Well, I guess Joanna Zeiger and I have more in common than previously thought.
After both braking our collarbones in the Half Ironman World Champs on Nov. 14th, we both had surgery within the same week to insert a titanium plate and screws. I had no idea when I arrived at Doctor Bradley's office on Thursday that he would be serving up some surgery just in time for Thanksgiving.
Somewhere along the way I'd convinced myself that I might be able to just "heal" on my own and my collarbone would magically come back together. Dr. Bradley, who has operated on over 100 Steelers and countless athletes over the years, begged to differ. In all the ER doctors wisdom, she forgot to mention that I was so smashed up inside that I had fragments of bone actually floating between my broken collarbone. After gasping as my Mother and I viewed the x-ray, we both realized things were very very wrong inside and the lump I could see sticking out of my skin in that area was a sharp edged part of my collarbone sticking almost directly vertical.
After a brief discussion that went like this between Doc Bradley and I:
Kim: So how bad are we talking here, any chance I can just "heal"?
Doc: Well, let me see, do you want to ever do a triathlon again and have any range of motion while you are swimming?
Kim: Ummmm that's a resounding YES
Doc: Then you'll be having surgery
Kim: When? Couple weeks?
Doc: Nope, I'll get you on the schedule tomorrow (aka Friday - Nov 20th)
Kim: Seriously, tomorrow?! Then how long to recover??
Doc: 6-8 weeks, no working for a week, no driving the whole time, no working out for at least two - three then we will evaluate if you can ride a recumbent bike or do the elipitcal
Kim: I feel faint
Doc: About what?
Kim: All of it..
So, that was that. I had my first surgery (besides my wisdom teeth) and everything went very well. I was thankful he was able to get me in so quickly because the sooner surgery, the sooner recovery begins.
How am I doing with the no activity part?? Well, under my bathroom and kitchen sinks are completely cleaned and organized, my house is clean, I've organized all of my triathlon stuff for the next year, my car has been cleaned out from the wrappers, bottles and other tri carnage from the year and I've done it all with one hand. I can type, but slowly and mostly with my left hand and even then it starts to bother me after a little bit.
I'm not sure what this means for the blog, but you may be getting a lot of pictures over the next month with very little words.
In the mean time, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. Your comments have made me laugh, smile and even brought a tear to my eye. What a great sport we are able to do that brings us all a little closer together from hundreds of miles apart.
Good Luck to those in IM Cozumel & Arizona.. Thinking of you!!
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