.:: DonnieNix.net ::.

Here’s the story, typed one-handed.

The doctor was going to try to set it without cutting. just yank it around and try to get all the bones lined up and back in the socket. He said the socket was “totally destroyed”, which made me feel quesy, but he said don’t worry, it’ll be fine.

When he got in there, I guess he worked on it a while and then determined that he would not be able to get everything in place, so he had to cut.

He cut open my hand and re-arranged all the bones, got everything set, and then put screws in to hold it in place. Thank god I was knocked out for this.

When I woke up, it was pure hell. The nurse asked what my pain level was, 1 to 10. I said 10, but I don’t think she believed me, because she said “no way, you can’t be hurting that bad.” I told her something like, “I broke several ribs last year and rode 2 miles back to my car; the year before that I almost tore my pinky toe off, had it stitched back on and played softball two nights later; I played two football games in high school with a partially torn thigh muscle; I’ve had hernias, broken fingers and limbs, sprained ankles; I know what pain is, and I have a high pain threshold, but this isn’t like anything I’ve felt before. This SHIT HURTS!”

I think she finally understood, because she started scrambling around and injecting me with all sorts of pain meds. Finally it started working and my heart rate slowed down from over 100 to a normal level.

So, now I’m on percocet, and the nerve block has worn off, and I can feel the screws rubbing against the cast, and that sucks. I’ll be in a cast for about 4 weeks, and then we’ll see.

I hope this thing heals completely. I need full function in my thumb. It’s my glove hand, and I don’t want to give up softball because I can’t grip a bat good enough. Not like I was hitting very well anyway….I’m in the longest batting slump of my life.

Thank God it’s Friday. Just 4 more days and I’ll have my hand fixed. It’s hurts like a bitch in the morning because I keep tweaking it while I’m getting ready for work.

I had a dream last night that I was moving from Colorado again, except this time we had a moving company, but they wouldn’t do anything. They just sat around the yard and smoked dope.

I have a pre-op appointment today so that they can more x-rays. So I get to leave work at 2:00. Then I guess I’ll play Tomb Raider all weekend. I just hope the doc doesn’t screw this up. I need my thumb. It’s my batting hand, my golfing hand, I need it to steer the bike and downshift the front gears….He’d better fix it right.

Jai and Danny start work tomorrow. They are my referrals; $2500 each. I should see the cash in the 1st payday of October. That means I’ll have my Heckler around the 2nd week of October and it should be fully built and ready to ride by the 3rd week of October. I hope that my thumb is fully healed by then. It had better be or I’m going to kill someone.

The Braves suck, but who didn’t see it coming. I thought this would’ve happened last year.

Tomb Raider Legend is a cool game.

I need $665 in my Heckler fund. Get to donatin’, dadgummit!

Progressive Insurance can kiss my ass.

What a silly title for a blog post. Sounds like a movie of the week.

I wrecked at Big Creek on June 15 and broke my hand. The break is where the thumb joins the handbones. Apparently I broke all those little bones into many pieces. I have surgery next Tuesday to put the puzzle pieces back together.

No big deal. I’ve broken shit before. If anyone thinks I’m going to quit riding just because of this, they don’t know me very well. If I gave up on something just because I got damaged a little bit, then I sure as hell wouldn’t have made it very far in this world.

When I broke my ribs last year, that was far more painful and frightening than this, and THAT didn’t keep me off the trails. You can’t let yourself be ruled by fear of being hurt.

People who say “Well, you’re too old for mountain biking, you need to be careful” can kiss my ass. I’m only 42 and I’ll be damned if I’m going to throw in the towel at this age. I should just wither away, become a fat out of shape slob just because I’m 42? I don’t think so.

You can get hurt getting out of the tub or getting out of your recliner. Hell, you can get hurt jamming that jelly donut in your fat face. I choose to ride a mountain bike, you choose not to because you MIGHT get hurt. That’s a pretty sad way to go through life.

What sounds better:

“I broke my thumb reaching for the box of Krispy Kremes and I slipped and fell.”

“I broke my thumb setting up for a nasty downhill switchback over some roots with a 2 foot drop, caught a vine on the left side of the handlebars and endo’d down the hill, then I had to dis-entangle the vine, and walk 1 mile out of the woods pushing the bike back to the trailhead.”

I think I made my point.

I have hit the 30 lb mark. I’ve lost 30 lbs and my clothes are starting to not fit very well.

Isn’t that cool?

We’re going out west on June 29. We’re leaving as soon as I get off work, and driving as far as Little Rock the first night. The next day, we’re going to do the approximately 18 hours from there to the Grand Canyon.

Two full days in the Grand Canyon, and then we head to Moab/Fruita for a few days, then to Longmont/Boulder, CO on the  evening of the 5th.

I’ve been planning this trip down to the finest detail since March, so if something doesn’t go right, I’m going to be pissed.

If anyone wants to contribute to my vacation fund, send money via PayPal to donnie(at)donnienix.net. Of course replace (at) with the @ sign.

Today, I have been married for 21 Years. That is a long time.

Thanks for putting up with my bullshit for that long, sweetie.

My next bike is going to be a Santa Cruz Heckler in trans orange with a Fox Forx F130 RLC and either a Manitou Swinger 3-way SPV air shock or a 5th Element Coil shock. The frame and shock alone costs about $900, and the fork, when purchased with the frame, will be about $400. This is a bad ass bike, with a single pivot suspension system, beefy tubes, rugged construction. I’ve talked to a few people that own them and they LOVE them, so I feel like I am getting the best bike for the money and the best bike for my riding style and size.

How am I going to pay for this, you might ask? Well, at my job we have this little employee referral plan, where if you refer someone, they get hired, and stick around for 3 months, you get cash. I have referred 3 people, and 2 of those are worth $2500 a piece. The other is worth $1500, but it’s all good.

I plan on taking some of that money, slipping it under the wife radar, and buying this bike. I don’t need a lot of parts, as I plan on taking my XT/XTR pieces off my hardtail and using them on the Heckler. The fork from the Hardtail, eh, I don’t know if I will keep it, or sell it. It’s a Rock Shox Reba Race, and normally retails for about $450, but I’d get it serviced and try to get about $300 or $325 out of it. It’s totally worth it, as it’s a great fork, but it won’t fit the Heckler, which requires at least 115mm of travel according to all the doc I’ve read on the subject. If I hear differently, then I’ll just keep the Reba because, like I said, it’s a great fork.
I would keep the hardtail frame, but I’d outfit it with some Deore or X.7 -level parts, maybe a rigid fork or the Rock Shox J4 from my old Specialized, a hybrid bar, and use it for Silver Comet road/bike path duty. I might even fit it with a roadie cassette and crank.

So the drop date is probably going to be around the middle of October. Of course this all depends on my referrals accepting the offers. Nothing is written in stone yet, and knowing my luck, it could all fall through and I could be left with nothing and still riding my hardtail this fall.

We shall see……