Two Months Later...

[Razors Edge ★]

...and it is still a work in progress.

I crashed on March 15th.  Fast forward to May 15th, I did the same ride (my regular 30 mile out-and-back), and have several updates and observations on the whole sordid affair

For one, my right thumb is STILL healing with the scab almost 95% done - both on the main knuckle and the knuckle at my hand. It is FULL of scar tissue, and probably only 65% as "bendable" as the left thumb, and also less strong.  Ortho just said "time" and no permanent damage, but until the scab is completely healed and simply normal skin, I can not easily exercise it to break up the scar tissue without further irritating the scab as it finishes its thing.   Annoying, but okay.

My right shoulder still has a large pink patch of "new" skin.  It has been scab free for a month, but that baby skin is still pink.  The left elbow scabbing is likewise long gone with only the pink new skin slowly turning to normal. Likely a permanent scar - originally in the shape of a Texas longhorn logo - will be there, but arm hair will disguise it a little.  The left ankle  gouge was deep, but has been gone a while too and pain free.  I need to look if that left a scar or not.  Road rash on my left hip healed the quickest of all the large spots.  Random scabs and scars across other parts are still working their way to full "normalcy", and all in all, I'm pretty much back to normal except for the thumb.

Several things I learned since the accident.  One is that a crash and road rash REALLY SUCK for several days, and proper bandaging and keeping stuff clean is TOUGH. Showers were essential but also PAINFUL.  And bandages that stuck to scabbing/oozing were setting back the healing a ton, so as soon as I could not bandage things, the better.

Likewise, we went on a longish vacation 10 days after the accident.  I was still horribly nasty to look at - my elbow and knuckles clearly visible as bloody/scabby/oozy works in progress, especially as I added some ointments to keep the scabs "moisturized" (usually Aquaphor??).  Anyway, flying on a plane or wandering on a beach or hitting a pool or hot tub was often a public display of mangled skin.   Also, after swimming in the ocean & pool and soaking in a hot tub, the "hard" scabs often became soft loose bits that I could later slough off in the shower (gross!).  On the plus side, that my body didn't have any infections from that time in the water - from salty Caribbean water to hot tub & pool water - is pretty awesome.  Putting sunscreen on scabby areas, though, sucks a LOT.  But, a good loose long sleeve sun shirt was a HUGE plus for beach days.  That kept my big wounds - shoulder, elbow, and hip - out of the sun altogether, so only my hands and smaller wounds needed extra attention from sun exposure.  All told, I was lucky to have the 10 days prior to vacation to get the main healing started, but by the time we got back in early April, I was still in the middle of the process.

The crash also took that bike out of commission for several days which was fine as I shouldn't have been riding too much anyway.  It did get the Tarmac new bar tape and new handle bars, so that was good, but I recently broke a rear spoke, so wonder if that was a result of the crash or just coincidence?  I also felt, and this just may be in my head, that my "fit" on the bike got whacked slightly, and I wasn't as comfortable as before. We'll see if that was just my body making small compensations from the injuries or if something really did change.  Longer days, better weather, and longer rides will flesh that out.

One obvious thing is that a crash, plus a vacation, plus less activity, and bad weather all adds up to loss of fitness - fewer efforts, adding several pounds from gluttony & less activity, and obvious lower metrics on the bike computer.  I feel like I'm at my end-of-February fitness level rather than my early-May level.  Sure, it will come around, but it is annoying.

Long story, short: DON'T CRASH...but if you do, hopefully you'll heal up over time like me. 

[Square Wheels]

Wow, I didn't know it was that bad.

Sounds like you are healing, though slowly.

[Ralphie ★]

Excellent advice. Thanks. 

[Razors Edge ★]

1 hour ago, Square Wheels said:

Wow, I didn't know it was that bad.

Sounds like you are healing, though slowly.

"Bad" from a "how on earth am I still dealing with this 2 months later" perspective, but considering no broken bones and no concussion, it was a "good" one.  

The real lesson learned (beyond "don't crash" and "don't be an idiot") is that gashes on joints - like the elbow and knuckle - are MOFOS! For a good month or more, I would bend my elbow or thumb (or bang it against something innocuous), and the scab would crack. Not all the way, but surely a day or more of healing & new skin would be broken.  It was very frustrating and I probably should have splinted my thumb just to prevent over-usage.

As a funny aside, the ortho had the thumb xrayed, and prior to my appt, and I got a call to go to the EmergenCare immediately (a few hours post-x-ray) to have my "broken thumb" addressed.  I had the ortho the next AM, so ignored that advice, but when he looked at it, he saw it was, in fact broken, but that the break was an older one that had already "smoothed" out the broken bit.  I think you can see a small piece of bone floating there at the base of the thumb.  I probably broke that skiing years ago.