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| Kerry climbing out of the shadow and into the light. Joshua Tree National Park |
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| High on the walls of Zion. (Lunar X, Amoeba Pitch) |
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| Climbing "Skillet's Revenge" with Matt and Ryan Near Ouray CO |
Climbing is what initially brought Kerry and I together. It was the perfect vehicle for our first several dates and a great test of our compatability. Before we had kids climbing occupied most of our non working time. Every weekend was dedicated to climbing something somewhere. Kellen and Mei changed where and how much I climb, but did not alter my desire.
Last spring I tore the ACL in my right knee. (See my skiing post.) That meant spending some time away from climbing. Honestly, the timing of my tear was pretty good as we were headed to China to pick up Mei and would not have the time to get out and climb anyway.
With the passing of time my knee recovered from surgery and Mei fell into the groove of our family. This meant that it was time to start climbing again. I started by climbing on our indoor climbing wall one or two days per week.
Finally the doctor let me start climbing outdoors. Two days later my parents were able to watch the kids for a few hours so Kerry and I could sneak out for a little climbing. We had a great afternoon climbing on the pond wall at Queen Creek. We got in four routes in about an hour and a half. I whipped on the last route we climbed so it was on again.
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| Sunset in Joshua Tree National Park |
Three days later Kerry and I, with Mei in tow, hiked up to a local area call "The Peaks". This cliff ranges from 40" to 100" tall and the routes are awesome. We were a little pressed for time and decided to squeeze in one more route prior to the hike back to the car. As I climbed up into the dihedral that mades up the majority of the route I slipped and shock loaded my left shoulder. I felt my shoulder dislocate and then I felt a crunch, my arm went numb but my shoulder really hurt. Just as quickly as it dislocated, my shoulder reduced itself and was back in place. The only problem was that I felt it crunch again as it slipped back in. By this point in my life I have broken enough bones and torn enough muscles, tendons and ligaments to know that I had done something bad.
So, one week after being cleared to rock climb by my ortho MD I was back in his office for a shoulder evaluation. He felt that a shoulder MRI scan was necessary and we scheduled it for the following Friday. The scan showed a ligament tear (anterior/inferior portion of the shoulder capsule), a Hill-Sachs Lesion, and a possible Glenoid Fracture. To confirm the Glenoid Fracture I needed a CT scan which was completed while I was at work the next day.
You know that there is a problem when your doctor seeks you out to give you the results of a scan. My CT scan demonstrated a Bankart Fracture. My Bankart Fracture was significantly displaced and without immeadiate repair would leave me with a very unstable shoulder. So, we scheduled surgery for the following Thursday, October 28th at 3pm.
Surgery and the subsequent recovery is never fun, but I am certain that shoulder surgery is the worst. I spent the night at the surgery center after my proceedure mostly because I came out of the OR so late. (6pm) The next six weeks were spent in a sling. PT started two weeks post op.
At the moment I am three and a half months post op and doing very well. I won't be back to climbing until probably August or possibly September. That is OK as I am enjoying a few other activities instead. I was cleared to start running again just a few weeks ago and I am laying down base miles on the bike trainer. I have progressed from using no weight for my PT to now exercising with 10-15 lb dumbells. I have a long way to go, but it is a good start. My PT says in one year I will be 90% and 100% in two. Sounds like a pretty good investment to me.
I will be back to climbing before I know it. There are too many climbs that I have not done yet!
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| Kerry with El Cap dominating the landscape |
