Called the fracture clinic this morning, the whole shoulder thing was getting worse. They got me an appointment within 2 hours, especially when I told them it was starting to bleed and that the screw was ready to pop out the skin.

The doctor who examined me - French guy again - took a good look at me and the x-rays which they took today. He spotted the problem, and showed me on the x-ray.

So I have this titanium plate that runs the length of my collar bone - just under the skin. It sort of runs flat along the shoulder. There are 7 screws pointing straight down - looks like a garden rake.

What's happened is that the titanium plate has started to bend under the weight of my arm. This is causing it to bulge in the middle (think of a suspension bridge) which is why the screws want to jump out.

So he tells me that it's a race. It's a race between the bone healing completely and the metal plate snapping in two. One of these will happen first, he tells me. We hope that it's the healing part.

Reduce my activity he tells me. No lifting. None. No riding, absolutely not. Keep the sling on, except for when I don't. Appointment at the beginning of March, at which point - all being well - he tells me that I will be able to ride a bike again.

He's concerned, but there's really nothing that can be done unless it punctures the skin (in which case it will be a different kind of emergency). If they opened me up now, what would they do? They'd have to re-break the bone, unscrew all the plate and everything else, and put another one in. Once they've done that, the other one might bend too, and we'd just keep going through the cycle.

They were originally unsure about whether or not the plate would have to come out, but now they know that it will. This will be in about a year's time, or sooner if it's needed. Then a week or so in a sling, job's a good 'un.

Looking on the bright side, this is actually a good thing. I was always worried about having a rake pointing straight into my lung, so I'm happy to have it out. More surgery, more scalpels, more morphine, but worth it to get rid of the metal.

The enduro on 17 February is ruled out then, but the 16th is on - the AJP action day.

My ITM put it better than I ever could: "A split second in Morocco and 4/6 months of hell.". Touché.

The guy who was in before me, apparently, also had some pins in his bones. He, like me, was moaning at the doctor to get them out so that he could get back to Motocross. I wondered how many of his broken-bone patients rode bikes.

Despite all of this, or because of it, the Missus has started looking at Direct Access courses to get her bike licence. She's spent the last couple of years worrying about me getting injured and now, when I am injured, she thinks that it's a good idea to ride a bike. If you manage to figure that one out, please do tell me.


That said, she will start her two-wheeled journey under the expert eye of Martin at AJP, (the action day doesn't need a bike licence) so this gives her some confidence - Martin is very good at teaching.

Funniest thing of the day though was when I read about the Astrological Magazine. Set up my mystics and fortune tellers, their website proudly announces that as of December 2007 they have ceased publication "due to unforseen circumstances".

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