It's been a while since I updated, but here's the latest -

I've been released from physical therapy - I had plateaued, and was in the 'acceptable' range for movement/strength, so they ended treatment.

I'm still not back to 100%, and am only riding about 1X a week - I need to get that back to 2-3X to feel like I'm 'normal'.

My back muscles tire easily - raking leaves gets fatiguing (muscle-wise, not cardio), and by the end of the job, I'm doing a good Quasimodo/Elephant Man impression. It clears up after 24-48 hours with heat/anti-inflammatories.

I have to deal with 20 lbs of weight gain - since I'm not riding as much, it's been harder to keep my weight down. I'm (finally) getting serious about my eating habits, because if my activity level is lower, then my caloric intake has to be lower too. I'm also adding in non-bike exercise, so with the winter coming in, I can remain fit/get better fitness towards spring.

Insurance companies are wanting to know where I am (probably to get it off of their books). I'd like to be 'done', but I found out something this morning at my ortho doc - he told me that the MRI (taken back in August) has an 'acute compression fracture' on my T11 (just above my T12-L3 fusion). That's pretty scary, but he said that as long as walking and supported weight training don't bother me, it seems to be healing OK. Swimming and cycling are also OK - I just have to ease back into higher activity.

It DOES however, make the accident a bit more serious. I didn't think that I broke anything. Evidently I was wrong.