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I spent Christmas with stitches in my head, and my arm in a sling. Ladder got away from me Thursday, and my collar bone (clavicle?) lost the battle against the wet asphalt below. It may take several months for my body to get healed. I've got help lined up, and season is slowing down, so I should be ok financially. My wife now has to take care of two babies, however.

Anyone here broke your collar bone? Share the experience, please. Things I should do, things I should not do,... how long did it take for you to heal... that type of thing. My ER doctor just gave me a sling (after many xrays and CT scans) and told me to come see him in three weeks. It has to heal on it's own, cannot be set, wrapped, etc...

Gary

Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. Not that you want to hear this, but I will pray for you.

Fortunately, I never had a broken collarbone. I used to mountain bike, and it is a common injury in mountain biking. As you said, my understanding is that there is really not too much you can do about it except wait for it to heal.

Dang, Gary --

I've never broken the clavicle, but my father did -- a couple of times. Many years ago, they used a "figure-eight" bandage that went around the shoulders on both sides, meeting between the shoulder-blades, to keep your shoulders back, but they've stopped recommending that. Dad couldn't shave for a couple of weeks, but the injury was not particularly debilitating. He ended up with a lump where the break was, but he has full movement -- even after breaking it again.

The sling is just to keep you from using the arm too much, and to keep the weight of the arm off your shoulder joint. When you go back to the doctor, he'll probably recommend some exercises to get you back to full use pretty quickly.

Those ladder things are dangerous!

Gary:

Sorry to hear about your fall. I hope things do heal faster than projected and that everythings goes as smooth as possible for you and your household during your recovery.

Whao Santa, take the reindeer next time!
Glad you are OK, and will heal.

I snapped my collarbone in half in my crash, along with smashing 7 ribs.
There is no wrapping, setting, that's true.

My physical therapy was lifting my arms daily. I was not as good at it as I should have been, I still have soreness in my shoulder 18 months later.

Ask your doctor first before you try anything.

Gary..Merry Christmas..what a bugger..and what a nasty Christmas present you got....sorry to hear about your fall.

I've done a shoulder in a Mt bike fall...the worst part is sleeping..or trying to sleep...every time you nod off and go to turn in your sleep you get a painful wake up call.

It will be painful for a few months..and maybe take 12-18 months to be 100%..but you will get better..try not to do too much with your bad arm while its healing.

Is it your right arm..your writing and wipeing hand.. ..that will make things worse...just keep up with the pain killers in these early days...bugger!

DJ

Sorry to hear about your fall! I broke my collar bone a couple years ago. It snapped in two places - on each side of the tendon that holds it in the middle. I forget exactly how long it took to set (a month?!), but it was like magic, one day it was loose, the next it got sticky (as if the ends were covered in Silly Putty), the next day it was permanent. I wish I was more in tune with its position during the sticky phase, because I have a bit of a bump where the two bones didnt quite meet well. One side is attached pretty straight. In time, the bump has molded itself down. Isnt the human body amazing?

But the weird part is that I dont see any loss of motion or ill effects. I think it may get arthritic when I'm old, but for now the only bad part is that if I support my head whilst lying on the ground, I have to get up slow because the join is sore.

It took me a year before I didnt think about it every day, but after the joint attached itself it was pretty much business as usual - I could use my arm normally.

Some good advice is to sleep on your back, on top of a pillow. You want your broken arm to fall backwards so it lays out the clavical. This will relieve a lot of pain because the broken bits are stretched apart instead of grinding away in there. I lived on Demerol for a month because my break was basically sandpaper in there. Ouch! In all honesty, its not that bad, I got used to the pain. Oh, and I also iced it a lot. I used one of those medical icepacks that you can tie off, and pretty much wore it all day. Ice is your friend!

Good luck!

Sorry to hear of your fall Gary. Hope your healing goes faster than expected. Now your wife has 3 babies to take care of!

yjleesvrr wrote:Sorry to hear of your fall Gary. Hope your healing goes faster than expected. Now your wife has 3 babies to take care of!

I do not think that my latest acquisition is tops on her list of babies that need taking care of.

EDIT:
You guys are great. This is just the kind of info (and support) I need right now.

Gary, feel better soon.....thankfully it looks like it could have been alot worse...(no, not the injuries)...this could have happened during peak riding season !

Gary,

Take care. Glad it was not worse. You have a unique occupation but it looks like it does come with some hazards

Heal quickly.

Jeez man! Could've been a head injury off a ladder....better luck next time!

My 1969 collar bone breaks still act up but they did heal usably. Did I ever tell you I wear 32-35 sleeve?

You will have an opportunity to practice patience and endurance during the healing phase. Good luck with that.

Better '07 to you.

M

garylspolar wrote:

I do not think that my latest acquisition is tops on her list of babies that need taking care of.

Do you need help taking care of that baby?

Hope you heal well, and maybe I will see you at the motorcycle show at the IX Center.

Do Sweeps have ATGATT? Just kidding Gary. Sorry for your mishap.
Hope you heal well and fast.

Hey Gary - it has occurred to me that it is not without some sense of irony that you and I - a vocal atheist and a vocal Christian, would both find ourselves laid up for Christmas.

Glad you're okay by and large considering what could have happened to you. I admire anyone whose job involves getting on ladders. Whenever I have to climb one to get to anything beyond 10 feet, I start feeling a bit nervous. Motorcyclists are risk-takers by nature. Hope you have no problems climbing chimneys the way I don't intend to feel any nervous about riding again.

Hope you heal well and quickly, Gary!
T.

Gary - I was out of town and late to this thread. Sorry for your fall but glad it was something you can recover from.

Never broken my collar bone or clavicle but a friend did last year in a bike crash and it was as someone said, no cast or whatever, just a sling and not movement for a while.

I did have rotator cuff surgery and found that sleeping in the recliner worked better than sleeping in the bed. You might try that! You won't be doing anything else in bed for a while anyway! Not with you hurt and the wife doing all the child lifting!

Gary,

So sorry to hear about your fall. This is kind of like giving advice about the lost cow, but have you considered carrying Worker's Comp insurance on yourself? Even as company owner you can get a policy. Being self employed is really out there on the edge for disasters of this type.

I carry worker's comp on myself. I think it covers up to one million for at work injuries/disabilities.

How are you doing Gary? It's been a couple weeks since you and I both had our mishaps. I'm steadily improving myself, although the finger is going to take a couple months it seems. Hope you're doing better.

Hope you're doing better as well, my friend. Hmmm... where to start?

I've been a bit emotional, not being able to hold my infant son, and worrying about my business (no need for that second part yet). Borderline depression? Not sure, it's coming and going, but brought me to tears one night as I thought of how I could be crippled or even dead now, leaving my wife and son without a husband/father. I took a very nasty hit to my head along with that collar bone fracture, and was unconscious for a bit.

This is my first day of not feeling sorry for myself, so best day since the accident. I'm doing my best to keep my spirits up, and my best friend in the world is helping in several ways, not the least of which involves doing ALL of the labor for my chimney sweeping business until I heal. He could be making more money at another job, but he's staying with me until I'm better. One hell of a friend.

If my collar bone heals well, I won't regret this experience. I will go out of my way to help those with physical handicaps, and I will be more careful so I do not come close to leaving Nathan without a Daddy. Strange how things work out, but this 10ish foot fall may keep me from doing something equally stupid while 40 feet up in the air (I set ladder up on wet asphalt driveway). Until today, my mind has really been full of doom and gloom thoughts. I know now I'll be OK. Life is good.

Heh... too much info?