Recovery Stage 1

It is now nearly 2 weeks since my accident. I am starting to think this is as good a time as any to have a broken back and be house bound. There is not much I would like less than to be commuting and training in these temperatures; especially now that snow seems to have covered most of the country. It is definitely better to be at home splitting my time between watching films and lying on my back reading! I think I made a slight error in the genre of books I chose to read initially. For the first week and a half I spent my time on “Rough Ride” by Paul Kimmage, Lance Armstrong’s “It’s not about the bike” and “Put me back on my bike” about Tom Simpson. All I wanted to do was go out and ride my bike!

My condition has seen a slow improvement over the last fortnight. My first day at home was pretty awful with me not being able to sit up without feeling faint and vomiting. I spent most of the day in bed dosed up to the eyeballs on painkillers. When I discharged myself from the hospital on Monday night I was told I would feel worse the next day but I was assuming that meant my muscles being stiff and the fracture hurting. If they had given me any indication of how I would feel I would have taken them up on the offer of staying in for another night.

After that first day I started to improve fairly consistently. I still can’t sleep for the full night without getting up and sitting in a different position for a while, but the amount of time I can sit up for has increased steadily. I have not really tried standing up or walking around for a prolonged period of time and I still have to go and lie down every 2 or 3 hours but that is a definite improvement. Just sitting up is very tiring because I have to sit bolt up-right to prevent the fracture healing in the wrong position and giving me a hunch back.

I had a check up including X-ray yesterday and everything seemed to be going to plan. The consultant I visited did his best to make me feel like I was wasting his time and giving me the impression he didn’t give a shit if my back had folded in half over the last fortnight. He didn’t discuss the X-rays with me or give any indication of how I should proceed from here. When I asked if I could drive and do exercise he said I could start now which I think is wrong since I can hardly get into a car at the moment without bending by back, let alone twisting to check blind spots to make sure I don’t inflict an injury on someone else. He also suggested I start swimming which I am also ignoring since I am still in pain and don’t think I could get in and out of the pool, let alone actually managing to keep my head above the water.

The only positive to come out of my check up was that I was given a body brace to help maintain my posture and stop me twisting and aggravating the fracture. At first the brace felt like I was stuck in a bear trap but once I got used to the posture it has become more bearable. It is still far from comfortable with a plastic section with a token amount of padding sitting directly on my chest bone (If my pecs hadn’t wasted
away in the last 2 weeks it might be a bit better!).
I have my next check up in 2 weeks and am going to be making the most of my medical insurance by going private. Hopefully I can just pay the next doctor to give a toss! I will know more about my overall recover time then, but until then, I hope everyone enjoys the snow!