Thursday, July 1, 2021

Quick Update

I have plenty of stories to tell, but by popular demand, am only updating on my condition today.  Thanks to everyone who sent notes and messages wishing me the best.

My injuries are neither catastrophic nor seriously debilitating.  The left hand is better.  Palpated by two Nurse Practitioners, both of whom confirmed the metacarpal breaks, the bones have been reset and the swelling has subsided somewhat.  I'm keeping the last two fingers taped together to minimize mobility and hopefully speed up the healing.  Truth is, with a 1,700 mile ride ahead of me, I suspect any real healing will be delayed until I get home.

My right tibia, turned out to be the fibula, which is a far more favorable injury (if there is such a thing) than the tibia.  I can support my weight standing solely on my right leg and I can saddle up to Hester from the left side.  The pain has not really subsided, but has traveled south from my knee where it was initially, to mid-calf, and now at my ankle.  I'm hoping it will just continue south and trickle out my pinky toe...which is also broken, swollen, and purple.  There isn't much medical science to back up this hope, but nonetheless, I continue to do so.

My right collarbone feels the most serious.  There is no comfortable sleeping position and any stress or exertion with/from my right arm is...unpleasant.  The only treatment for a collarbone is wearing a yoke that restricts movement and keeps bones together. Wearing one would not only make me look weak, it would preclude my wearing my leather jacket when I ride; a condition I cannot tolerate.  That jacket literally saved my skin and I will be wearing it on my ride home irrespective of the temperature.  It  somewhat restricts movement, so I'll consider it a biker's collarbone yoke.

The 1,700-mile return trip home will be taxing, but I put in about thirty miles yesterday and now feel confident that both Hester and myself are fully capable of completing this journey.  My plan is to ride south  from my Shark Week hotel in Minden, Nevada past Las Vegas and catch the long boring stretch of I-40 to Albuquerque, New Mexico and stop for the night.  That will yield a shorter 700-mile day to my home on Saturday.