Cycling accident - get well soon!

[deborahdelamar]

Deb, I've seen you pedaling around in town many,many times, you usually look like your on a mission. Take it easy though, you'll heal quicker. Be well.

Haha! My mission is usually to get where I need to go without getting hit. I used to race along Manhattan's avenues to stay on green light sequences & old habits die hard.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

Deb,

Get well soon. I’m almost seven weeks from surgery after a cycling accident and have had quite a few chances to discuss recovery with others who have had other injuries. There is just no way to say an accident is good thing and it may keep you out of the water for months to come and away from other things you love. That said the track record of others suggests that there is a good chance you will be out there again. It may be too early for you to have entered physical therapy but when you get there work hard. It takes a lot of time, and it takes much more time than most people expect, but in the end it is the shortest route to recovery. Best of luck.

Andy

 

[deborahdelamar]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. I'm coming down is a few weeks, if there is anything I can bring down for you I would be happy to help out.

Thanks for the offer, David. Right now, I have more stuff than I can use!

 

[shawrg]

I've taken a few tumbles on a bike but managed to land safely. Care to share details of the spill? Get well soon!

 

[annlaur]

So sorry to read this Deb, hope you get better soon and keep your spirits high. Take care.

 

[deborahdelamar]

the track record of others suggests that there is a good chance you will be out there again. It may be too early for you to have entered physical therapy but when you get there work hard. It takes a lot of time, and it takes much more time than most people expect, but in the end it is the shortest route to recovery. Andy

Hi, Andy.

I've been a serious cyclist for over 40 years and worked in the bike industry for 25 of those. This is my third accident with injury and, as before, I have every intention of riding again -- I still love it and I don't drive. Each of these accidents was pavement related: The first by riding into a wide-slat storm grate hidden under autumn leaves; the second by riding through a heating oil spill (that was a weird one -- I fell toward traffic & a car ran over my hand and crushed it when I was trying to get up; otherwise I was oily and fine); and the latest was the deja vu: I went through some sort of viscous, slick fluid atop the sealed concrete of the Malecon. Stuff happens...

You're absolutely right about PT though I doubt I'll need it this time.

One of our REEF Surveyors had a horrific bike accident near his home in Arkansas two years ago. Big hip & leg damage with complications. Several surgeries. He was out of the water and off the bike for a long time but he's back into both & came down for the Cozumel field survey in December.

Sounds like you also had a big crash. Hope you recover quickly and get back in the saddle as well as get wet as soon as you're cleared.

All Best,
Deb

 

[deborahdelamar]

Care to share details of the spill? Get well soon!

Not too exciting. I was riding my regular route home - Malecon north to Calle 4, right turn onto Calle 4... Because of Carnaval, there was a lot of traffic and a solid line of parked cars to my right. Usually, there are few cars and easy traffic on Melgar north of Salas at that time of day. I rode between the parked cars & the traffic lane at a "fair clip." (I ride fast.) There were a lot of unidentified wet spots on the malecon but normally these are water that shopkeepers use to clean their floors & sidewalks.

The Malecon, as you know, is varnished, stained concrete, so liquid tends to sit on top until it evaporates. There wasn't enough water on the road that afternoon to cause hydroplaning so one of the puddles wasn't water. Whatever it was coated my tires and, as long as I rode a straight line, they were maintaining contact with the road. But when I angled into the right turn at 4, the front wheel let go, the bike flew out from under me, and I went down.

The locations of the fracture and the bruise indicate that the bike inflicted more damage than the pavement did.

 

[Brules]

Only advice I can offer is: DONT MOVE! You probably know what I mean by now! Are you having the "stabbed with a hot poker" feeling when you go to stand?

 

[deborahdelamar]

\Are you having the "stabbed with a hot poker" feeling when you go to stand?

I only feel the fracture-related sensation when I do something wrong -- put weight on the wrong cheek, reach too far out or too low, and stresses when I'm off-balance with the crutches. Then I feel an electric zap kinda thing; unpleasant and alarming but not really painful. I'm sore from the fall and had muscle spasms in my back, butt & thighs first few days --the meds took care of those.

 

[Brules]

Glad to hear that! Doesn't sound TOO bad! Good luck getting well!

Stay off the bike for 4-6 if you can. The way it was put to me is the pelvic fracture heals like putting two items together with elmers glue.....the stabbing pain is the glue being pulled apart as it dries kind of. So the more you can not move, the quicker it drys. Unfortunately - doing anything but lying down pulls the glue apart so to speak lol! Mine must have been pretty bad comparitively speaking, so I am glad to hear you aren't too bad off considering!