Simmer down

With healing ribs and better breathing,  I decided that maybe I could start doing a little more. Sure, I wouldn’t be racing Sawmill, but maybe a little mountain biking and some attempts at harder running. I was just factoring the time from the crash with my thought process. The ribs felt a lot better for sure. Still tender at times, still not the best sleeping but I was moving better. If I didn’t try riding now, it might be months before I got outside to ride!

So down to Pueblo we headed the weekend before I went back to work. This was three and a half weeks post crash. Easy loop - Duke, Rodeo Ridge, Quatro Cinco... I made the first climb up Rodeo, which sent my heart rate through the roof! A few other things I just didn’t have the umph for and ended walking. A little discouraging for sure - between the muscles around my ribs tightening up and just dealing a skyrocketing heart rate - I wasn’t really ready to ride. It felt good to get out and pedal though! My ribs and the muscles around the two surgery sites were definitely sore when we finished. And I rode for less then a hour! But the soreness went down over night and I was able to go for a run-hike the following day. Maybe I was ready to start doing a little more outside?

Or so I thought. With a little more activity, I started developing some pain at the chest tube scar. At first, just an ache - sore muscles type aching. Then it changed slightly. Instead of that muscular pain, it became sharp - a deep stabbing pain every time I tried moving. Maybe I tweaked something moving a patient or lifted something wrong. Who knows. But last week, when I went swimming it was definitely different. I couldn’t do my flip turns - something that hadn’t been bothering me at all. Sure the muscles were still sore and the ribs stiff, but the scar pain was new, bad and spreading. I did my best to ignore it. It didn’t hurt all the time, but enough that it was annoying. Part of healing, right?

Flash forward to the weekend.  We had a planned trip for some outdoor fun since I wasn’t doing Sawmill and I was still feeling good enough to go. Sure, we wouldn’t be hitting up any of the crazy trails like Holy Cross anymore, but we could still ride some fun stuff. Again, or so I though. I was able to get a solid run in the morning. Lower elevation helped with that! But on the ride, I stepped off the bike wrong and something spasmed. It was in the ribs and in the muscles below the ribs. Movement for the rest of the weekend was a challenge. I definitely felt like I’d gone backwards in my recovery. Had I re-broken something? Torn something? Was I a risk for another hemothorax? I was worried enough that I reached out to one of the docs. He hadn’t done the surgery, but he knew was was going on. Within an hour, I had orders for new X-rays and an appointment for a follow up. 

It’s either a good thing or a bad thing to know the trauma team and for them to know just how crazy you are. It’s a good thing in that I was able to get in quickly to see one of them. It’s also a good thing because they know my job and how physically active therapists are during work. It’s another good thing when they are also mountain bikers and understand some of the mental aspect of recovery and just how hard it really it. No, I haven’t ridden the New Chutes yet, no I won’t be riding it in the snow and ice...  But, it’s a bad thing because they feel free to say what’s really on their minds when they find out what you’d been doing! As in, you’re only three weeks out from major surgery - what exactly made you think you even should be riding outside? And you should know exactly how many muscles attach to those five ribs and what muscles we had to cut through for the surgery. Muscles take time to heal. Ribs take time to heal. Simmer down and let the healing happen. I got the lecture I’m sure they always want to give but can’t because it wouldn’t be politically correct or polite! Can’t say I didn’t deserve the lecture. I was so focused on the ribs and that they were feeling so much better. I didn’t pay attention to how much more was going one besides just the rib fractures. Yes, it makes perfect sense that the muscles around the surgery sites would be painful and healing. It makes sense what any sudden movement or twisting would possibly affect those muscles. As a PT, I should have know that - and been a little smarter with what I was doing.    

So, simmer down and just chill. Now is the time for healing, not training. It’s going to be hard - especially when the trails finally start drying out. But I don’t want another lecture and I want to return at 100%. This isn’t a PT heal yourself deal - this is the tincture of time and behaving. And now that they know I wasn’t really behaving, the spies are out!