before the summer is finished, and maybe get out to say thank you in person.
rastapasta said:
Get well soon chief. Rest assured that when everyone is sitting up over winter you'll be on the turbo and will come back fitter and better next year.
Up to now I've not been a fan of, nor have I owned a turbo trainer. But I may have to swallow my pride on this one, and either beg, borrow or steal one to begin with. No current indication of when I'll be fully mobile again, and no plan in place for physiotherapy yet. But the surgeon says "at least another three weeks non-weight-bearing, with rest and elevation, and then we might get you into a weight-bearing boot". It may be another couple of months before I get near a bike (or drive a car) again, at this rate...
I have a cyclops fluid 2 thing you can borrow (will give me a good excuse to forget about it and buy a smart trainer in the winter).
Also I assume you have a tablet or pc available, plenty of magazines to down load here https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/libr... just need your postcode I think and/or library number.
I can drop a load of cyclist magazines off if you want.
I had a junior doctor telling me I needed all the meniscus taking out of my left knee (this was 9 months after the initial referral to the knee clinic). I texted the consultant who was busy and I knew from the initial private operation 7 years earlier, he called me back looking at the MRI and told me that showed his repair was still ok and if I was still riding then leave all alone. The mind does boggle at some of the NHS levels of care. The maternity ward at FPH is another story!
Also I assume you have a tablet or pc available, plenty of magazines to down load here https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/libr... just need your postcode I think and/or library number.
I can drop a load of cyclist magazines off if you want.
I had a junior doctor telling me I needed all the meniscus taking out of my left knee (this was 9 months after the initial referral to the knee clinic). I texted the consultant who was busy and I knew from the initial private operation 7 years earlier, he called me back looking at the MRI and told me that showed his repair was still ok and if I was still riding then leave all alone. The mind does boggle at some of the NHS levels of care. The maternity ward at FPH is another story!
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