That definitely wasn't on the year's plan...

IronshasIronshas ✭✭✭

Well there I was out for my usual Saturday club ride a few weeks ago, happily riding along in the group, feeling good and enjoying the training but then all of a sudden with no idea how I find myself sitting on the road instead of on my bike with a shoulder that hurt like a (insert appropriate expletive!). It turns out that we had a bit of a "riding incident" which I still don't remember a thing about, but I'm told I did a fantastic superwoman flying impression - until I came to land and got it all wrong and came down on my head & shoulder instead of my feet!

Am ambulance had been called & so off I was hauled to hospital for what I assumed would just be some quick x-rays & sling (as I knew instantly I'd broken my collarbone having done it before from other sports) & then sent on my merry way.  However; it came as a very rude surprise to me that not only was my collarbone broken, but it was so badly broken that it required 9 screws to put it back together in the end, but the real kicker of the news was that it had punctured my lung!  Oh and just because that wasn't enough, they threw in at the end that I'd managed to break my shoulder blade as well!

So off I was hauled to the resuscitation unit, which was when it all got a little bit scary as I was immobilised for a while, but then once they decided I was stable & my head & neck were ok I was shipped off to the high dependancy unit where I spent the next 9 nights.  I ended up needing a chest tube & they had to reinflate my lung before they could put me under to fix my shoulder, which all ended up taking a week to do (long story!) and then a couple of days to make sure my lung stayed up & pain was under control etc before I was allowed home.

It meant I missed the All Nations tri (it happened while I was in hospital) and will miss London Revolution this months and Dragon Ride & Windsor tri next month and it's pretty doubtful I will be recovered & fit enough to do Vitruvian as it's minimum 6 weeks just to get back to normal activities such as driving and my physio has said I'm looking at a absolute minimum of 3 months to fully get back to swimming / biking / running, so I think it's safe to say this season has gone down the drain well & truly!!

So while I'm stuck at home recovering & being a one-armed bandit, please feel free to entertain & cheer me up with stories that ruined your race / season!!

Comments

  • thats a pretty horrific fall.......i was feeling bad enough last year as i decided to play hockey for the first time in 18 years and broke my big toe....5 days before VLM......messed up my IM training as well fro a month.......

    I hope that you recover quickly
  • Well... if you're going to damage yourself, do it right and do it in style, right? Sounds pretty spectacular and glad you're on the mend now!
  • That sounds a horrendous crash

    hope you're on the mend

    I had to pull out of IM Florida in 2004 cos I tore my abdomen away from my groin, tore a crusia ligament and broke a few ribs while snow boarding
  • But more importantly - how's the bike image
  • I have to have a titanium hip joint next month, and that means I can't start run training again for 6 months after. So my season is completely shot.
  • Feck, Will.  I don't know what tearing your abdomen away from your groin means but it sounds pretty feckin sore.  Was there a polar bear or any lions involved?
  • Christ Shaz! Glad to hear you're on the mend. I really hope the shoulder heals well.
  • IronshasIronshas ✭✭✭

    Thanks all for the best wishes all; has to be said now that my shoulder is re-attached life is much more comfortable & now it's just waiting for the healing to happen then let the rehab begin!  Got a copy of all my x-rays & CT scans today; there are some funky 3D images of the damage in there, they look well cool!

    Will - ow, ow & ow again!!!  That sounds horriffic image  What on earth do they do to fix that (or don't I want to know?!)

    Wolf - ouch, good luck!  Hopefully will mean you can come back better & stronger though?!

    Rafiki - I don't know, I still havent seen her!!!  image I'm told that she is ok though by the guy from the cycle club that has her & when I was talking to the guys in my local cycle shop they said looking at me chances are she is ok; they said normally the bike gets it or the rider gets it!

  • SteadyCJSteadyCJ ✭✭✭
    Wow, what a story. Glad to hear your on the mend.
    I was very lucky when I needed rehab, the local NHS hospital physio dept actually had a physio that happened to be a triathlete, so when she needed to manipulate my wrist she would distract me by talking sport.
  • Shas

    Sorry to hear your bike is fine image

    Wish you a very speedy recovery, Raf and I went to the all nations to support you in spirit... It looked very cold, you probably didn't miss anything





  • Shas - that's lucky! Same when I crashed my motorbike - fortunately my head took most of the impact, the bike was fine! (Small titanium plate fixed the head OK)! Give me a shout if you want me to go and pick the bike up for you image
  • JEvaNsJEvaNs ✭✭✭
    Wow. I've fallen sideways off my bike because of SPDs. I have twisted my ankle in my new heels. I have fallen over and taken a small chunk out my knee, but even that only put me out for 6 weeks (and only because I am super cautious). I tripped out of a holiday villa in my flip flops badly grazing my knee once too (though it did leave me with a matching pair at least - still got the scars - they were bad grazes!!).

    This season has been ruined for me because my marathon was cancelled 3 minutes before it was due to start. Not so much ruined really though... I've just signed up to Rutland on 4th Nov image

    Healing thoughts to you Shas. Were you the only one pretending to be Wonder Woman? Hope others are ok.
  • Makes my knee issues sound totally trivial
    I will htfu

    Hope you recover well shaz
  • Ouchy ouch,  heal well shas.......you could always pick a nice winter race overseas in warmer climes to give you some focus once you're ready to start training again.
  • Ouchio, good to see it doesn't seem to have dampened your spirit. What you need to do is enter a nice IM next year..... image

    I don't have proper dramatic injury stories. I am more likely to be found scuppering marathon training by falling out of a pair of cork wedges after a significant amount of gin, or having a scarred hand for a year from a hot cup of tea / bike cleats on wet floor moment. A nice lady did drive into me at 70mph a few days before my first half IM, causing my car to be hit on three sides by various vehicles / items of road furniture, which was nice. Not sure if it counts though, as the race went ok as long as I only tried to breathe to one side....  image

  • I've been told by my surgeon that marathons are deffo out from now on - so that means no more IMs. Ever.

         image   

  • shas - you dont do things in halves hey? I am sorry to hear you bashed your self up with such incredible style. I didnt even know you could break your collarbone in 9 places image I wish you the speediest recovery and i am really hoping you come back super strong with zero complications xxx
  • image you said 9 screws, not 9 breaks. apologies.

  • Shaz life happens sometimes it's how we deal with it that counts. The inportant thing is your heroically put yourself between the pavement and your bike to stop it getting damaged. Plus you did a proper injury so you can get strange looks everytime you go past a metal detector at an airport. Hope you recover well and quickly but just make you take care.image

    Throught for you you could always go to the vit anyway and ever marshall and/or drink some wine watching everybody's pratfall, putting there helmut on before there top and transition and then wundering why they can't get there T-shirt on etc...  Depends if you would enjoy the day or if you would be thinking to much about what would happen if you where doing it?

  • wow hope you are ok Shaz!!!! Jeez I shant moan about my hand infection then... not sport related injury but its bloody painful and hampering training the last few days image

    really hope you recover well... Ive had a couple of concussions (with helmet) off the bike and fractured a vertebrae last year after a run in with a car but I recovered and got back out there.. you'll do the same!!image Just take it easy and maybe enter a future event to get you motivated once you're back training! Good luck!!

  • Holy Cow! That's some spill! Do you know what actually happened? I'm pleased to say I've had nothng that major, just a nasty spill badly bruising a few bits the day before the 1/2 Challenge in Barcelona.

  • IronshasIronshas ✭✭✭

    jevans - I'm told that someone else came off as well but he was apparently more annoyed about ripping his new assos jersey than his bruising! But his bike apparently got a bit mangled & needed some repairs as someone ran over it (!) so I guess that does fit with the rider vs bike damage story!

    dtb - ouch that sounds nasty but glad you were ok & able to complete! The spirits were tested a few times in hospital I can assure you, but at the end of the day it's happened & there's nothing I can do about it now; just have to accept it, focus on rehab when I can start that & make sure I do everything I'm meant (or in my case, not meant!) to do and making the best recovery possible!  But you mean & nasty folks on here are having a bad influence & are making me think about lanza next year, but I think I should probably be sensible & at least wait to make sure I can move my arm again first! image

    ironwolf - that's gutting, am so sorry to hear that image Are you still able to compete in shorter events though I hope??

    cake / gas - absolutely, I'm much cheaper to fix than my bike so thought it was the only honourable thing to do image

    I may still go to vit but as part of a relay (again - had to do that last year due to knee injury!); I'm planning on a sprint or 2 in September as the swimming will take time with my shoulder & running I will have to start again with my knee, but the bike I should be able to build up again quite quickly so should still be able to do the relay thing hopefully! Any volunteers for the swim & run image

    chick - wow, sounds like you've had a few incidents!  But good to hear that people can dust themselves off & get on again, as I think the mental recovery plays as big a part as the physical. In some ways I think not remembering what happened is a good thing, but in other ways it's a bad thing - I think it's going to be quite hard for me to trust riding with other people again knowing that's what caused it, but I suppose it's like being hit by a car; you just have to accept that what you do is a risk and whether you choose to accept that risk or not!

    Thanks all for the best wishes - good news so far is that wounds are healing very well such that I can now shower again ( was getting really bored of sponge baths!!) and have follow up with the surgeon next Friday where I will hopefully get his blessing to start physio / rehab!

  • IronshasIronshas ✭✭✭

    orca - I have absolutely no memory of it, including a few minutes before & after and I'm yet to hear first hand from someone who saw it themselves what exactly happened, so while I've heard bits & pieces 2nd hand I don't know exactly what happened yet.

  • image 

    If any use because of cost and practicality me and Silent Assassin are probably doing a Ironman in France instead of the IM branded race next year. I don’t have a link handy but would work out slightly cheaper and with more wine. You could always rough it with the boys or even do both? image

     

    Just make sure you look after yourself and heel up first or we will all mollycoddle you till you go as insane as the rest of us. image

     

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