Fractured Right Femur - Tighbone Caution

[Captainjos]

On May 6 I walked off the ramp of my dock after having spent a day working on my boat, expected some solid footing but did not find that and came crashing down; broken rib, dislocated shoulder and badly fractured right femur with lots of splinters. This happened on familiar grounds, I walked there a thousand times before, yet... Fast forward 3 months, back on my feet again leaning on some hiking poles and trying to make the best of it. Surgeon took 1 1/2 hrs to ream the thighbone and drop the titanium rod inside, a job he told me normally takes him 20 minutes.
Just want to use this forum to post a caution to all that thighbone fractures are a big deal, it is the biggest bone in your body, and often takes a 4-6 months recovery time with lots of therapy and agony. Surgeon told me that hip replacements are a piece of cake compared to this. We all deal with heavy vehicles, which can drop on our legs in a split second. Secondly, I am having some second thoughts if it is worthwhile jumping back on my Nevada and taking the risk of falls again, my doctor wife has not voiced her opinion yet, but I know it is coming. Anyone went through this experience as well? Or what the hay and go for it?

[mtiberio]

Broke my lower left leg into 6 pieces. Twice. Had a plate in it for a year. Twice. 4 surgeries total. That is just the tip of the iceberg as far as my ortho stuff goes. Still ride. YMMV

[normzone]

I walked off the ramp of my dock after having spent a day working on my boat, expected some solid footing but did not find that and came crashing down;

I know that feeling, the total "Wiley Coyote" moment when you hang in mid-air going "Oh no, this is going to hurt".

[john hooper]

Can i hear a shout of sidecar  .

John

[pebra]

On the one hand, you have the joy of riding.
On the other, IF you crash AND you have an injury to the repaired femur, it MIGHT be very complicated.
Soooo. -  I think I'd start riding again if I were you, provided it's not painful after that repair job.
I hope your wife is relaxed about this. Shit happens, but mostly not.

[Fuzzy]

As far as getting on the bike, I think it is an easy call. Be patient. You will have more time to ride after you heal. I suspect your doctor wife will tell you the same. Let it heal, then ride. Find a hobby in the meantime. Learn to play cribbage. Read Don Quixote in Spanish. Learn about wine. The world is your oyster.

By the way, I think that a Nevada is the perfect recovery bike for lower limb injuries. More or less cruiser configuration without the weight.

[guzzisteve]

Well, seen as you are asking on a motorcycle riders forum, it's my job to say get back on. Done the same for many other riders, most went on riding, some w/o limbs.
I tend not to think of what might when I ride, I just go.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  That had to sting a lot.

[lucian]

Boating sure is dangerous. Glad it's all behind you.

[balvenie]

I had doubts about getting back on, after dropping my bike at a standstill, breaking its mirror. Your situation is much more daunting but you are "thinking" and thinking is pain for us humans. And so, you have come to your safe place to air your unsettling thoughts among friends. Keep talking. We hope you feel better Soon    

[Nic in Western NYS]

All the best for a complete recovery.  Big bone, sounds like a very bad break.  Regarding riding  -  figure out what your loves are and don't lose sight of them.  If you have to give something up, be very clear about why.  I gave up competitive tennis (which I loved) after two surgeries when I decided that being able to throw a baseball to my two small children and lifting them over my head was more important than playing competitive tennis.  It worked out, my youngest is 2 and I'm an active father to her. I'm just now playing some social tennis and my elbow and shoulder are holding up fine.  We all are going to die, it's how you live that matters.

[guzzi4me]

All the best for a complete recovery.  We all are going to die, it's how you live that matters.

Exactly.

Don't make your injuries worse, but don't let them control your life.

A happy medium is a good mantra.

Ride safe and often,

Jeff

[rboe]

You have to consider your options. Quitting the bike is a valid choice and I know some folks should consider this option a lot harder (and sooner) than they have.

But it's your choice and you should be supported no matter which way you go.

[rodekyll]

I'm not going to tell my story, but the setup is "the evening before I flew out for neck surgery a guy asked me to fix the computer on his seiner."  And punch line is "never listen when the boat owner says the cabin light switch is up forward on the binnacle board."

But the real story I have is about a guy who got run over on his superglide by someone backing out in a parking lot.  He had pins and needles and yarn and all sorts of silverware and plates holding his leg together.  The inventory ran like a Knights of Columbus rummage sale.  He got back on (what being a tough HD rider and all he HAD to on account of his crew wouldn't let him hear the end of it) while the halo was still on his lower leg.  It looked like the Eiffel Tower mounted sideways on a Frisco peg when he rode.

He got almost all the way through the convalescent period before the same thing happened in the same parking lot of the same bar.  Same breaks in the same places, but nothing left to run the screws and stuff through -- it was all used up the first time.  The morphine made it tolerable though, and the doctors made sure he tolerated a lot. 

The next thing we knew he had a heroin habit that he pimped his wife off to fill.  She got aids and the had an aids baby, maybe not by him, to join his other kids.  He hung out at the house while his wife worked a state job by day and did call-girl work by night.  His biker buddies made it a party and flop joint.  Spoons were cooked and cops were called often.  One fourth of July he broke down the back door to my house as my wife and children ran for cover, somehow convinced that his wife was trysting with me that evening.  I was in fact having an evening of sparklers and Kool-Aid with the kids.  I left Olympia shortly thereafter and lost touch for some years.

When I ran into him again he had a removable leg clear up to the hip and didn't ride.  The ol' lady and aids baby were stay-at-home invalids and he was scraping along doing whatever he could with no education and the other leg.  He looked bright eyed and bushy tailed, so I complimented him on kicking the H.  He said "Oh, no -- I'm loaded right now.  It's when I'm not that I look bad.  This is my normal."

So when someone asks when to get back on the bike I say When YOU think you're ready -- not when your buddies think you're ready.  It's still your ride, whether you're in motion or not.  Don't let anyone pressure you into more grief than you've already got.

$0.02

[LaMojo]

As others have said, it's a personal choice.  I bought my first motorcycle at age 18 and couldn't imagine why anyone would drive a car when they could ride a bike.   I went everywhere on that thing. As I age up I rarely ride anymore.  Reaction times go down - healing times go up; I don't have the confidence I one had.  I've been fortunate as to never had a broken bone and if I had gone through what you have in just a walking fall... I'd never get on a bike again in having that type of injury.  But that's me. There are more important things in life than motorcycling.

Hope your healing process goes well and without complications.

[sign216]

I'm not going to tell my story, but the setup is "the evening before I flew out for neck surgery a guy asked me to fix the computer on his seiner."  And punch line is "never listen when the boat owner says the cabin light switch is up forward on the binnacle board."

But the real story I have is about a guy who got run over on his superglide by someone backing out in a parking lot.  He had pins and needles and yarn and all sorts of silverware and plates holding his leg together.  The inventory ran like a Knights of Columbus rummage sale.  He got back on (what being a tough HD rider and all he HAD to on account of his crew wouldn't let him hear the end of it) while the halo was still on his lower leg.  It looked like the Eiffel Tower mounted sideways on a Frisco peg when he rode.

He got almost all the way through the convalescent period before the same thing happened in the same parking lot of the same bar.  Same breaks in the same places, but nothing left to run the screws and stuff through -- it was all used up the first time.  The morphine made it tolerable though, and the doctors made sure he tolerated a lot. 

The next thing we knew he had a heroin habit that he pimped his wife off to fill.  She got aids and the had an aids baby, maybe not by him, to join his other kids.  He hung out at the house while his wife worked a state job by day and did call-girl work by night.  His biker buddies made it a party and flop joint.  Spoons were cooked and cops were called often.  One fourth of July he broke down the back door to my house as my wife and children ran for cover, somehow convinced that his wife was trysting with me that evening.  I was in fact having an evening of sparklers and Kool-Aid with the kids.  I left Olympia shortly thereafter and lost touch for some years.

When I ran into him again he had a removable leg clear up to the hip and didn't ride.  The ol' lady and aids baby were stay-at-home invalids and he was scraping along doing whatever he could with no education and the other leg.  He looked bright eyed and bushy tailed, so I complimented him on kicking the H.  He said "Oh, no -- I'm loaded right now.  It's when I'm not that I look bad.  This is my normal."

So when someone asks when to get back on the bike I say When YOU think you're ready -- not when your buddies think you're ready.  It's still your ride, whether you're in motion or not.  Don't let anyone pressure you into more grief than you've already got.

$0.02

Great story. 
None of the riders I know are doing heroin and pimping out their wife. 
Makes me feel like my life is too sedate. 


Let me go talk to the mrs.   

[charlie b]

I would probably give up the bike, especially if I had a job or family or other requirements for working legs.

I consider what my 'little voice' tells me.  When I ignore it bad things happen.  I think yours is talking to you or you would not have started this thread.

[Captainjos]

Thanks all for your great responses, all very much appreciated. I am going to take this very slowly , be very patient and see where we are when all is fully healed, some time from now. Pebra's " Shit happens, but mostly not" is a good starting point. Roosevelt's "You have nothing to fear, but fear itself" also sticks. So, eventually I might go back riding, but in a more controlled and defensive manner, apply some risk management (no Wash DC Beltway, but rural NC roads yes) and all should be fine.
So how do you make a tricycle from a Nevada? Oh well...
Charlie; yes I am talking to myself, but still keeping both doors open, I can be selective where I ride. I don't work anymore, wife does that for me, I am 63, so speed of healing is an issue. Will see how I feel some months from now.
Jos

[Testarossa]

Chiming in late here because we've been travelling.  My brother, who races bicycles, broke his femur after hitting a pothole at 40mph. Still carrying around a titanium plate, but recovered fully enough to break his scapula and clavicle in another race eight years later.

I smashed my left tibia into seven pieces in a ski race, about 25 years ago, and had a steel rod in it. Orthopod cautioned me not to break the bone again while the rod was in there, or he would have to saw through the bone to remove the bent rod in two pieces. So I rode (Guzzi and bicycle) and skied, but very very carefully until the rod came out two years later.

[Muzz]

Captain, I really hope you heal up well.

I tried to put myself in your position and I don't know what I would do. I have been on bikes now for 53 years; could I give them up? For myself, the answer would be no. My wife has already written me off as a basket case.

[Captainjos]

Orthopod cautioned me not to break the bone again while the rod was in there, or he would have to saw through the bone to remove the bent rod in two pieces. 

That bent rod is exactly my doom scenario firmly embedded in my brains, I thought the rod was permanent but will ask the surgeon on Aug 10 when I see him for the next set of X-rays. Thanks for your input.
Jos

[pebra]

If the tibula fracture heals you're probably better off removing the rod, otherwise you lose the spring in that leg (is my experience)
Don't know about the thighbone.