[nik at work]

Nothing helpful to add I'm afraid. Just wishing you well on your recovery.

[Fultonius]

That's a real bad one. Did Ben Davidson not do something similar?

When I was out the game I was surprised at how much time you have to do things, but the inability to actually do them. It did mean that a lot of life was put on hold for a while, but it made it easier to focus purely on recovery. Treat physio like a project route. Tick things off, work through the stages.

Tip - get to hyperbaric centre if you can. Any major trauma where your capillary network has been damaged from all the cutting and shutting should respond well. Rossi was back on the bike in stupid time (which could say more about his mindset than the treatment  ).

Have you got a drone? Once you're semi mobile you could get out and make some nice films?

[Mike Tyson]

Wow!

I had a car accident aged 19.... right femur ended up in 3 pieces, pelvis broken too. I had my leg all bolted back together with a good wedge of titanium (which I’ve since had removed, and still have!)

I didn’t climb then, so can’t offer specific help. I did go into a terrible depression and drink a huge amount of beer. I learned to walk again during a pool contest in my local pub. I’d progressed  from Zimmer frame, to crutches, to walking stick, to pool cue, to legs again.

I was back at work after 3 months off. All I’ll say is unfortunately it’s never been the same since, but I have managed to run two half marathons, and a few lesser distance races, so it is possible to still be active. I have a lot more detail I’d be happy to share with you mate. I took up bouldering after my accident so can’t give a before an after comparison.

Stay strong Mike! I

[abarro81]

Sorry to hear about that cheque, get well soon...

[TobyD]

Hi Mike, I'd like to talk to you in person really, I think I can give you some useful advice. I used to teach hydrotherapy classes as it happens, and have used it myself to rehab a #metatarsal.

In brief, one day at a time. Expect to get dome set backs and be prepared. Stay positive and motivated, and above all, talk to your friends and family. Sounds cheesy, sorry for the hippy bullsh*t but I think that's what I'd have told myself a month after my injury. One piece of advice, if you are considering writing about it, as I may have seen somewhere, I would strongly advise leaving it quite a while longer before you do. I started writing early on and then binned it and started again as the rehersal of the memory wasn't doing me any good until I'd had a bit more time to 'deal' with it.

I can loan / give you a stack of books climbing or not if you want reading material! all the best T

[Paul B]

Sorry to hear about your injuries Cheque!

I broke my tib and fib nastily a fair while ago now falling in the works and essentially stamping on my own leg. I had a 'lizzy' on for 6-8 months and realistically, it took me about a year to get back to where I was (and then I was involved in a massive car accident breaking more things).

I'm happy to chat on here (do PMs currently work?) or Facebook/Twitter if useful. I was feeling pretty down about it all (looking back I wasn't very balanced as a person and removing climbing from my immediate life was a big chunk). One of the things that helped was my first outpatient appointment; I remember sitting in a waiting room (Sheffield fracture clinic I assume) full of other people wearing far more complex and intrusive versions of what was around my leg (mostly motorbike/motorcross accidents).

[danm]

No words of wisdom to add other than to wish you a speedy recovery.

[fried]

Nothing to add. But get well soon and good luck.

[cheque]

Cheers everyone!  Glad to hear that the advice fits with what I’ve been doing- one day at a a time, as much human interaction as possible and pursuing physio/ general activity as diligently as possible.

All I’ll say is unfortunately it’s never been the same since, but I have managed to run two half marathons, and a few lesser distance races, so it is possible to still be active. I have a lot more detail I’d be happy to share with you mate.

Sounds like we had very similar injuries and I’d be very keen to hear everything you have to say Mike. PMs are down but I’ll be in touch when they work again.

Hi Mike, I'd like to talk to you in person really, I think I can give you some useful advice.

Cheers Toby, hit me up man- loads of time on my hands at the moment, particularly weekday daytimes. This goes for anyone in a Sheffield too- if you wanna hang out just get in touch- I’d love the company!

One piece of advice, if you are considering writing about it, as I may have seen somewhere, I would strongly advise leaving it quite a while longer before you do.

I don’t think I’m going to write about it to tell you the truth.

[mrjonathanr]

Hi Mike, wow, sounds like you are lucky to be alive, 25m is wild. Good wishes for a good recovery mate- at least you’ll have time to watch a lot of films now.

[SA Chris]

I can give you advice about the sprained thumb......

Said a lot on FB already. Glad you are back on here! Gives you time to do some editing I guess!

[cheque]

- Sprained left thumb which has been, somewhat understandably, overlooked but I’m now realising might be quite bad

Got a diagnosis for this today and it’s a bit of a NNFN- turns out I smashed a little bone called the trapezius into many pieces and it’s beyond repair. “It would have been tough to fix at the time you did it, 7 weeks on it’s impossible” 

Sheffield’s one of the best hand places in the world though apparently and the doctor’s very interested in my case (an average of one person a year breaks their trapezium in the hospital’s catchment area apparently) so hopefully it can be sorted out as well as possible. The fact that I’ve ignored it as a slow-to-heal sprain for so long bodes well I guess!

[lagerstarfish]

get a specially shaped trapezium replacement that will make the thumb longer and give you a 5 digit crimp?

good luck with it all 

[kelvin]

Sorry to hear about this Mike - a bit late to the show, sorry.

Physio, physio, physio. Tell yourself that what they tell you about recovery times and success is for an average person and you are not average. Push as much as you can, when you can. When you feel down about it all, allow yourself to be, it's part of the recovery but keep working hard to make the physical recovery move forward. Then the mind follows. I read Barry Sheene's autobiography (I don't like them usually) and I was so inspired by his attitude.

In 2007 I was in a bad accident, they took me into surgery to amputate the right arm but the aenestetist (google's being a cunt and my dyslexia is firing) forgot to get me to sign 'the' form, hence I still have an arm. One month or so and five ops, 22/23 hours of surgery and I was left with said dyslexia, a new thing and a side affect from all the knock out drugs but an arm that didn't need sawing off.
So, multiple breaks, resulting in a few screws in the right wrist and forearm. A break in my right pinky (which is proveing to be the most painful) and all the knuckles bar one in the right hand dislocated. having them sorted whilst the arm was completely broken was painful. Right leg driven over, resulting in a snapped calf muscle and the skin delaminating from the muscle, plus a knee that was already wrecked trashed by soft tissue and ligament damage. Right pelvis was really bad for at least a year. Left knee had a torn medial ligament and skin removed for a skin graft to the right arm. I had PTSD, which was a bit of a fucker and a whole list of other stuff too that I'm forgetting because it's becoming a bit stressful now reciting this stuff. I was a bit battered if I'm honest.

Suffice to say, with a great surgeon and a determined attitude, I took up climbing maybe three years later. There have been operations since, lots of physio and some ups and downs about why I put myself through it all (I sit here now with a freshly broken big toe as of Monday) but those days when I'm out in the sun with friends, trying hard and taking the falls are beautiful beyond belief. Every session of physio were the pain was almost too much and the tears rolled down my eyes was worth it and have meaning becuase of who I am now. I'm one of the lucky ones.

Stick with it Mike, seriously - no matter how bad or annoying it all gets, when that day arrives and you notice something doesn't hurt anymore and you laugh and smile, the physio and pain you go through now become to mean so much more. I've stuck some pics on for inspiration 





It might only me a 6B in Fontainebleau but that's my right hand that very nearly wasn't there anymore...

[mrjonathanr]

Err, wow. Kudos Kelvin.

good luck Mike.

[tomtom]

fuck me Kelvin - thats some tale - never knew!

[Sasquatch]

Amazing tale!  Kudos

[moose]

I am a cynical hard-hearted bastard, but I was fist-pumping for a happy ending whilst reading that. Kelvin and Cheque, I really hope that your recoveries progress quickly and your injuries eventually heal into insignificance.  My elbow tweak has now faded into utter irrelevancy... perspective eh!?

[cheque]

Thanks so much for your response Kelvin. You’ve got to be proud to come through all that. 

My elbow tweak has now faded into utter irrelevancy... perspective eh!?

I feel a bit like that reading Kelvin’s post too!

I’ve really got through my thing so far by focusing on how bizarrely lucky I am to have lived, let alone survived without needing anything amputating or having any paralysis. As fucked up as I feel sometimes it could be so much worse and the majority of my problems are temporary and gradually receding.

[Will Hunt]

Both these stories make my OP look like an itch.

Waddage to you both.

[kelvin]

I’ve really got through my thing so far by focusing on how bizarrely lucky I am to have lived, let alone survived without needing anything amputating or having any paralysis. As fucked up as I feel sometimes it could be so much worse and the majority of my problems are temporary and gradually receding.

Yeah, I know the feeling. I was really happy, almost on a high for weeks because at the end of the day, I should have been dead. All the pain and uncertainty was pretty irrelevant to start with.

I never get up Sheffield much these days otherwise I'd have taken you up on a cup of coffee 

Heal well Mike.

[SA Chris]

Mike, I can put you in touch with a guy I know up here who got dropped at the climbing wall, and had multiple and complex injuries. He might be able to offer some perspective / assistance / guidance. He's back to full climbing strength, but is not that keen on bouldering anymore!

[ianabbot]

Hi all, finally posting this. I did consider replying when Cheque first posted about his accident but thought better of it, as although my experience ultimately has a positive outcome it does involve a very protracted lay-off from climbing, which I thought may not be the most helpful message at that stage - I hope a year on things are looking brighter. I’ll post this in case anyone looking at returning from surgery, injury or illness can take anything from it…

In 2001, I had a sudden spell of diarrhoea, passing blood. I had a colonoscopy which proved to be pretty uncomfortable, and was told that my bowel was ‘haemorrhaging all over the place’. Cue admission to hospital with severe Ulcerative Colitis and a chaotic few days - IV steroids and repeated attempts to knock out my system with immunosuppressants, none of which had any effect. Throughout this I was bleeding heavily and rapidly losing weight, and when it became clear there was a risk my bowel would perforate I had surgery; a colectomy to remove my bowel. This left me with a stoma (the end of the small intestine protruding from my abdomen, with an ileostomy bag). Needless to say, this was devastating.  I went from being apparently in good health, climbing every week to having the ileostomy within the space of a fortnight. It was a massive shock, the logistics of living with a stoma seemed all-consuming, and I resented it.   

After a year or so I made efforts to get back to climbing. Unfortunately I found that although I could just about get a harness on, the stoma sat squeezed between the waist belt and leg loops, and the consequences of any lateral pull didn’t bear thinking about. So that was that – no leading. I tried bouldering with a bit more success, but to be honest even indoors above matting I was petrified of an uncontrolled fall onto my front. Outdoor bouldering seemed a long way off.

2004, and the consultants were pleased with my recovery, but then announced that the colitis was still present in the ‘rectal stump’ (the few centimetres of bowel remaining at the bum) and I’d need to have that removed too. I had a second round of surgery, abdomen sliced through again (first time belly button to groin, second time re-opening that scar and extending it under my crotch to my bum). My rectum had now gone, arse duly sewn up.
At that stage I felt completely battered into submission. Core and flexibility had been completely shot as a consequence of the surgery. Time passed without much sign of improvement, and after a couple of years I basically gave up on ever climbing again.

So – a decade later. By now, we’d moved to Inverness and my wife was taking our two boys swimming. I wasn’t up for the low-level irritation involved in swimming with an ileostomy, so on a whim decided to ‘have a look’ at the bouldering wall (full-on punter mode, climbing in trainers). Anyway, this piqued my interest and I dug out my old Anasazis and went back. Could I pull on anything? Nope. But the feeling of climbing movement was back, I stuck with it and 14 years after last climbing on rock I started bouldering outdoors again.

Oddly, although the early stages with a stoma were unrelentingly dark and quite overwhelming, I think the more insidious period was the decade when I’d completely, 100%, decided that climbing was over. Whilst I thought at the time that I was ok with that, it’s only with hindsight I realise I absolutely wasn’t.

As far as recovery goes, I’m bouldering harder now than pre-ileostomy, but actually for me that’s not the important point - it’s more about just getting out again, and the pleasure and mental health benefits that come with that. I still get terrified on anything remotely highball, but I’m not sure I can attribute that entirely to having a stoma…
In terms of advice if anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation, personally I really didn’t appreciate just how long the healing process can continue and (wrongly) thought that if I wasn’t back climbing after a few years then I never would be. I’d say just don’t throw out your shoes because whether it’s weeks, months or years later I hope you’ll be needing them again when body and mind are ready.

Happy to answer any questions regarding bouldering/living with a stoma, should anyone be having to consider that prospect.

Ian

[Will Hunt]

Glad you're back in the saddle, Ian. Grimer spoke to Mick Fowler about his bowel troubles on his Jam Crack Podcast if you haven't heard it. Mick got the Big C in the A (as Grimer put it) and had a similarly impactful op.

[SA Chris]

Uplifting Ian, thanks for posting, glad you are back in the game. I was reading the post and thought exactly the same thing, worth a listen;

http://www.niallgrimes.com/jam-crack-climbing-podcast/jcpc-050-mick-fowler

I'm sure if you got in touch with him he'd be able to provide further advice.