In mid-September I was riding home in the evening, around 9. Flying along with a good tailwind, and almost home after a 10 km ride to church earlier in the evening, and almost 10 km home. Veered into a curb, and went down hard. Donated a lot of skin off my right knee, but it was my left thumb that really hurt. It had stayed hooked under the handlebar when the rest of me went down. (I'd been running the sound system at worship practice, confirmation that no good deed goes unpunished.)
My wife insisted I get it looked at, so I held out for a day and then went early Friday to a sports medicine clinic. Came out with a cast and a diagnosis, and a referral to our big central hospital. I had incurred a classic "gamekeeper's thumb" injury - the hyperextension of my thumb had pulled off a chunk of bone that the ligament was attached to. More evaluation on the Monday, and then surgery Tuesday. Two young surgical residents, young women who looked to be about high-school age, cut my hand open, drilled, and inserted a non-metallic anchor to reattach the bone chip to the thumb. Another cast - and then a big splint - and then a little splint. And now a flexibility-enhancing device I call "The Rack". And lots of occupational therapy since.
Anyway, I finally had a green light to get back on the bike, after two months of not riding! We rode our fat bikes over on the new trail to a Tim Horton's, and sipped on hot chocolate with whipping cream while being buffeted by strong winds. After a few sub-zero days, the strong southerly wind brought temperatures of +2C. Still pretty cold in that wind, but we've ridden in much worse.
Anyway, it's great to be back on the bike. I had done the gym faithfully, and walked almost daily, but something was missing.
The thumb is supposed to get pretty much as good as it's going to in the next week or so, peaking at about 80% of its previous strength. So it goes - it could have been much worse.
My wife insisted I get it looked at, so I held out for a day and then went early Friday to a sports medicine clinic. Came out with a cast and a diagnosis, and a referral to our big central hospital. I had incurred a classic "gamekeeper's thumb" injury - the hyperextension of my thumb had pulled off a chunk of bone that the ligament was attached to. More evaluation on the Monday, and then surgery Tuesday. Two young surgical residents, young women who looked to be about high-school age, cut my hand open, drilled, and inserted a non-metallic anchor to reattach the bone chip to the thumb. Another cast - and then a big splint - and then a little splint. And now a flexibility-enhancing device I call "The Rack". And lots of occupational therapy since.
Anyway, I finally had a green light to get back on the bike, after two months of not riding! We rode our fat bikes over on the new trail to a Tim Horton's, and sipped on hot chocolate with whipping cream while being buffeted by strong winds. After a few sub-zero days, the strong southerly wind brought temperatures of +2C. Still pretty cold in that wind, but we've ridden in much worse.
Anyway, it's great to be back on the bike. I had done the gym faithfully, and walked almost daily, but something was missing.
The thumb is supposed to get pretty much as good as it's going to in the next week or so, peaking at about 80% of its previous strength. So it goes - it could have been much worse.
