At the end of my last blog I was talking about a Worst Case Scenario, considering the pain I was in with regards to my shoulder the possibility was very real. I made a dash on the train to get back to my “home comforts” which would somehow make things little more comfortable – nope!
Within a week or so it was quite clear that the shoulder wasn’t getting better, in fact, it was getting worse and shoulder mobility was stiffening up. But, as is always the case I would have to wait until the 4-week review just into the new year to see the specialist and see what can be done.
In the meantime, Suzy & I had booked a few days away in Holland & Belgium. To be honest it was an “off the cuff” remark about when I took my son to a World Cup Cyclocross event in Milton Keynes about 10 years ago & how exciting it was. Suzy suggested we go to the continent over the period between Christmas and New Year to watch a Cyclocross event, naturally I said yes and before you know it she had Tripadvisor’ed the hell out of it and we had a triple hotel, 4-day stay arranged!
Things nearly didn’t get off the ground to be fair as Suzy’s mum had collapsed on Christmas Eve and was admitted to hospital for several days to find out what had happened. In the middle of this Suzy had agreed to do the “Rapha 500” with her friend and somehow – god knows how – finished the 500 by doing the majority of it on the indoor trainer between AM & PM hospital visits just a day shy of our trip across the channel. Suzy’s mum was also discharged the very same day so we were given the “green Light” so to speak for our trip without fear that her mum was still poorly.
Day 1 consisted of a trip down to Kent to get on the Channel Tunnel, we had paid a little extra for a Flexible fare which meant we could get on pretty much any train throughout the day, we also had access to a lounge where all the food & drink was free – challenge accepted!
Once on the train it was a relaxing 35 minutes before we started our journey through France and then Belgium together to our first B&B – an absolutely awesome little single-roomed shed which was as modern as you could imagine. For such a lowly price we had anticipated a shed to be fair but this was out of this world and the breakfast the next morning was worth the overnight stay.
Day 2 and we were off to the Huulst World Cup Cyclecross event. I had seen this event for several years on TV and had really wanted to go to watch the action live so here we were. We parked the car and I was instantly faced with Magnus Backstedt – a hero of mine from the past peleton who was there to help his daughter – Zoe in the Womens main event. After having a photo taken with him I could’ve gone home right there with a smile on my face but we had the rest of the day to watch the action.
A coffee, a portion of chips (with mayonnaise obviously), a beer and we were ready for the racing, the juniors male & female and then the senior events – women first and then the mens. Suzy jokes about how much I follow Mathieu Van der Poel but I was absolutely smitten when I saw him riding within inches past me. You can’t grasp how quick they actually travel on nearly-flat tyres on muddy tracks and sand. The course at Huulst is pretty tough and to see the riders I watch on TV each & every week this time of year was amazing. Van der Poel won, of course and we got ourselves on TV quite a lot with our Beccles Tri Club Bobble Hats so the “fans” at home were pretty excited we were there!
On the way back to the car I got a selfie with another hero, 5-time world champion Zdenek Stybar, and yet again I was beaming ear to ear for the rest of the day. Off to the next hotel – the only one (it seems) in Huulst and typically we got a room on the 4th floor, accessing it by a metal spiral staircase – with my leg and my painful shoulder that was fun – not!
Day 3 it was off to Antwerp after a pretty decent breakfast. Suzy had picked a scenic route to Antwerp from our hotel and it definitely was scenic! We were turning left, then right, then left again etc. through the Belgian/Dutch countryside that you would only normally expect from a bike ride and we eventually got into Antwerp via the port and into an massive underground car park directly next to our next hotel – a Holiday Inn which is now my favourite option if we were to travel anywhere again.
This was New Years’ Eve so we walked around central Antwerp and had set out to stay out and watch the fireworks at midnight but my leg & shoulder was playing up so we stopped in an Irish bar and took in the atmosphere before getting back to the hotel for a nightcap and celebrating New Year twice – once in European Time and then again an hour later watching Jools Holland in the hotel!
Day 4 was a return trip to the channel tunnel where I was looking forwards to the fexi lounge, only to arrive and be told to get to the tunnel as soon as possible as the next train might be the last as there was flooding in the tunnel! So without any grabbing of free food we were hushed onto the next train and on our way home.
Back home and it was back to the grind I guess, my shoulder has stopped me, and still is stopping me from doing anything with my upper body, so sitting the turbo most days for an hour or so is all I can do regarding my training.
The last two weeks I have started to go back to the gym, but that is limited to leg exercises and physio exercises I have been given to get my shoulder going again – a very slow process & very frustrating considering how active I normally am. I’ve been going to physio each Wednesday and the guy has been giving me basic exercises to get my shoulder to work normally but each session the pain is pretty intense and the rest of the day is spent on painkillers and resting up – not quite what I had anticipated post-surgery. It’s got so bad with the pain I have contacted my consultant again and I have a procedure arranged this week where I need a “guided injection” – I think some cortisone and saline is going to be inserted into my shoulder under guidance from a ultrasound specialist – I guess to get it in the right place and apparently that has a good success rate – I’ll see what happens there!
On another subject the ongoing care for my legs is starting to shut down, the physical training, the chiropractic care, the counselling and the job assistance in getting me back to work side of things. The feeling is that it is now 2.5 years since the crash and this is about as good as it is going to get for me so it’s considered there’s no need to to throw any further funds at this because of the lack of progress. It is what it is I guess but it’s a bit frightening to think that my last 30 months have consisted of multiple appointments and now there’s…….nothing!
I did go for, what seems like, a tenth opinion in Oxford a few weeks ago. We asked the consultants who we’ve been in talks with about options on my knee, who they would go to to have their knee fixed and they mostly said “this guy” so off we went…
He was pretty open minded about my injury and he ruled out a replacement knee for the time being as the results weren’t great for someone of my age and considering the trauma I had with it. If I’m being honest I was pleased to hear this as I had heard some proper horror stories regarding knee replacements and really wasn’t happy that this was being recommended by other consultants. He did say, just as my current consultant, that I was to carry on with “the knee I’ve got” and keep it going as best I can until a knee operation is absolutely necessary. He also suggested that corrective surgery might be an option – something that was off the table last year so that’s something to explore maybe???
In the meantime, I’ll just plod (hobble) on and keep getting on with the job in hand – a return to some kind of normality.