I can drive a car again in 2 weeks!

"J. Walter Weatherman" (J-WalterWeatherman) 01/08/2014 at 14:50 • Filed to: None

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I just had a follow up with my surgeon and she said that my leg basically looks like it is healing as good as it possibly could from such a severe break. The best part is that she told me that I can start putting weight on it in two weeks (which is two weeks earlier than she originally told me). That means that I will finally be able to drive again soon! It has been two months of not driving a car, and I am starting to go a bit crazy.

Also very exciting to me (but of less interest to Opponauts) is that she said that I can immediately get back on my bike once I start weight bearing again. The amount of atrophy in my leg is absolutely astonishing, so I can't wait to start getting exercise again.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 14:52

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Glad to hear it.

I am picturing the one-sidedness as similar to the guy from Lady In The Water .

ttyymmnn > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 14:54

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Have fun at the airport. Remind me what happened? It looks like an x-ray of Steve Austin.

HammerheadFistpunch > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 14:57

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That's great news! I guess there is still great riding where you are too. Better start doing one leg stair steppers.

505Turbeaux > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 14:57

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woo keep on truckin J Walter. Almost there!

Klaus Schmoll > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 15:02

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I recommend getting on that bike (or some kind of home trainer) as soon and as much as they let you. Atrophy is a bitch. You will be surprised by of how little use this this leg will be to you at first.

Also before you start driving have some doctor write you a note that you are fit to do so. This isn't legally required, but should anything happen that isn't even your fault, the other parties' laywers are going to have a field day over the fact that you recently had surgery. The even sat me in a car and measured how hard I could press the brake pedal.

I'm not saying this to spoil your mood, just wanted to share my experiences. On the bright side, from now on you will be able to do something new again every day.

J. Walter Weatherman > HammerheadFistpunch 01/08/2014 at 15:09

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Yep. Tons of great riding. Winter really isn't a slow season for biking around here - it's the middle of the summer that we tend to slow down during (or at least bike MUCH earlier in the morning). I was even signed up for a race in mid-February that I am halfway considering still trying to ride in (VERY gently and slowly, of course).

J. Walter Weatherman > ttyymmnn 01/08/2014 at 15:12

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I crashed on my cyclocross bike and broke what is called the "tibia plateau" - essentially the top part of my tibia exploded. This is what it looked like before they put all the shiny new metal bits in there:

ttyymmnn > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 15:15

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Well, that looks painful. As does cyclocross. (I had to look that up.)

J. Walter Weatherman > Klaus Schmoll 01/08/2014 at 15:15

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Good idea on getting the doctor's clearance to drive. Seeing as I am a lawyer, you'd imagine I would have thought of that already...

I am literally going to get on my bike the first day they let me. Not getting exercise is absolutely driving me crazy, and I know I have A LOT of work to do in order to get the muscle back in my leg. I even bought a stationary trainer so I can get some exercise at home without having to be out on the roads putting my leg at risk the whole time. I absolutely hate those stationary trainers (they bore me to tears) but I am willing to put up with it to get my strength back.

Mattbob > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 15:22

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oh man. ouch. You just made me somewhat second guess my recent order of winter riding gear. I'm still waiting on it so I can get out, but I cringe at recreating what you did.

JACU - I've got bonifides. > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 15:22

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Get well soon dude.

Hooker > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 15:40

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So happy for you man!! Keep us posted on your progress! We better get bike ride pictures!! Coming from a guy who had to re-learn to walk again, atrophy sucks for sure. The good news? It will be worth it.

J. Walter Weatherman > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 01/08/2014 at 15:48

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Haha. Yep, it's something like that. This picture was taken a month ago. It is much worse now.

J. Walter Weatherman > Mattbob 01/08/2014 at 15:52

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Don't worry, my injury was one of those one-in-a-million type things. I just landed at the perfectly wrong angle. Pro tip: if you are going down, just suck it up, take the fall and roll with the momentum. You will get some road rash, but otherwise probably wont get too hurt. My problem is that I stuck my leg out to try to catch myself, and wound up with all the force of the fall squarely on my knee, which promptly buckled sideways. That was not a wise move.

doodon2whls > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 16:32

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HFS !

My buddy shattered his Tibial Plateau while we were skiing in the alps in 2000... The local klinik Orthopod was an arrogant mastermind. Ironically, my buddy worked for an orthopedic sports injury practice in the US when this happened, but he had to get it fixed on the spot. When he sent the X-rays to the docs at his practice in the US, they said that they would likely amputate versus trying to fix it !!! His fracture looked similar to yours - his Tibia was in 14 pieces !

The surgery was a success: 14 screws, 2 plates. He had to get one plate and the accompanying 7 screws removed a couple of years after because scar tissue was limiting his range of motion. If you didn't know he had the injury, you would be none the wiser. His legs are within 1/8" length of one another and he walks without a limp. No orthopedic shoes required.

Good luck to you and best wishes for a speedy and full recovery !

Funny related story: The triage techs and doctors at the klinik did _not_ cut his pants off. He was in jeans/snow pants and they pulled them off in one piece. In the US, they would have split those pants in a heartbeat ! Funny EU ppl and their jean fetish...

J. Walter Weatherman > doodon2whls 01/08/2014 at 17:05

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Wow.

That sounds pretty similar to my situation. The doctors never threw out the "amputate" word, but they said it is about as bad as a tibia plateau injury can get. After the surgery I asked the surgeon how many pieces the tibia broke into. She strait up laughed at me, and said something to the effect of "I have no idea, it looked like a bomb went off in there. We just vacuumed the smaller pieces out." I wound up with 10 screws and 2 plates.

I am hoping that they don't have to take any of it out in the future. I really don't want to go through any of this again!

MonkeePuzzle > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 17:14

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hooray for driving again! I shall eat my husbands eat after mating in celebration of this news!!!

J. Walter Weatherman > MonkeePuzzle 01/08/2014 at 17:30

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Holy shit. This is amazing.

MonkeePuzzle > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 17:31

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bah! said "eat" instead of "head", fail :S

doodon2whls > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 17:44

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Maybe complex Tibial Plateau fracture repair techniques have come a long way in the past decade ? It is a common sports injury from what I understand.

My buddy and I were skiing off-piste across a ravine to get to a lunch break. I got across and fell backyards. I got up and waved him off, but he was already coming with a head of steam. His skis jammed in the snowbank (loading his tibia) and he fell forward while his skis splayed outward (twisting his knees while under load). It was this compression load and torque that shattered his Tibial Plateau. The bindings did not release, but the Orthopod said it likely didn't matter.

The hardware removal surgery was much less invasive and painful, although it wasn't pain free.

He participates in low impact sports now like cycling regularly (commuting and free-rides) and coaching little league. ;-)

Here is the klinik that treated him.

Apparently, several sport celebrities have traveled there for orthopedic surgery specifically. Since he is not a Swiss citizen, basically made him sign a financial responsibility note for $30K before doing the surgery. In the end, his insurance company footed the bill. Since he fell near a tram station, we could bring him down in the litter car so he didn't have to pay for a Helo ride. On the bright side, the view from his room was fantastic - overlooking the frozen lake where they hold horse races. The HeliPad was outside his room, so he had a first person view of the action there as well. About four Helo's arrived each day. A few more critical ppl left via Helo, too. He was thankful to be alive after seeing that.

[images from ytimg.com and 7000.suedostschweiz.ch]

J. Walter Weatherman > MonkeePuzzle 01/08/2014 at 17:51

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I knew what you meant :)

Stef Schrader > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 18:05

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Congrats!

CPT Speedbump > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 20:40

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I'm gonna go talk to doctors about my knees soon (they're fucckkkeeeeddd up) and I dont care if I get surgery or whatever, just want my knees to not give out on me out of no where..but this is my biggest fear about it, something stopping me from driving D:

Fast, Faster and Fastest > J. Walter Weatherman 01/08/2014 at 23:01

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Pretty!

Mattbob > J. Walter Weatherman 01/09/2014 at 07:41

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Oh, I have had plenty of experience falling. Falling on ice is just a different animal from the falling on dirt that I'm used to. much less control.

Gamecat235 > J. Walter Weatherman 01/13/2014 at 11:21

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Celebratory beers may need to be had. Life as always is busy as heck for me. Hope that your recovery is going smoothly and you haven't reinjured yourself while watching either of the LA games (that UCLA one was nuts)

J. Walter Weatherman > Gamecat235 01/13/2014 at 11:53

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Yeah, the ending on that UCLA game sure did stress me out.

Recovery is going well. Probably as good as it possibly can. I will finally be back on my feet in just over a week! I am busy too, but would definitely be down for grabbing a beer some time. With a little advanced warning, I can probably make the time to meet up. Just let me know if you ever have some time and we can see if we can finally get our schedules to align!