Last Tuesday, June 15 I was hit by a car while cycling at 6:10 AM. I was on my way to meet up with friends when about a block away from our meeting point, a taxi struck me from behind. I fell off my bike and hit the road pretty hard. While sitting on the road, I was thankful I was alive and well. I managed to call a Yandex taxi (the Russian Uber) to take me home. The driver stopped to see if I was alright. I locked my bike to a fence and hopped in the cab. I realized I was injured when I got home, I couldn’t get out of the seat with the driver’s help. Nadia and Ocean took me over the school’s clinic and eventually, I was checked into the Nano Medical Clinic. An x-ray showed that I had no broken bones. They kept me overnight for observation while doing blood tests, urinalysis and ultrasounds. Thankfully, there was no internal damage but as you can see above, I did tear my acromioclavicular ligament which holds together the collar bone and shoulder blade. Besides my shoulder, I had bad bruising of my hip and back. Advil was helpful in making me feel better and as I write this a week later, I am moving almost normally.
The doctor in Tashkent suggested that I get surgery to repair the ligaments. I waited until I went to the USA to get a second opinion. Fortunately, my orthopedic doctor here is a former professional cyclist and the current medical director of the Trexlertown Velodrome. He has had the same injury as mine and has seen hundreds of these through the years as it is a common cycling injury when people go over the handlebars and come down on their shoulder. Dr. Stansbury said my tear was a category 2 out of 6 after looking at the MRI and therefore, did not recommend surgery. He recommends not to intervene and let it heal on its own for 4-6 weeks. Studies show better long term results by letting it heal on its own instead of surgery. I will go back towards the end of my holiday to check in. I was so relieved to know that I didn’t need surgery!
It is now one week since the accident and I am finally getting to move normally as besides my shoulder, I also came down hard on my hip and back and it is bruised. The right side of my back is still stiff but last night I slept on my side for a while, something I couldn’t do earlier.
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