March 19, 2015
Day 45: Home: Taking a hit for the Hits?
Now that we are home and just into healing mode, I had planned only to put up further pages for this blog only for our usual "post mortem" analyses of costs, hits, pros and cons of the route, and suchlike. But today has been remarkable, and I feel people would like to know about it.
Today was my appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. We set off for the office with a bit of extra concern, because reviewing the papers we had brought back from the Florida hospital, we saw that they also claimed I had a broken humerus.
The surgeon began by throwing out the humerus idea. Then he belittled the broken scapula, calling it more of a crack. But he was not done. He said the instruction to wear the fancy brace for six weeks, not moving it even to wash, and trying to sleep sitting up, was a recipe for an 18 month struggle to regain mobility. Instead he ripped the thing off (ok, a nurse gently removed it) and replaced it with a flimsy standard sling. He advised me to take off this sling frequently, and start moving the arm. He said to start physio next week.
When my kids and I played hockey, I noticed a curious phenomenon. If you took a heavy hit and went down to the ice, you would tend to just lie there, sort of stunned. This would be until the coach came on the ice, tapped you on the shoulder, and said "You're OK". Then, most often, you would get up and soon be back in the game. This is similar to what the surgeon did for me.
We came home from the orthopedic appointment, took off the sling and put on a tee shirt, since they had said it was possible. And soon, I'm going in the hot tub! This does not mean at all that I am "cured". There are weeks of physio ahead. But my oh my, how sweet it is!
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Meanwhile, I was talking to daughter Joni, in Belize. I mentioned that family and friends have all been very sympathetic about what happened. Only one or two have speculated that it could be a stunt to boost the hit count! Clearly, they are wrong I asserted, because while the hit count might jump temporarily, it is hard to keep it up (while still staying alive). One the other hand, just the one crash has been pretty effective. Hits doubled when we first "jumped under the truck", and they continue to run 50 percent higher than during the main tour.
Despite this, one would think the real way to amass hits is by honest distance pedaling and reporting. Joni, however, did have a few slightly less lethal alternative suggestions:
Take wrong turn into military base
Animal attack
Food poisoning from Key Lime Pie
Sex scandal, or ride naked
Of course we reject these, and any others on her list. Sort of.
On the way home from the surgeon, we stopped at the optometrist to order new glasses for Dodie. She already has the prescription, so it was just a matter of choosing a frame. Sitting opposite the optometrist, Dodie picked up a demo frame and seemingly stuck it in her eye. This despite 60 years experience wearing glasses. These Grampies are getting very very tiresome! (The subsequent eye exam revealed it is pretty much ok).
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