I know lots you have probably suffered through them, so tell me your story. How did you get injured and how long did it take to recover? I need some moral support because I am currently recovering from a broken clavicle suffered on April 10 of this year.

Here is my story:

First off I think age is important when discussing health/injuries, so to put this in perspective I am 44 years old . My injury occurred as a result of a bicycle wreck (yes, I am a biker - lol)... I was going around a corner too fast, clipped the curb and went flying. I landed squarely on my left shoulder and heard the collar bone pop when I hit the concrete. Luckily I had a helmet on, and there weren't any cars coming. I picked myself up in complete denial that I was injured. I reached down to pick up the bike and that's when it hit me... OUCH!!!! I started to go into shock. I was in a remote area about 5 miles away from home with no cell phone and nobody to call anyway. The only thing I could do was get back on the bike and pedal my way home. So I dropped the seat a few inches, stuck my hand in my shorts to stabilize the arm and climbed back on the bike. I must say that was the longest 5 miles I have ever ridden.

After I made it home, I cut my shirt off with some scissors so I could see what I looked like. It was obvious at that point that a trip to the ER was necessary. So I called my son and asked him to come get me and take me to the hospital. They took cursory X-rays to confirm the break (eventhough it was obvious), recommended I see an Orthopedic specialist, gave me a Vicodin and then sent me on my way. The next day I went to the Orthopededic. Basically he said I did not need surgery, and the only recommendation was to keep the arm in a sling for support. My last follow up during week 6 he took another X-ray and the bone was still separated. He started me on physical therapy and said come back in another 6 weeks, which is June 30.

So here it is the middle of week 9 and I am 3-1/2 weeks into physical therapy with a collar bone that is still not healed. I can lift my arm to the front with some effort, but not to the side. My shoulder cracks and pops whenever I move the arm. And eventhough the exercises I do during therapy are easy, my soreness at night is almost enough to make me cry. I sure hope things get better soon....

Ouch, time for another Vicodin.

Broke my leg in middle-school playing football. A surgery later and I was on crutches for the summer with my leg/knee immobilized. Being that young, I was only in the hospital for a day and a half and didn't leave the couch for a week. After that it was business as usual minus being able to walk.

I don't recall such terrible soreness that you are experiencing, but upper body injuries are much worse. I remember the anesthesia made me horribly sick, that was about the worst part of the whole ordeal.

[This message has been edited by Rainman (edited 06-15-2006).]

No way, they should have put a brace on for support and to hold the bone in place. To my understanding after 12 or so the bone overlaps as opposed to under 12 there's a gap and the bone fused together. My regards to you. I'd be smoking all kinds of stuff.

And all the crazy stupid stuff I did as a youngster, never a broken bone till I turned 50.
Every body wanted to know if it was a car accident, fight, something violent?
Nope a quazi controled decent off a ladder, stone cold sober at the time too.
Sounds like the Ortho isn't doing too much, have you considered a second opinion?

[This message has been edited by DtheC (edited 06-15-2006).]

Lets see I've broken so many bones I dont know where to start. WEll here's one I'll never forget. I was sound asleep in my bed and it was 2am. I lived on a busy intersection and I got woke up by a very loud BANG BOOM CRASH. I knew what had happened, someone wrecked, it had happened dozens of times before. So I get up and call 911 to report it as I look outside to see the damage. Well I looked across the street to 7-11 and there was a car wrapped around the pole that held up the sign. I see someone stagger out of the car and realize it was my friend Levi. I grabbed some shoes which were my moms shoes and 2 sizes to big for me and ram out the door. I got to the car and realized Denny was driving and was uncouncious and not breathing. I started CPR and got him breathing with a few puffs but he was trapped. I looked into the passenger seat and saw Bill and he didnt look good so I started to run around the car and as I stepped off the curb I slipped in some oil/coolant that was leaking from he car and twisted my ankle. I didnt even realize it and got to bill and checked his pulse and he was breathing but pinned. About that time the fire dept showed up and a cop asked me if I was inthe wreck and I said no why and he said then what wrong wtih you foot. I looked down to find it very deformed. I hobbled back home to find Levi in my livingroom with Matt hiding cause he was 20 and drunk as heck and he'd been i nthe ca but was not too injured. So I left him with Matt and my mom took me to the ER and it was cracked and several ligiments were tore. Took me about 3 months to heal after physical therapy. BTW everyone in the car survived and they were drunk and hit the 7-11 pole sideways at about 85mph on a 35mph road. Thats one break I'll never forget.

Angie

Fell down some stairs and split the little finger hand bone from the bottom of the knuckle to the top at the wrist end, it was poking the skin up like a tent and hurt like heck. I knew from my training that if I could set the bone before swelling started I could reduce the pain significantly so that's what I did. That was the worst pain I've ever experienced, I almost blacked out but got it done. X-ray showed a good set and clean break so it healed up relatively fast.

JazzMan

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: Fell down some stairs and split the little finger hand bone from the bottom of the knuckle to the top at the wrist end, it was poking the skin up like a tent and hurt like heck. I knew from my training that if I could set the bone before swelling started I could reduce the pain significantly so that's what I did. That was the worst pain I've ever experienced, I almost blacked out but got it done. X-ray showed a good set and clean break so it healed up relatively fast.JazzMan

Jazz, I gotta give this one to ya, that's a gut check moment. You're a strong individual if you can pull that one off.

I've had several injuries in my life, but the one that comes up the most is when as a high school playing football, (linebacker), I met a full back running full tilt that outweighed me by 50 lbs at least, he got his head lower than mine and speared me in the chest. Cracked my sternum. Couldn't take a deep breath for months, definately couldn't play football till the next season. Still hurts now and then. It's one of those things, if I had known then what I know now, would I have made the same decisions? Hard to say. Those bikes are dangerous, if they don't have a motor, I''m not interested. Get well dude, sucks when you're not 100%.

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Ron
Freedom isn't Free, it's paid for with the blood and dreams of those that have gone before us.
My imagination is the only limiting factor to my Fiero. Well, there is that money issue.

Broke the index finger on my left hand, and my watch when skate boarding behind my car. Ex wife was driving and I swung around on the rope much like you would water skiing.

Caught up with the car and leaned in to kiss my ex and lost my balance. Fell down on my back, and the ex drove right over my left arm, Instead of stopping.

For some reason all I broke was the very end knuckle of my left index finger. Even though she drove right over my arm from just beyond the elbow.

I was 19 at the time, they put a finger cast on my lone finger that proceeded to fall off in 2 days. Then they tried a brace.

Never has heeled right. Always aches when the weather changes.

This is not a brake but, when I was in a motorcycle accident.

I bruised my self up pretty good. About a year later they finally found I had a herniated disc between C5 & C6. Had to have surgery to correct it. I was 30.

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technology is great when it works
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

quote Originally posted by DtheC: Sounds like the Ortho isn't doing too much, have you considered a second opinion?

Actually, the Ortho is the second opinion if you count the ER doc. She told me what the Ortho would probably do, and she was correct. I have also consulted my GP, and he told me the same thing. Unless the bone breaks through the skin, punctures the lung, or causes some other more life threatening situation, they do not want to perform surgery. And the external brace won't help in my situation.

Keep those 'war' stories coming.

I dislocated my left hip and broke both feet. The right foot had been turned around 180 degress backwards and required surgery to put it back in place. My right kneecap also split in half, I broke five ribs and punctured a lung. All of this and more happened in a head on collision. I was in the hospital for about a month and a half and in a wheel chair for six months and on crutches for another six months. I basically had to relearn how to walk all over again and still have pain in my ankle. This happened 26 years ago when I was 21.

When I was in the 5th grade, I used to race BMX, and I was in a race and came over a jump, and there was rock about the size of a baseball. I hit it and flipped over the handle bars, and broke my left shoulder blade, but the worst part was when i went to the er and was complaining about my stomach hurting, so they took a CAT scan, and I had brusied my spleen. The told me that if I wasn't wearing a chest protector, it could have been a lot worst.

chipped my tailbone when I was 8? Fell backwards 8 ft onto a wooden floor when a ladder broke..

Broke my thumb by getting it caught in one of those big orange bumper jacks when it slipped.(snowbank)

Both wrists at the same time and took a few chips out of my elbow during a motorcycle accident.. Bike went into a speed wobble at 110MPH and it snapped the handlebars out of my hands and I reached back to grab them, my wrists got caught between the handlebars and the gastank (YZF600R with a lot of mods) Major roadrash, ambulance ride and 8 days in the hospital before I checked myself out (against my doctors wishes) for 3 months of bandage changing at home.

[This message has been edited by isthiswhereiputausername? (edited 06-15-2006).]

Well, never broken any bones, but I've had bones surgically grinded down ...

When I was seventeen, I managed to break three ribs on my right side, my right forearm, just about ripped all the ligaments and tendons in my knees apart, five compression fractures in my legs, snapped both ankles and got a concussion to boot. Between surgeries and PT, I was functioning at about 65% in nine months. But I definately had my age working for me then.

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Whade' "The Duck Formerly Known As Wade" Duck
'87 GT Auto
'88 Ferrario

When I was 17, I was riding a friend's motorcycle home from the state lakes. As I entered one end of a large S curve, there was a pickup waiting to cross the road on the other end. There was a car in front of me, and as the car passed the pickup, he pulled across the road in front of me. Broke my right hand in two places, and most of the mirror shards ended up embedded in it. Went to the ER, and they told me they just thought it was bruised, but that I should go see my family doctor on Monday (this was Friday afternoon), and not to move it too much until then. The swelling didn't go down, and the visit to the doctor confirmed it was broken. 6 weeks in a cast...all during the summer. I lost my job, and basically was a bum for most of the summer. Other than an occasional "catch" in that hand, and some of the mirror shards pushing their way out of my hand 20 years later, I haven't had any problems with it.

My son was crawling over the gate in our backyard when he was about 7, and fell. Put his hands out in front of him to cushion the fall, and suffered a compound fracture of both bones in his left forearm. Of course, I had mowed that day, the lawn service had come and fertilized and sprayed for weeds, and I had watered the chemicals in. Both bones dug exited through the skin, and dug into the mud, grass clippings, and chemicals. It took 8 surgeries, two skin grafts, two bone grafts, 5 different casts, physical therapy, and about two years for it to finally heal. He has a rather large scar on his left arm from his wrist to just above the inside of his elbow, and he cannot twist his hand very far in either direction. Also, his left arm looks a bit "withered" as opposed to his right arm, as there is no fat covering under the skin where his scar is anymore, due to many debridements, etc. But...at least he still has his arm. After it was all over and done with, his orthopedic surgeon admitted to us that he had more than a few sleepless nights, worrying whether or not he was going to be able to save my son's arm.