I was out for a nice morning mountain bike trip with the Dos de Tres mtb club. It was a delightfully cool morning, and a great group to ride with. The sun gradually rose as we rode, and the miles went by. The trails were great, but with some sandy spots. No real hills to speak of, and very dry.
We rode along, listening to American tunes from the 80s! It was just like being in college. Fun.
When we were about halfway out we stopped and then briefly crossed over the highway and resumed the ride. I was a bit further back, and washed out in some sand, no big deal but it put me a bit further back. In my haste to catch up with the group, I was working it pretty hard, hit a patch of sand, and “thud”.
After a brief moment of no-mans land I come to my senses and realize I am in the middle of the trail and I cannot move my leg. Fortunately after a couple of minutes two riders from our group arrive and come to my aid. Fortunately for my gringo self, one of them speaks amazingly good English. Much much much better than my Spanish. I call Denise and tell her what a screw-up I am, and fade-out for a moment. I will definitely need a hospital. I tell her Sharp in Mazatlan.
He calls ahead to Alex and the rest of the group, and they go find a pickup truck to come get me from a nearby town. We are about 20 km or so north of Mazatlan. The trail is tough for the trucks to negotiate, but after 40 minutes they come up to me. I then realize that the trail is quite narrow, and I am in the middle of it. They are going to have to drag me up the embankment to get me out of the way. This is the most painful moment I have ever experienced in my life – I am literally cursing everything I know, yowza!
They get me out of the way, and the truck is able to go by. They load me in, which after being moved, was much less painful, thankfully! Though the ride in the back of the pickup is very painful, and I frequently beg “más lentamente” or something approximating that. I am hanging onto two guys with the group in the back of the truck to get through this. After awhile we get on the highway and zip to Sharp. Hospital. My wife is there, and the EMTs (painfully) get me onto a stretcher, and out of the truck.
Thank you to the driver of the truck for my safe transport to the hospital, and the folks who helped me make the journey.
Alex goes into the hospital with me and stays awhile for support. Alex is awesome and makes this much easier for me. Denise is there to, and she goes and gets the nurse to get me painkillers.
So they take an xray and and the hip is severely broken. So I am admitted to the hospital and scheduled for surgery (after a sizable down payment) two days later. Meanwhile Liz with KW Faro and Rosy with the Spanish school come to visit and are very helpful in keeping my spirits up. Denise stays with me, and all told will spend the five days at the hospital with me. Liz and Shawn help line up an English doctor to check in on us (who chides me a bit).
I am now simply waiting for surgery. Which, fortunately for me goes off like clockwork. And after some re-arranging of bone pieces, a plate and 9 screws/pins later, I am back in my room, where I will recover for a few days (and make another sizable down payment).
Three days after surgery I am able to go home. This is in of itself an experience. There is significant communication problems on the Sharp side of this, and I am essentially abandoned for awhile, instead of getting my ride home. Eventually we get the EMTs to take me home in an ambulance. Seemed like a good idea until they got to our building and realized the stretcher would not fit into the elevator. After a very painful transfer in and out of a wheelchair (they should have just let me use my walker instead) – they grabbed me by both legs (including my bad one) and put me in the chair – ouch!
So, now I am at home recovering, slowly, at least 5 weeks of no weight on the leg. The sutures were removed after two weeks (perhaps a tad bit early as the incision is now bleeding again), and we are counting down the days to when we get to put weight on the leg and begin PT!
I am so thankful for Denise who is taking very good care of me, I am sure she is growing tired of it!
-Gary
Thankfully my hip protected my bike from getting damaged — thanks to Alex for cleaning it up! Any one want to go for a little ride 🙂
