Don't know if this belongs in this thread - it concerns a random accident.
I had a mishap two weeks ago whilst splitting firewood - the afternoon of Wednesday 9th September, 2015. Got the splitting axe stuck in the end of a round so I gave it a good belt with a 4kg sledgehammer. Done it thousands of times before but this time a flake of metal flew off and hit me in the left thigh. Profuse bleeding, called local GP surgery thinking it needed a stitch. Practice nurse super glued it back together - this was about one hour after the accident by which time it had stopped bleeding. The wound looked clean - so far so good.
The next morning the area for about 4" all around the wound was very tender, inflamed but not hot, probably not infected. Spoke to NHS 111 service and they confirmed my view that I needed an X ray. After a very long wait at Chichester A&E xrays confirmed that the flake (6-8mm wide) was between 5 and 6cm deep in the thigh muscle (vastus medialis) as deep as, and to the inside of the femur. Really couldn't straighten or flex leg. Given option of surgery to remove it that evening and said yes. All gowned up and ready for operating theatre when, about 20:15, when informed that an emergency broken hip had arrived and could I go home. So home for the night, return to hospital Friday morning, see a different surgeon and discuss options again. Advised would require 6-7cm incision - leg had eased a little during the night. This time decided to leave it be and returned home. Can't see how to attach photo of xrays.
Mobility has gradually improved since then and it's now 2 weeks since I was scheduled for the surgery that didn't happen. On Saturday and Sunday (days 10 and 11) I had two short rides on a regular bike, no problem. Tuesday and Wednesday (days 13 and 14) I did about 16 miles each day in my usual ride, a Trisled Rotovelo velomobile, an 85lb recumbent trike with full body fairing. Aware of the wound but not in a painful way. Tried pushing it as fast I could go later in each ride and still no problems either during the ride or afterwards.
After about 1 week I could walk downstairs fairly normally and almost bend the knee to a right angle. Now I can sit cross legged comfortably one way and "just about" with the legs in the other orientation - albeit with an uncomfortable stretch. Quadricips stretch for the left leg - can get left heel to about 3" from buttock and getting closer every day.
It turns out that this is quite a common accident when two hardened steel objects are brought together with force. I've been very luck in a number of ways. Firstly the "safe" location of the wound - could have been an eye or could have severed nerves or arteries in the leg - or sensitive places not far away from the thigh! Safety glasses wouldn't have helped at all - this went straight through more than 2 inches of muscle. Secondly that some poor bugger broke their hip and I got a second chance to decide on the surgery. It might be that, in time, I will need to have it removed. If the healing plateaus and I get discomfort from pedaling - then maybe it will have to come out. I wouldn't have thought two weeks ago that I have have regained most of the flexibility and utility of my left leg. I've split that pesky log and a bunch more besides these last few days - but without using a sledge on the axe!
What really ticked me off when I first did it was that two days earlier, Monday 7th September I returned from a 4 day cycle camping trip in France and I'd done my biggest lifetime daily mileage on the Sunday with 82 miles at age 59. If I include the early Monday morning 21 mile ride home from the ferry then I did my first every "century" in 22.5 hours (with a crap night's sleep on the ferry in between) - and then shot myself in the leg two days later.
The main reason I'm posting this is document the recovery in case anyone else is ever in the same situation. I thought I was going to be off the bike for weeks - can't believe how quickly it has got better.
Other bits of relevant info are: I'm T2 diabetic which doesn't help with wound healing. I completed a 7 day course of antibiotics to protect against potential infection from the piece of rusty metal. The other issues will be airport security (metal detectors) and MRI scans. I understand that depending on field strength and location of metal debris an MRI is not necessarily contraindicated. The second surgeon did joke (I assume) about using an MRI magnetic field to pull the metal back out through the existing entry wound.
Who knows, maybe having a good source of iron to hand will help with the cramp that I usually get in that same muscle.