Author Topic: On the road to recovery.  (Read 4158 times)

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
On the road to recovery.
« on: 26 October, 2017, 09:41:38 am »
Nearly three weeks since my accident and the recovery seems to be going well.



Headaches pretty much ceased after about ten days and the big pain was the smashed up shoulder. The broken ribs now hurt more though, I wasn't feeling any pain there until last weekend. Skull and facial fractures seem to be healing fast.

Weight loss has been interesting, I lost a stone in the first week, due to not eating at all in the first three days in hospital (which I have no recollection of) and the next four days of rubbish hospital food. Once home I focused on building up my glycogen stores as i know that's what powers the brain and also made sure that my protein intake was high (growth and repair).  Both those points are covered in my nutrition module that is part of the A level PE course I teach  ;D

I am now a steady 7/8 lighter than before the accident so doing well even with large simple sugar intakes

The neurosurgeon said I shouldn't drink alcohol for 4/& weeks so I will focus on a target weight loss of another stone before Xmas.

I am desperate to climb onto the turbo for some leg spinning but Mrs PC is rather too overprotective at the moment.

I have another two weeks signed off from work and am keen to return after then but my senior leadership team are keen for me to stay off as long as possible. My smashed shoulder means I won't be able to risk my cycle commute until at least next term, nor can I drive in as I can't change gear!

Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #1 on: 26 October, 2017, 09:46:50 am »
You sound like another candidate for the recumbent trike . . .

In my experience of recovery from injuries (admittedly nowhere near as bad as yours), they are quite exhausting and you really shouldn't exhaust yourself. Your body does need energy for the repairs.
The nutritional & movement requirements (plus influence on recovery) for patients vs healthy bodies might make an interesting study for A level students and justify your return to work  ;)
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #2 on: 26 October, 2017, 10:03:38 am »
Ah...I thought you'd recently retired. Must be end of this academic year then. Glad to hear you are recovering well. Any further news or theories as to what caused the fall?

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #3 on: 26 October, 2017, 10:19:11 am »
Ah...I thought you'd recently retired. Must be end of this academic year then. Glad to hear you are recovering well. Any further news or theories as to what caused the fall?

Retiring at the end of the academic year, the governor's have just appointed my successor.

The blow to the head caused zero memories from just before the crash and the riders who were behind me at the time haven't been able to say exactly what caused it other than probably the very poor road surface which caused me to swerve sharply just before I went down. The hospital paperwork though mentions "car v cyclist" but I have no idea where they got that from as nobody mentioned it to me!

Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #4 on: 26 October, 2017, 10:34:01 am »
A relief to hear you're making good progress. Nutrition in recovery is interesting.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #5 on: 26 October, 2017, 01:16:14 pm »
The blow to the head caused zero memories from just before the crash and the riders who were behind me at the time haven't been able to say exactly what caused it other than probably the very poor road surface which caused me to swerve sharply just before I went down. The hospital paperwork though mentions "car v cyclist" but I have no idea where they got that from as nobody mentioned it to me!

Chinese whispers most likely.  I was on the scene of a bike vs bike collision recently, and when the first responder turned up, he was under the impression that it was car vs cyclist.  That was after a particularly frustrating 999 call, so it doesn't surprise me that the operator jumped to conclusions.

I suppose that while cycling injuries that don't involve motor vehicles are most common, relatively few of them require ambulances.


Glad you're healing well.

Snakehips

  • Twixt London and leafy Surrey
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #6 on: 26 October, 2017, 02:21:42 pm »
I was in a bike v bike incident a couple of months ago and concerned passers by were visibly astonished when I told them that no motor vehicle had been involved.
An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur?

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #7 on: 28 October, 2017, 05:40:33 pm »
The significant blood loss had really reduced my aerobic capacity so even a short walk is  hard work and I reckon it'll take another 3 weeks for the red blood cell count to recover, however this morning saw my first morning glory so we're getting there ;D ;D ;D

Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #8 on: 29 October, 2017, 08:20:44 am »
The significant blood loss had really reduced my aerobic capacity so even a short walk is  hard work and I reckon it'll take another 3 weeks for the red blood cell count to recover, however this morning saw my first morning glory so we're getting there ;D ;D ;D

GWS Señor Pedal.

And thanks so much for the TMI.
Quote from: tiermat
that's not science, it's semantics.

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #9 on: 31 October, 2017, 08:49:32 am »
GWS Señor Pedal.

And thanks so much for the TMI.

Hehe, the bizarre thing is that even though we live in the same small town we have never met!

Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #10 on: 31 October, 2017, 05:54:44 pm »
GWS Señor Pedal.

And thanks so much for the TMI.

Hehe, the bizarre thing is that even though we live in the same small town we have never met!

But it sounds as if you'd be very pleased to meet him...

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #11 on: 17 November, 2017, 01:06:22 pm »
Very little pain in shoulder now and completely off pain killers for 2 days now. There was a big set back 3 weeks ago when the pain level hit the roof and I was on codeine, paracetamol and ibuprofen all day long. Apparently I must have rebroken a healing section somehow, so even with almost zero pain I am very careful. Mrs PC is letting me on my new toy tomorrow, an Elite Direto smart turbo trainer, and I'll start a very gentle build up such that I can start serious training in January.

At school today is a 24h charity inter-house cyclethon, which was going to be the three houses and a staff team on our IC7 cardio suite bikes. With me out of the picture the staff team fell apart so I will attempt to beat the winning distance in the summer term all on my own raising money for a different charity, the local air ambulance for obvious reasons.

Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #12 on: 17 November, 2017, 01:48:24 pm »
It might sound daft, but when you are riding on your turbo, wear a helmet at least some of the time. Just to get neck muscles used to it.

<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #13 on: 17 November, 2017, 02:23:12 pm »
Nice to see you on the mend  :thumbsup:

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #14 on: 22 November, 2017, 06:02:09 pm »
It might sound daft, but when you are riding on your turbo, wear a helmet at least some of the time. Just to get neck muscles used to it.

No, because I wear them often enough in races, I actually have 7 helmets to choose from although 3 are c1980s and not worth wearing. I may eBay the two Cinelli classic aero helmets soon.

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #15 on: 22 November, 2017, 06:07:23 pm »
Nice to see you on the mend  :thumbsup:

Thanks, I have just had two very good days and hopefully will be back at school to teach my few lessons next week even though I am technically signed off until January. I was surprised my GP signed my off for so long following a short telephone consultation.

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #16 on: 02 December, 2017, 05:56:23 pm »
After a good night's sleep I hit my 1h40' target on the turbo at 65%FTP target. I had dinner with business partners last night and interviewed two potential Chinese students via Skype this morning so firing on all cylinders now!

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #17 on: 12 May, 2018, 04:53:34 pm »
Now back out on the road, 700 miles in the last 6 weeks and today my first race, a 10 mile TT. Unfortunately it started raining 10' before I started and I panicked at the first of 7 roundabouts for fear of falling on a patch of diesel, I almost packed but decided to carry on and just take the RABs dead slow.  The end result (25:21) wasn't too bad all in all, next week is on a fast course with only one RAB so confidence is building.

Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #18 on: 12 May, 2018, 04:59:35 pm »
Sounds good! Keep at it (but be careful on those roundabouts).
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: On the road to recovery.
« Reply #19 on: 18 June, 2018, 05:33:54 pm »
6 month follow up Neuro-rehab consultation this afternoon, still no issues at all so now signed off. It was a good excuse to work from home this morning.