Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Cycling accident follow-up: fractured left finger

I finally got in to see the doctor today to have my left hand x-rayed and the results were a mix of good and bad news. With the Longhorn Half-Ironman now less than 11 weeks away, here is a brief summary of the x-rays and what my training looks like:

First, the bad news is that my left pinky finger is fractured, and i will need to wear a brace (picture) for the next 4 weeks to keep it immobilized. After that, the doctor believes my pinky and ring fingers can probably be "buddy-taped" together for a few more weeks and should heal back to normal. The bad news is that I will not be able to swim at all for at least the next 4 weeks. At thet point, the doctor will do another x-ray and it will just depend on it and how I feel as to how soon I can start swimming again. My guess is that I will be back in the pool sometime between August 20 and Septmber 1, which leaves me about 4-5 weeks to get back into swimming shape before the race.

The good news, actually great news, is that as long as I wear the brace I can continue to run and cycle just fine. Also, I need to thank God and reflect more on what happened and realize that my injuries could be signficantly worse.

I will improvise, I will adapt, I will overcome.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow I hope that heals well and in time. At least you can still run! :)

John Kynaston said...

Thanks for your comment on my blog. The whw race went so well and to say I was very pleased would be an understatement!

Hope you recover quickly and I look forward to following your progress in training for the triathlon.

John

Anonymous said...

Robert, I'm glad you're okay. Keep on truckin'. Your bro, Mark