back on the bike + electricity.....!

Yesterday was an important milestone in my recovery from slipping on black ice on 2nd January 2018 as it was the first time I had seriously ventured out on a bike since the accident.  After getting rid of the brace on 11th April I had gingerly tried a few revolutions on the bike but while it was possible it was clear that this was towards the limit of movement and that I should be very careful.
I am delighted that nearly a month on from being able to discard the brace and my discharge I was able to ride my Scott mountain bike a couple of times around Crystal Palace Park and cope with its hilly terrain while cycle shoes with cleats. Previously I had been wary about relying on getting my foot out of the pedal.

Malcolm Nicol consultant @Raigmore Hospital, Inverness

I continue to be very grateful to the excellent care I received from NHS Scotland – this is a real good news story. I am particularly grateful to the surgeon – Malcolm Nicol – and his team who did such a brilliant job reattaching my quads to my knee. It is also a testimony to the healing powers of the human body. I don't think I really ever thought that I wouldn't be able to ride a bike again but it is a wonderful feeling when you are actually able to do so. There is still a way to go before my leg and knee are fully back to normal but I can see real progress.

Electricity.....!! 
I have long been a fan of the Good Captain Beefheart, which includes the track Electricity. This classic composition came to mind as I stormed up an assortment of hills around Forest Hill, Sydenham Crystal Palace and Anerley, while test riding the Giant Road-E+ 2 Pro Electric Road Bike.

Giant Road-E+ 2 Pro Electric Road Bike

I have to say that riding an e-bike is a revelation, especially going up hills. With very little effort you sail up them barely breaking sweat. Initially it had seemed so easy that I forgot to change down gears, so wondered by I was struggling on the less steep ascent of Canonbie Road. I realised later that I had gone up this brute of a slope on the big chainring and in one of the higher gears.

Ian Uddin, the general manager at Cadence Performance (Crystal Palace), had stressed that when going up hills it was more effective not to pedal hard instead let the motor do the work for you. Having remembered that I ought to change down for the steepest hills I flew up Anerley Hill at 23.5 kms an hour! Startlingly quick – watch out Quintana!

You are, of course, still exercising by turning the pedals but you are no longer gasping for breath and asking why you are still subjecting yourself to this sort of strain and torture......   

Brilliant work from Malcolm Nicol leads to my dishonourable discharge

Surgeon Malcolm Nicol @Raigmore Hospital

Yesterday I had my last follow up appointment with Malcolm Nicol, the surgeon who supervised the operation on Thursday 4th January 2018 to reattach my quads to my left knee. 

Nicol was sufficiently satisfied with my progress following three weeks of the brace at 90˚ that he discharged me – a dishonourable one, I trust. Meaning that it is no longer necessary to wear the brace, which has spent all too long of the last nine weeks sliding down my left leg... I have to say that it was initially decidedly strange to walk without the brace. Even though covered by my joggers my left leg and knee felt curiously naked and exposed. Perhaps not that surprising seeing that I have been wearing either a splint or a brace since Tuesday 2nd January. 

Today I discovered that I can now manage a complete pedal stroke on a bike, although there is still a tightness, so I will have to take care. My excellent physio – Julie Porteous (Highland Physiotherapy) – warned that it would take 18 months before my quads and left knee were fully recovered.  

I am immensely grateful to Malcolm Nicol and his team at Raigmore for their brilliant repair job. My thanks also to the ward staff at Raigmore, the A&E Department and the local ambulance service at Kingussie for their excellent care.

See previous post on my operation etc.

Our NHS may not always be perfect but it is absolutely worth fighting to protect it. I shudder to think how much similar treatment would have cost me in the United States.....   

 

 One last outing for the brace: 11th April 2018

(above and below)

Should create a sensation on a cat walk... 

 

 

From my recent experience we have to defend our great NHS

 

Following my recent experience of the NHS following my fall on black ice on Tuesday morning I am full of admiration for the NHS Highland from the ambulance crew that lifted me off the grass close to where I had fallen over and took me to Raigmore, the A and E department, Ward 3C and the operating team led by Malcolm Nicol. Everyone was so professional and caring. 

On Tuesday I spent about three hours in A&E before being x-rayed and given a splint. I had spent these three hours in a corridor but this wasn't a problem as there was plenty going – much more interesting than being in a cubicle. The doctor in A&E had correctly diagnosed what I had done to myself – ruptured the connection between my quads and my left knee. I was sent back to Newtonmore to return at 7.30 am the following morning. 

We were back by 7.30 and installed in Ward 3C Room 19 Bed 6. Unfortunately it wasn't possible for me to be taken that day but I was operated on the following morning. The operating team was well led by Malcolm Nicol, a consultant orthopedic surgeon. I chose not to have a general anesthetic instead I had a local anesthetic. An injection in my spine making the lower part of my body numb from my belly button down. 

I didn't have any sedation so I was able to chat to Malcolm Nicol and his team during the operation. We discussed the operation as well as cycling Malcom says that he had once raced round the the Bay of Poole. Fortunately he told me that cycling would be very good for my injury. 

It was fascinating that once the lower part of my body was numb I was unaware that my left leg had been lifted up as my brain was telling me that it was still flat on the operating table beside by right leg. The procedure meant cutting me open above the knee, doing some scrapping and then reattaching the quads using metal 'anchors'. These are held in place with permanent sutures. Then my flesh is put back in place with sutures that will dissolve. 

I was very impressed again ny the professionalism and the care shown by the team. 

After the operation I was wheeled into the large recovery room that I thought would be reminiscent of the pit stop area during a Grand Prix or the 24 hours at Le Mans with teams of medics clustered together ready to spring into action to deal with patients as they were wheeled in. 

Then back to my ward – I had been taken down around 10 am and was back around midday. Everything was fine until the local anesthetic started to wear off when my left knee area started to become very painful. I was given a series of morphine doses orally. These took a while to have an effect. Fortunately after a dose or so the next morning the pain subsided considerably and by yesterday I took no painkillers during the day. 

This is obviously going to be a long convalescence – 12 weeks in a splint. Six of these with my leg straight – no bending of my leg knee and then splint on all the time. Then my knee will gradually be allowed to bend over the next six weeks. Only after that will I be able to get back on the bike. Could be a very good excuse to buy an e-bike. 

Unfortunately this injury means that I will be unable to make Millésime Bio, the Renaissance tastings and the Salon des Vins de Loire this year. This will be the first year that I have missed the Salon since 1990, so I am very sad and disappointed about not being able to go this year but with the injury this is just impossible.  

As I have already said I am full of praise for NHS Highland for their outstanding level of care, professionalism and friendliness despite the pressure the health service has been put under my our uncaring government reducing real funding despite an ageing population.           

My left knee out of place due to the quads 

being ruptured

 Raigmore Hospital 

Part of the splint that covers almost 

my entire left leg

This morning's view from the patient's 

abode for the next 12 weeks