Recovery 4

Following on from some blog posts in March 2011 where I talked about my injured hand, sadly I'm still not completely healed.  There's also been a certain amount of denial on my part.

It all started at the end of January when I was out running, early on a Sunday morning.  I had a fall, caused simply by tripping up on some rough ground which was frozen rock hard.  I landed by squashing my hand under my chest, so the little finger side hit the ground first followed by hand hand curving in on itself.  Hope you can picture that.  Following two trips to the hospital, one x-ray and a follow up visit to my Doctor's surgery, the general opinion was I had damaged some ligaments or tendons and these would take longer to heal than bones.  The Doctor did make a half comment, suggesting the Hospital where I had the x-ray carried out wouldn't necessarily spot a broken bone in a complex structure like the hand.

It is still painful and I'm not sure what is wrong, so I have an appointment tomorrow at the Doctor's surgery.  I'm managed to get an appointment with another Doctor there, one that I've never seen before and who I hope will be a little more interested.

I am now recognising that cycling does aggravate my hand, as does a number of routine ordinary tasks (the worst is drying my hand with a towel - agony).  Consequently I've not cycled for the last two weeks.  I really do miss riding and have withdrawal symptoms kicking in.

So I'll hopefully give an update tomorrow evening.   I'm not sure how interested or concerned the Doctor will be, so I'll consider what the best approach ought to be other than "Good evening Doctor, my hand hurts, I'm not sure what is wrong but please can you fix it?".  We hear a lot about NHS reforms, GP Commissioning Consortia against a history of falling standards and rising costs.   I don't think treating me will assist in the achievement of any public health target (I have learnt much about this fascinating subject over the last year from a professional standpoint with offender health needs), nor am I suffering a chronic debilitating disease.

I am astonished that this injured hand of mine has stopped me achieving what I wanted to do this year.  In February and March even my running was affected but not so now.  I'm disappointed that I've not been able to train for some day-long rides (100+ miles) as I know this is otherwise very achievable.  Once again it is, for me, a matter of trust.  Though I don't necessarily understand the reasoning for this set-back, I must believe it is for the right reason.  I still enjoy running and for slightly different reasons.  I also find myself looking at things more easily from a longer term perspective.  My hand WILL heal; 2011 is just one year.  I trust I will be blessed with many more years to come where I can enjoy cycling more in the future.