Here is some stories of me and a few other climbers injuries of late from Urban Climber Magazine. copy and past link below into your browser
http://www.urbanclimbermag.com/themag/411/injured_reserve/index.html
It covers Dave Graham, Chris Webb Parsons, Angie Payne and Ethan Pringle

So it's been two and a half months since my shoulder surgery and i'm into the physio stage now. I'm still feeling a fair bit of pain but i'm told it is normal. I was in a sling for 4 weeks which sucked bum then i had two weeks just doing movement exercises and for the last month i have been using therra bands to get the joint tight, so i'm not allowed to stretch my arm at all and i still can't lift anything of 2kgs.

Although recovery is long and slow i'm determined to get back climbing again and when i do i'll be training like a mad man.

I had my stitches out the other day and my shoulder is becoming less painful by the day. I still have to keep the sling on for another 2 weeks and then I start the 5 months of physio and rehab. The good news is that my surgeon told me that I will be back on the wall and climbing again in 6 months time, I know it’s a long time but I’m sure when that time comes around for me to climb again I’m going to be more focused and psyched than ever before. In a weird way maybe this injury is going to be a good thing in the long run. When I injured my shoulder in America at the start of my world climbing trip, I was keener to climb and to get stronger than I had ever been in my life and being that I injured my shoulder at the peek of that feeling and having it stop me dead in my tracks is making me bubble over with climbing psych at the moment. Even though I can’t do much at the moment, even typing this with my left hand is taking me ages.

My arm is getting smaller and smaller so I got myself a Compex (tense) machine to help with my rehab and to help with my recovery when I get back into the climbing. Man I can’t wait to get back on the wall I have not climbed now for nearly 3 months and it’s doing my head in. I have climbed hard out since 1999 and never really had much of a break so maybe this will do me some good.

The nights have been long and painful and I could not keep any of my painkillers down so I only had paracetamol to help with my pain but now finally the pain is getting better and better and I’m beginning to be able to walk further than a few steps without my arm hurting too much.
I have been doing a few things to keep me occupied and although I won’t be using them for a while, I have done some repairs to my climbing shoes with the new Stealth Paint Kit from Five Ten. I know it sounds like I’m doing a bit of a plug for my sponsors here but this stuff is a great idea. Check it out here

http://www.climbinggearonline.com/Five-Ten-Stealth-Paint/p/IX67ZEAM;jsessionid=758478809AC976EA1DA50C45549BD321.app3-delorean


AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Dan Da silva has been climbing well of late, starting off the Australian Bouldering season early by sending Combat Wombat V11 at Sunnyside cave, and a send of Mushi Brain V11. Also in Sydney Pat Reynolds has been Bouldering well with a send of Hairy Joys Banana Shack V11, Groove Terminator V11 and Gage Wolf V9. With the cold weather around the corner I’m sure there will be more news to report soon.

photos
Stealth Paint Kit and The Compex Machine thats

In my last news post i said i was going to use google earth to try and find new climbing areas saying how good it was but Here's a cautionary tale for those of you who like to indulge in a bit of light sunbathing in the privacy of your own patio: make sure you ring Google to see if they're planning a satellite pass-over before whipping off your top:

A week has passed since my surgery and it has probably been the worst week of my life.

The surgeon told me everything all went swimmingly except the tear in my labrum was much larger than he expected, the labrum was torn almost all the way around. He had to put 4 screws in which were drilled into the bone and then attached to the labrum to hold it all in place until it heals. Hopefully that will come sooner rather than later.

The hospital stay was horrible so I’m happy to be home but still suffering, as any medication I take my body just seems to reject. Not fun. The nights are so long and uncomfortable, I can never find a comfy spot to fall asleep and the pain is horrendous. Luckily I have my wife Teegan looking after me, she even had to dry my family jewels after my first shower the other day. As my Nan would say – oh bless her!
(did I really just mention my Nan and my family jewels in the same sentence??)

I head back to the surgeon on Thursday to get my stitches removed and so hopefully all goes well.

The colder days are coming here in Sydney, and it’s so frustrating, all I wanna do is get out there and climb some rocks. But by the time I’m ready to get back into it the cold weather will be gone and summer will be here.

In my spare time (which I have plenty of) I’ve been searching on Google Earth for possible new crags. So when my shoulder is better I’ve got some walking to do, at the moment that’s what I’m looking forward to do, although walking to the end of the driveway seems to be a bit of a mission right now.

The website now has a new interview section, so stay tunned for some chit chat between some interesting people.

Pics below; My stay in hospital with tubes up my nose and all.
Me and Annie at home, competing for the attention of nurse Teegan. I think Annie will win.