How Sweet It Is

Having been sick for nearly three months and with two damaged shoulders, I have missed two multi day trips to Rallies with friends.
The NT has been sitting here all packed and ready to go for weeks but I just wasn't up to it.
For the first time in weeks I am feeling good despite still having lots of pain in my shoulders due to torn Rotator Cuff ligaments.
With a dose of pain killers I pointed the NT out onto the freeway this morning and just rode until I felt ready for a coffee.

The point I want to make is that even after just a few weeks off the bike, a ride felt sooooooo good.
It has cheered me up no end after being a bit grumpy and feeling sorry for myself.
It may be a cliche but the feeling of freedom, the vibration (slight of course ), the sun and the breeze made me want to continue onward but I had to return home, more's the pity.
My NT is like a big, black Happy Pill.

I am readdicted and I want more, PLEASE.

Macka

Macka, I think most of the folks here will completely understand your feelings. We all have those "special moments" on the bike that inspire us. It is a great feeling that sticks with us. Glad to hear you are again enjoying the thing that so many of us take for granted.

I experience that each spring when I get out on the bike after a 5-month winter lay-up. It usually isn't until the second ride or so that I really start to get comfortable on the bike. In the excitement to start riding each spring I have to re-learn the routine of riding. The little things like remembering to put in my earplugs before putting on my helmet and remembering to get my gloves out of the paniers before mounting the bike need to be re-remembered each year. But once I'm on the bike and have re-familiarized myself to the point of becoming comfortable, I don't want to return home and face the domestic chores that await me.

Mack,

I SURE UNDERSTAND HOW YOU FEEL,, I WAS OFF thr wing forslmodt 5 months with a badly broken ankle, and a year later got the Tibia Platoe in my knee broken while on a dual sport ride,that one cost me BOUT 4 MONTHS .

MY CURRENT SITUATIION HAS HAD ME GROUNDED AS FAR AS DRIVING OR RIDING ANYTHING SINCE LATE June OF 15. I AM ALMOST TO THE POINT OF ALLOWING A EXPERIENCED RIDER WHOM I TRUST BE THE PILOT ON MY hd uLTRA CLASSIC WITH ME BEING THE PINION. I AM NOT SURE IF I CAN BE A GOOD PASSENGER ON PINION SEAT a the only time I have spent in that position was two occasions two years ago, and they were just short rides.

Be patient with yourselfe while healing and know that you will be back in the riding game in another few months and the torn up shoulder will just be a bad dream.

Wishing you the best for a full and complete recovery,

eldon

I had bilateral knee replacements in February of 2003 and rode my bike to physical therapy 6 weeks later. In August of that year, I rode to Missoula for the end of the Iron Butt Rally. Whilst standing around in the parking lot I met a guy named Eldon Cannon who noticed that one of my PIAA driving lights had a broken lens. He told me had a set of the same lights at home back in Oregon that he had replaced, got my address and sent my his PIAAs. That started a friendship that has continued till this day.

On my way home from Missoula, after spending about 12-15 hours standing on concrete over two days, I noticed that my right knee was hurting. About a month later, my right knee started hurting. I had a right knee revision (orthopedic surgeon-speak for re-replacement) the day before Thanksgiving, and a left knee revision three months after that. Five weeks after surgery, I rode my Concours to physical therapy. Then in 2006, I had a two-stage revision of my right knee. That time I rode my bike to physical therapy four weeks after surgery.

After my second round of knee replacements in the winter of 2003-04, I ended up addicted to oxy-codeine, but didn't know it till I quit taking it. I quit cold-turkey and ten days later was having the "heebie-jeebies" and couldn't sleep. One Saturday night, I didn't get any sleep at all and at about 5:30 am, thought to myself, "If I was an alcoholic and having symptoms like this, I'd think I was having the DTs." Then I thought, "Hmm...wonder if it's the oxy-codeine?" I got on the computer and googled oxy-codeine withdrawal. I had 9 of the 13 symptoms. I talked to my family doc at church that day and he slapped me upside the head for going cold turkey, but said that since it had been 10 days since I'd taken any, there wasn't any point in trying to ease off at that point, and that I'd have it all out of my system in another couple of days. Sure enough, by Tuesday night, I could sleep.

During the better part of the year when I was having all that knee trouble, I'd been taking two oxy-codeine every 6 hours. I could never tell that it affected my reaction time or gave me any trouble doing any of the things I normally did. Nevertheless, I'll be very careful with pain-killers from now on. After my last surgery, I took far fewer of them and, when I quit, I eased off them instead of going cold turkey.

That phil is one tough guy! Hr walked my legs off of me at Missoula! of course the LTITUDE THERE IS MUCH MORE THAN I HAVE A HOME ANDLESS THAN HIS IN CO WHICH GAVE HIM A BIT OF A EDGR ! nEXT MONTH HE MAY GET ANOTHER CHANCE AT THAT OUT WALKING ME WHICH HE MOST LIKLEY WILL DO AS I DONT USURALLYWALK FARTHER HAN A 1/4 OF block NS DON'T DO THAT VERY OFTEN.

bUT I AM IN FULLLL AGREEMENT ABOUT THE HABIT FORMING OF PERSCRIPTION DRUGS, ns the damamage they can cause.


ELDON

Yes, thanks for your thoughts guys.
I only take the pain killers when I have to.
I can go 2 or 3 days without the need for pills and then have to go back to maximum dosage for 1 day. It is a strange thing, the human body.
Sometimes I can sleep without them and sometimes I have to get up at 2 or 3 am to take a dose as the pain has woken me up.
Last night I went to sleep with moderate pain in the shoulders but woke up more or less pain free (no pills taken).
It sometimes is aggravated by what I have been doing in the hours before but other times the pain can start after I have done almost nothing.

Macka

Macka, I wasn't going to post this, but I think I understand. I had a small stroke three weeks ago and in the hospital for a couple of days. Not as often as Phil, I had my left knee replaced about seven years ago, had my prostate taken out four years ago and have had each shoulder rebuilt. My wife and I are tango dancers and dance anywhere from three to ten hours a week. My job requires that I write a lot, generally about 30 pages a day when I work. I have taken two to four Alleve (Sodium Naproxen) every day. When we go to tango festivals, I may take six Alleve. What I ignored was that Alleve raises your blood pressure and since my stroke I have not taken any and my blood pressure, the systolic, the upper number is about 20 to 30 points lower. I miss my Alleve and my osteoporsis in now in the foreground. I'm doing remarkably well in my recovery. I was told not to drive a car, but they said nothing about a motorcycle, so I've been taking short (40-60 mile) trips and at this point, I feel confident in what I'm doing, but I'm aware it is not all back yet. Good luck to you and I appreciate your attitude.

Terry

Terry, I've never used Aleve more than once or twice. Ibuprofen works for me. Good luck on total recovery!

Daboo said:

.

In the beginning, my wife begrudged me spending any money on my bike.

Chris

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I got a bike for my wife! Best trade I ever did....! (Sorry, Chris, I couldnt resist) Actually, my wife and I have a deal. Since we keep our money separate, we do anything at all with our money that we want. And we never fight about money.

I am pretty sure in the US that the cost of a motorcycle is deductable as a mental health expense. Dont know about Australia. One things for sure....Cancer or not, I am going to do as much riding as I can this next five years....the first 12 years of retirement I took for granted....but it went by soooooo fast....just keep on touring! Four trips this year plus day trips, Maybe 5 next year.... never look back.

WELL! It seems that I may have hit a bit of a nerve with this one. :rolleyes1:
Perhaps we can all use it as a therapy session.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings with me, all of you. :smile:
We are all different, but really, we are all the same.
Take care of yourselves and enjoy the journey.

Macka

Phil, any of the NSAIDS raise your blood pressure, including Ibuprophen.

Terry

Vintage, I didn't ask about the motorcycle. I'm three weeks out from my stroke and actually feel pretty good. I've been riding my NT and strangely, it's easier to ride my NT than my car. I don't exactly know why. I know with the NT I have better peripheral vision. I actually having a driving test in a week to check my driving skills for my doc, I actually think I will do fine.

Terry

Good to see you getting a ride in Paul. Have 3 nice days coming up the rest of this week so will take advantage of it. I use the ibuprofen for my arthritis. Works pretty good.

Butch

banjoboy said:

Vintage, I didn't ask about the motorcycle. I'm three weeks out from my stroke and actually feel pretty good. I've been riding my NT and strangely, it's easier to ride my NT than my car. I don't exactly know why. I know with the NT I have better peripheral vision. I actually having a driving test in a week to check my driving skills for my doc, I actually think I will do fine.

Terry

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I think that it is due to your mental attitude, Terry.
You WANT to ride so you naturally feel better about it.
If it works for you, do it!!!

Macka

Thanks Butch.
If I feel OK and the weather holds up I will be heading off for the Gulnare Rally on the 8th.
It will be 5 days away and I am really itching to get out onto the road.
It is a Rally that I have not been to before but is located very close to the one that I had to pull out of on the 18th of August due to poor health.
Total distance would be a bit over 2000km.
The Honda is waiting patiently? in the garage but I did hear a bit of a whimper this afternoon.
It may have been the dog next door but I prefer to think it was my lonely Honda.

Macka

I've been able to ride very little the last year and a half due to a long lasting arthritis flare.
I have 2 motorcycles and it was a beautiful 75 degrees this morning and I was able
to ride to work for the first time in 3 weeks. Very few rides all this Summer or last Summer.
I used to ride 90 % of the decent days to work, Spring through late Fall, if it is above 40 and not raining hard.
One of my co-workers commented "You must be feeling good today! You've got a bounce
in your step, and a helmet in your hand!"
Yeah BABY!

dannyjo said:

I was able to ride to work for the first time in 3 weeks.

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Dannyjo, I'm glad you could ride. I'm going to have the fewest miles by a lot that I've had since I started riding in '97 but I sure had a good ride Tuesday, even after I hit Bambi. And like Macka said, it was SWEET!!

i also took a little ride after mowing, just at dark...about 25 miles.
Unfortunately, the next morning, today, I got up at 4 AM with my right hand swelled up like yours after your antler
injury...I wrapped it in heat pad, but didn't help. I seem to have grown immune to Prednisone, and Oxycodone, Tylenol, Aleve , etc...
That's the way my last year and a half has been...from day to day, swelling/inflammation somewhere in my body, after a couple of good days.
It hurt too bad to grip the throttle, so back to the pickup and a bad mood for a Friday!
Get well quick, Phil!

As much as I genuinely sympathise with the many problems that you have all shared here, let me say that you are all making me feel a lot less sorry for myself and a little embarrased. :redface:
My problems are miniscule compared to those of some of you gentlemen and I take my hat off to you all.
You have all made me feel a LOT better. :smile:
Thanks a bunch!

Macka

Thanks for your willingness to share your information.

Terry