The guy that broke everything, and living!

[zjrog]

I'm retired Navy, but thats not enough to live on, so I work in a job that has me outdoors a lot. I'm not in bad shape health wise, but always carry way too much weight. I'm usually the guy they call on to move the heavy stuff around. In November of 2010, I had my left knee replaced and hopped back on my bicycle for that recovery. I was also in the gym and tried running. And strained the other knee MCL and dealt with a heel spur. All in all, the knee replacement went well, and I have great Range of Motion from it. The bike helped with that. And I lost 20 pounds over the 8 months after the replacement. I put a few back on over the summer though.

Then in August, I had a serious bicycle crash, downhill, roadbike and the front tire went flat. At about 35-40 MPH. I broke a couple vertebra in my neck, had an occipital condryl injury. Plus, I crushed a vein in my neck and did some nerve damage into my right shoulder. I crushed the T9 vertebra and damaged t7, 8 and 10. Broke 4 ribs and did a bunch of muscle and tendon damage in the thoracic area. I also had a massive concussion and still have some lingering memory issues. The next day I had my back fused from T7-12 with titanium rods and screws. I wore a TLSO torso brace for the first 5 weeks. And a cervical collar until just last week. The crash about killed me, and the friend I was riding with is a former EMT. If not for him, I might be dead or not walking. I was on the surgical ward for a week with bowel complications, but then spent two weeks in the hospital's physical rehab center. Where I made good progress. I may also have a lumbar injury, due to some odd nerve pains in my feet, this showed during my time in rehab so that will be looked at later.

Once home, and seeing the Physical Therapist I saw for my knee, I continued progressing well. When the TLSO torso brace was removed, I was allowed to go back to work 2 weeks later. Part time, and the folks I work with went out of their way to help me. I ride a vanpool, since I couldn't drive that was a big help. The doc I see from the rehab center has been pleased with my progress. And when I saw my surgeon last week, she too was pleased. And, now I can drive myself again. Finally. I'm back to work fulltime, taking time off each week for physical therapy. Luckily, I work 4 day weeks so each day is longer and I'm still quite tired when I get home, I get three days to recover. My surgeon has lifted all but a few restrictions, and those will remain through at LEAST August. But with what I've been through and accomplished so far, August just isn't that far off.

I have my bicycle on an indoor trainer at home, I can tolerate about 10 to 15 minutes on it before my back starts to complain. I am finally able to get back to the gym, at very light weights. Using the treadmill and exercise bikes to get my cardio back, which still sucks. And even with the light weights, I tire and get sore quickly. That will improve with time.

Essentially, I was stil recovering from my knee replacement when I nearly killed myself. Friends refer to me as "the guy that broke everything". Sort of appropriate I guess. So here I am in recovery mode again. I've lost nearly 40 pounds since August. Not the best weight loss plan though. I have weighed as much as 320 about 7 years ago, and hovered around 295-305 most of the time since then. I'm now about 257 pounds, 230 or so would be fine. Lower and Im not sure I'll feel good.

Ever since that day that I realized I could move my fingers and toes, I knew I needed to REALLY get back in shape. I need to live a more healthy lifestyle. That doesn't mean I have to be a full on gym rat, but eat right and more exercise than I was doing should do the trick. I don't want to worry if I can make a hike in the mountains without hurting afterwards, or hop on the bike and 25 miles easily. Some of this is what I was working towards before the crash.

I'll be 49 next month, age is a number, not a definition to me. Yes, my back is sore, and I hope its all just muscle pain. That will go away. I'll say it again, August isn't that far away. My continued restrictions include no high impact activities, no bouncing or jarring which means no moutain biking or ATV riding. And certainly, no running. I'll be in Physical Therapy a few more months too. I treat every session as a workout. Not just going through the motions.

Ever forward, NEVER a spectator

[Jayos]

Wow...very inspiring man...keep training

[zjrog]

I've never been a supplement kind of guy, but wonder what might help promote healing for my back? Still working through stiffness and weak neck muscles too.

[GuyJin]

Consulting a good sports rehabilitation specialist might be a good idea to find out what you can do and what you can't. You know your body better than anyone but his/her input couldn't hurt. For the training, undertraining--stopping a few reps short of what you could do--is your friend. Push, but gently.

Supplement-wise, many report creatine and glutamine as recovery enhancers. I'm no nutritionist but I've used glutamine in the past and felt it helped. (Anecdotal, I know). Great job on the recovery from all your surgeries!

[zjrog]

Thanks! For the info and the compliment! My Physical Therapist is a weight lifter and has dabbled in MMA. I'm seriously not doing ANYTHING my docs and therapist wouldn't allow.

[zjrog]

I settled on a whey protein isolate, glutamine and creatine. We'll see how that goes. It certainly can't hurt. Early in therapy, my therapist spent a lot of time on core work and the lower abdomen. Now that I can lift weights again, we're doing more upper body core work. Its been about 12 years since I worked seriously in the gym and was doing 1000 crunches a workout. I've joked for years about the 6 pack hidden under the "keg". Its been good working those lower abs, and looking forward to upper abs and back work soon.