"I like you. I'll gladly sit down and have dinner with you after the race. But when the gun goes off, I pretty much hate you, and I want to stomp your guts out. That's racing." -J Rapp



"the best night of my life.....
...in the most beautiful place on earth"



"It's just one, long, tedious conversation with yourself" -Paula Newby Fraser






"Have faith- trust in the plan - the breakthrough will come. I promise. " Woo




"You can keep going and your legs might hurt for a week or you can quit and your mind will hurt for a lifetime.” -Mark Allen




“The only time you can be brave is when you’re afraid.”


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

5 Weeks Post Crash...3 weeks post surgery...

I would say life is returning to normal...if normal was everything I did pre-accident minus all the training (aka couch potato Svans!).  Today was my first day out of the sling for the entire day, and I'm glad I toughed it out.  It's a lot like being sick and staying in bed for a day or two--you dread leaving the house, but once you do, you're glad you made it "over the hump"...so in essence, today was an "over the hump" day!  Yesterday we traveled back from our 5 day stent visiting my family in the SF bay area (thanks again Mom, you don't know how nice it is to be able to stay with you and just relax while we get to hang versus all the busy-ness!)...traveling with one good arm and a two year old is tough, but Jenny, like always, picked up more than the slack my shoulder has created and made the trip very enjoyable and relaxing---thanks babe!!!

So an update on the shoulder since my last post:  the post op appointment with Dr Amit went as expected...things look good, but we need to wait on the union of the two pieces before I consider any weight bearing exercise (ie holding a handlebar, swimming...).  I am cleared to start rehab (starts in 2 days---pain is temporary!), and I'll be seeing Brandon and Nate at Endurance rehab 3 times a week until I'm back to full strength.  While my shoulder is very stiff, very sore, very weak, but not painful, our biggest concern still is getting union of the bone fragments.  Being the special person that I am, when you have a fracture in the distal third of the clavicle, non-union of the two portions of the fractured clavicle is the number one concern, and can potentially require further surgery if pain and a lack of range of motion persist---in my case, Dr Amit stated that removing the distal 10% of the clavicle would be the treatment regimen if this were to occur...THIS DOES NOT SOUND GOOD!  So say your prayers for me (as one of my favorite patients is already doing for me in her prayer vigil tomorrow ;.

In the x-ray below, you can see the anchor in the coracoid---it is attached to the clavicle via a fiberwire that runs through the "slot" you see in the clavicle; which stabilizes the position of the medial 90% of the clavicle, but does not stabilize it to the distal 10% of the clavicle.

1 comment:

  1. Prayers coming your way, Erik. You're right - this is a key time in your recovery. Keep up the good work in letting it heal!! I bet it's hard for someone like you who always wants to be involved. I wish you the best!!

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