Sparrow Hill stack
After beating last years dirtworks time by 2 hours, I was looking forward to similar improvements at the doctor, fling, fat tyre festival, jetblack 12, corc 24 and mont 24....
Not to be however.
During a fairly social lap of Sparrow Hill on Saturday morning, a simple front wheel washout combined with an uncharacteristically rocky landing zone conspired to bugger up my next year of biking activities.
After the initial shock of hitting the ground subsided, the damage report looked like one badly bruised quad and possibly a torn rotator cuff....shows how much I know ! Thankfully my mates were prepared, Colin had the first aid pack and Damo rigged a sling like he'd had to do it too regularly. (turns out that if i hadn't had well fitted sling, the results could have been catastrophic..).Queue the obligatory 2 hour walk through the bush to get back to the cars. It's amazing how much pain can be overcome by just 2 neurofen and some mates with a good sense of humour.
Despite my exhortations that all i needed was a shower and a lie down, my wife took one look and insisted we go to the nearest hospital ( in this case Calvary). Cutting along story short, I was told the left humerus was fractured and I'd have to see an orthopaedic specialist. As i lived in Sydney, it would be best if I could see one up here. Unfortunately, the left leg was now so swollen ( '...ok, so you're the guy with the HUGE haematoma are you..?' ) that they were afraid of compartment syndrome stopping the blood flow. I'm not the worrying type but the sideways glances and whispered use of the word 'necrosis' had me trying hard to focus though the haze of painkillers.
After another 2 days, they let us go and it was time to drive back up to Sydney....I'll spare you the details
After a quick visit to my GP, the shoulder injury was looking a bit worse than we had thought. This was confirmed by the Surgeon who's medical opinion was that I'd 'completely stuffed the humerus'. After some CT scans showed the true state of the humerus, he advised that it would be touch and go wether he could repair it ( the head of the humerus being in at least 4 pieces...). There was a fifty fifty chance that
i'd need an artificial shoulder.
Queue immediate surgery...after four hours, the job was done and I still had my own shoulder. The bad news was that the rotator cuff was shredded and the bicep tendons had been torn off at the shoulder and elbow ends. All of these were repaired, but the implications for a speedy recovery are not great. After first estimates of a return to off roading in 5 months, the physio's current predictions are probably 6 months until
i can get on a trainer, 8 months until I can get on a road bike and 10 - 12 months before I'm back on a mountain bike !
I've uploaded some images but in my drug addled haze, not sure how to link them... [Ed. here you go...]
Lessons:
Accidents can happen on the most benign bits of track.
Even at 25km/hr, a bad landing zone can be catastrophic (maybe if I was going at 40, I would have cleared the rocks and landed on the soft stuff... or not !)
First aid kits are invaluable, as is having mates who know what to do with them (my surgeon thinks I could easily have lost my arm without a well fitted sling !)
Stuff the heroics, it's probably broken, go straight to the hospital.
Go to the biggest hospital in the area... the one with the specialists should you need them.
Ask for the serious drugs BEFORE they try to contort you on an x-ray table....a whole new definition of pain.
Ok... cathartic process over.
Now what am I going to do ?
CB
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that is dreadful, you poor poor thing - however, please do remember you are always welcome at the super elite elite social dinners with us... Hope you get well or rather heal sooner rather than later and please keep us posted...
I tell you what, after Gazza's injury and now yours I'm giving the jinxed Mt Stromlo a miss.
Nice bad story by the way.
As for what you do now, well we get back to the Terry Hils Tavern around 9 Wed nights so we will see you there, after all you still have one good arm
Greg
PS take care.
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The Liver is Evil and must be punished
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Wow, that is one serious stack Craig!
I hope you have a speedy recovery and here's to hoping that the doctors/physios are being overly pessimistic with their timings...
Pikey - this was at Sparrow...
I hate to point out the obvious but he was at Sparrow Hill not Stromlo... and should you be drinking this late what with work in the morning...
but Pikey seemed to be on a roll and I didn't want to ruffle his savoie faire so to speak.
My biggest problem is imagining what size I will be when I do get back on the bike. If I don't ride constantly, I pile on weight at an alarming rate. ( even without the elite social carbo loading at the Tavern)
In six months I'll be 150kg and probably in need of a stronger bike !
Do you know if I could fit a Yeti 303DH to a trainer ?
CB
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Canberra is Evil and must be avoided
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PS: Ask Morgan, he now wears a G string since moving down there!!!!
Goodness!! I had no idea injuries like that are POSSIBLE just on 'normal'/'social' rides
All the best! I hope they gave you some good pain killers to take home!!!
in my G banger, but I might stay indoors now, seeing as it's also minus 200 degrees outside.
Get well soon Craig.
that does look nasty. First time I rode Sparrow Hill a few years ago I wish I had worn my armour, all I could see everywhere were nasty sharp rocks just waiting to catch you.
and a second ouch for the rest of us, couldn't you have atleast worn some budgy smugglers in those pics
Hope you heal soon mate, and prove the docs wrong
Apologies OF
couldn't get into any underwear and I don't have any budgie smugglers ( due to respect for aesthetics in general...).
I did think the pics were unpleasant (even without the injuries...) but can only blame the drugs for the diminished level of responsibility which allowed me to foist them on an unsuspecting mob.
At least I didn't post the front view !
Best wishes greatly appreciated.
CB
Hi Caro
how is your shoulder ? it looked pretty nasty too.
Has your recovery gone to plan?
Any tips for beginners ?
CB
All good here mate, you've still got a way to go to scar me like Mr Bloot has, on more than one occassion
Please dont post scary xrays like that again.
Hey CB!
When I saw your pictures, the x-rays reminded me of the one I posted last year but really my injury was NOTHING compared to yours (and I already felt pretty sorry for myself
)
I've been back on the bike since the Mont but not that much due to other reasons.
Not sure if my recovery is going to 'plan'. It's been 8 months since the break and over 2 months since the last surgery and I still don't have all movement back, despite lots of exercise
Good advice...
???
Make sure you see the best people you can, also/especially when it comes to Physio etc. later down the track. It's well worth the money! (Am learning that lesson myself at the moment unfortunately.)
Take your time and don't do anything stupid, while you are still healing, Murphy's law will kick in for sure!
Example: I still had the hook-plate attached to my collar bone and decided I was getting too unfit and HAD to go bush walking. Of course not on some boooring fire trail sort of track!
Murphy's law: I slipped and fell right onto the injured shoulder. Lucky it gave me just some wicked extra pain, a mad fright and the lesson that there is no point in rushing this kind of stuff. (soooo easy to say, I KNOW!!)
(Forget about all this of course if you are like Carlgroover who doesn't seem to feel any pain and who surely has a spare body in the cupboard for when the current one is expired
)
Keep us posted!
I hope time flies for you
Hey Caro
Thanks for the advice.
Right now I'm having good days and bad days (today good...yesterday bad ). I tried weaning myself off the morphine yesterday... not one of my better ideas...maybe next week.
My biggest concern is that while I'm off the bike, my waistline will expand exponentially...
I can put on weight just by looking at a bowl of pasta! I can keep this under control when I'm commuting on the bike 4 days a week, but after only a few weeks off ( well probably 3 weeks if I include the week after dirtworks where I hoovered up any food which wasn't nailed down and didn't ride to work once...) I think I'm already 7 kg up on my pre dirtworks ' fighting ' weight. I'm already nudging the psychological 100kg barrier... maybe my previous joke about 150 kg was a bit,..well, you know.
Anyway, I'm hoping that positive thought will help..... god knows what will happen if I have to resort to beer and comfort food !
I might get some details of your people for the next stage.
Thanks again
I'll keep you posted.
CB
craig...those photos were not humerus.
Hey Peter
I hope you don't see this as another excuse to postpone the inevitable conversion from the dark side to the way of the fat tyre....
Note to mobbers.... Peter is a fairly accomplished scummer who has been threatening to try the delights of going off piste.
Maybe some of the more erudite among you( you know who you are !) could help spell out the advantages, lest he thinks it's all just about pain and surgery....
I know it's just opening a perrenial can of worms, but I have very few forms of entertainment at the moment !
Incidentally, Peter has a thouroughly developed sense of humour..... well, for a scummer anyway.
Thanks in advance
CB
As I has limping along on my trashed knee a local told me about another dude in NCC who's name is craig who also given himself a good thrashing mountain biking. Must be CB and this thread.
Dude, get well and easy your way back in to it. Maybe we can join forces in "recovery rides" over the next months?
Cheers,
Staffan
Hi CB, if it's any consolation, you've made me feel positively lucky. That's some serious damage.
Mine's *just* a shoulder reconstruction. As a fellow surgery victim-in-progress, I'd echo the comments about being patient and not rushing things. i've had it made abundantly clear to me by one of my physios (a veteran of dual shoulder reconstructions himself) that I need to "respect the healing process", while continuing to apply myself to the rehab regime strictly according to instructions and to never exceed the advised limits.
Know what you mean about stacking on the weight. I'm having to reign my eating in and be very disciplined. I don't always win that fight, but I've not ballooned as much as I was expecting, and walking whenever weather permits helps I think.
Heal fast, buddy.
mmmmm should I let you in on the offer I have put in on a Yeti 575 think the username of the person selling is kburns. Looks OK, does note a few scratches, but they are keen to off load it. Fairly new too.
.
I had the question from Petert on Friday is the Oaks about as rough as what we normally ride..... I didn't lie too much byb shaking my head, did I? Suprised he is still keen after these photos.
Cheers
dk
Hey staffan.
More likel to be a recovery coffee at Curly's.
or a very very social paced walk !
Be good to meet up.
Hawkeye
Thanks for the advice... had my first day at physio today and they said pretty much the same thing. Right now I'm having some issues coming off the morphine and on to the Forte's.... not a pleasant day, but as always, tomorrow will be better ( eventually)
David
K has assured me the Yeti is not secretly for sale... but then again, she would say that !
CB
CB
CB,
Our kids are also in the same class apparently
A coffee at curly sounds like a good idea.
Hang in there !
Cheers,
Staffan