A Tale of Two Cracks

In Gear Update: Saddle, seat post, and cassette I wrote about discovering a crack in my left seat stay on December 10th. Since then I have been on two three-day trips and ridden almost six hundred miles. The crack in the seat stay looks the same as it did on December 10th. As I explained in Gear Update: Saddle, seat post, and cassette, I will have someone repair the crack, but it appears to be stable.

Yesterday (Sunday, January 24th) I discovered another crack, this one in the head of my left radius (one of the two long bones in the forearm). A few days earlier I noticed swelling around my left elbow. By Saturday night the swelling had increased and become painful so Sunday morning I went to City MD to have it checked. Dr. Lai thought the swelling was due to bursitis, and possibly infected. After seeing the X-ray she said, "Well, this is a mystery. There's a non-displaced fracture in the radial head that appears to be new.". I told her about my crash in 2019 (read about it here) and that I haven't had any trauma to my left elbow since then. Dr. Lai had me wear a sling at least until I saw an orthopedist. I wondered how long it would be until I could ride again, and what would be done for the fracture. Perhaps a screw to secure it?

This morning (Monday, January 25th) I saw the orthopedist I saw after the crash. Dr. Capeci confirmed the diagnosis of bursitis and said the fracture looked old and that there's no need for concern and nothing to be done about it. What a relief! After the crash, X-rays were taken of my left wrist, elbow, and shoulder, none of which showed any fractures. Dr. Capeci said that sometimes fractures don't appear on X-rays soon after the injury. He prescribed a course of antibiotics to take care of any infection and told me to use an Ace bandage for compression and that it's fine for me to ride.

Crack in my left radial head

My bike and I both have a crack in the frame, and the cracks have probably been there for a long time. Both cracks seem to be stable.

Crack in my bike's left seat stay

So how did the bursitis come about? I have a habit of leaning on my left elbow when working at a desk. Both Dr. Lai and Dr. Capeci think that can explain the bursitis. So I am now disrupting that habit, which will help the healing process and prevent any recurrence.

My left elbow as of January 20th

Addendum 1/27/21: It's Wednesday morning. I've had a fever, on and off, since Saturday afternoon. The fever, along with the constant low-level pain from the swelling, has left me feeling out of sorts. The swelling had progressed to nearly my wrist. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday napping. I woke up this morning with no fever, feeling clear-headed, and with the swelling confined to the area close to my elbow. I presume the antibiotic is eliminating the infection. I think I'm through the worst of this episode.

I wrote this blog post with the focus on the cracks, but I now realize that doing so buried the more important, but perhaps less interesting, story of the bursitis. I didn't even include the picture of my elbow in the original version of this post.

Addendum 1/28/21: It's Thursday morning. I had no fever yesterday, but in the afternoon all I wanted to do was nap. The swelling continues to be confined to my elbow. I'm following the BE CALM protocol, which says to use ice minimally (almost not at all). Neither Dr. Lai nor Dr. Capeci suggested icing, so I wonder whether the fact that icing slows healing is making its way through the medical community.

Addendum 1/29/21: It's Friday morning. Every day I feel a little better than the day before. I had no fever yesterday, and this morning the swelling is substantially less. I'm going to see whether applying Vicks Vapo Rub will reduce the constant stinging sensation.

Addendum 1/30/21: It's Saturday morning. The swelling continues to diminish, but last night the stinging sensation prevented me from falling asleep for a while. The Vicks Vapo Rub provides at most negligible cooling. I haven't ridden my bike since last Saturday due to my general feeling of unease, but I might ride today.

Addendum 1/31/21: It's Sunday morning. The elbow is still swollen and the stinging sensation continues. I have just one more dose of antibiotic to take tonight. I plan to ride tomorrow.

Addendum 2/1/21: It's Monday morning and the snow is coming down and will continue all day, so I won't be riding until probably Wednesday. I started applying diclofenac sodium topical gel to my elbow yesterday and this morning the swelling and pain are both substantially diminished.