Update on my condition

Good afternoon WCC folks,
I thought I’d send a quick update on my condition… as I have been asked how things are going. If you don’t recall, or don’t know what’s been going on in my life… the last couple years have been rather difficult. Here goes:

  1. in the spring of 2021, during the lockdown, I was in the best shape of my life and was racing the OCA Virtual TT series. On March 13th I raced the 40k TT and in the morning, then headed to a friends to help with ripping out carpeting for renovations. On my first trip to the dumpster, going down a small set of stairs carrying a roll of carpet, my right knee exploded. The Patellar tendon ruptured and I was down in the flowerbed - sitting on my folded leg - unable to move.
  2. March 17th, my knee was repaired and the road to recovery began. 8 weeks of ZERO bending and very limited weight bearing. 12 weeks of gradual increase of movement and weight bearing. 2 years + of rebuilding strength and mobility (still on-going).
  3. September 9, 2022 - after a full summer of riding, I decided to attempt racing some TT’s and IP’s at Track Nationals. I also brought together a team for the Team Pursuit. Our team finished 3rd of 3, but we earned the bronze medal for our efforts. Good times!!
  4. October 4, 2022 - I was participating in a structured training session at Milton Velodrome and was involved in a pretty serious crash. Going into the corner my front wheel was taken out and I crashed heavily into the track at 42 km/h. I thought I landed pretty well, but the impact caused my pelvis to fracture in the groin, which caused a small bleed (being on blood thinners made this a concern). I also had a minor fracture of 2 ribs - which caused a small pneumothorax (collapse of the lung - very small and nothing needed to be done). Both fractures were stable and no bracing or anything else needed to be done - besides rest and recover. After 8 weeks I was riding my bike again … at the velodrome.
  5. January 2023 - After much consideration, I decided that I needed to have the wire in my right knee removed. This wire was put in to hold the knee together while the tendon healed… once I started using the leg again, it broke up into 5 pieces. 2 years on, it was starting to cause issues after training/riding… so I needed it removed. Today, March 17th, 2023 (2 years to the day of the repair surgery), I had the procedure done to remove the wire. I’m now the newest wireless device in town. :wink: I hope this will ease the discomfort I feel after riding and will ease the swelling that remains in that knee. Procedure was simple enough, but required general anesthesia so now I am recovering from that and taking pain meds. I should be back on the trainer and riding at the velodrome and on the roads very shortly. There are no limitations from the surgeon - just let the incisions heal then get back at it.

So after 2 full years of hell, I’m finally able to start training seriously … and hopefully I can begin the weight loss journey once again. At the beginning of this “journey” I was just above my ideal weight… now I’m back to the 25 lbs (10kg) over weight mess I was in 5 years ago. I look forward to the many long days in the saddle and amazing club rides with the amazing members of this club.

As a learning note for everyone - NEVER GIVE UP!!! If you ever get injured, don’t get down on yourself, accept that it happened and move forward. A positive attitude and perserverence will get you through anything. If you get physiotherapy exercises – DO THEM RELIGOUSLY! The pelvic injury healed remarkably quickly in my opinion because I did those exercises 4 - 5x a day (of course I had nothing better to do, being confined to a bed most of the time) and that helped greatly to speed recovery. A positive attitude in dealing with all the issues also helped to maintain the recovery.

I hope you all have a wonderful summer riding season. I hope to see some of you out on the roads soon. Ride safe and RIDE ON!!!

Cheers!
Kevin Scheerer

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I’m glad to hear you are on the mend and the latest surgery sounds successful. Here is to a speedy (hopefully final) recovery!

You certainly are in inspiration with your positive attitude towards what have been some potentially cycling retiring injuries. I have thought of your great attitude myself over the off season through my own relatively minor issues and it is good to know that it really is possible to come back even from serious injury / illness.

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Oliver… a positive attitude is a great beginning for ANYTHING in your life… if you start off thinking it’s going to be hard, or can’t be done, it’s amazing how that ends up happening. If you think I can do it… then yes you can!!

Glad you’re feeling better.
Kev

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So glad to hear you’re feeling better and should hopefully be joining us for some Saturday coffee rides. Look forward to seeing you more on the road this year Kev.

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Right on Kev - glad to hear things are going well for you!! See you out there soon.

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Hi Kevin,
Glad to hear your on the mend!
Been there myself, actually will always be there.
Not my knees, funnily enough, they are in great shape!, but my pelvise, hip and back. Like you, I was a top athlete (in sprint race canoe and white water canoe). in the 1980’s I competed at the world championships, and was an Olympic hopeful in my early 20’s. Then I switched to whitewater. The day before my life changed was competing in the North American Open white water rodeo. I had just turned 30 and was in fantastic shape. The next day I was in emergency examination room with doctors all over telling me they thought my lower spine was broken, my pelvise was pulverizes, left hip dislocated, several ribs both dislocated and broken and had punctured my right lung and my right shoulder was dislocated. 3 months in hospital a few operations, and doctors said if I walked again it would be with a walker or at best a cane. fast forward 2 years of wheel chair and I started getting up and moving around. Fast forward another 2 decades (yes I know Im old) knowing I would never compete again, but still had the burning desire, as Rocky said “I think there still something deep down inside, the fire”. Do I want to compete still? Hell yes! But how?
Kevin, you are so right, you can never give up, you just have to change the plan. It is so difficult when you know you have been capable of doing something great and its taken from you. Its very different than just aging, its sudden and catastrophic change. So be carful, take time, remember the joy of the ride. You can use this time to reevaluate and come back stronger, but it may take longer than you planned. Be adaptive, learn new training technics.
Above all, like you said, POSITIVE ATTITUDE! there will be dark days, but, there will be more good days! Take care, hope to see you on the road this summer, I will be the guy eating your dust!

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