The (Seemingly) Frozen Tundra of East Boulder

Chloe's soccer season kicked off today after a 1 week delay due to snow covered fields last week. And while the flaky, white stuff was absent today, it was plenty cold enough. Cloudy, temps in the upper 30s and a slight breeze out of the East had players and parents bundled up aplenty.

Shaking off the elements, Chloe and her fellow Banana Bees (that's the team's name this season, story below) teammates put together a good game. Her team scored a goal (a rarity last season) and the various goalies made plenty of good saves. As for Chloe personally, she made a couple of great runs down the field with the ball when on "offense" and got in the way of the other teams several times when on "defense."

I hope to take some pictures at future games when the weather is more conducive to having hands exposed.

About the name...
At practice on Wednesday, Coach Brad was soliciting suggestions from the girls about what they wanted the team name to be this season. It became evident early on in this process that the girls were thinking up team names on the spot, and basing them off of either something they saw near the practice field, or some off-beat animal-and-color combo. Realizing this was going nowhere, Brad decided it was best to limit options, and took it upon himself to come up with a team name after seeing the color of the T-shirts the team would wear. So, this morning, after picking of the shirts and seeing they were a bright yellow, he offered up Banana Bees and it was warmly accepted.

More News for "No News"

Even though I just saw them a couple of hours ago, I had a talk with the orthopedist's office this afternoon. I wanted to talk to them about a concern I had about "waiting and seeing," namely, why go this route if the success rate is in doubt while there might be other avenues that eliminate a lot of doubt? (I'm not naive enough to think that there are absolutes in medicine, but I do feel that in my situation there are courses of action available other than maintaining the status quo with higher likelihoods of success.)

Anywho, the Nurse Practitioner I met and spoke with had a doctor in the practice take a look at my x-rays. From what he saw, he said the bone most likely won't heal properly if left to heal on its own. He also said it's possible there might be a 4th bone chip hovering around. If things were left to heal on their own, there would be a 50-60% chance that things would heal properly.

So, I'm heading back on Monday morning for a second look-see.

No News is the News

I went to the orthopedist's office this morning with high hopes of coming out of there with a plan of action... such as "it'll heal as is" or "you'll need surgery to correct things." Unfortunately, I got a "let's wait and see."

The issue is that apparently the small bone piece in the middle of two other pieces is still touching those two other pieces. Not in a straight line, but touching nonetheless. The hope is that, with the 3 pieces still touching, the bones will start growing towards one another. This "hope" is to be looked at again on April 20th when I'm scheduled to go in for another x-ray.

While I'm not exactly sprinting to get into the OR, I'm OK with it if it means removing any uncertainty associated with keeping the status quo and getting me on the path to recovery quicker.

Not Great, but Definitely Not as Bad as I Thought

After getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-6 hours of sleep last night in the recliner, I'm actually feeling pretty good today. I thought for sure I'd barely get a winks-worth of sleep, and that I'd spend the day barely able to move.

Thankfully, I'm not nearly as stiff and sore as I had anticipated (but by the same token, I'm not as limber as a Romanian gymnast either) but I do notice some aches and pains that I wasn't feeling yesterday. I got a little bit of a bump on the top of my head, and my collarbone/shoulder area is more achy than before. (Granted, I've cut back on the pain meds a little.)

The areas of "road rash" are pressure sensitive, but they too, are treating me well today. Tomorrow might be another story when I change the dressings, but for now, I prefer not to thing about that.

Another 35+ Year Old Cyclist With a Broken Collarbone

I suspect I'm like a lot of cycling enthusiasts in that I wish I possessed the skill, ability, talent, power, strength, and mental toughness of Lance Armstrong. While I know I'll never be able to come close to him in those respects, I have been training over the last several months to improves those aspects of my cycling. Today, though, I can say that I am matched with him in one area: we both have a broken collarbone.

I was doing a training ride on a nearby canyon road this morning, and after having finished my last uphill effort, I turned my bike around and began to "soft pedal" my way back down. I was at the bottom of the gradual hill when a squirrel came out of the grass and onto the shoulder. It did the stereotypical skittish squirrel back-and-forth, but ultimately decided to run in front of me. It went under my front tire, made my front wheel skid sideways, and down I went. It wasn't the worse bike accident ever, but the impact was hard enough to put a crack in my helmet, dent an aluminum tube on my bike, and make left my collarbone a 3-piece puzzle.

Once I got my wits about me, I called Peg on my cell and she raced the 6 miles from the house to where I was. In the mean time, I was aided by the kindness of strangers... 2 cyclists and 2 drivers stopped to check on me, and the one driver hung around until Peg arrived. It was also during this time that I began to take an inventory. I could tell I had some pretty good patches of road rash on my left side, and that my arms and leg bones didn't hurt. Nor did my back, neck or head. But I couldn't say for certain what condition my left shoulder and/or collarbone was in. Based on the amount of pain and the weird "popping" I felt, though, I had a suspicion things weren't as they should be.

Peggy arrived, and we threw my bike on the bike rack, and made our way to the Emergency Room. After eking my way through the admissions process (I had yet to be introduced to Fentanyl at that point) I made my way to a bed in the ER. I spent a couple of hours there while they took some X-rays, cleaned my abrasions, and gave me an IV while my vitals came back to normal (at admissions and another time in the ER, my blood pressure had dropped quite a bit.)

It was then time for the "road test," whereby the hospital staff wanted to see how steady I'd be on my feet. So we walked down to the monitor to see my X-rays, and I was pretty shocked. Three pieces: two larger pieces on either end, and what looked to be about a 1-inch piece in the center. I then got my discharge instructions, Rx for pain meds and left the hospital.

Driver/Peggy than drove me around to get the Rx filled, get some lunch for us (it was about 4:00p at this point and neither one of us had lunch) and then back to the crash site to see if we could find a cycling computer that came off during the impact. No luck on the computer, but I did find out one thing... I, unlike the squirrel, was able to leave the area.

Eventually, we got back home, and, with the Percocet-and-600mg-of-ibuprofen combo kicking in, had Peg make an appointment with the orthopedist. I'll be seeing him on Friday morning, and should learn then whether or not surgery is needed.

To be sure, today was not an easy one. But it was definitely a lot better having my better-or-worse, sickness-and-health partner with me... Thanks, Peg. (And, by the way, Peg... I'm ready for my sponge bath.)

He's 10 (or 70-ish)

Ten years ago Chamberlain was born, crooked tail and all. He's received a few more bumps and lumps since then -- and quite a bit more white on the muzzle -- but overall he's been a great pet and member of the family (despite his affinity for chewing on things that you and I put in the waste basket.) We weren't able to celebrate properly due to the yucky weather (yup, more snow today), but we did make a special meal for him... about 3/4 pound's worth of stew meat ended up in his bowl.

*** I just noticed that another post about Chamberlain on 3/20/09 was never published. It is now, and has a picture of him. ***

Can It Be Played With Snowshoes?

The opening to Chloe's spring soccer season was supposed to be this morning, but Mother Nature had other plans; namely 4" of snow, temps in the low 30s, and 20+ mph winds. (It's good to have Winter... in Spring.)

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, for Chloe and her teammates have yet to decide on a name for their team (last year they were the Tiger Bears.) And having gone through the name selection process last Fall, few decisions are more important to Kindergartners than what wild-concoction-of-a-name they can call themselves. Stay tuned.

American Gothic... in Spring... in Boulder

You know that potential snow storm I mentioned a couple of days ago? Well, it came, and it brought its friend – 20-40 mph winds – too. Put together and one ends up with +12" of snow. A couple more inches may fall overnight, but the the belief is the worst is over.

Luckily, we didn't need to drive anywhere today. But those that did often found themselves confronted with some very bad conditions. The main highway between Boulder and Denver was shutdown, and parts of both of the major interstates that bisect Colorado had sections closed to due road conditions and accidents... one being a 40 car pile-up.

Chloe's "6 year"

Chloe met with her new pediatrician today and, inoculation prep and execution aside (what a scene that was), all feedback from the doctor is positive. She's in good health, has her 6 year molars coming in, and is now 48" tall (85th percentile) and 52 pounds (75th).

Cabo for Spring Break? No. BoCo!

Today starts Spring Break week for Chloe and the rest of the students in Boulder Valley School District. We're foregoing a trip to Miami, San Padre Island, Cabo, etc. and staying right here in BoCo. Scheduled highlights for the week include:
- no set wake-up time (that's a highlight for Daddy, too!)
- a trip to the Denver aquarium.
- some serious spring and summer clothes shopping... she's outgrown a lot in a short period of time.
- her 6 yo check up (she probably won't consider that to be a highlight.)
- a playdate with some school friends.
- a round of mini-golf.
- possibly some sledding... despite last weekend's warm temps, there's talk of a sizeable snow event later this week.