The next day we moved south to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and on Sunday rode through Fontaine Vaucluse, the town n
ear the underground source of the River Sorgue. From there our route crested the ridge whose underbrush--
maquis--gave its name to the
guerillas of the French resistance who hid in its environs to harry the Nazi and Vichy troops during WWII. We arrived in Gordes in time for a pleasant lunch on the
square. Jane fell back on a difficult turn riding out of Gordes on our way to Abbaye Senanque, so I decided to wait for her. Instead of going back down the hill I turned into the drive of the Domain de L'Enclos hotel. Fatal error. The drive was packed clay and gravel. Glancing about I turned around and so came nearly to a halt. Standing on my right pedal to accelerate, my rear wheel slipped off a very small shoulder under the gravel, dropping me instantly onto the trochanter bend of my left femur.
The blow was the most terrific I've experienced, not excluding getting hit by a car in London about 25yrs ago. The gendarmes who showed up to get the accident details were careful and sympathetic, as was the crew of the
pompier who loaded me gently into the ambulance for the ride to the hospital in Cavaillon, a town that was not on our itinerary but was to be my home--and Jane's for the next seven days.The xrays showed that the fracture had not gone all the way through the trochanter, which meant that it would heal with less likelihood of the necrosis that is the greatest danger after such an injury. (Floyd Landis' hip replacement resulted from the more severe version of my broken femur.)
Memorial Day is a holiday in France, too, but because of the danger my fracture represented,
Dr Laubenthal--a German female orthopedic surgeon--assembled a team to do the operation on Monday. Her work was pronounced good by my orthopedic surgeon after we returned. So I'm on my way through the six- to eight-week process of building bone around the titanium "dynamic screw" that now holds my femur together. Jane was saintly during my hospitalization, staying in a hotel alone, negotiating the daily tasks of living in a strange town, locating the
Collines de St Jacques on one of her run workouts, buying fruits and vegetables to supplement the relatively meager and frequently unidentifiable food the hospital served, dealing with offices in two countries and materials faxed
between hospital and U.S. insurance company. By day three I was able to get out of bed on crutches--also found and purchased by Jane--as well as lower myself into
a ward wheelchair for outings to the front patio.
I was dreading the 7hrs of transatlantic flight, but they proved the most comfortable of my "medical repatriation"--as its' known--ensconced as I was in a first class "sleeper" seat, with my own DVD viewer and 20 movies to choose from. It was the three flights home from our east coast entry, as well as the crazy set of wheelchair "assistance" personnel, non-functioning elevators, and other airport obstacles that took a real toll. Next time you're enduring the indignities of airport "security," imagine doing in on crutches. And in pain.
Well, the sutures--actually a set of 26 stainless steel staples--are out now and I'm getting about much better. I've devised a way to bungee the crutches onto the bike rack on the roof of our VW since I found that by last weekend I could exert the required force to clutch our manual transmission. We're already planning to go back to Provence to complete our interrupted travels by bicycle. See you there...
Last Friday was the first day of summer. It was also Day 27 since my injury and the day I got back on the bike. Well, the trike, to be more exact. I'm renting the tricycle recumbent pictured--a German Kettwiesel Hase--from the head mechanic at my LBS, the Hostel Shoppe. Jane took the picture on the riverfront path by the Clark Street bridge. The unit is heavy, slow, and--I've found--a bit boring to ride, but not as much as my indoor trainer. Once I'm off the crutches in a week or two, I'm looking forward to getting back on two wheels. For now, I can enjoy the sunshine and variety of road-riding even though I can average only 10-12mph. Even Jane found, after the first day, that she couldn't stand dawdling along at that pace, so now she heads off on her own workout by the time we're up on Old Wausau Road or so. Sunday we rejoined for dinner at the Hilltop--because I can grope my way onto the deck via railings and tables--so I can still enjoy some of the benefits of biking together. Thanks to everyone who's sent expressions of sympathy and support. I'm slowly catching up on replies to each of you...
