I am SO incredibly happy to have been able to ride today—my first time since August 18! On that day, I discovered that one of my wheels looked somewhat wobbly, so I took it in to the dealer. Upon examination, they said that the wheel needed to be trued (whatever that means), and when I asked how long they thought, they said probably on Monday (the 21st).
I had Michelle call them to check Monday afternoon, and they said not yet, but they'd call when it was ready. I took this to mean that I'd better employ what Michelle calls my "gift of patience."
Meanwhile, though, by midweek I was realizing I needed to do something for exercise, so that morning I set off early, and, pushing hard, walked down to Stonebridge, a subdivision just over . In the cast room. In the ca mile south of us, and figured I'd do a lap in there and then head back home. After almost two hours, my legs were feeling quite rubbery, so I figured I'd sit down on the curb for a short rest.
Just then, however, the balance issues that have beset me since the brain injury incurred in my May 1993 accident took over, and as I tried to sit, I found myself plummeting helplessly face-first. Now, you would think that doing a face plant into a cement curb would be the worst of it. However, when I tried to break my fall, I jammed my right hand into the ground and in a short time both the pain and swelling were intense.
Initially I considered walng the mile-plus home ... after all, I reasoned, my legs were still fine! But I soon realized that this was unwise, so I pulled out my iPhone and texted Michelle, who was soon pulling up to give me a ride home.
Once I got home, I figured I'd be fine. But after an hour, with the pain increasing rather than subsiding, we headed off to Urgent Care. The x-ray taken was not quite definitive, but then said it looked like my fifth metacarpal (the bone at the base of the little finger) might be broken. However, the soonest I could get in to see the Orthopedist was in 6 days ... today.
So, this morning Michelle and I were at Michigan Orthopedic for my appointment just past 8 a.m., where Dr. Fitzsimmons confirmed that it is, indeed, broken. However, the good news is that I would only need a temporary, removable cast on it for the next 3 weeks, before I go back to see how it's healing.
In the Cast Room, when they asked if I had a favorite color, Michelle and I grinned at one another and agreed this was a no-brainer. Blue has been my favorite color since my earliest memories, at the age of three.
To my delight, the doctor responded to my questions about riding my trike and trying to play the piano a little by saying that both were fine.So after getting home, I wait a little while for the sprinkle we were then experiencing to stop, and then headed out for a totally incident-free ride, even though I settled for a single round trip to Marsh Park, 10.1 miles in a good time of 56 minutes (considerably better than usual).
I think my time was aided by my cast, actually. On the right, the gear shift controls an eight-gear wheel on the back, and on the left is the control for the three-gear wheel at the front of the trike, giving me a total of 24 gears. I don't usually use the ones on the left. However, with my cast I could not shift, and promptly realized that at least the three gears at my left hand at least gave me something, and I think I worked harder in light of this.
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