I wouldnt be so sure about 6 weeks until recovery.
When I dislocated my shoulder and broke my wrist
it took months of PT and Ot until I was back to normal.

Hang in there, seriously I feel your pain.

No harness, I'm in a sling. I can feel the bones scraping once or twice a day, when i get up to go to the bathroom. uhg.

I have a orthopedist appt tomorrow. I guess I'll have to figure out how to put on a shirt by then.

to sum up this thread, i say, "thumbs down."

I'm 23 and have never broken anything. I do have one of those "absntr" lumps though on my left shoulder from a nasty snowboarding fall. Didn't break anything though.

And my shoulder kind of clicks now.

Get well soon man.

I hope the bike comes out ok.. ummmm... I mean.......I hope you heal up quick, or don't go insane while healing.

Oh man nola, that is a damned downer. I busted mine a few years back. It is so not cool at all. Specially for sleeping or bathing. When it comes to bed I just propped up a ton of firm pillows and had to sleep in an almost sitting upright position for a few days. After about three days you should start to feel a lot less throbbing (its amazing how well the body is connected isn't it?) I strongly recommend sticking to your painkiller regimen but not overdoing it and definitely drink plenty of water (although peeing is a real *****). They put me on too much codine and i was pretty young so when i stopped taking like 9 or 10 pills a day i got real sick like. Not fun. Besides that, all that everyone else has said is definitely true. Best of luck man, time, rest, and calm are your friends.

PS: did the bartape ever come?

*glances over ...* Wait a sec, nolageek's gay? Okay, I can work with that.

Here: http://www.2xist.com/collection.asp

Pick something out. I'll buy them, head over to your place and take sexy sponge bath detail until you feel better. I may not be quite as ripped as some of the 2xist models, but damned if I can't shake the scrawny ass that I've got.

- eyefloater

Edit: got my spell on.

OnCrank: no bartape yet.

Mmmm. I dont like men with too many muscles anyway. Got pics? lol

speaking of pics... (does this look broken in two spots to anyone else**********)

wait a minute...a bunch of people all gladly went out of their way to get you a bike and this is the kind of karma it has!!! i would expect more from karma gods! DAMN YOU KARMA GODS!

-jason

ain't no gods to karma. just cause and effect, baby.

nola - that break looks ****in' brutal. best wishes.

Remarkably at the age of 28, I haven't broken anything to my knowledge. I do have some bones with dents from my skating days and my knees are a bit dodgy owing to same. And I did once fall off a railing onto my head in a parking lot. Oh, and I've broken a few teeth.

But no bones!

a similar thing happened to me last week a car cut me off when i was going pretty fast and in the effort to stop my bike flipped and i ate pavement and broke my left arm. A collar bone has got to hurt worse good luck

I broken my collarbone four times, all on the left side. Props and prayers for the guy who has broken it five.
If they give your a Bro ( harness to keep your shoulders back), make sure you don't tighten it too much. you will get painful rashes under your pits.
Good luck washing under your broken collarbone armpit. One of the detatchable showerhead nozzles would come in handy, as long as you have someone install it for you.

Good luck man, time off the bike is a necessity sometimes.

Keep in mind Tyler ground his teeth down to the nerves in the Tour. 15k or so for a new set of choppers is not worth it. You might be able to buy that 24k Gold Colnago on EBAY for that price.

Nola - that looks painful, but not broken in two places. What looks like the second section of your collarbone is probably the top of your shoulderblade. The collarbone ends a little before the end of the shoulder - you can see it in Naz's photo.

I've got the same thing he does, but on a much smaller scale. For some reason I always seem to fall on my left shoulder - seems like that's kind of common here, falling towards one side. I wonder if that's because it's easier to break after you break it the first time? Or maybe it's just a subliminal thing? I'm right handed, so hitting the left side makes it easier to deal with the recovery period. That and that side already clicks and feels bad in some types of weather - if I f*ck it up enough to need surgery, maybe it will be better?

Good luck with the healing. I've spent months where I couldn't lift my arm out parallel to the ground or higher, months where I couldn't eat anything that wasn't liquid... None of it is ever fun. Eventually it does get better.

Just think of this - it could be a good excuse to get a custom messenger bag that goes over the right shoulder...

Oh, and riding with a u-lock over the handlebars? Never a good idea. Sorry this was how you found out, but it's true. Either get a mini that fits in your back pocket, or a frame mount if you use a larger one. Or carry it in your new custom messenger bag...

Damn nola, sorry about that bartape. I have no idea how to look into it anybody else? The pics didn't come up for me though.

Yep, That's why I had mine reinforced with a titanium plate and 8 little screws.
No deformity here, just a nice long scar...chicks dig scars....

Enjoy

doc said fracture is worst he's seen, but couldn't recommend surgery over the sling. told me to prepared for one side to be shorter than the other though, sinse the displacement is so great. :( Not so bad in the long run, as I'm terrified of surgery.

And no, it's not a u-lock, I use a chain.. just as stupid of me to wrap it around the stem though... I should have known better. The bike was removed from the pole last night by my friend and is sitting in his house waiting for my return. My non-rider friends are begging me to buy a car now and I'm having a hard time explaining to them that riding again is what will be driving my recovery. :)

Many thanks to y'all for keeping me optimistic - I was really scared that first night... it doesn't seem so bad now. :/ The throbbing has subsided a bit like you said and now it just hurts like a beeyotch when I move it. I plan on going home this weekend and having my ex stay with me for a bit. My friend Julie and her bf Ron have been fantastic while staying with them, but I miss my cats so much, I want to get home ASAP.

Should I call United Cab and sarcastically thank the driver for driving off and leaving me like that?

I don't seem to be able to see any pics!

Broke my left collar bone twice. First time was when tackled by an older kid when playing football in the vacant lot at the age of 13. Shoulder was hanging in front of my chest. "Mom! I think I hurt my shoulder."

Second time was as a young adult while crashing into a bush on a bicycle. Just a fracture. Shoulder still in its normal place.

In both cases, I got a harness from the ER that pulled my shoulders back in a dorky looking way. Took 6 weeks to heal in both cases. Never heard of surgery or failure to heal normally in this type of injury. My first son was born with a broken collar bone. Doctor said "I'm pretty sure his collar bone is broken, but won't x-ray. We don't take any action in the case of a broken collar bone." Looks to me the collar bone is a sort of mechanical fuse. It breaks first in order to protect more critical body parts.

I think a second break in the collar bone is likely to occur adjacent to the first break. The healed joint is stronger than the normal bone because it is thicker. My second break was like this.

Edit: BTW...I heard the helmet hit the pavement during the bike crash that caused the second injury.

damn, Nola that break does suck. Like everyone keeps saying though it gets better after maybe like the first week or two. Just be gentle on it and enjoy the drugs. I just remember hating the last month where it felt fine but I still couldn't use it.
My roommate broke his too once and he had some bad displacement on it. Of course military doctors suck at fixing anything, so four surgeries later (including one after the pin burst out the back of his shoulder) they are completely not even. If he does a curl with weights once side is like three inches lower than the other.
Rest up and heal fast.

displacement is pretty bad with mine, the x-rays still freak me out. any idea what kind of limited movement I'll have? Doc just said some limited overhead movement.

Also, what do I have to look forward to in terms of muscle loss? I keep imagining coming out of this in 6 weeks and having a noodle for an arm.

Also, how long till you were out the sling?

Also, why is the sky blue? Sorry, I sound like an 8 year old!

Thanks for any ideas or responses, I know no two cases are the same, but I'm wondering what this will be like; first time brake and all. Thanks for everything!

Hope you feel better.

Only break I've had was my left wrist. Bought a new(to me) motorcycle on Fri night,flipped it in an ess curve Sat morning. Didn't even own it 24hrs. :( After everything healed,my left hand rotated differently than my right. It wouldn't go as far when I turned it up,but went further when I turned it down.

One good thing. I've since discovered that if I use a mouse with my left,I get zero carpel-tunnel. Since I work on(well,ok,surf on) computers all day,this has turned into a nice bonus. :o

Hey,maybe after you heal you'll be able to wear your bag on that shoulder without a cross strap and it won't shift around. :p