New Helmet

We just got back from the REI Labor Day sale. I replaced my biking helmet. Boy that was tough to do, since it was so new it felt like throwing away money. So many people kept reminding me that they need to be replaced after a fall, but I had mostly convinced myself that my shoulder took most of the fall, and my head just scraped on the ground. I kept looking it over, and seeing nothing wrong with it, so I was indecisive about the whole thing. Then I was showing it to my neighbor in the bright sunlight recently, and I finally noticed that when I flexed it a certain way, there was a crack completely through the hard styrofoam-like anti-shock liner material, and that's all it took to convince me. So it's heading for the trash, after I strip off the reusable parts.

K's fistula surgery site is healing up very well. Lately she's been dealing with swollen legs, and not sure why. She's also more tired. Her fear is that her kidneys may have suddenly taken a turn for the worse. She won't know for sure, until the next kidney function lab test.

My collarbone seems to be repairing on schedule. The Doc told me Thursday that I could take off the sling, as long as I don't stress the arm or shoulder. Now the collarbone hurts, when it hadn't for most of the time, probably from the weight of my arm on it. That's probably a good trade for the arm that was hurting from immobility, and is now feeling much better.

Breck

I suggested lunch in Breckenridge, a local ski resort up in the mountains, on the spur of the moment this morning, since we were both up relatively early, and K took me up on it. We were actually out of the house by 10:30 which I think may be a new record for us these days, especially with the dog to deal with too. We got up there shortly after noon, and walked around a bit, before we found Salt Creek restaurant & saloon, with a shady deck that allowed dogs. Well, actually most of the places in Breck allow dogs, since it's a mountain town and that's typical there, but this place was off the main drag and quieter. Then we stopped at Dillon reservoir for a little while, to enjoy the quiet of the lake and surrounding forest. The whole trip took about eight hours. When we got home, the dog didn't want to leave the car - seems she'd had quite a fun time and didn't want it to end. So did we, but we were beat from our first all-day outing in awhile. We got home just in time to hustle over to our neighbors, who were having us over for a belated birthday celebration, which was originally supposed to have been the morning we were riding bikes, and I broke my collarbone, so it had been deferred awhile.

We slept in this morning. K and Mandy got up long enough to go outside for a minute, and now they're back sleeping in the reclining chair. The living room is pretty spartan these days, since K had the downstairs carpet cleaned, and all the furniture has been piled in the non-carpeted areas like the kitchen and dining room. We took advantage of the opportunity, to dispose of our big pink sectional sofa, and now the big black leather fold out couch is our main piece of furniture in that room. That leaves more room in the study to start trying to make it into an office some day.

So far so good

K's fistula surgery site is looking good, and the sutures are scheduled to be removed this week. The Doc says last Thursday's X-rays of my broken collarbone don't look any worse than the first ones, which should leave me good range of motion, as the bones begin to knit this week. Mandy's definitely adjusting well to her life with us. She's feeling confident enough, that she'll bark at the skateboarders as they go by during our walks. Dad and Adele are back visiting with us, on the return leg of their summer driving trip. Kiyoshi and Laura Hamai are due to stop by, each on different days, as they travel to and from the Lotus meet in Snowmass this weekend.

Fistula

K's Fistula surgery on Monday went as planned, according to her doc. We asked our neighbors to drop her off and pick her up, since I'd been somewhat incapacitated on Sunday. She came home through the front door all upbeat and chipper, which was a very pleasant surprise.

Oops

Oops. It looks like I'm off the bike riding circuit for some time. I was riding with my neighbor Jim on Sunday morning, heading downtown along the Platte for a birthday breakfast at Racines with the girls. As we were rounding a corner in the detour just South of Hampden, my front wheel slipped on a soft wet wooden bridge. The bridge was so slippery, there was just no traction to be had. The bike and I went down hard, and bounced along for a few feet before stopping. The fall on my left shoulder broke my collarbone, and the slide abraded the skin in several places on my left side .

The detour isn't visible in the older satellite picture, but the trail now turns left 90 degrees immediately after crossing the little bridge circled in red, and runs up alongside those trailers. That bridge was all chewed up, probably because it's rotting away, and with the wetness from the day before, it was slippery like moss. Trying to start the turn on it was a mission impossible from the start.


In the Xray, the bones aren't even close to being aligned, ugh. The folks at Kaiser say it's typically 6-8 weeks for an adult to recover, although I have an appointment on Friday with the Orthopedic folks to follow up.

I heard (and felt!) the concrete path hit my new helmet, which did a great job of protecting my head, so not only did I avoid a concussion (I think), but I didn't even scratch my ear! Attagirl to K, for bugging me to get that this year.

Interestingly enough, Jim and I stayed around that bridge for awhile, warning people about the hazard, and still were unable to prevent several other people from crashing in the same place. We finally moved some nearby construction cones onto the bridge, which seemed to help. We rode on for a few more miles, until we got to a more easily accessible spot, then Jim pointed out the major swelling in my left shoulder, and I decided I should be seen by the Kaiser folks sooner rather than later. Y'all be careful out there!