I am definitely getting better now. I have stopped wearing my figure 8 brace because it hurts the muscles in my back. I still can’t use my arm but I try to hold it back and straight. It’s still frustrating starting to feel better but unable to do any activities. I am so bored!!!! 

My follow up visit with the Dr is not until April 13th. That is when I will have my collarbone x-rayed again and find out if the bones have fused. Hopefully,  I will be able to start on some lower body stuff by the end of the week.

– Leslie

I read in the paper today about a group of Cyclist called Road to Recovery. It’s a group of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. They road from San Antonio to Austin and wll now head to Arlington on Saturday. What an inspiration to see these guys back on their bikes. Many of them in hand-cycles due to loss of their legs. The program is designed to raise money for and awareness of the issues that returning veterans face. What a great program. If you want to read more about it here is a link to an article that was in the San Antonio paper. www.sanmarcosrecord.com/local/local_story_088103621.html

You can also follow the ride by joining Facebook Road 2 Recovery group. You can read the blog on Bighollywood.brietbart.com

I wish those guys all the best!

- Leslie

I have counted the days waiting for 4 weeks to pass. If I have grown any new bone it should have started by now. The four week mark was my mark to start working out again. I didn’t want to go all the way to the gym and than find out I couldn’t do much there so I decided to start on my treadmill.  I slipped on a sling to keep my arm completely immobilized. I started out walking and eventually had to add some incline. I can’t run yet so I set the incline as high as my treadmill would go. I slowly increased the pace and set a goal to walk 40 minutes. It felt great to be exercising again. I actually was breaking a sweat! I made my 40 minute goal and got off to lift some weights. It’s hard to lift weights with only one arm but I managed to find a few exercises that didn’t make my shoulder uncomfortable. I felt really good about my first workout and now very excited to try the gym this week and spin a little on a stationary bike.

- Leslie

Feeling much much better everyday now. The swelling is completely gone and I have just a bit of yellow bruising left. With the swelling down you can really see the bones and fragments sticking up through my skin. It’s not a pretty sight. I was trying on a couple shirts last night to find something to wear to a concert and spaghetti straps and tank aren’t exactly flattering with bones poking up. I hope the Dr was right when he said that is an easy problem to correct down the road. I have to wait until the bones completely heal and than they can go in and shave down the bumps. Unfortunately I don’t think that will happen before summer season. We went to the Mighty Texas dog walk today. I brought a pack to carry all the free goodies they vendors give out. I quickly learned I am not ready to wear a pack again. I will have to start investigating larger fanny packs that only go around your waist because I won’t be wearing a pack on my shoulder for awhile. I worked out four times this weekend. Nothing super challenging but I felt really good to sweat again. Amazing that as light as I went with my work out with the weights I still feel the soreness.  It has also made me a bit tired again and sleeping is probably the most uncomfortable thing. I can only sleep on my back most of the night and on my right side a little but only in the correct angle so my shoulder doesn’t fall forward. I can’t wait to roll over on to my left side!

My Dr appt is on Monday and I am anxious to find out how the bones are healing. I am really to step it up if the Dr gives me the green light. Pray for good news to come. 

- Leslie

I just got back from my Doctor visit. The bones are starting to make an attempt to from a bridge but it is far from unionized. He wants me to still wear the brace (which I gave up on last week) and immobilize it for another 4 weeks!! I am also scheduled for an MRI on Thursday to determine the pain in my shoulder joint/arm. It makes clicking noises with movement and I still get shooting pains down the side of my arm. This seems to be the source of most of my lingering pain. I hope they are able to determine what is causing the pain and take care of that while we are waiting on the collarbone to heal.

It is pretty depressing to think I will be out for another 4 weeks while Lance is up and riding again already. He broke his 2 weeks after me. I have to keep reminding myself that the extra weeks of recovery was for the trade-off of not having a 5 inch scar from inserting a plate.

I got the call with MRI results. Looks like I may have a small tear of the glenoid labrum. Here is link that explains more about it. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00426 

That explains why wearing that figure 8 brace was so extremely painful. It put so much pressure on my shoulder. I will see the doctor next week. It didn’t sound like I needed surgery right now but could use some rehab. Although, I am not sure how much PT I can do with a broken collarbone. I talked to my friend Dan, who is a PT,  it was comforting talking to him since I didn’t get in to see my doctor to help fully explain the results before the weekend. Sounds like the best thing to do is just wait until the collarbone is healed and than see if I am still having the issues with my shoulder. The surgery can always be done later if I am still experiencing pain.

It just really sucks being laid up like this!  After 5 weeks of not being able to raise my arm to shave, put on deodorant, wash my hair, dry my hair, lift my kids or ride bike, it has become very difficult and frustrating. They should really make it standard issue for anti-depressants for all athletes with injuries. I’m certainly not good at sitting on the couch waiting to be normal again. Even when I broke my hand four years ago, I was able to continue to race. This is longest setback I have had in my life.

I have always admired the special and paralympic athletes, but being injured for this long really makes me appreciate all the people (especially the veterans) that have lost limbs and continue to go on with such strength. 

- Leslie

The last two weeks have been going a little bit better. I haven’t been experiencing as much pain but I still don’t have much movement of my arm. I am more afraid to use it now since I don’t know if it is unionized.  I have been adapting well with out that arm by using other muscles and learning to lift with my side/body.  I have also been going to the gym to ride the recumbent bike and  lift weights with my lower body. It feels good to get moving again. I attribute my better attitude to focusing on what I can still do instead of what I can’t do. I just hard to believe it has been almost 8 weeks. I am so anxious to get the green light from the doctors. I had another follow up appt next week that I bumped up to this Friday. Next week just seemed like an eternity. i hope after this appointment I will be able to get in some therapy. I will post an update after my appointment Friday.

I am finally getting back on the bike. I have two rides so far and I will take my third tomorrow. My legs feel pretty good but my left arm is weak. It will awhile before I get back to the dirt and to full power but I am just happy I can ride.

I have also been out for a few runs. My doctor didn’t want me to start running yet but I couldn’t take it anymore. And my dog couldn’t take it anymore watching me run alone on the treadmill either.

I have been going to PT twice a week now. The PT works on increasing my flexibility. Although I can bear weight on the arm I still have difficulty raising it up above 90 degrees. My next Dr appt is in 2 weeks. I hope it is the last!