So continuing on from last blog which explained what had been going on, I had a few calls from friends with some suggestions, thanks heaps for those guys. What eventuated was I went under the knife last Monday, nervous was an understatement as the surgeon wasn’t sure what he was looking for and if indeed the surgery would even solve the problem. Nerve-wrecking probably more so because we found out our private health we have been paying every month for the past 2 years that we assumed would cover the surgery would in fact not be covered. To be confronted with an out of pocket $6000 bill for a surgery that may not fix the problem wasn’t ideal....... But we felt there really was no other option.
Once paid, I settled into my bed at 10.30am, after having another XRAY, and at 1.30pm was wheeled away for the operation. The anaesthetist was kind enough to run through the risks associated with the surgery, most likely a legal requirement but I didn’t really need to hear that there would be a 1 in 100 chance I would remember something from the operation. Next thing I woke up in recovery feeling very very ordinary and it was 6.15pm, they said it would be a 1 ½ hour operation....?!?!? I was taken back to my room, and apparently the lady next to me who had a knee replacement was in there for less time than me! Felt ridiculously groggy and nauseous but no pain in my hip. I was keen to get the hell outta there and save myself $800 for the overnight fee, that’s a new set of wheels I kept telling myself, get out of the bed!!! But I was hooked up to a drip and a catheter, some party drug called ketamene, I have no idea why anyone would voluntarily take that stuff!!! It certainly didn’t make me feel like partying!! That was making me sick so then I had maxillon plus panadeine, anti-inflammatories and anti-biotics put into my drip. It then became pretty obvious I would be staying put for the night!!! New wheels will have to wait!!!
Apparently the ketamene has hallucinogenic side effects so the nurse came in every 1 hour to wake me up, take my blood pressure and see how I was going. So much for sleeping.
So the verdict....what was it that had not only kept me off my bike for 3 months, but from teaching properly, walking more than 500m, and turning into an even more cranky and frustrated human being? A tear in the labrym muscle (sits in the pelvis), extensive damage to my hip cup (likely from a stack), FAI ( ), and a spur on the bone that was shaved off. All these are common in cyclists, but the symptoms they were producing weren’t common, hence why it was such an epic ordeal to figure it out.
I was discharged on Tuesday morning and decided to come back to Marlo with Al, seat as far back as it would go, blanket over me I was keen to get the 4 ½ hr drive out of the way. No such luck, we got 30 minutes down the road and the car run out of petrol...on the busy Monash freeway. Apparently foresight isn’t one of Al’s strengths. In his defence, the petrol ‘range’ said there were 41km’s of petrol left in the tank and we were only 2km’s from a petrol station. It was freezing cold, raining and the RACV tool 1hr 40min to arrive, meanwhile I was pretty sure a Mac Truck was going to squash us. I had to stand up every 1 hour to prevent DVT, so a stop at Traralgon Maccas saw my make it as far as the front door where I vomited everywhere, that was awkward and embarrassing, trying to hobble back to the car hanging on to Al (I didn’t have crutches yet) whilst vomiting at the same time trying to get out of view. We finally made it home and there I spent the next 4 days on the couch. Each time I tried to get up I would get a massive headspin, nausea and then spew. I stopped taking Endone as the side effects of nausea, constipation and head spins weren’t worth it. But I continued to take these steroidal anti-inflams, but turns out they were also causing the same side effects. It seemed for every drug they gave me a had to take another drug to combat the side effect of that drug, which in turn produced another side effect. I’d rather a bit more pain in my hip than the crappy sick feeling.
And where to from now? I have crutches for another week, stitches out next week but I have started riding again!! The beauty of cycling being a non weght bearing rehab tool, sweeeet. 2 x 5mins on the ergo once on the morning and once at night. Feels so amazingly awesome to be back on the bike although the 5 mins goes soooo quick and I try to hide the timer from Al but he watched over me to make sure I get off precisely at the 5 min mark. Dreaming about the day I’ll be out on the trials, cant friggin wait!!! And it should only be a couple of weeks away!!!!
On another positive note, Giant Bikes are going to help me out and I look forward to being part of the Giant Family, as everyone who knows me knows how much I love Giant. I feel very grateful they’re going to help me out. And totally stoked that in a couple of weeks I get to test ride their Advanced SL 1 carbon dually and their 29er Anthem Dually!! Will be a tough decision whether or not to go down the 29er path, but after a few laps of the Pineys and Jubberland it’ll give me a fair indication. So it’s full steam ahead, it’s funny how this time last week I was depressed, frustrated, cranky and feeling absolutely shithouse and now I’m getting back to my old self. Funny how bikes can be such a massive part of your life. This time off has certainly made me appreciate how riding is more a part of me than my arms and legs are, that it can be easily taken away from you, and to appreciate every time you get to rock up to the start line, every berm and jump you go over, enjoy riding cos you never know when you won’t be able to do it. To think there were times I didn’t want to get out of bed to train, now I’d give my right arm to be able to hit the trials, even for half an hour!!! I’ve learnt I need to listen to my body, train smarter and enjoy every pedal stroke. Bring on the Scott 24hour in October, the Gravity 21hr, Surfcoast 12hr....got em all locked in and cant bloody wait !!!
