Knowing that I had a lot of work in front of me in order to learn to ride the bigger bike, I had made plans to attend some of the Ken Hill Dirt Days. They are training classes designed for road racers, using the same terminology and principles in a (supposedly) lower risk environment. Despite never having ridden a dirt bike, I was looking forward to the weekend and knew I would leave having learned a ton.
I arrived Saturday morning excited to get educated from the best. The first couple sessions were really a struggle for me in terms of trying to get used to being on a dirt bike. The adjustment was not coming easily and I was feeling slow. Advice on how to ride the machine was incoming, and then finally I made a connection that worked for me - it was like riding a barrel horse. All of a sudden I was starting to "get it" and riding the bike wasn't so difficult and my speed was increasing because of that.
As fate would have it, however, that session would change the entire outlook on my winter. I was coming into a corner, sliding a bit, but I was still in a position to save my bike from a crash. That didn't work so well, however, when another rider decided to try to pass me on the outside right then and hit my bike. The combination of holding my own bike up, then his bike pushing against me and perhaps my foot finding a rut or something in the dirt, and down I went. I heard and felt a distinct "pop" in my ankle of my left (inside) leg. The crash was pretty uneventful otherwise, and I tried to get up - um, leg wasn't having it. By this time another rider had stopped to help me, and I attempted to see if I could limp off - nope, that was NOT going to happen.
The owner of the property is an EMT and provided first aid at the time, putting a pillow splint on the leg. Another friend agreed to take me to the hospital, and off to the ER we went. Xrays showed that my leg had broken, and actually pretty badly. The on-call ortho who looked at the xrays didn't seem too worried, so I was splinted and sent home to contact a local orthopedist.
I got in Monday with a local doc - and he was NOT happy I had been sent home. To his eyes, it should have been fixed then and there, not left to sit. By this time, however, the swelling had set in and we needed to wait a bit to begin fixing things. His prediction was that it was not going to be an overnight fix, and I'd be dealing with it for awhile - okay, I can accept that, as long as I can get mended enough to ride - so I knew that a big part of things would be my determination to make sure I was doing everything to help my body heal as quickly as possible.
Surgery was scheduled for a week and a half after the initial break. The ortho was primarily concerned with soft tissue damage. As it turns out, apparently there was a fair bit of damage, so repairs were going to have to go in phases. Phase one he plated the fibula and put an x-brace on in order to allow the soft tissue a chance to heal. Surgery round 2 is scheduled for about 2 1/2 weeks after round 1.
At this point, I need to stay focused on healing - there's a combination of giving things time to rest and heal, but the best recoveries I hear of are when the person stays more active...so, i will listen to my body, but on the flip side of that, I do not want to lose any more than I absolutely must. There are plenty of things I can do to remain as fit as possible, so once my leg is telling me it's okay, I'll be doing what I can without it.
Right now, recovery rates are a bit up in the air - but I know I'm determined to get through this as best and as quickly as I can, so stay tuned for more updates as we see how things do (or do not) progress.
I arrived Saturday morning excited to get educated from the best. The first couple sessions were really a struggle for me in terms of trying to get used to being on a dirt bike. The adjustment was not coming easily and I was feeling slow. Advice on how to ride the machine was incoming, and then finally I made a connection that worked for me - it was like riding a barrel horse. All of a sudden I was starting to "get it" and riding the bike wasn't so difficult and my speed was increasing because of that.
As fate would have it, however, that session would change the entire outlook on my winter. I was coming into a corner, sliding a bit, but I was still in a position to save my bike from a crash. That didn't work so well, however, when another rider decided to try to pass me on the outside right then and hit my bike. The combination of holding my own bike up, then his bike pushing against me and perhaps my foot finding a rut or something in the dirt, and down I went. I heard and felt a distinct "pop" in my ankle of my left (inside) leg. The crash was pretty uneventful otherwise, and I tried to get up - um, leg wasn't having it. By this time another rider had stopped to help me, and I attempted to see if I could limp off - nope, that was NOT going to happen.
The owner of the property is an EMT and provided first aid at the time, putting a pillow splint on the leg. Another friend agreed to take me to the hospital, and off to the ER we went. Xrays showed that my leg had broken, and actually pretty badly. The on-call ortho who looked at the xrays didn't seem too worried, so I was splinted and sent home to contact a local orthopedist.
I got in Monday with a local doc - and he was NOT happy I had been sent home. To his eyes, it should have been fixed then and there, not left to sit. By this time, however, the swelling had set in and we needed to wait a bit to begin fixing things. His prediction was that it was not going to be an overnight fix, and I'd be dealing with it for awhile - okay, I can accept that, as long as I can get mended enough to ride - so I knew that a big part of things would be my determination to make sure I was doing everything to help my body heal as quickly as possible.
 |
| Pre-splint x ray |
 |
| The erector set.... |
Right now, recovery rates are a bit up in the air - but I know I'm determined to get through this as best and as quickly as I can, so stay tuned for more updates as we see how things do (or do not) progress.
Comments
Post a Comment