Introductions - Greetings from Ottawa Ontario Canada

Hello everyone! Just got here and am looking forward to reading through all the threads. I am 50 years old and cycle commute daily to work, about 10km each way. I ride in all kinds of weather and take it right down to winter's edge. I am recovering from a massive lung injury from a year and a half ago, so I don't ride fast and furious. My greatest dream is to ride my bicycle from Ottawa to Vancouver. For the present I am reading and learning and planning for this adventure.

Welcome to the forums ;)

May I ask the nature of your lung injury?
(I had spontaneous pneumothorax last year)

Welcome to the forums ;)

May I ask the nature of your lung injury?
(I had spontaneous pneumothorax last year)

Well-I had a small spontaneous pneomothorax six months before the Big blowout. The emergency room 'missed' the first one on xray--which didn't please me too much--and then--over the next six months I would get better for a few weeks then arrive back at emergency complaining of shortness of breath. Finally, friends took me out to supper one dark and cold wintery night--and Boom.............so...............I got to spend Christmas in the ICU................I ruptured the right lung in two places--making some kind of medical history-as I also bled out...............I can almost make 'light' of it--but not quite. I came VERY close to leaving the planet. I was ever so glad to have the chest tubes removed! What finally added insult to injury, was that no one looked to see what my iron levels were--and it is only since late May of This year-that I am beginning to feel okay. I am now on iron pills--and OH WOW! WHAT a DIFFERENCE! I Can breathe! I can ride my bike again!............But there are consequences. The surgeon did a resection-so-obviously-I don't have quite the lung capacity to fly on a bicycle--but--I am okay with that, too. It could have been much worse!

But enough about Me--what happened for you?

Mine is full of coincidences.

It began with slight pains in the back region when biking to school, mostly in the middle of winter in 1 feet of snow on my mtb. I didn't think much about it for a good part of a year. Occasionally after biking back it would be extremely difficult to catch my breath.

Then one day while hauling my mtb up from the basement I must've strained my lung and there was some pain. Initially it wasn't too bad (at that time the lung was collapsing) but I biked to the tennis courts with friends and played some. I scheduled an appointment with my family doctor but it would be 2 days before I would get a chest x-ray. When I finally did - I was told to report to the hospital immediately. My left lung was completely collapsed.

The doctor who first put in my chest tube in the ER did it wrong, he put it too high causing me excruciating pain for the first several days until my assigned doctor found out (he was furious). They had to switch it out for another one right at my hospital bed. After finding that it would not fix itself I had to have surgery to have it "glued" to my chest wall.

The funny thing is, while I was in the hospital in my 2 week stay they wheeled in another guy with the exact same problem and it turned out it was my friend from school. What a coincidence. The only bad thing was he had pneumo on BOTH lungs. That really sucked for him. At least I could use my right arm.

What I hated the most about hospital other than all those wonderful narcotics they gave me was that I couldn't leave my room - chained to the wall with the suction tube+box thing. Total time spent in the hospital - 3 weeks.

Doctor gave me 10-15% chance of peumo on my right lung. I'm hoping i'm not that lucky. Good to hear you are back cycling.

What I hated the most about hospital other than all those wonderful narcotics they gave me was that I couldn't leave my room - chained to the wall with the suction tube+box thing. Total time spent in the hospital - 3 weeks.

Doctor gave me 10-15% chance of peumo on my right lung. I'm hoping i'm not that lucky. Good to hear you are back cycling.[/QUOTE]

WOW! You played some tennis while it was deflating?! Wow! (I cycled home from work-when the first pneumo took place-and OH--That was Not a good ride!).........When I reported to emergency--basically towed in there by my friends--over the course of the next hour or so--an emergency tube was inserted--and that's when the roller coaster started-shock-IV fluid push-shock-IV fluid push, etc, etc...........and YES--LOVED those narcotics.................I know when they go in to scrape and glue--they are a brutal bunch--so--it is a percentage of risk that should be overcome--and I trust you will now be okay........I still get DEEP and I do mean DEEP ghastly pain that tracks where the chest tubes were..........I can now wear a tighter shirt--as in the post op period my entire chest felt like it was scalded...........I feel fortunate that I had a mobile compressor and in theory could have taken a walk--but the damn oxygen was attached to the wall!................So sorry about your friend and his bilateral pop--is he okay now?..................In the end I feel like the most fortunate woman on the planet. I have been humbled and have a sincerely greater appreciation for living...........I remember saying to the surgeon--'Will I be able to ride my bike?" He actually chuckled and said, "Try walking first!".................And you are also back on your bike?