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Earned my EN Crash Black Belt Merit Badge on Friday, August 18th

Hi Patrick

Congratulations on the outstanding IMMT performancee and your KQ!  I got to track you from a hospital bed because I went down on a training ride the Friday afternoon before.  The short story: wonderful support from cyclists and runners on the trail.  Full scan by the trauma team indicated I took the impact on my left back and left clavicle:  6 fractured ribs (none displaced), a commutated (lots of pieces)  broken clavicle and a fractured transverse process in one of my vertebrae.  No concussion, no head, neck or spinal column damage, no shoulder damage, and all is well with the lower body. I chose to have surgery on the clavicle to accelerate healing and ease the pain and they did that Sunday afternoon.  I was released Monday afternoon. So all in all, a blessing because it could have been much worse.

My A races were 7/8, 70.3 Muncie and 8/13 70.3 Steelhead so I got those in and performed well!  We won the team award both times.  So I can rest, follow doctors orders, and build my strength up patiently.  I see the orthopedic surgeon for follow-up Wednesday,  I have scanned some other team posts and see that a typical order of things to do with my injuries is walk, elliptical, bike on trainer, outdoor bike rides, running, then swimming.  I have begun to walk the neighoorhood each morning and will have the how much-how soon conversation with the surgeon Wednesday.  

If there are key posts you would point me to or thoughts you have, I welcome them.  I feel very good actually and my spirits are high so expect that my journey back will be swift and teach me alot!

Scott

Comments

  • hate to chime in on someone's micro thread, ever, but wanted to wish you a speedy and as pain free of a recovery as possible. Sorry to hear about your crash & injuries 
  • Thanks so much, Scott!!
  • @Scott Liston -  Man that sucks so bad, but I'm glad you have the perspective to know how successful your year already has been. Plus we all crash sometime, so it's nice for you to have that behind you. Although it probably doesn't feel that way right now!

    I found a post I wrote a while back when I broke mine you can read it here: http://pmccrann.posthaven.com/broken-collarbone-lessons-from-a-triathlete

     For me the biggest way to speed recovery was getting a therapist who would do a lot of soft tissue work and manipulate my arm and to good positions. You will already be great with exercises on your own at home, what you need is someone who's going to be hands-on with you in the recovery space.

    You will be back before you know it, but for now keep that one clean and clear of sweat so there's no infection. Remember, I had to have a second surgery because my incision became infected which was awful. 

    You deafly want to walk to stay loose and the good news is you'll be back into training by the time we start the out season. Please feel free to reach out to me anytime here as I'm happy to help especially with any related questions!
  • Thanks, Patrick.  Very helpful.  I look forward to being fully back by the Outseason!
  • @Scott Liston -  no worries. It's a very long process, especially when you face it every day. But focus on the process not the outcome, and the right outcome will appear.

    I firmly believe that all of these things happen for a reason, and how you handle it will define who you will be when you return. I am sure there are tons of things that could use the attention that only YOU could bring, make it work and life and everything else so much better while you take a break from Triathlon. 

    One thing I did that helped me was a regular checking with the forums here. Feel free to write an update and let us know how things are going to be couple weeks. Can't wait to have you back!
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