Epic Crash
Seems like so many are asking about it so I thought I'd post here and fill you all in.
I was 5 (6?) weeks out from IMLP with an ambitious schedule planned. I was to head up to VT on Tuesday afternoon, swim in my lake on Wednesday & Thursday mornings, lay final plans on Camp Hoff's round 1 of construction and head up to the EN Lake Placid Camp Thursday afternoon. I would follow this up with my own mini-camp from July 4-7 with big rides, runs & swims in Vermont.
After recovering from Epic Al Camp with good daily runs and 2 solid Vasa swims I left my house at 6am on Saturday morning planning on riding a bit over 100 miles. The first loop actually took me within a half mile of my house at around 30 miles. I opted to take the bike path instead of the roads (both are in horrible shape) for the last three miles. At least the bike path is a steady 1.5-2% incline vs the rolling hills of this section of road.
As I was beginning the approach to a major intersection and the need to come out of aero bars, I hit one of the many shizzy bumps pushed up by roots on this path. I saw the cockpit just slammed to the right.
I definitely lost a few seconds or more of memory, but I think that's just the brain blocking out an accident. My helmet, despite what EMT said afterwards, did have impact shown on the right side at the rim(they said no damage). That said, I never had a headache, or any signs of head trauma or concussion (both of which I've had in the past.)
Quick self check - was having trouble breathing, right side, shoulder hurt, right hand had trouble being used and was bloody. After laying on the ground moaning for what was probably only a minute, I felt my collar bone with my left hand expecting to find it broken, it wasn't. I managed to get up, pick up bike, realized i needed it on my left side to use left arm and walked 150 yards to the main intersection, saw a high planter in front of the shop at the intersection, leaned on that, called Jill. My house after all was a half mile away. She got there quickly with my neighbor and MTB friend Gil, who is a doc. He took one look at me and called 911.
Ambulance showed up, collar on, full neck/back injury precautions and rushed off to Westchester County Medical Center. Not the closest hospital, but a Level 1 Trauma center. Scary? being in a Trauma center and having a neck/ back injury. Having docs lifting you up and poking your spine asking about pain in spots, feeling it and responding affirmatively. Full round of CT scans and x-rays, eventually admitted for observation. Later in the afternoon they determined my spine injuries weren't critical and removed the neck brace.
Made it through a pretty sleepless night, and progressed through the next day (Sunday). BTW, I ate a big ass salad for dinner on Friday, nothing on Saturday morning, had a bottle and a half of electrolytes (no cals) in the first 1:45 of the ride I completed. I was heading to my local coffee shop for some bananas & water when this happened. So, in the hospital where they are concerned about a potential trip to the OR, no food... I went over 48 hours without eating.
My injuries -
my right hand clearly has some soft tissue damage that they did not identify, just that nothing was broken. I have two broken Transverse Processes in my T1 & t2 Vertabrae, 7 broken ribs (try reading a report that says "ribs 2 through 5." and a broken right Scapula.
Sunday afternoon I was taken for a standing xray. I had not been out of bed since being placed in the Gurney by the EMTs. This xray was to tell the trauma surgeons if I needed a back brace for the next 6 weeks or not. The technician had me stand in a horribly awkward position for a minute 3x for the xrays. It hurt like hell and I was huffing and puffing like I was running the last mile of a hard race, I also had the same amount of sweat pouring off of me. Good news is that I did not need a brace.
I was released on Monday afternoon and have been doing surprisingly well. I am walking around, barely taking much in the way of pain meds beyond tylenol as of today. Each day has been less and less in terms of pain meds.
While the ribs hurt and seem to be healing and the same can be said for the transverse process breaks, the scapula and the arm seem to be a problem. I am willing to bet that my injuries there are more than just some breaks. That will be a recovery issue.
My headspace on this has been surprisingly good. I've yet to have the woe is me moment and I've taken the evaporation of my season in stride. I have lost two seasons in the past to a cardiac mis-diagnosis & a herniated disc. This year I really didn't feel trained on the run due to an injury I've been fighting and a lack of consistency to my training.
My hope is that in a few weeks I will be back on a bike trainer. My biggest hope is that my Right arm really isn't more than a damaged Scapula.
I guess the biggest part is swallowing the fact that a pretty benign bump in the road took me out. That said, the bike path is in awful shape. A neighbor of mine wrecked on it and woke up in the hospital with a broken forehead and nose. A avid cyclist one town over died three years ago, and the respective stakeholders (NYS & Westchester County) quibble over who is responsible, so THAT is annoying.
Thank you to everyone who's given me calls, texts, group me & forum posts.
I was 5 (6?) weeks out from IMLP with an ambitious schedule planned. I was to head up to VT on Tuesday afternoon, swim in my lake on Wednesday & Thursday mornings, lay final plans on Camp Hoff's round 1 of construction and head up to the EN Lake Placid Camp Thursday afternoon. I would follow this up with my own mini-camp from July 4-7 with big rides, runs & swims in Vermont.
After recovering from Epic Al Camp with good daily runs and 2 solid Vasa swims I left my house at 6am on Saturday morning planning on riding a bit over 100 miles. The first loop actually took me within a half mile of my house at around 30 miles. I opted to take the bike path instead of the roads (both are in horrible shape) for the last three miles. At least the bike path is a steady 1.5-2% incline vs the rolling hills of this section of road.
As I was beginning the approach to a major intersection and the need to come out of aero bars, I hit one of the many shizzy bumps pushed up by roots on this path. I saw the cockpit just slammed to the right.
I definitely lost a few seconds or more of memory, but I think that's just the brain blocking out an accident. My helmet, despite what EMT said afterwards, did have impact shown on the right side at the rim(they said no damage). That said, I never had a headache, or any signs of head trauma or concussion (both of which I've had in the past.)
Quick self check - was having trouble breathing, right side, shoulder hurt, right hand had trouble being used and was bloody. After laying on the ground moaning for what was probably only a minute, I felt my collar bone with my left hand expecting to find it broken, it wasn't. I managed to get up, pick up bike, realized i needed it on my left side to use left arm and walked 150 yards to the main intersection, saw a high planter in front of the shop at the intersection, leaned on that, called Jill. My house after all was a half mile away. She got there quickly with my neighbor and MTB friend Gil, who is a doc. He took one look at me and called 911.
Ambulance showed up, collar on, full neck/back injury precautions and rushed off to Westchester County Medical Center. Not the closest hospital, but a Level 1 Trauma center. Scary? being in a Trauma center and having a neck/ back injury. Having docs lifting you up and poking your spine asking about pain in spots, feeling it and responding affirmatively. Full round of CT scans and x-rays, eventually admitted for observation. Later in the afternoon they determined my spine injuries weren't critical and removed the neck brace.
Made it through a pretty sleepless night, and progressed through the next day (Sunday). BTW, I ate a big ass salad for dinner on Friday, nothing on Saturday morning, had a bottle and a half of electrolytes (no cals) in the first 1:45 of the ride I completed. I was heading to my local coffee shop for some bananas & water when this happened. So, in the hospital where they are concerned about a potential trip to the OR, no food... I went over 48 hours without eating.
My injuries -
my right hand clearly has some soft tissue damage that they did not identify, just that nothing was broken. I have two broken Transverse Processes in my T1 & t2 Vertabrae, 7 broken ribs (try reading a report that says "ribs 2 through 5." and a broken right Scapula.
Sunday afternoon I was taken for a standing xray. I had not been out of bed since being placed in the Gurney by the EMTs. This xray was to tell the trauma surgeons if I needed a back brace for the next 6 weeks or not. The technician had me stand in a horribly awkward position for a minute 3x for the xrays. It hurt like hell and I was huffing and puffing like I was running the last mile of a hard race, I also had the same amount of sweat pouring off of me. Good news is that I did not need a brace.
I was released on Monday afternoon and have been doing surprisingly well. I am walking around, barely taking much in the way of pain meds beyond tylenol as of today. Each day has been less and less in terms of pain meds.
While the ribs hurt and seem to be healing and the same can be said for the transverse process breaks, the scapula and the arm seem to be a problem. I am willing to bet that my injuries there are more than just some breaks. That will be a recovery issue.
My headspace on this has been surprisingly good. I've yet to have the woe is me moment and I've taken the evaporation of my season in stride. I have lost two seasons in the past to a cardiac mis-diagnosis & a herniated disc. This year I really didn't feel trained on the run due to an injury I've been fighting and a lack of consistency to my training.
My hope is that in a few weeks I will be back on a bike trainer. My biggest hope is that my Right arm really isn't more than a damaged Scapula.
I guess the biggest part is swallowing the fact that a pretty benign bump in the road took me out. That said, the bike path is in awful shape. A neighbor of mine wrecked on it and woke up in the hospital with a broken forehead and nose. A avid cyclist one town over died three years ago, and the respective stakeholders (NYS & Westchester County) quibble over who is responsible, so THAT is annoying.
Thank you to everyone who's given me calls, texts, group me & forum posts.
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Comments
Rest up and heal fast!
My one recommendation to you would be to rest and heal up. The hardest part of the nine months after my accident was to go home every day and sit and watch TV. Yes, very difficult for our type. I tried starting back too soon and got warnings from the Doc to stop or my injuries would not heal correctly and it could possibly be worse long term. The lost season will seem like small potatoes once you are healed up and back in the saddle.
Rest up.. The finish line will always be there.
That's when I bought my first whiteboard, to place in front of me just what I should be doing each day in the recovery process. A picture of the board 6 weeks in; I won't explain any of it, but you get the idea:
@DAVID RICHMOND & @Jacklyn Moore - the bike is shockingly good, some slight scratching on the derailleur that may have been there before. the right brake lever has some major abrasions (it's carbon) so that will likely be replaced. Of course the bike and my back took a big impact so I do have to get the bars/ headset/ overall bike inspected.
@Al Truscott - I've let myself be a bit relaxed on diet, but not really at all like when i was in Aspen in January. Ally & Sami started a diet called the whole 30, focused on eating clean which I am doing with them. Ally moved in with me for the next 4 weeks and is cooking all the meals, so that's easy. Plan on building in some daily walks, and when allowed ez zwift spins, Weight training/ body conditioning/ core, etc. I have goals of where I want to hit the JOS and I need to focus on them now. Since I am not going to hit 12 IMs by doing 3 (or any) this year, I will have to take the real bite at the No Excuses KQ attempt in a year. Who's in for IMLP 2019?
big issue is that they know about the problems, but don't fix them.