Day 6 - Grinnell to Coralville

It was a really hot, humid night in Grinnell. Despite my trick of taking a cool shower before heading to bed, I still found it rather intolerable to sleep in the non-airconditioned room. As soon as the sun started to peek over the horizon, we decided that it would probably be cooler to just take off on the bikes. So at 6AM, me and the 3 teens took off for the 75 mile trek to Coralville. It was a 15 mile ride to Brooklyn, IA. Brooklyn has always called itself the "City of Flags" and there is this corrider with all 50 state flags and a large US flag. It was only about 7:30 AM and we stopped to have breakfast with the Pancake Man. Having breakfast with pancake man is entertainment as well as being fed. He flips the cakes high into the air and flips them to his customers across a room and never misses a plate. Most of the time, the lines for Pancake Man are too long, but since we are early, we are served. I was already feeling hot, so decided to pass on the coffee (big mistake) and just take extra orange juice. We then walk up the hill to see the parade of flags. They also boast that they are the boyhood home of John Wayne, although Winterset, IA likes to claim they are the birthplace of John Wayne. Anyway you look at it, John Wayne is a native of Iowa.

We then take off with our next planned stop in Marengo which is our planned meet-up town for the day and about halfway to Coralville. Fish and Valerie were planning to meet us there. I take a quick stop in Victor, IA to reload with water and a short break. About 10:45, I arrive in Marengo and decide to hang out under a big shade for one of Kristen's friends to catch up. She arrives about 15 minutes later. I send my message to Fish that I am going to hang out in the public library (in the AC) until she arrives. I start to get back on my bike to head into town, when I start to lose my balance with my right foot clipped in. In trying to pull my foot out, I start to twist it around and I hear a "SNAP" and instantly knew that I had broken a bone. I grab my leg to stabilize it while standing on my left leg and trying to make it so my bike will not hit my broken leg. 2 guys come from behind and catch me and hold onto my leg and get me away from my bike. The EMS team was quickly there and I was in an immobilizer within 10 minutes. It was about that time that Spencer and Fish arrived.

So from there, I am taken to Iowa City to the nearest orthopedic surgeon. I am a little embarrassed as I am dressed in my Iowa State biking shirt for college day and chose that one over my Iowa shirt. It's not the way I wanted to return to University Hospitals where I did my training and early faculty career. I got excellent care in the ER. I find out that I fractured both my tibia and fibula and that it will need a surgical repair. An attending orthopedic physician comes down to see me and go over my options. I can get the surgery in Iowa City, but it would not happen until Sat or Sun, but it would require that I stay in Iowa City for 2-3 weeks as I would not be able to travel at first. I could try to travel back to Hershey and have surgery here. There main concerns were whether I could stand the pain and the risk for a clot. We did have a big enough vehicle where I would be able to lay down with my leg elevated and I am tiny. I had good friends in Iowa City where I could stay a couple of days for now. They then put on a full leg split cast and after a few hours in the ER, I went over to my friends, Tim and Karen, who I had met in college and medical school. Fish rode with the 3 teenagers for the remainder of the ride and then we all met up again.

The girls decided at that point, that they were done with the bike ride and no one decided to go on to Davenport. The ortho team followed up with me on Saturday and they felt that if I could control the pain, I was okay to travel by that evening. We did 4 hrs of the trip on Sat night and then 10 hrs on Monday when I finally arrived home.

Monday morning, I was seen by Orthopedics at Hershey. They were impressed that the swelling was down enough that they could operate. I was admitted that day and had my operation on Tuesday when my ankle was stabilized.

It seems like it is always something stupid, little, and quick that brings about these events. A small move that you just can't take back fast enough. Luck plays a big role - there happened to be a male nurse from an orthopedic office standing next to me who caught me off my bike and quickly immobilized the leg and stopped it from getting displaced. I got EMS care immediately and had ice placed.

So anyway, not the RAGBRAI experience I was hoping for - it is amazing what a difference weather can make for the experience. I am grateful that it wasn't a real bike ride fall and that I had no other trauma. I am hopeful that this ankle will recover and that I will ride a bike again.