Day 42 - Cane Heaven

Good news! I went out and bought a cane today. Its black, aluminium, light, and adjustable. And it has a foam grip. I was hestitant to use it at first, but I quickly got the hang of it. You hold it in the hand opposite of your injured leg and move it at the same time as your injured leg, putting your weight on the cane. No more lugging around my old-fart walker. After six weeks of hearing the clacking and squeaking of the walker, it is pleasure to walk around quietly. I seem to be able to walk faster too. Just one little problem. I didn't ask my doctor if it was ok to start using a cane. Then again, I still only putting 25% weight on my injured leg as my doctor recommended when I use it so I think it is ok. I'm in cane heaven. I'm gonna add some orange flames to it to make it look fast.

Day 41 - The Fracture Club

The walker is a good conversation starter. A lot of people will ask me at work, or at the store, or elsewhere, what happened to me. I tell them my story. I think I have told the story at least 50 times. I don't mind telling it. I just wish I had a better story. Hitting a sign post with my handlebar doesn't impress anyone. They have quizzical look on their faces like "you did what?" After I tell them my story, some will tell me how they fractured an arm, leg, etc. A teacher told me how he fractured his leg when his motorcycle fell over on him. A jewelery store owner told me how he fractured his elbow after he fell. It's kinda cool, because you share something in common. It's like you belong to a special club. The Fracture Club. What I wouldn't give to not be a member.

Day 40 - When Will I Ride Again?

I plan to ride my mountain bike again. I just don't know when it will be. My leg and hip have been improving. My muscles are slowly rebuilding. I have regained more mobility in my leg and hip, especially in moving it outward when I'm opening my leg. I feel like I could walk on it, but I've been dutily following my doctor's orders to only put 25% of my weight on it. Six weeks is normally how long it takes for a fracture to heal. If all goes according to plan, I should be able to start walking and riding a stationary bike by the end of two months or eight weeks. My goal is to get back on my bike by the third month. I know that this is an agressive timetable, but that is what I am shooting for.

Day 38 - I Miss Riding

I often get asked if I am going to ride my bike again. My answer is an unequivocal "yes". I plan on riding my mountain bike again. I only got three rides in on my new bike, Giant Anthem X2, before I wrecked it. Biking is in my blood. It's been five weeks without spinning the pedals, but its seems like an eternity. I miss the feel of the wind rushing by and my tires rolling in the dirt as I snake through the trees. I miss the comradie of riding with my friends on a group ride. I miss getting dirty and sweaty. I miss pushing my body and lungs to the limit in a mountain bike race. I miss riding. I can't wait to get back on my mountain bike.

Day 37 - Bike Commuting

Yesterday, I met a guy at work named John who commutes to work on his bike. He's in his 50's. He commutes every day from McAllen to Edinburg, a 7-mile trip each way, 14-mile roundtrip every day. We talk a while with me peppering him with a lot of questions like "How do you carry your stuff? Do you take a bath when you get to work? Isn't it hot on the bike ride home?" He answers my questions, then he tells me he's been riding his bike to work for seven years. Wow. I'm impressed. Inspired by his story, I tell him that I will see him on the road when my hip get better and I am able to ride my bike again. I got a lot of bike riding to catch up on when I get better.

Day 36 - Airport Detectors

When I talk to people about my bike wreck and my new titanium parts in my hip, some of them will joke about how I going to set off airport metal detectors when I fly. Curious if this was true I did some research on the Internet and found: more than half of all orthopaedic implants may be detected by metal detectors. Bad. Plates, screws, intramedullary nails and wires are rarely detected. Good. I have an intramedullary nail. Cobalt-chromium and titanium implants are much more likely to be detected than stainless-steel implants. Bad. My nail is titanium. Lower-extremity implants are detected 10 times more often than upper-extremity implants. Bad. Mine is in my hip. Three bads and one good. Looks like I'm going to have to take some extra time to get through security the next time I fly.

Day 35 - "Rad" Ross Breaks Hip

“Rad” Ross Schnell, the defending "All Mountain" world champion mountain bike racer, suffered a broken hip Saturday at a race in France. Schnell, 28, was competing in the event when he slipped on wet grass and hit the deck at 30 miles per hour. He fractured his left femur. "Rad" Ross claimed the unofficial "All Mountain" world title by winning California's Downieville Classic in 2008. The injury has Schnell out of commission for at least four to six weeks. There is a story about Ross in July 2009 issue of Bike magazine in which he says, "Mountain bike racing should be fun. It shouldn't be a grim, serious thing. I mean, you are riding around in a circle on a bike wearing tights. How serious can you be?" I totally agree.

Day 34 - Sore All Over

I drove the Dodge Intrepid to work to this morning. The seat is softer on my butt than the seat in my truck. But the brake pedal takes more force to press down. I think I need new brakes. It gets better gas mileage than my truck so I am going to try to keep driving it.

My foot felt swollen when I woke up. I worked it good with my rehab exercises yesterday. I did three sets of 50 reps of my exercises with a 5 lb. ankle weight. I think I am going to do my rehab exercises every other day to give my leg a rest between workouts. My left hand was sore from using the walker. I going to use my bicycle gloves more often to relieve the pressure on my hands on when I use the walker. And my back was still sore from working on my wife's car on Saturday. I'm sore all over, but my hip feels fine. Go figure.

Day 32 - Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Raising kids is a tough job. I took it easy most of the day, as my leg felt a little sore and my foot felt a little swollen from all the running around I did Saturday. I went to church in the morning. After church we drove to my parents' house to have lunch with my dad and mom. When we got home I was feeling tired, so I took a nap. My back was sore from trying to fix my wife's car window the day before. In the evening we went to drop off a Father's Day gift to my wife's dad. Then we stopped at the grocery store and video store. I had a craving for a hamburger, so we picked up some food at Whataburger. When I got home I ate my Whataburger and drank a Guinness beer. That was my Father's Day treat. I'm happy.

Day 31 - On the Road Again

This morning I got back behind the wheel of my car and drove. My wife didn't want me to drive, so I snuck out of the house while she was busy. I drove slow at first. I used two feet instead of one, the left for the brake and the right for the gas. I drove to O'Reilly's in Mission to buy a battery for my other car. Feeling ok, I then drove to a used parts store in Alamo to buy a window regulator for my wife's car. On the way home I stopped at Stripes to fill up the truck. And I stopped at HEB Express to buy some snacks. It wasn't too bad. I was able to get my walker down by myself. The seat was a little uncomfortable on my hip, but that is probably because I haven't driven in a month. It felt good to be on the road again. It gave me a sense of regaining my independence. I am going to try to drive to work this week by myself. Will see how it goes.

Day 30 - One Month and Counting

Today marked the 30th day since my surgery. I've come a long way in my recovery since I had surgery a month ago. I am off my pain medications, I'm off my pee bottle, I am able to get into and out of bed quicker, I don't use my wheelchair much, I've gone back to work, I've started driving, I'm able to sleep on my good side instead of flat on my back, my leg is stronger, and I'm able to move my leg better. I remember the first day after surgery I couldn't even move my leg an inch. While I still can only bear 25% weight on the leg that I had hip surgery on as per doctor orders, I've made good progress on my singletrack to recovery.

Day 29 - Pimp My Walker

I'm getting tired of my walker. One, it makes me feel old. Two, it makes a lot of noise when I walk. I joke around that I can't sneak up on my coworkers anymore. They can hear the clickly clack of the walker feet and the squeaky wheels when I walk the halls. It makes noise even on the carpet. Third, it doesn't look hip with its hospital silver frame and gray grips. It would be cool if you could buy a walker in anodized colors like bikes, like blood red, blaze orange, bad black. I would go with bad black and add some flames and skulls graphics. Then I would accessorize it with an insulated beverage holder for frosties. Add hydraulic disk brakes for stopping power and lockon grips. And last, but not least, attach a pair of speakers to blast my iPod tunes and I'd be in business. Now that's a sweet walker I wouldn't be embarassed to use and be seen with and make me feel like an old fart. Pimp my walker please.

Day 28 - Rehab Routine

I've been doing a few exercises to strengthen my quad and hamstring muscles in my surgery leg. I do 100 knee raises, 100 hamstring curls, and 100 leg kicks daily. I'm doing these exercises without any weight. It's amazing how much my muscles in my leg have deteriorated since surgery. I thought I had decent muscle strength in my leg from bike riding, but man, it's like starting from scratch. I plan to buy some ankle weights and slowly add weight to my leg exercises as it gets stronger. I'm also talking vitamins and a calicum supplement to make sure my body gets what it needs. At night I have been taking heated baths to soak my leg, and I've been using a heating pad on my leg to increase blood flow to the muscles to speed recovery. I hope my rehab routine pays offs and will help me get back to walking soon.

Day 27 - Guns of Steel

Yesterday evening my wife mowed the yard. In the summer our grass, Floratam, grows super fast. You have to mow it weekly. Today I showed her how to use the lawn edger and trimmer. She was slow and hesitant handling the equipment at first, but got the hang of it and ended up doing a good job. Here is a picture of her and her guns of steel working the edger. Is it bad of me to think of faking my injury for a few more months until summer is over so I can escape of lawn duties? I guess the only downside is I wouldn't be able to ride my bike. On second thought it's not worth it.

Day 26 - Gov. Perry Endos

I was talking to a business associate from Austin this morning about my accident and she told me Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, broke his collarbone while riding his mountain bike in Austin a few days ago. After I finished talking to her, I went back to my office and did a quick search on the Internet and found this excerpt from a story from The Dallas Morning News.

"Perry broke his collarbone and scraped his elbow in a fall while riding with his security team Tuesday evening. He said that he was on a familiar bike trail but that 'things shift after a rain.' He was heading down a hill, but before he knew it, he was heading over the handlebars. The governor said he came down on the back side of his right shoulder and snapped the collarbone. 'It would have been a great-looking video,' Perry told reporters at a law enforcement awards ceremony."

Day 25 - Watch Out for Potholes

I read about two stories of biking accidents caused by potholes today on Yahoo. One was about 67-year-old University of Connecticut basketball coach, Jim Calhoun. He hit a pothole with 16 miles to go on a 50-mile charity ride and crashes. He got up and finished the ride, and fainted at the finish. They took him to the hospital where they found out he broke five ribs in the crash. The other story was about Bob Frederick. Frederick, a retired Athletic Director at Kansas University, was riding on a city street in Kansas when he hit a pothole, flew over the handlebars and struck the pavement. He died with massive head injuries. The moral of these stories: watch out for potholes when you ride in the street. (And speaking from personal experience, the street signs too). Better yet, just ride the trail.

Day 24 - Walking the Amazon

I spend most of the my day relaxing, watching movies, reading magazines, and surfing the web. I read an amazing story "Lost in the Amazon" in Men's Journal magazine about Ed Stafford, who is attempting to become the first person to walk the entire 4,000 mile length of the Amazon River by foot. He started in April 2008 and has been walking for 437 days. Walking and wading through the Amazon jungle and braving the dangers of anacondas, jaguars, vampire bats, pit vipers, scorpions, wasps, army ants, electric eels, piranhas, and leeches. He still has at least a year to go. You can read about his incredible trek in his blog at "http://www.walkingtheamazon.com/".What an adventurer. I wish I could do that. I wish I could just walk.

Day 23 - TGIF!

After my first full week back on the job, I am pleased it is Friday and I will have the weekend to recuperate and rest and not do any work. While it has been been good to be back to work, mentally it is tiring. Coupled with the fact that I have not been getting enough sleep, I feel tired by the time I get home. I think I may be drinking too much coffee also. I been drinking two cups at work to wake up in the morning. I'm gonna try to cut down on the coffee and perhaps try some sleeping pills to help me get more rest. After I get home from work, I open up a frosty to celebrate my week at work. TGIF!

Day 22 - Dead Man Walking

I've been researching and reading a lot about hip fractures on the web and I have found some sobering statistics. About 550,000 hip fractures occur every year; 90 percent of hip fractures occur with persons over 50. The most scary stat I read is that 15-35 percent of the patients who have surgery to repair a hip fracture, die within a year of surgery. Not good. On the bright side, 50 to 65 percent of patients who have hip surgery regain their previous level of function. I hope I fall in this statistic and not the dead man walking statistic.

Day 21 - It's Official

I picked up my disabled parking permits this morning. Getting a disabled parking permit takes some work. You have to fill out an application from the Texas Department of Transportation. Take the application to your doctor to verify you have a disability. Then you have to take it to Hidalgo County Tax Assessor office to pay for and pick up your permit. It took about five days, two to three separate trips, and $20 bucks to get. So now it's official. I am disabled. Temporary that is.

Day 20 - No More Pee Bottle

After peeing in a bottle for three weeks during the night, I kicked my pee bottle habit. For the past few nights, I have been getting up at night to do my business in the bathroom. As my hip has gotten better, I have been able to get out of bed quicker and easier. I grab my walker and slowly work my way through the bedroom at dark, hoping not to hit anything. Do my business. Then shuffle my way back to bed. No more pee bottle. No more accidental mystery spots in my bed. Hooray!

Day 19 - Back to the Grind

Today was my first day back to work after nearly three weeks after my accident. My wife drove me to work. I still can't drive since my driving leg was the one that was injured. As we arrive in the parking lot it is weird to walk up to my office using a walker. As I enter the halls I said hello to several of my coworkers who came up to welcome me back. We talk in the halls for a while catching up on what happened and how the recovery is coming. After that it is back to the grind. I spend some time in my office seeing how far behind I am. Looks like I am going to be putting in some long hours trying to catch up. I work until about 3:30 p.m. until my wife comes and picks me up. It was good to see and talk to my coworkers and get back to work. Now if I can just get back to walking without the aid of a walker and get back to riding my mountain bike at Mission Trails, I'll be just fine.

Day 18 - Time Trial 3

In the late afternoon my wife and I went to Mission trails to help our cycling club with a time trial. A time trail is a event in which bike riders ride three different stages against the clock to see who is the fastest rider. I've participated in two or three time trials since I have been in the club and they are a blast! As the defending champ in the expert division in our last club time trial, I was kinda of bummed that I couldn't ride to defend my title. At least I could watch and lend a hand. I helped with the timing of the bike riders and my wife took pictures. The event went over well thanks to the efforts of Jaime, president, and his wife Sonia, treasurer, and some key volunteers. We had nine bike riders participate. No one got hurt...though Kyle did a endo (flew over his handlebars) after hitting a tree; Kyle blazed the fastest time overall. Even though I couldn't ride my bike it felt good to get out on my walker, see friends, and help with the event. Here is a picture of the bike riders who took home the bling.

Day 17 - Tubby Time

One of my favorite ways to relax is to take a hot bath. I fill up the bathtub and grab a magazine and a beer and just soak, read and drink. I've haven't had a bath since my surgery (no, I don't stink, I've been taking showers) because I was afraid the water would get into my stitches and I would have a hard time getting into and out of the tub. My July 2009 issue of Bike Magazine came in today and since they took my stitches out last week, I decided to give the tub a try. I turned on the hot water and filled it up. I backed my walker to the tub and put my good leg in first and then my bad leg next. "That wasn't too hard," I thought to myself. I relaxed for a good hour, soaking, sweating, and reading my Bike Magazine. Getting out of the tub proved to be harder than getting in. I got both legs out with my walker. Then I started to get dizzy. My heart rate started pumping like I had just finished a tough climb on my mountain bike. I sat down and rested for about a minute trying to catch my breath. I got up and started walking to my bed and started getting dizzy again. My wife had to help me to the bed. I laid on the bed catching my breath. I think I won't try doing tubby time again for a while.

Day 16 - Say Hello to My Little Friend

My wife put up a hummingbird feeder outside our kitchen window a few days ago. We hadn't had much luck in the past in attracting any hummingbirds. But with the recent storm, which decimated lots of flowers they feed on, including my neighbor's Hibiscus, I got a surprise visit from a little friend today - a green belly hummingbird! He visited the feeder on and off throughout the day as I worked in the kitchen. You can tell I've got a lot of time on my hands if I am getting excited about a hummingbird visiting me. Oh well.

Day 15 - Death of a Frosty

Through the use of technology I spend most of my morning and day working, responding to work e-mails and participating in the Foundation Center's Virtual Network Day Conference. It feels good to get some work done. It keeps my mind off my bum leg and passes time. I e-mail my coworkers that I will be going back to work on Monday. They respond back that they are glad to have me back. They must be getting tired of doing my work. LOL.

My mom brings by a lunch of enchiladas and rice, which I quickly woof down. While putting the food in the refrigerator, she accidently bumps a beer bottle which breaks, sending glass and my favorite frosty spilling onto the kitchen floor. I see it happen in slow motion. "Oh nooo....!" I exclaim. My mom says I should stop drinking anyway and cleans it up. "When pigs fly" I say to myself.

Day 14 - Titantium Parts Upgrades

Off we go to visit the doctor. I'm anxious to hear what he says. We arrive at his office in the morning. After waiting a while I am taken in. They take me to the x-ray room and take x-rays of my hip. After the x-rays, I walk myself using my walker to the waiting room to see the doctor. An assistant comes in and places the x-rays on the lightboard. "Holy Moly!" I say, as my wife, son, and I look at the x-rays. The x-rays show a large titanium rod and a titantium screw in my right hip. In amazement I whip out my camera and take a picture of it for my blog. Too bad they couldn't have put these upgrades on my bike instead of me! LOL.

The doctor comes in and says hello. He studies the x-ray and tells me he screwed a titanium rod inside my femur bone to brace the multiple hairline fractures I had. The titanium screw was screwed into the femur head to secure the titanium rod. He shows me a gap where the fracture occurred. He tells me "It will fill in." He tells me to keep my weight off it (use only 25%) and he clears me to go back to work on a limited-movement basis on Monday. I make an appointment to see him in a month.

I feel disappointed after leaving his office. It was hoping I could put more weight on it or he would order rehab for me. But apparently, I'm not ready. So it looks like I'll be walking around using my walker for at least another month. It's only been two weeks. I shouldn't have been so optmistic. In the meantime I will continue to do a few strengthening and stretching exercises daily, take some calcium supplements, and keep on truckin'. On my walker that is.

Day 14 - Small Feats of Independence

Today marks two weeks since I had my surgery. When you break a hip, progress is measured in small feats of independence like putting on my underwear by myself. Getting dressed. Going to the bathroom. Getting out of bed. Taking a shower. Putting on your shoes. I couldn't do any of these personal tasks by myself after I first got home. Now I can. Sometimes I feel like a small child, slowly gaining my independence. I can do it by myself!

Physically, my injured hip and my quad muscles are weak. With exercise it is getting stronger. After the surgery my leg felt like jelly. I couldn't move it. I can't bear too much weight on my injured leg. And I still need a walker and wheelchair to move around. But overall, I feel I am getting better. I have an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon this morning. We'll see what he says.

Day 13 - Handicap Perks

I have discovered there are two perks to being handicapped.

The first perk is parking in the handicap parking spots that are close to the store entrances. It's like you have your own private parking spot. No more circling the lot looking for a parking spot, fighting other drivers in the parking lot for spots, or parking way out in the boonies and walking a quarter of a mile cause my wife doesn't want to get the car scratched or dinged.

The second perk is riding in the handicap scooters at the stores. Today we went to Lowe's. I am reluctant to use one, but after tiring from walking with my walker, I relent and hop on. Push the throttle lever and away I go! After Lowe's we stop at HEB and I take another one for a spin. I'm motoring along at a top speed of 3 mph. I cut one of the corners a little too sharp, and bam! I hit a display, knocking several ceral boxes to the floor. Oops. Better slow down before I wreck out again. One hip fracture is bad enough!

Day 13 - The Twitching Leg

Going to sleep at night is the hardest. I think it is a combination of me not being used to sleeping on my back and my leg, which gets twitchy. I don't know if it's part of the healing process or if it is because my leg is tired from the walking and rehab exercises I do during the day, but my leg doesn't want to sit still. I drink a beer, pop two Tylenol PM and down two Vicodine, and I still can't get to sleep. What do I got to do to fall asleep? Knock myself out? I finally fall asleep an hour or two later. I wake up in the middle of night and have to pee. Not wanting to take any chances of another pee bottle mishap, I prop myself up and get out of bed and slowly make my way with my walker to the bathroom in the dark. I make it without incident, do my business, and get back in bed.

Day 12 - The Mysterious Wet Spot

I use my pee bottle every night when I go to bed. I place it on the walker next to the bed within reach. Usually I have to use it once or twice every night depending on how much I drink before going to bed. My wife says I should be getting up and using my walker to walk to the bathroom. But I don't think that is a good idea for me to be trying to walk to the bathroom at night while on Vicodin in the dark. So when I have to go I prop myself up into a sitting position on the bed using my elbows and heels of my feet. I open the pee bottle and do my business. I put the pee bottle back on the walker. Then move myself back to sleeping position. Well, for some strange reason, after waking up in the middle of the night and peeing I leave the pee bottle on the bed. Later I feel a wetness on the bed to the right of my shoulder and next to my head. Since I was in a med stupor I'm not sure what it is. I touch it and smell it. Hmm "doesn't smell like pee. Maybe I just spilled some water when I was taking my meds," I think to myself. I use a small towel to try to soak it up but it is still wet. My cat Kippy, who is sleeping next to me and the mystery wet spot, jumps out of the bed. He starts meowing which in catspeak he is trying to tell me "It smells like my litterbox in here. Let me out of the room!" I nudge my wife to tell her to let him out of the room, which she does. I fall back asleep quitely next to the wet spot. When I wake up in the morning I look at the pee bottle and it's empty. Apparently, I didn't close the top correctly and the pee leaked onto the bed. Mystery solved.