Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Road Rash Update

I've been asked by many people for images of my superman-off-my-bicycle injuries. I think by road rash standards (true bike-racing-crashing-cyclist-experts feel free to chime in here...) they really are not that bad. Here is a short recap of treatment...
  • Day of crash: hospital clean up in Tobago.
  • 4 days post-crash: saw a wound specialist back at home & given wound spray cleaner.
  • 5 days post-crash: used wound cleaner and nearly died. I have NO IDEA what they put in wound spray cleaner, but it only got used once. I think I swore more in five minutes than I have in my entire life. Through the roof painful.
  • 5 days post-crash: a bunch of stuff was cut out of wounds (THIS was fun!!). They did not numb it and it did not hurt nearly as bad as when they dug rocks out of wounds at Tobago hospital.
  • 7 days post-crash: most of the pain (as in I'm sitting in a chair in pain) was gone (bump the arm pain still very much existed). I also got back on my bicycle outside.
This is a pretty beach picture from Tobago. It's also filler so that the images of my wound fall below the bottom of your screen. If you don't want to see them - don't scroll down. I personally think they are gross, but could have definitely been much worse.

2 days after crash. A bunch of rocks were in this one.

11 days after crash. Good as new! The body is amazing at repairing itself!

Day after crash. Not a great pic - but this wound grossed me out the most, it kind of just looked like raw meat to me. There were 2 rocks in this one.

11 days after crash. Still looks disgusting if you ask me.

2 days after crash. Probably the least injured, but the most painful of all. There was only one rock in this one - down by the elbow.

11 days after crash. Other than the hole in my elbow and lots of pink new skin it's pretty darn healed!

So there you have it - nasty road rash images! I'm back to training and will see the doc again next week to make sure I heal properly. Had to change the race schedule slightly. Looking forward to Rev3 Portland July 8!