Big Spill 2014 – Broken Arm

What a bummer!  Shortly after posting my 1000 mile ride carbon bike update, it happened, The Big Spill of 2014.

It was a leisurely Saturday ride on my road bike. I was about twenty miles in and decided to take a route I had never before taken. The route took me thru a high school “campus” but was still a street. Of course, there were a mess of speed bumps. I went around or over them, no biggie.  On the way back down, at about noon, I did the same. Near the bottom I hit a speed bump that I hadn’t seen and BAM!

It happened incredibly fast. I remember being in the air but everything being black. I remember hitting the road hard – landing on my back – and feeling/hearing a very nasty sound.

I attempted to move and the pain coming from my left arm/shoulder was far worse than anything I had ever felt. I thought about reaching for my phone in my back jersey pocket and there was no way to get it. Too much pain.  I even thought that maybe I could walk a block or two to an urgent care facility.  No way was that happening either. In fact, getting out of the middle of the road wasn’t even an option.  So, I waited – bleeding and in terrible pain. It wasn’t very many minutes before a car came by and asked if I needed help.  They called an ambulance, put something under my head, and shielded my eyes from the sun until the ambulance arrived – a true good Samaritan.  I do not know who you are but THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Getting loaded into the ambulance was incredibly painful – there was lots more of that to come. The ride to Presbyterian hospital in Albuquerque is not short – 30 mins perhaps. They filled me with all the pain killer they could, got the ok via radio to give more, and I was still in bad shape.

Once to the hospital and squared away it was off to x-ray.  Ya, lots more pain.  The technician was very good but any movement was nearly unbearable.  The results??

Something was wrong.

Can you see it? It’s kinda hard to see but is a compound fracture of the humerus just above the elbow.

It was a bad one so surgery was the only option. This meant waiting for a slot.  Thankfully, with diagnosis in hand, the morphine could start flowing, Oh what a relief!!!

At about 8pm I am wheeled down to the operating room.  I met with a super nice anesthesiologist – Dr. Garcia, I think.

I’ve heard the stories about counting in the OR and how fast the anesthesia works. Well, they are right – it happens mighty quick! The next thing I knew, people were trying to wake me up.  Three hours had passed and it sounded like the surgery had went well.

I then spent the next two days in the hospital taking Percocet and morphine before they let me go home. Apparently it is very unusual for a middle aged male to live alone and/or be able to take care of himself.  The “care providers” simply could not understand that this was the case and kept asking questions like “You prepare your own meals?” and “You do your own cleaning?” and other similar/insane sounding questions. Perhaps I am a novelty that should be in the freak show – I suppose that would surprise no one. It seemed they did not want to release me back into this crazy situation but finally did so.

The next few days at home went fine. Everything happens very slowly. The schedule revolved around an every four hour dose of Percocet, trip to the bathroom, and change of ice packs with sleep in between. It was very quiet and peaceful.

Sadly, it could not stay that way forever so I started working (my job) in small blocks at a time.

Today is a big day – my first follow-up with the surgeon. Hopefully, he will have positive news for me.

Updates to this: Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4