Actually, that’s exactly my problem. I did catch a break. In my radius and ulna, that is.
I had my first cycling incident this weekend. I was out with a couple of ladies in Apex, riding through some of the back roads. We were having a lovely time, it wasn’t too cold and it was the first long bike ride I had done in a while.
We were on our way back and had ridden about 8.5 miles when we had to climb up a small hill. Nothing too big, but as I made my way up I needed to downshift. But when I shifted, my chain locked up. I thought it had actually come off at the time, but either way, I had to stop. Unfortunately, right at that moment I had a truck driving pass me, so I couldn’t step off to my left. I had to step off towards the shoulder, but there wasn’t any shoulder… only a ditch.
It was a slow fall. I didn’t fall hard, but it was a bit of a ways to go. Instinctively, I put my hand out to catch myself, but it was farther of a fall than I anticipated, so I think I braced myself for something shorter. As soon as I went to get up I realized something was wrong. My hand was already swelling and I didn’t even dare to try to rotate it.
The ladies came to help me up and even made me a splint out of a portable bike pump. I could still wriggle my fingers, so at least I knew I still had circulation. I called Jarrod to come pick me up to go to the emergency room. It was awful that we were so far away, but he got there pretty quickly and got me to the doctor.
After lots of X-rays and examinations, it was determined that I have a small fracture at the end of both my radius and ulna in my right arm. Thankfully, none of the small bones in my wrist were broken and it appears that everything is still where it is supposed to be. Therefore, a few weeks in a cast should get me right back on track. I am currently in a splint, but will be going to an orthopedic later this week and they will likely put me in a real cast.
It has been tough the past couple of days. It hurts a lot. They gave me pain meds, which help, but don’t get rid of the pain. Also, I am very right-handed, and trying to do things with my left hand (such as typing this blog post) are difficult. Not to mention just how bulky this splint is and that it gets hot and itchy.
I am upset that I won’t be able to ride or swim or run for a while. However, I am very thankful that things aren’t worse. My Vegas race is over; I don’t have any others on the immediate horizon. Of all times for this to happen, this is actually a pretty good time. But I doubt I will be able to finish up my Christmas decorating and wrapping of presents. I’m definitely going to be working on my patience in the coming weeks.
So does this mean I’m “officially” an athlete?