WA to MT: Traveling Back Home and Starting Recovery
Since my crash on July 3, I have heard from so many of you wishing me well and curious about how I am recovering. Thank you all! The short answer is that I am doing stunningly well. As you can see above, visually, it looks like I might simply have a sprained ankle. With my knee roller, I am able to navigate our cape house easily since our bedroom, the office, living room, and kitchen are all on the main floor. I have a protective boot I wear when I go out. The pain is minimal, controlled with the occasional Tylenol. I feel extraordinarily lucky with how this has been turning out so far.
A longer narrative follows.
My travel home followed the plan. After being released from the hospital on Tuesday July 5, I spent the night 4 blocks away in the same hotel we had stayed in the nights before and after our rest day. I shared a room with Doug who helped me get food, reorganize my bags for travel, etc. At 7:15 am, the morning of the 6th, our Bicycle Adventures guides showed up with the van and trailer to load us up and drive us to Seattle. It took about 6 hours. With the bouncing, I would not call the trip pleasant, but was fine given the circumstances. Here is a photo I snapped while on the drive.
I was able to manage the pain well. At the Sandpoint Hospital following my surgery, they had implanted a a small tube into my knee that was attached to an external bolus that provided a controllable amount medicine to anesthetize the nerves in my leg. The nerve block provided by this On-Q system was quite effective. Essentially, as the dosage increased, it felt like the different stages of a limb falling asleep from pinching off the blood flow: some pins and needles at a mild dosage to full numbness and no motor control under a high dosage. I could control the flow of medicine in 2 ml/hr increments, and the bolus held 750 ml. Managing the nerve block medicine was a tradeoff between several factors. The more I used, the less pain there was, but also the more the limb felt asleep which is also not a great feeling. Also, the more I used, the less time I would have since, after departing the hospital, the bolus could not be replaced once I finished the medicine. Initially, 6ml per hour seemed to be a good balance with the occasional prescription pain pill to supplement.
Once I got to the hotel in Seattle, I got help from Doug and the staff to get my bike, bike bag, suitcase, and backpack up to my room. Shortly after we arrived, Aileen messaged us that she would be coming to the hotel to pick up some bags she had stored there before the trip. Since Aileen had come from Scotland, she had added vacation before and after the bicycle portion of the trip, visiting places like Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains beforehand, and planning to visit Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon afterwards. Aileen had taken the Empire Builder train overnight from Glacier back to Seattle. It was great to be able to spend half an hour with Aileen before she headed out for her flight.
With some guidance from me, Doug dissembled my bike and carefully packed it into my bike bag. I then napped for a bit before Doug and I joined the Killer Bees (Bruce, Bill, and Bud) for dinner at the hotel. The Killer Bees all had early morning flights and had booked hotel rooms by the airport. However, they made the trip into downtown Seattle to have dinner with Doug and me. It was really nice to wrap up the trip chatting about what we had seen, future bike trips various of us had on our schedules, and the possibility of trying to put together a self supported trip in New England at some point. It would have been nice if all 8 of us could have been there (and especially if we all could have been healthy).
Doug had a very early flight the next day, so we said our goodbyes that night. His help was was tremendous, not just in what he did, but in simply knowing that he was there for me whatever problems arose. I spent the next day mostly hanging out in my room since I had the red eye to Boston departing around 11pm. Lunch was a bit exciting since the hotel restaurant was closed. I found a nice Indian place a block away, but the block was down the steep hill towards the water. While the distance was short, using crutches on a steep hill is challenging and tiring in both directions.
The trip to the airport was mostly uneventful. The biggest challenge was getting from the drop-off curb to Jet Blue's check-in. There was no one available to help curbside. The cab driver is legally not supposed to leave his cab. My driver eventually ignored the regulations, brought my bags inside while I waited near the cab, then I hobbled over to the check-in counter. Once inside at the counter, I took advantage of the wheelchair service to get whisked through security, on the train to the correct terminal, then to the proper gate.
Due to my injury, I was actually the first to board the flight. I had been able to book a seat (pod) in Jet Blue's first class (Mint) section which allowed me to have a flat bed for the flight. However, I had difficulty sleeping. The first part of the flight, there was a lot of turbulence. Later, I was just uncomfortable due to the accumulated stress and that the pod only barely fits someone of my height.
My wife Kate and brother-in-law JP picked me up from the airport. JP drove me to our place on the Cape while Kate followed in the car I had driven to the airport. My daughter Becca was there to meet me, and Kayla drove down after work to be here as well. Over the weekend, parts of the Silbert clan came over multiple times to fuss over me, even bringing a Thai dinner for all of us to enjoy Saturday night. Like the Russell clan that Doug married into, the Silbert clan has also become family by choice over the years. Here is a photo of me enjoying a coffee on our porch.
On Monday, I saw my orthopedist here in MA. The incisions on both sides are healing very cleanly. My orthopedist said that the post surgical x-rays show the bones fitted back together essentially flawlessly. I have been given a removable boot to wear for protection, but while I am sitting around the house or sleeping, I can have it off. While I cannot put any weight on my leg until it heals much more, it is actually beneficial for me to move my ankle forward and back frequently. My range of motion is rather limited at this point with my foot pointed slightly downwards. Due to swelling and tightness, I currently cannot quite get my ankle to 90 degrees, but this should improve as swelling reduces and as I perform range of motion stretches. Yesterday, I took my first post surgery shower using a bath stool in the shower, the hand sprayer, and a plastic bag over my let to keep the wound dressing dry. It was delightful.
It is now 10 days from the crash, and I am doing incredibly well. Thanks again to everyone who has reached out.