Clavicle Error - Broken Collarbone

I had my surgery 2 weeks ago. Yesterday was my follow up. Its healing really well. Took some photos of my xrays. Looks gnarly but I'm told it isn't bad at all. Luckily the wait from crash to surgery was only 10 days for me and everything went pretty well. A few days of pain but now I'm feeling pretty able with only minor discomfort. I think the hardest part has been having so much free time and very little to do.

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Rad

Im sorry to hear about your injury. I hope you are healing up well and it isn't too painful. It's a shit situation but it will pass soon. Eat well and move little is my best advice. Hopefully the hospital are clear when they call you and get you in ASAP. And hope the rest of the gang are healing well too.

Pretty drugged up on pain meds so feeling quite nice now

Haha, what did they give you? I had dihydrocodeine. Was a bit disappointed myself.

Oh bloody hell phil, were you just too jealous of mine and Finn’s slings this was your best solution of getting one? But sorry to hear obviously. Hope you’ve got some button up shirts, also my top tip is a couple of times a day, do some very slow straightening of your arm (unless it causes significant pain) just so your ligament/tendon/whatever gets a little stretch every now and then. I had mine locked off at 90 degrees for 3.5 weeks until my surgery and its taken a while to feel comfortable extending it with the physio exercises they've given me.

I'm 8 days post surgery and feeling a lot better, my bones don't knock together as I walk now. Got my follow up appointment next thursday.

I was on co-dydramol which might have helped but I didn't really notice I don't think. Got one more re-up from a pharmacy of a weaker over the counter one and haven't had any since.

@3c70 so at two weeks are you still slinged up or have you got loads of mobility now? It's nice having someone a week in advance showing me what i've got to look forward to.

I was told to stay slinged up for 2 weeks until my check up but I felt confident to be out of it from time to time after about a week post surgery. The last few days before my check up, I went for walks without a sling. I feel mobility is pretty good. Only some reaches are hard and I don't want to over do it. I haven't worn my sling since my check up and the doctor didn't bat an eye lid that I turned up without it.

He did tell me 12 weeks from the surgery until I can cycle again though. This I'm sure he has to tell me. We will see.

Also there's no pain anymore. Just discomfort in some positions when laying down. I had dental surgery a week after the collar bone surgery so it's hard for me to say when the pain ended as my attention went to that and over shadowed any pain in my shoulder.

I'm just gutted to have done it too late to get mine Albion branded!
Can't hold the weight on it yet so I'll keep it in the sling for a bit but good to know, I'll try to let it out a bit in a week or so

Gutted for you.

Hopefully you have a complication free heal up.

I’m now 4 weeks since breaking mine and tonight while riding around the carpark at my flat (that’s as far as I’ve been yet) I popped the front wheel up a kerb and it’s the first time that pulling up on the bars like that hasn’t felt utterly horrid. Planning on trying cycling a bit further next weekend.

Naproxen which didn't seem to do much and co codamol which made me feel sleepy

Naproxen which didn't seem to do much…

I’d get off that ASAP, nsaids are meant to be bad for bone healing. I was also told that swelling is your body making its own splint so best to let it happen.

Oooh interesting, thanks. I’ll look into that. I wouldn’t be disappointed to not take it anyway

New Burner Sling is really good

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I had the same, it's really comfortable but a bit hot in the sun. I washed my first one and the seems broke but I got a replacement and looked after it a bit better

Quite an unusual break in that its gone down rather than up but a direct hit to a lampost at 20kmh will do that to ya.

Surgery will be early next week. So that's fun.

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Good to hear, rapid turnaround in comparison, thats west london for you. Are you right handed?

Yup!

Does anyone have any thoughts on the plate surgery? I've never had any sort of operation and I'm slightly shitting myself to have the general anaesthetic and how much pain/discomfort I'm going to feel following the op. Also what the recovery is going to look like afterwards. I've had very little info from the docs regarding this.
Some nasty bruising has come up in the last day or two which is a nice reminder of how hard I hit

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Holy fuck...is that a tattoo of Africa?

I did think it looked rather motherland shaped!

Though it could be the face of a dog.

Sorry if I'm being flippant, I'm looking at the photo and wincing.

Hope you all heal quickly and have good pain meds

That looks very uncomfortable. Hope the bruising goes down quickly.

Broke my clav* at the beginning of the year. No surgery (I had bigger problems for the docs to worry about) and it's healed with about an inch of overlap. I still have a bit of discomfort carrying a heavy bag over that shoulder. Anyone here experienced similar? Will the pain go away, or do I need to hire a valet for future hiking trips?

* and scap, ribs, wrist, my "acetabulum" (I didn't know I had one of those) and fractured nine vertebrae 😳

Shit, that looks painful. I had maybe 20% of that amount of bruising on my shoulder. You must of hit really fucking hard.

Regarding the little info from the NHS, it was the same here. Infact a week after the crash, they wanted me to just go every day to the hospital and wait there with only a small chance they would have space to see me. Of course I told them that was a terrible way to operate and I wasn't going to sit around a hospital every day just to be sent back home.

The anaesthetic will be absolutely fine. They will talk to you to distract you and keep you relaxed and next thing you know you will be waking up in recovery. I've had 3 or 4 times now. This time round I didn't feel bad from it but previous times I have just felt groggy and lethargic. They will still be feeding you painkillers at this point, probably Tramadol. For me the worst pain was at this point and probably why I didn't notice any post anaesthetic groggyness. You will then be taken back to a ward and they will feed you, give you a drink etc. You will have to eat, drink and have a piss before they discharge you, quite likely the same day as your surgery. You need an escort if so. I forgot this and had to call my sister 1 hour before surgery or they wouldn't of done it.

For me the pain lessened drastically the same day as the surgery. But it was bad the day after. For a few more days, maybe 2, the pain stayed pretty bad but then it went and the only time it was bad was in the mornings and night. Its best to just keep to a routine with the codeine they give you even if you don't think the pains too bad. It will lessen it when it does kick in.

Obviously it's going to vary person to person but it will be ok. When you are out of surgery it will be at its worst and will get better with only some moments of it feeling worse.

Recovery will seem slow at first but after a week and a half I was not using my sling much. I'm 3 weeks in and yesterday I went for a skate. Admittedly only pushing about and doing a few ollies but the fact that I could has made me more confident that recovery will be quicker than the high estimate of 8 weeks and 12 weeks for sports. Just rest, eat a lot of protein and look after it for as long as you can. If you are like me and feel isolated and lonely when there is so much free time, fill it with walks and contact with people.

because I had to wait 3.5 weeks for the op, I kind of got a taste of both recovery options (leaving it and plating) I still felt just as uncomfortable walking around without the plate as the displacement was so big (it looks pretty similar to yours actually) there was a distinct disconnectedness about it all.

With the surgery I'm now 2 weeks out and laughing really. You'll be a bit ache-y and twitchy the first day but that gets better much quicker than just walking around waiting for that massive gap to bridge. I was anxious about the anaesthetic as well, the come down from it that evening was shit but manageable, just felt woozy and spacey but did get a full sleep that night still. It's a proper routine op, the bone is really close to the surface so there is very little chance of it complicating other bits of your body. You'll also get a bit of numbness around the cut which I've still got a little bit of. It only feels like pins and needles when you touch it, I don't notice it all unless I prod around.

The lack of info thing is something i've found as well. They'll tell you all of the above but only when you get into day surgery.

Here's my plate, the trauma nurse who cleaned the wound before the x-ray said it was the neatest stitching she'd ever seen. Probably says that to everyone though. The scar is still a healing wound so that's a little sore still but I feel no pain/soreness from the bone. The vague timeline he gave was 1 month in a sling still with light physio, 1 month getting the range of movement back and then the next month building the strength again. Which is different/longer to what he said last time but i'm not the medical professional.

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Thank you @3c70 @stephens
Extremely helpful. Wish me luck, I'm going in now