broken clavicles and biking

it sucks that this is the first thing i will be putting on this website.

a little over a week ago (oct 12, 12am-ish), some mofo ran up to me & punched me off my bike while i was riding it (i had just turned east onto division off homan FYI). i lost control of the bike and wiped, did a face and shoulder plant, which has replaced a third of my right eyebrow with a (admittedly pretty wicked) lighting-bolt scar and a fractured right clavicle. (also, the punch landed on my left ear and did some damage to the eardrum).

not sure if the attacker meant to do more, if he did, im lucky there were 2 neighborhood kids to help me. they at least kept me safe and found the lenses for my glasses and bestowed some strange advice about putting a steak on my eye. then a couple on their way home who lived nearby stopped to help, they had some gauze and tape for the bleeding, they stowed my bike safely on their property and drove me to the hospital (i discovered later that they went back to where i wiped and found the frames for my glasses! im going to make them cookies).

so i got stitched up at the hospital and went and saw an ear/nose/throat doctor and a bone doctor. the bone doc said i wont need any plates to realign the clavicle, i just need to wear a brace that takes pressure off the fracture and allows me to use my right arm to varying degrees, tho right now i cant lift the arm above shoulder height (very McCain-esque). he says itll take 3 months to fully heal.

im wondering if anyone out there has sustained a similar clavicle injury. im wondering how long it will take before i can get back on the bike, im hoping i dont have to wait 3 months. if anyone has advice or experience with and injury like this, i would like to hear yr input.

tanx in advance
tvw

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Permalink Reply by Ashley on October 27, 2008 at 1:16am
hey, how did your appointment go on friday? everything still in place?
Permalink Reply by thevariablewhy on October 27, 2008 at 5:31am
i seem to be doing just fine, i was freaking myself out because i had done a couple things that really aggravated the fracture, i thought i might have broken it more. but the bone doc says things appear just right, i go back for xrays in 3 weeks. i was able to play some guitar and drums on saturday with no ill effects so thats encouraging. i was punched on my ear and that perforated my eardrum so i also had a hearing test done as well, and my hearings nearly perfect. theres atleast no permanent damage.

i have the harebrained idea to start riding the bike anytime now that im feeling much better (its really amazing how much movement ive got back in my right arm compared to the first couple days after the injury), but common sense tells me i better just wait.
Permalink Reply by thevariablewhy on October 27, 2008 at 5:37am
i dont get it. why would anyone lunge at bikers? it seems downright malicious if someone does that in the loop at rush hour, like they really actually want to kill you.

a broken clavicle seems to be one the most common breaks in general, according to the bone doc.

payton said:
Clavicle fractures are among the more common cycling injuries. I endo'd while off-roading when I was 17, and even as a kid it took several weeks to heal.

I've been lunged at in the Loop during rush hour, where a fall could easily be deadly (and witnessed by hundreds!) so I doubt there's much rhyme or reason to such attacks.

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