Things happen in threes, or do they???

So, with my thumb and crash on the Saturday in Rochester I figured I would get hit with one more mishap. Things happen in threes right? Or is it 3 X 3? I don’t know, I’m still counting. So, went to nationals and started the TT and things weren’t going too badly. I wasn’t winning but I was competitive and close to Erinne W and Felicia G at the one turn around. Then just before 3km to go I hear the sound of a flat tire. DANG! When I figured out which one it was I put my hand up and stopped. Chris came running with a spare and changed it but all I was thinking was “Dang, I can’t catch a break”. On the other hand I was thinking “okay, that’s number three and I can handle that, at least it didn’t involve bodily harm”. Oh, I forgot to mention that it started stroming with lightening, thunder and driving rain about 1km after my start. I was the last to start but I don’t count that because it affected some others too.

So whatever. The next day was the road race and I was less than enthused about racing. I had no desire to crash on the hip again and it was foremost in my mind. It was also raining and on a hilly city circuit I decided the risk wasn’t worth it. I remember the physio saying “crashing on it again would be bad...” So, I hung in the feed zone trying to at least be of some use to Audrey and Gina. After the race I was not feeling too good and went back to the hotel and went straight to bed. I developed a fever and eventually had it coming out both ends. I didn’t know where I was most of that night. The next day about noon I was feeling well enough to tell Chris to go to the pharmacy and get some pepto bismal and gravol, I just wanted to go home. I love Gravol, it just knocks you out. I don’t remember much of the 9 hour drive home either.

So just to lighten things up a bit I’m going to post a picture of Trinity goofing around at home. What a monkey!

So, the next week was full of appointments, especially with the physio. At $45 a visit, I was hoping I wouldn’t need too much physio. My neck was also completely out of whack and the physio worked on that too (it’s still out of whack, I think I need a chiro or osteopath). So, each day was like massage, ultrasound and ice on the neck then the hip and a little suction cup inferential thrown in for the hip too. So, I guess I was getting my $45 worth, it took an hour. But, I was going broke. I continued to ride because they said it would help. Whatever. The surrounding tissue was going back to normal size leaving a huge half melon hanging off my hip that jiggled when I rode. Other than the jiggling, it didn’t bother me or hurt me when I was riding. The jiggling was getting excessive though and finally, 13 days after the crash I decided to have the lump drained.

That was gross and you’ll be happy to know I don’t have a picture of that to share with you. First the doctor tried to draw out the insides through a syringe. That wasn’t working so he had to lance. Well, he got a load of stuff out, well over a cup of clotty blood. Almost 2 cups plus I got about a ¼ cup more out 4 hours later. It felt so good to have that extra-terrestial thing off my hip. I thought "I am on my way baby!! "

Ha, there’s more to the story but I need a break. To be continued again…

Not for the squeamish

Well, again, it’s been a while since the last post. So much has happened. I did manage to finish Nature Valley even though Stillwater was pretty tough. What a mean way to end a race. And then, to top it off I think the prize money for 6th place overall was like $100. That was totally worth it.

So I went home from nature valley, minus the Keen shoes that were stolen while I was racing the downtown crit on Friday night. I had a great week at home and was re-adjusting well to home life. I had to go to Rochester to race that NRC on Saturday but no worries cause it was a twilight race. That meant I could finally catch one of Trinity’s soccer games on Saturday morning. I should have known I was going to have a bad day when I slammed my own thumb in the car door on the way to soccer (Duh, left brain-right brain not communicating). It really hurt, in fact the whole hand hurt and I held it up the rest of the day. I dropped by the local pharmacy to get a splint after the game because I couldn’t touch it and I needed to be able to have some thumb function for the race in Rochester that evening. I should have heeded the thumb warning that this was going to be a less than stellar day.

So, I started the race and for the first two laps all went well, thumb splint was working and I was okay. Then on the third lap on the fast back straight a rider touched and rubbed wheels with the bike in front of her. Of course, I was beside the toucher and could see this developing while telling myself “move right, move right, get away from falling bike rider!!” I didn’t get away soon enough and she caught me on the way down pulling me down too. Kaboom! I hit my face, which is the worst. I’m no model so I wasn’t overly scared of ruining my face but it’s just so obvious when you get road rash on your face, plus it stings like hell. The other thing was, my nose hurt. It hurt so bad it would radiate up into my head for a week afterwards giving me headaches. I also hit my elbow pretty hard and my hip. When I looked at the hip while changing I was like “yes! No road rash!” My shorts weren’t even ripped!

I was happy until about an hour and a half later when I realized I had some foreign object growing on my hip. It was FREAKY. It was totally numb and out to HERE! The colour was starting to come in too, a nice eggplant colour. Very pretty. So much for the bikini for a while. Anyway, jumped into the car to get going home, only 2 and a ½ hour drive. I iced the hip the whole way. All in vain. It got huge and all various colours. Below is a picture of it 4 days after the crash.

So, my doctor said maybe nationals wasn’t a great idea and I wouldn’t be at my best. ya, no kidding. This picture isn't even the worst of it. It looked awful when it was just the impact spot of about 3-4 inches diameter sticking out like a melon. I must end this post now but there is so much more to write about. to be continued...