Do not cycle faster than 6mph in the dark on sandy, curvy, unlit paths.
Looks like triathlon season is over. I’d add more, but tough to type with a sprained left hand and a right arm in a sling. X-ray negative at the ER, but I’d say it’s 50/50 on a broken elbow. Nice scratch on my face, too.
Fark.
ETA x-rays:
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 16th, 2011 at 4:44 pm by Jake and is filed under Pyslent People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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October 16th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
OMG, Jake! Take some medicine and get some sleep! Looking forward to hearing more about it when you’re up to typing!
October 16th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Jeez, Jake, don’t be such a daredevil. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.
October 16th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Will see how I feel tomorrow, doctor later this week. In good news, my face protected the helmet from any impact, so no need to replace it! And don’t get me started on Blue Cross, which sent me to 2 urgent care facilities that wouldn’t bill their HMO. Now I enter reimbursement hell.
October 16th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Hey, we just tipped over 10,000 posts+comments!
Added the x-rays. Looks OK to me.
October 22nd, 2011 at 4:06 pm
So this deserves a follow-up. In addition to the sprained/ possibly bused elbow & sprained left hand, I also immediately noticed:
The bruised orbital bone & facial abrasions
Cut on the chin
Badly scraped left hand
Mildly scraped right hand
Maladjusted bike seat
Borked left brake/ shift lever
Then there’s the stuff that was only noticeable a few days later, for a variety of reasons– one of which being that the pain in my right elbow & the Vicodin conspired to mask it:
Chipped tooth
Slightly disjointed jaw
Bruised left rib
Badly scratched GPS watch
Left eye black eye (after swelling from facial pounding subsided)
Tweaked left elbow (in fairness, this was due to issues with using one arm to do everything, while that arm included a well sprained hand)
Good news is that the right elbow is feeling better, and should be 90% by next week– nearly full rang of motion back, only pain when eccentrically loaded. Down from 10 band aids to 2. Left elbow feels better after resting it today. Jaw seems to be settling back into place. Still gotta deal with this left hand sprain and chipped tooth. Been exercising by walking on a treadmill & today went to the dune w/o the sling. Biggest issue was general tiredness and sore rib on the descent.
So I mocked my bike helmet above, since it did nothing in this case. But man, those bike gloves were a BIG help. The sorest spot on my hand is uncut as it was inside the glove. And seeing what my watch looked like made me realize that I likely would’ve had much larger (if not worse) abrasions on my left arm. Which REALLY would’ve made life difficult!
October 26th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
In case you missed my Twitrage, sent this to Torrance Memorial Urgent Care of Manhattan Beach.
——————————————–
Had a bad bike accident Sunday 10/16 and went to Urgent Care with badly hurt right elbow, left hand, facial abrasions, bruised face, chipped tooth and deep cuts. Described symptoms to doctor. Never asked about possible head injury. Never inspected cuts.
Was prepared to just send me out, until I pointed out I couldn’t raise or bend arm, so right elbow x-ray ordered. Assured me that left hand did not have any breaks after a 1-minute exam, so no x-ray of the left hand was ordered.
On doctor’s recommendations, used a right arm sling & and travel as planned, doctor noted that seeing specialist on Friday would be fine.
Saw PCP on Friday 10/21 who ordered x-ray and discovered fracture in 5th metacarpal. Due to refusal to order x-ray on left hand, I put undue stress on that hand (especially with badly sprained right elbow) and treatment was delayed by more than a week.
The standard of care I received was subpar, and I can not understand the rationale for not taking an x-ray using the on-site equipment.
October 27th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
The email seemed to have worked, as one of the doctors called to apologize (!!!) and offered to waive the charges I paid for the visit. Would’ve preferred a proper diagnosis, but might be just enough to move that 2 star Yelp rating up to 3 stars.
November 5th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Yup, worked out. Saves the hassle of fighting the insurance company for reimbursement.
“Thank you for taking the time to email me your x-rays. My sincerest apologies for the missed fracture and for any cursory evaluation that you may have received at our urgent care clinic. We strive to provide only the highest quality medical care at our clinic and so I will be having an in-depth discussion with your treating physician regarding this matter. We will be reimbursing your entire urgent care bill so you should be receiving a check soon. If you do not receive a check within the next week, please contact my office manager, Brian Lee, who I have cc’d on this email. If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to email me or call me directly at 310-283-xxxx.”