Wednesday, August 8, 2012

End of summer and fall racing

In the past 2 days, I have sent the drop emails to Laurel Valley and Medoc Meltdown, totally disappointed my Blue Ridge Relay team by dropping from the team a month from the race, and sitting here debating whether I should drop from Medoc Marathon as well.

This past Thursday I took my relatives to climbing at the gym.  While getting a belay from a friend at the gym on a route, I slipped on the right side but my right hand somehow hung on to the hold which resulted in a quick and hard twist on the right shoulder.  I heard a loud snap from that shoulder and instantly knew what had happened.  To my surprise, it didn't take much for my friend to reduce the shoulder, so I hoped that it wasn't very bad and will recovery quickly.  Then on Saturday morning around 5am, still asleep and all the sudden felt my shoulder moving out of the joint.  Apparently I had stretched the right arm above the shoulder then moved a bit which was enough to pop it out.  Jade heard my grunt and jumped up and reduced it for me (this had happened 6 years ago right before the surgery that fixed the same shoulder).  

So now I know how loose things are in that socket.  Being a veteran of shoulder dislocations and surgeries, I kinda know what my orthopedic surgeon will say when he exams the shoulder on Aug 21.  I'll most likely end up consuming many bottles of oxycodone and oxycontin by September after he operates on it.  

In the mean time, climbing is out, kayaking is out.  Stand up paddling may still be possible after the soreness goes away and before the potential surgery.  I'm avoiding trail running since a fall will probably be devastating to the shoulder.  

I'm really hoping for a frequently surgery discount from my orthopedic surgeon. 

6 comments:

  1. Crap, that sucks, Jim! Sorry to hear about the possible surgery. Get it over with and get back to health in time for the winter races.

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    1. Thanks Scott. I'm still hanging onto the Weymouth registration with wishful hopes.

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  2. This sucks. But if you do decide to run Medoc . . . let me know. Hope this thing can heal on it's own.

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    1. Frank, I may still show up and puddle around.

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  3. Damn, that really blows. Well, at least you can still run on roads. Get well Jim!

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    1. Thanks Anthony. I ran for a few hours on the Bridle trail yesterday and the shoulder got sore toward the end from the bouncing. Tiptoed my way on Sal's Branch for 40 minutes this morning and no harm. But I tend to get sloppy and trip when I get tired so definitely nothing long on trails yet.

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