Skydiving Without A Parachute

The thread title is a bit melodramatic perhaps, but I thought I'd mention my recent mishap as a cautionary tale to one and all. I have a large garden and was lucky enough to have a pair of Kestrels nest in a box I'd put up in a tree a few years ago. Last month I noticed the Kestrels were once again taking an interest in the box which, over the winter I'd installed a small video camera in the top. I put a ladder up against a branch near the box (something I'd done many times before I should add) and climbed up with a cloth in my pocket to clean the camera lens of cobwebs and other debris that had accumulated since I installed it. At the top of the ladder (it never happens when you're at the bottom does it?) The branch snapped and the ladder went one way and I the other. I suppose I could consider myself fortunate that I landed on soft(ish) grass rather than the patio, but as I'm now in my mid 60's I came down about 12 feet onto my right arm and shoulder. I do recall thinking to myself as I started the descent ' this is going to hurt'. That turned out to be a bit of an understatement. I wasn't knocked out, but after a few minutes lying there checking to see which limbs still functioned ok and which not, I managed to get up and limp back into the house. Long story short, I'd smashed my shoulder and upper arm bone pretty comprehensively and I had a long operation (they said about 6 hours) to fix me up Barry Sheene style with plates and screws to hold the bones back together. I do have X ray photos, but I'm not going to post them on here. Instead I've put a picture from last year with the Kestrel on the garden bird table . I'm sure plenty of you will either have experienced similar misfortune yourself or know friends who have. My biking season is therefore pretty much over before it had begun for 2023. I managed one ride before this incident occured out on the Street Triple to get the annual MOT test done (8 miles there and back) and that's it.

Why put this on here? We all have accidents and misfortunes from time to time right?

Well I live on my own now, my wife passed away last year and it struck me when I was lying there on the grass, that if I'd broken a leg or even my back I could have been there all day and all night. My house is quite isolated. I'd left my mobile phone in the kitchen so things could have been a lot worse. So my message is be careful out there everyone. I consider myself fortunate, the Surgeons seem to have done a great job of putting poor old Humpty Dumpty back together again, but its going to be several months before I can even think about riding my bikes again. Hence my participation in the Wordle thread now. It seems to be the highlight of my day. Lol.

 

As far as I'm aware the metalwork stays in situ, unless something goes badly wrong of course. They did mention if the socket part of the Humerus bone doesn't get enough blood supply and effectively dies, then they would have to look at replacing the whole shoulder joint with an artificial one. Of course I'm hoping it won't come to that and my meeting with the Consultant yesterday was very positive and he thinks everything is healing up nicely.

 

Getting back on the horse!

Its more than 6 weeks since my shoulder Op and the physiotherapy seems to be coming along nicely. I decided to have a short ride on the Street Triple. Just 4 miles there and back to fill up with fuel. Everything went well although I have a feeling if I overdo it in terms of distance, I might suffer for it later, so for now that's about as far as I want to go, but it was nice to be out on two wheels for the first time since early March. The NS400 with its low bars is another matter, but I have got it booked in for an MOT next Tuesday so we will see how that goes in terms of riding to and from the test centre. Again its only a few miles in each direction and I'm more worried about getting it covered in road muck if it should happen to rain.

 

Thanks Tony.

 

Thank you, the bike duly passed the test OK and thankfully the weather stayed dry too.

 

I had my first post op longer ride yesterday, with a mate on his Kawasaki W800. I say longer ride, it was still a round trip of less than 50 miles to a local watering hole and back, but it was satisfying to find the shoulder wasn't giving me too much bother. I consider myself very lucky to be able to ride at all less than 2 full months after the operation. In typical British weather style we did get wet when we encountered a heavy downpour en route tho.