Painful riding . . .

After my little deer friend ran into me, we rode for about 30 miles and stopped for the night.  I wanted to ride further, but started feeling queasy so we thought it best to stop and let me rest.  My leg was swollen and painful.   Although nothing appeared to be broken, I started to think about the small fibula bone in the lower leg.  The area that was most swollen and painful was right over where this bone is, so I became concerned that it might have gotten fractured.  The deer bent the metal engine guard on my bike as it whipped around and hit my leg.  With that much force and with all the swelling I was having, I thought it might be possible.  We took time the next morning to have it x-rayed and thankfully, nothing was broken.  I guess my non-dairy veggie bones are pretty strong after all! 

I was still in pain and could barely walk on my leg.   I had some options.  We could rent a car and a trailer to haul the motorcycle . . .  we could leave the bike in Le Messa, the small town we had stopped in the night before, and come back later and get it . . . or I could ride it to Sedona, where I would have time to rest my leg and let it heal.  I didn't really want to leave my bike behind and the town we were in was pretty small and finding what we would need to rent to haul it seemed like it might be difficult.  Once I knew that nothing was broken, I decided that I would go for it.  I wish I had a video of the stops we made over the last couple of days [and the looks we got from people].  When I stopped the bike, Jim would come over . . .  put my kickstand down [I wasn't able to twist my leg in such a way to do that myself] and lean the bike over on the stand for me.  I would carefully get off the  bike and then . . . if I needed a bathroom break . . . I would hobble into the station to the bathroom and back.  When it was time to get started again, Jim would set the bike  back up, kick up the kick stand and get me ready to go.   I could barely walk . . . but if you prop me up just right . . . I could ride!  :) 

Shifting gears was painful so we headed for the interstate [a bit ironic since I really don't like interstate riding].  Going over bumps was also very painful so I avoided as many as possible and lifted my leg up to suspend it and reduce the impact when there was a dip, bump or rough spot in the road that I could not avoid.  As the day went along I had a little system that seemed to work pretty well.  As the heat of the day came on though, the swelling in my leg increased . . . along with the pain.    Late Sunday afternoon the pain became excruciating.  Every time I had to shift gears, a pain shot deep into my leg.  It was really rough and there was no where to stop for the night so we had to ride on.  We finally found a place in El Paso.  I got to ride up to the room on a luggage cart [makes a great substitute wheel chair, in a pinch].  Once in the room, I propped my leg up and kept it on ice the rest of the night.  We thought that we only had a 350 mile drive the following day to make it to Sedona.  After dinner Jim came in and broke the news to me that we still had 550 miles to go. I was quite distraught because I could see no way for me to make it that far.  I was having a very hard time walking and just didn't know if I could do it.     The next morning the swelling and pain had reduced but it was still very difficult to walk.  I had brought one of my therapeutic cups with me and did some light cupping over the leg [with a myofascial flair] which brought enough relief that I could make it down to the bike.  The early part of Monday was not too bad but by late afternoon it got hot . . . I mean REALLY hot . . . and the leg started to swell again [maybe the advice given at the emergency room for me to keep the leg propped up and stay off of it for the next couple of days was a smarter route to take . . . ya think?? ].  Between the pain, the leg swelling, the heat and the major traffic through Phoenix [interstate riding . . . I just love riding next to those big 18 wheelers . . . and all those "4 wheelers" that may not be looking out for us 2 wheelers] . . . the last few hours were the most difficult riding I have ever experienced. 

Those two days of riding were pretty tough . . . but we made it to Sedona where I am resting, having MFR treatments, keeping my leg propped up and icing it through out the day. I feel sure that a couple of days of rest here in beautiful Sedona will get things back on track.  I am still thankful that things were not worse,  Had I gone down on the bike going 75 miles an hour . . . it wouldn't have been good.  Also, even though my leg is in pain, "somehow" there is no damage to my ankle or my knee.  My foot is bruised, the side and back of my leg is swollen and bruised and I have a significant bruise above my knee . Every time I look at it I am amazed that the ankle and the knee were not impacted, even though everything around it was.  An ankle and/or a knee injury would have taken longer to heal . . . and I don't think that any level of determination would have allowed me to keep going had either [or both] been injured.  So . . . . today I am thankful . . . thankful to be alive, thankful that the injury was not worse, thankful that I am in such a wonderful, beautiful place, thankful that I have Jim and "the guys" here helping me . . . and thankful to have an awesome MFR therapist here to help spur the healing process along . . . and thankful to God . . . my God . . . that He was and is watching over us  . . . giving us the things that we need at just the right moment.  The Bible says that He will turn all things together for good [Romans 8:28] and I truly believe that He is . . and does! . . . AND  . . . as a friend once told me . . . "a bad day on a bike is still better than a good day in the car!"   . . . continuing THE JOURNEY . . .