Coming back from being broke

Well, it's been a rough year on the shoulder. But yesterday, Tuesday Sept. 28th, 2010, I got the metal plate (weird that it's blue) and 9 screws out of my collar bone or clavicle. Yeah!

Below is the quick saga in pictures.

Sept. 28, 2009 X-ray: During a bad crash on my mountain bike at around 12:15am Sunday morning (Saturday night) I shattered my left collar bone or clavicle. Yeah, those few bones are supposed to be one solid bone.

Oct. 1, 2009 Post-Op: A few days after the accident (and much pain), I went in for surgery to have the bone set so it would heal straight. 8 screws went into a metal plate and 1 screw went through the floating bone up there and through another piece of clavicle bone to keep it all in place. Pads, sling, and mad pain after the operation. But at least the bone is back together under there.
Oct. 1, 2009 Post-Op: Wondering what it looks like under there, but I'm suppose to wait a couple days before I remove the dressings.

Oct. 3, 2009 Dressing Removal: The thing didn't look as nasty as I thought it was going to look. Sleeping over the previous two days was real rough. I could hardly move without pain and even laying down hurt. To see the wound look this clean was kind of surprising. All the stitches are under the skin with a couple pieces of tape holding the end threads down and out of the way so I don't accidentally pull on them.

Oct. 17, 2009 Getting Ready: Prepping for the Mj Tribute Party coming up. The stitches had pretty much fallen out and I pushed the shoulder farther than I should have at the party (click pic for egg). Just one of the things I did to draw out the recovery. Blah!

Sept. 27, 2009 One Year Later: It's been exactly one year since the bike accident that brought me here. The metal plate is clearly visible (I'm kind of pushing it out there though) and not only can you feel it in there, but if you press hard enough you can feel the screws poking out too. I haven't recovered 100% yet. Though my range of motion is back, I still have numbness down in my arm and pain in my shoulder when lifting heavy. Plus my neck muscles are still a bit tight. I'm sick of having that crap in there and hope to lose some of these problems after the metal's out. Being bionic isn't as fun as it seems in the movies (ie. Will Smith in "I, Robot"). Maybe if my arm were actually more powerful then it wouldn't be so bad, but this stuff in there is NOT cool.

Sept. 29, 2010 Metal Out: In a bit of pain, mostly in my neck, but nothing a few Ibuprofen can't help. I'm feeling good to have that stuff out my body! Plus, the numbness in my arm is already gone, so hoping after some more rehab I can fully get back.

Thanks for all the prayers and positive regards everyone! I will bike safer from now on... well, when I get back to riding. I'm trying to take a few months off to let the bone fill in the holes and give the soft tissue some time to re-attach before trying to get back on it full speed.

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