My Brand New Acromioclavicular Joint

T plus 28 hours and things are on the upswing.  Upswing includes the current narcotics running through the veins, Oxycodone, Tylenol, Advil and hopefully some single barrel Knob Creek later tonight. Yes, your summary is correct, I am currently higher than Rick James. My pain block wore off early this morning and I seem to be able to manage the pain without it. Currently coming to you from my new office.  Which is he place I will be making myself comfortable over the next couple months.  Yes, that is right, after 14 years of marriage I finally scored a recliner to call my own.  Ignoring the fact it is ugly, matches nothing in this room, has a plastic handle and is made of genuine top grain pleather, I LOVE IT.  Sarah, on the other hand is counting down the days until it moves to the playroom a.k.a the where old furniture goes to die.

Ah yes, how is the shoulder???? Last diagnosis was Grade 5 AC seperation.  Dr. Mileti says surgery went well and shoulder would never have been usable without the surgery.  It was sepearted badly enough that it overlapped and the bone was lodged into the muscle.  So clip the end of the collarbone, drill two holes, donor tendon wrapped and hoisted it all back into allignment.  As a bonus my torn tendons were salvagable so they have all been sewn back together.  Bonus double strenth shoulder once i am healed. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acromioclavicular_joint

Surgery Morning weigh in 213 August 17, 2012.  Goal is 199 before the sling (hopefully) comes off on October 5th.  That's 7 weeks, he said 6-8 so hopeful its closer to 6 if i do as told (tall order).

P.S. I think she secretly lusts for my chair!

La bosse

La bosse

The Bump

If I knew any French I would run with it since it's Tour de France time.  Let's stop at The bump and move on.

My how time flies!  Now that the giant hole in my shoulder is healed over I finally had the stomach to take a picture of the residual (physical) damage and introduce it to the world...or just the one person that reads this.

Let's back up 4 weeks to the Friday I went against all my better judgement and met a few guys for a 6:00 AM training ride.  By 9:00 AM I was drinking "free" ER coffee at Dublin Methodist. Hell I don't normally make it to my basement office before 9:00AM most Fridays.

Grade 3/4?

So when she says well lets talk about your ribs first, you could see the other shoe dropping in from 30,000 feet.  "ribs are not broken, yada, yada, yada".  I doze off into space and the next thing I hear is "AC Separation, Grade 3/4".  Shit half the people I know who ride bikes have a little bump so cannot be that bad right?   As she is doing the discharge paperwork Sarah calls and make Ortho appt.

Fast Forward

So its been four weeks.  What was a grade 3/4 when the Radiologist read it, became a 3 when the Ortho Surgeon looked at the file 3 days later.  85% chance with rest and rehab you get most function back.  Rest and Wait is the bottom line.  2 weeks later, new x-rays, I am feeling like 110% better when he walks in and drops the "F" word.  It "FELL" since the original X-ray.  He is way not very positive about recovery without surgery. No matter nothing we can do until the skin fully heals come back and two weeks.  Which leads to today:

P.A. - Well Dr. M and a colleague looked at your film from last time and it is now a grade 5
Me - silence
P.A - words, words, surgery, words, words, surgery, Dr. M will be in in a minute
Me - silence
P.A. - 8 weeks immobile, 6 month recovery time.
Me - in my head, yes Dr. M has said that each time and that is the reason they hate to do the surgery

I know, Jason land this plane...Same message from Dr. M.  I cannot fix it until skin heals, and you can wait as long as you want.  I have 1 million thoughts going through my head.  Then, as I walk out of the exam room to make my follow up appointment in four weeks, he says "all things being equal, I would have the surgery".

Valentines Day is 7 months from today.  I hear Knob Creek Calling.

Is there anybody out there?

(makes you want to run off and listen to The Wall, right?)

So a few years ago I started a blog as therapy to get me through the early days of starting my own business (during a recession I might add). Of course only I read it. That writing soon progressed into making fun of myself and my incredible lack of Cycling skills and fitness. Then somewhere along the way I lost track of my wittiness and sense of humor (translation: Sarcastic Smart A@$ness). I think I was afraid someone may read this and get the wrong impression about me.  Or more important not like me or want to do business with me. How they would ever find it and or read it is a story for another day, kinda like winning the lottery.

Everyday from everywhere we are "reminded" that if you don't participate in social media, you will fail in life. Here is how that sounds in my brain:  If I don't tell you I had two eggs, three egg whites and coffee while helping a 10 year old do story problems this morning at 10:00 AM, then I am not going to be able to pay my mortgage next month??? I find joy in self deprecating humor and making fun of people who take themselves to serious.  I find zero joy in re Tweeting articles I surfed up on the Internet when I could have been doing something more constructive with my time. You know, reading about people's mundane lives on Facebook and Blogspot, trying to guess what the other 15 schmucks sharing the Starbucks Wi-Fi do for a living or rearranging the long list of prospecting calls staring back at me, the good stuff.


So do we have to blog, tweet, link and face to survive in today's world?? I don't think anybody is really sure but I guess some interaction and self promotion can't hurt. My one takeaway from my 40 something years is that the truth is always somewhere in the middle. With that profound earth shattering knowledge laid on you I guess you know what's coming. I am going to make an effort to participate more, but in doing so I have to be myself. I have come to realize that if I offend someone with my sarcasm and less than serious approach towards life, then so be it.  That person and I were probably not destined to have a solid relationship.

I hate to overdo it so enough for now.  I have to put on The Wall, ride my bike, watch an episode of Madmen, take a shower, coach 4th grade girls basketball and then go see the Bucks whip up on Sparty tonight.  Not to mention I am sure I missed some similar ever so important milestones in your life while typing...hope to see you on your timeline soon.

 

Bad News! The fog is getting thicker

And Leon is getting Laaaaarrrrrger!

Yes Airplane! on the brain the last few months as the travel schedule has been hectic at best. Good news lots of travel means business is good. After a whirlwind six week tour of Chicago, Atlanta, Indy, Cancun, Kalahari and the under-continent, here I am!

Mix in a broken finger, sprained ankle, some sort of Mexican curse, 2-3 feet of snow and average temps in the 20's and not sure if I am coming or going. Looking at my training log, I am getting more hours this year, but heavier than I was this time last season. One of these years I will get both of them in sync. Still have a couple months to Mohican which seems to be the Elephant in the Room. Can't cry over spilt milk and Spring is here, right? right? Hello spring are you out there? Kiddo soccer x 2, taxes and training are the name of the game for the next 2 months.

Today's lesson: Please don't conduct a job interview in a tiny Starbucks. After sitting here for 15 minutes, I am pretty sure I could sell more pens that the dude behind me interviewing this chick.

I wanna go back...

Ever think back to your first sports memories? That may be football, Hoops, Soccer, Volleyball, Dance, whatever it was in your life. Mine is Ohio State Football. I lived in Columbus for three years while my Dad was at Ohio State. So pre-school through 1st grade I lived in the middle of Buckeye Football. Not a lot has not changed, but back then I hung out in the 'Shoe and North Facility for intramural practice, ran all over the empty stadium, met Woody Hayes there, and attended Buckeye Games during the Archie Griffin years. All this stuff had changed as society has changed the last 30 years. They don't watch us we watch them. Nowadays we make our kids start organized sports when they are 4 and drag them all over the state until they are burnt out or we are out of money. Is this right? Is this wrong? I don't know. It's just how things are.

Already being a little nostalgic this week, Jack crawls into bed this morning and asked me what I did for fun when I was his age? I told him ride bikes with my friends, play baseball and run around. "But Dad did you play football?" How could I forget pickup games in the old neighborhood? It was every single day in the fall and winter. When we didn't have enough for teams, we'd play Smear the Queer. Guess that's no longer PC and probably too rough? Then he asks me "What I will do for sports when I am your age?" (His guess was workout in the basement like Mom, in case you wondered) Stumped for a minute before I realized although I've made mistakes and missed out on some dreams, it's the same thing. Riding bikes, playing pick up football (with the little kids &/or the 40 year old kids) and looking forward to those 11(12) fall Saturday's so I can pretend I am still your age.

I guess the after a cup or 3 of coffee advice for him is you are five, you still have the chance to be anything you want to be when you grow up. Make the best of it, be a kid as long and as often as you can, be a grown up when life dictates and live your dreams.

...to Ohio State to old Columbus town, to hear the stadium to hear the band, by far the finest in the land.

I'm off the Night Train...ready to rock and roll.

Following the Mohican Debacle, feeling fatigued and mentally burnt, I took a little advice from a red headed elder and hopped on the Night Train to enjoy summer a little. Took a few weeks to taste every beer in Georgia. Fell in love with Oskar Blues along the way. (you people in other states don't know how lucky you are) Then eloped from life for a month at the lake last weekend.

With another trip to the bug infested sweet single track having swamps of Orange County New York looming I thought best to test the fitness yesterday. After tuning up on a semi dry course last week, what do I wake up to race day morning? That's freaking right kids!!! Jason wants to race a mountain bike so Mother Nature takes a crap on him once again. 3 for 3 in 2010. At least I'm batting 1000.

Took a page out of the Montalbano Guide to Mountain Bike Racing and clipped into the only single-speed in the Sport division. I didn't think my lack of fitness, skills, experience and low body fat % were quite enough challenge. Add one more...two mile out and two miles back across the dam without a tow rope and that should make for a sufficient disadvantage.

You can see the rest of the story developing in your mind, right? Line up with 5 others, keep up till my heart feels like it going to explode halfway across the dam, hit the slick root infested singletrack and hang on. First bridge, Mohican Flashback, we all slow down to talk to the guy sitting in the ravine taking inventory of his parts.

I know, I know, land this plane. Ran the old ticker at 99% for 1:59 and finished, you guessed it, DFL. What? Were you expecting a happy ending? OK there is some optimist left in me. Due to the weather it was a low turnout, so most of the field were series regulars competing for points. I was the only person idiotic enough to try and keep up across the dam, but I passed a geared guy on the home stretch, beat a handful of dudes in other age groups (including you know who) and finished 10 minutes behind the winners of my class. I'll take my 54 series points, go home happy and scrub my gear for a few hours.

BTW, its says it's not going to rain in NY this weekend, wanna bet?

2010 Mohican 100k....errr49k.

I'm still to tired to write anything humorous about my day with Noah. Let me temporarily sum it up with one photo. This is how I looked at Aid Station #1 at Mile 20 which btw took me 3 1/2 hours to traverse. You can just use your imagination to decided how I looked when we pulled the ripcord around mile 43 and 8 1/2 hours in the monsoon.