Posts
3949
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Visalia, CA
US
Fantasy
528th
Edited Date/Time
1/26/2012 1:22am
Looks like I'll be off the bike for a bit.
My father came down to visit for the first time in 2 years, and he wanted to watch my son and I ride. I was following my boy around the track and he swapped out and highsided over a little jump. His tumbling RM65 took me out. There was a mound of dirt on the side of the course- the trajectory shot me straight at it, and I knew my clavical was going to be broken before I hit the dirt.
At the hospital they confirmed what was visually obvious, but with a bonus. It's now a 4 piece clavical. I'll be heading back to the hospital this morning to have it plated.
My son faired much better with his x-rays, but has a very sore chest, back, neck, and a nice contusion on his right shoulder. It also appears that some of the EPS foam in the neck and cheek areas of his M2R helmet have been compressed- time for a new one.
We were both wearing chest protectors, but now the conversation I've been having with the wife regarding RXR's and Leatt's seem to be a bit more significant.
Oh well, it could have been much worse.
My father came down to visit for the first time in 2 years, and he wanted to watch my son and I ride. I was following my boy around the track and he swapped out and highsided over a little jump. His tumbling RM65 took me out. There was a mound of dirt on the side of the course- the trajectory shot me straight at it, and I knew my clavical was going to be broken before I hit the dirt.
At the hospital they confirmed what was visually obvious, but with a bonus. It's now a 4 piece clavical. I'll be heading back to the hospital this morning to have it plated.
My son faired much better with his x-rays, but has a very sore chest, back, neck, and a nice contusion on his right shoulder. It also appears that some of the EPS foam in the neck and cheek areas of his M2R helmet have been compressed- time for a new one.
We were both wearing chest protectors, but now the conversation I've been having with the wife regarding RXR's and Leatt's seem to be a bit more significant.
Oh well, it could have been much worse.
Where were you riding around Visalia ?? I work in both Tulare and Visalia at the dairy plants on occasion. I have been to the track in Tulare but is there more places ?
The hardest part about the whole thing was it was still extremely broken when i got home from the hospital and sleeping was a complete pain in the ass. You'll heal up though!
There's also a track in Porterville, a race-only track in Hanford, a members-only track on the Lemoore Navel base, lots of private tracks, riding in the Seirra Nevada mountains, as well as some tracks in the Fresno area. Lastly, there are not so legal areas, but those can have other consequences.
The Dr. said he took all the bone fragments and packed them together, and that it would be 2 months before I was cleared for any real activity like riding or Judo. My wife suggested I sell the bike. Uh- NO.
With my son, he's stil very sore, and we've noticed additional bruising on the side of his face. It's back to the Dr's for him today or tomorrow, I'm a bit concerned about the pain he still feels in his spine.
Back to bed for me.
The Shop
best of luck on your recovery.
I'm still in pain which perplexed the Dr, so he had a couple x-rays done.
The plate is now bent. Talk about perplexing the Dr, he's never seen anything like it. It's at about a 25-30 degree angle, and the little pieces of bone that were packed into the gap seem to have moved elsewhere. He sent me back to x-ray for a shot "down" (instead of from the front or shooting upwards) to see if maybe the plate had cracked, and it doesn't appear to have been.
My Dr is calling the plate rep to see if he has any ideas, or suggestions as to a Dr that might specialize in such a situation.
The post-op/recovery room pictures show the plate to be flat, with 3 screws on each side of the break. I have zero idea on what could have caused the bend, unless watching movies for 2 weeks is somehow high impact now. I really haven't done a damn thing, and haven't lifted anything heavier than a partially filled gallon of milk in 2 weeks.
Any suggestions (especially from someone like Dr Mark) would be greatly appreciated.
As for my son- he's fine, and is back to being a normal 10 year old. The dirtbikes will have to wait until I'm ready.
4 time loser here, 3 on the right 1 on the left.
I think Guy B has more, though.
Get well soon...
How are you sleeping? Maybe something levered it when you were moving side to side at night....
One of my buddies is an upper extremity ortho specialist. I put a call into him just now...when he calls me back I'll post an update.
MiniE, Brent- funny you'd post that as I've never actually raced a dirtbike. Ridden them for 30 years, but no actual racing. Maybe that's why this is the worst injury I've ever had?
I haven't slept worth a damn since the surgery, but that's mostly due to night sweats, not my clavical. I've been very careful, if for no other reason than the fact that it's never stopped hurting. I wouldn't say it's impossible that I did something while sleeping, but I'd imagine that if I'd put that kind of stress on it there would have been substantial pain involved.
The first t-shirt I've put on was last night, and I didn't even raise my arm beyond horizontal- and even that hurt. My wife is convinced the plate is defective.
I just got off the phone with my Dr, and he said that the plate rep is convinced I was lifting something heavy (yeah, I just finished doing 50 shoulder shrug reps with 110# dumbells- not), but that regardless it should be replaced. The tentative plan is to go in on Thurs and replace it, moving the plate from the top to the front.
The timing stinks, as I have a interview on Tues that cannot be rescheduled, as well as a 6hr round trip to and from the airport on Monday. This could get interesting.
Thanks again.
He mentioned a couple of types of plates they *might* have used that wouldn't have been strong enough to hold up....kind of why he was wanting to see the operative report.
MR
I hope you get that figured out. Seems kind of weird.
Yes, I broke my right one seven times. My head's obviously harder than my collarbone.
the pain did suck especially the day after surgery i kept yakking up the pain meds. i wanted to choke somebody!!!!! this Doc. DR. Meade just patented a new plate that is slimmer but not as strong as what i have, he apparently is the top Displaced Colarbone fracture Doc in the country????
Pit Row
Funny you guys say that about the two kinds of racers. I raced for 20 years before breaking mine last October. It was no fun but honestly, it never bothered me. I had a lot of pain in my shoulder for an hour or so after it happened but never really had any after that. Maybe it was because I had four broken ribs and a leaking lung that kept my mind off it. Anyone else ever break ribs under their scapula (in the back) before?
GuyB- 7 frikkin' times?!?!
TeamGrn, how on earth did you leave ER with more breaks than when you arrived; piss off security or play grab-ass with the wrong nurse?
MR
I went to another Dr yesterday for a second opinion on how to make sure I don't need to get cut open for a 3rd time, and it looks like this Dr will be doing the surgery next Thursday. Yes, waiting sucks as does having to start all over and loosing those 3 weeks.
General thoughts:
It still hurts like a bugger, and I can't help but to think that the plate is bending more. The good news is that I can keep the plate once it's removed.
The initial plate wasn't a clavial plate, more of a general purpose plate, and it looks like latticework. The plate (or possibly 2) that they're planning on using is by Acumed, called a locking clavical plate.
They're planning on using some donor bone material to fill in the current 6 holes, unless he can re-use them. I kept thinking- "just tap it out to the next size". :-) If at all possible the 2 small butterfly fragments will be screwed into place, not just held with sutures (which didn't hold them in place).
He's planning on using the antibiotic vancomycin. My body did not like zithromycin from a couple years ago, he said they're unrelated.
The existing scar is about 5 inches long and is about 30 degrees from vertical. I'm told the new one will run more horizontally along nearly the full length of the clavical. I was clear that scars are unimportant to me, looks like I'll have an odd looking "X" there when this is all done. My wife claims that's just so she'll know where to whack me when I get out of control...
I miss riding already.
The doctor yesterday said that once he plates it, the sling will be more for comfort, as the plate(s) will provide the needed support. Not that I'll be good to go for anything significant though.
Must be a plate from China. Sorry you gotta do a do over....
Wish ya well and hope you are on a path to recover real quick like.
Although I'm sore as all get out, I don't think there will be any issues this time. The Dr said he's done hundreds of these plates, and after looking at the old plate (I got to keep it), I'm not that surprised the dang thing bent. The new plate is of much better quality; it's called the Acumed locking clavicle plate.
The good news is that I'll continue to be home for at least another 2-3 Saturdays and will be able to watch/listen to the races.
Dr. Mark- thanks for your help.
The original pre-op pictures I have, but not on disk. Can't seem to get the scanner to give me something worthwhile. Both sets of post-op pics are on disk, no problem to upload.
Here are 2 of the post op pics from 2 weeks after the first surgery, note the bend in the plate- not good!!
1st post op pic #1
1st post op pic #2
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