One plus of recovering from a fractured spine is I finally got to finish Moby Dick, which is a total rip of Whale Adventure, except with about a 1000 pages of digressions on all matters cetacean. Also, how come the Great American novel is 90% outside of America itself?
Sunday, August 21, 2011
How I broke my back and got away with it
So Saturday 22nd started very nice - a try out spin with Dublin wheelers after getting bored with all those solo spins. A friendly gang and apologies if I cannot remember the names of those I spoke with. The weather was just peachy as well, so I was full of the joys of summer as we started exploring new areas of North dublin. Somewhere south of Naul I think the road started getting a bit lumpier and with a few cries of descent we were going down at a reasonable rate.
I wasn't going excessively fast at all when I started to get some cycle shake and while trying to get it under control (i.e. freezing like a rabbit in headlights) I drifted into the gravel. I'd already scrubbed of a fair bit of speed (post crash the max recorded was 55) so for some reason decided I to scrub off the remainder in the grass rather than the gravel.
Big mistake, I think I hit a big culvert while going a lot faster than I thought I was. At this point I remember thinking, ha, I'm going to have my first crash but at least it's on soft grass.
I was flung head first into the ground, a bit like the rugby spear tackle, then flipped on to my back. Subsequently I think it was the angle of attack rather than the speed that did the damage. A lot pain as I crawled out of the ditch, and difficulty in breathing. So I writhed around until I was able to talk. After standing up and getting some more speech back, passing all the LOC and tingliness questions, I managed to convince myself and fellow riders that I was only winded (though at the back of my mind I thought as a worst case I might have a cracked rib, which I've had before but there's nothing you can do about it), so we cycled on to a nearby service station where my wife was to collect me. Strangely, on the bike was the most comfortable position I'd been in and I toyed with the idea of cycling home, but wiser heads ruled this out.
By the time my wife collected my I was in a bit of state, the pain had been increasing, so she persuaded me to go to casualty. I accepted VHI swiftcare as a compromise where I'd at least be able to get some strong painkillers without wasting the entire day. In fairness to switfcare, they were... swift, so after a load of xrays the doctor said I had a fractured vertebrae and he was transferring me to Beaumount.
I was still pretty blase at this stage, the doctor was a cyclist himself, told me some stories about friends recieving similar injuries and said it would be fine.
It was only when the ambulance arrived and the nurse starting lip miming to the crew that the gravity of the situation started to dawn.
The next 20 hours was a series of different ceiling tiles as I lay strapped down till I went to theatre on Sunday evening. Needless to say all the hospital personnel were professionalism personified so I didn't get unduly worried at any time (though spending the night in the spinal injuries high dependency ward is *not* a recommended experience).
Beaumount are a centre for excellence in spinal injuries so I couldn't have been in a better place.
The available options were 8-12 weeks bed rest or metal pins around the damage. NB bedrest does not mean watching tv while getting up for more grapes now and again - it is spent strapped down with a bladder catheter and watching out for pressure sores. So I went for the pins. The detailed diagnosis was compression fracture of T7 vertebrae , plus fracture of a rib - so I was at least partially right about the cracked rib theory.
And now I'm home , just a few days later, walking about and reasonably functional. The pain in the first few days was bad, the painkillers were paracetomol and anti-inflamtories, none of the good stuff - I don't know where those Hollywood stars develop their Vicodin addiction from back pain, but it sure ain't Beaumount. The projected recovery is something like 2 weeks till safe to drive and do light work duties, a further 4 weeks and the doctor said I'd be able to return to work fully. No word on getting back on the bike, but I presume it will have the same overall trajectory i.e. nothing for 2 weeks, then maybe something light, though the consultant definitely wasn't condoning this. I'll play it by ear.
Lessons learnt?
I now know what crashing is like and will *definitely* make a stronger effort to avoid it.
But the biggest was to be a bit more circumspect with back injuries. I've had a few in my time, mainly from skiiing, and they've always been cracked/bruised ribs, about which there's nothing that can be done. But in hindsight the pain this time as far worse than anything previous, and I think there was a central component to it from the get go. If I'd realised at the time the nature of the injury I'd have lain down and not moved till those friendly ambulance guys arrived (another thing I learned from lying flat in various waiting areas - the ambulance drivers never once complained about time wasters, but did have a lot of venom for people driving themselves to A&E with neck injuries).
I wasn't going excessively fast at all when I started to get some cycle shake and while trying to get it under control (i.e. freezing like a rabbit in headlights) I drifted into the gravel. I'd already scrubbed of a fair bit of speed (post crash the max recorded was 55) so for some reason decided I to scrub off the remainder in the grass rather than the gravel.
Big mistake, I think I hit a big culvert while going a lot faster than I thought I was. At this point I remember thinking, ha, I'm going to have my first crash but at least it's on soft grass.
I was flung head first into the ground, a bit like the rugby spear tackle, then flipped on to my back. Subsequently I think it was the angle of attack rather than the speed that did the damage. A lot pain as I crawled out of the ditch, and difficulty in breathing. So I writhed around until I was able to talk. After standing up and getting some more speech back, passing all the LOC and tingliness questions, I managed to convince myself and fellow riders that I was only winded (though at the back of my mind I thought as a worst case I might have a cracked rib, which I've had before but there's nothing you can do about it), so we cycled on to a nearby service station where my wife was to collect me. Strangely, on the bike was the most comfortable position I'd been in and I toyed with the idea of cycling home, but wiser heads ruled this out.
By the time my wife collected my I was in a bit of state, the pain had been increasing, so she persuaded me to go to casualty. I accepted VHI swiftcare as a compromise where I'd at least be able to get some strong painkillers without wasting the entire day. In fairness to switfcare, they were... swift, so after a load of xrays the doctor said I had a fractured vertebrae and he was transferring me to Beaumount.
I was still pretty blase at this stage, the doctor was a cyclist himself, told me some stories about friends recieving similar injuries and said it would be fine.
It was only when the ambulance arrived and the nurse starting lip miming to the crew that the gravity of the situation started to dawn.
The next 20 hours was a series of different ceiling tiles as I lay strapped down till I went to theatre on Sunday evening. Needless to say all the hospital personnel were professionalism personified so I didn't get unduly worried at any time (though spending the night in the spinal injuries high dependency ward is *not* a recommended experience).
Beaumount are a centre for excellence in spinal injuries so I couldn't have been in a better place.
The available options were 8-12 weeks bed rest or metal pins around the damage. NB bedrest does not mean watching tv while getting up for more grapes now and again - it is spent strapped down with a bladder catheter and watching out for pressure sores. So I went for the pins. The detailed diagnosis was compression fracture of T7 vertebrae , plus fracture of a rib - so I was at least partially right about the cracked rib theory.
And now I'm home , just a few days later, walking about and reasonably functional. The pain in the first few days was bad, the painkillers were paracetomol and anti-inflamtories, none of the good stuff - I don't know where those Hollywood stars develop their Vicodin addiction from back pain, but it sure ain't Beaumount. The projected recovery is something like 2 weeks till safe to drive and do light work duties, a further 4 weeks and the doctor said I'd be able to return to work fully. No word on getting back on the bike, but I presume it will have the same overall trajectory i.e. nothing for 2 weeks, then maybe something light, though the consultant definitely wasn't condoning this. I'll play it by ear.
Lessons learnt?
I now know what crashing is like and will *definitely* make a stronger effort to avoid it.
But the biggest was to be a bit more circumspect with back injuries. I've had a few in my time, mainly from skiiing, and they've always been cracked/bruised ribs, about which there's nothing that can be done. But in hindsight the pain this time as far worse than anything previous, and I think there was a central component to it from the get go. If I'd realised at the time the nature of the injury I'd have lain down and not moved till those friendly ambulance guys arrived (another thing I learned from lying flat in various waiting areas - the ambulance drivers never once complained about time wasters, but did have a lot of venom for people driving themselves to A&E with neck injuries).
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