A Picture Perfect Recovery

In preparation for wedding photos, Matthew Heffernan and his fiancée, Sophie, had been using sunscreen for weeks.  Then Matt went for a bike ride on Mount Diablo.  

On his way back down the mountain, his rear wheel locked up and he spun out.  Still protecting his face for the wedding photos, Matt put out his left hand to break his fall, and broke his wrist as well, resulting in five breaks and soft tissue damage.  “We didn’t plan for injury!” Matt laughed.

The accident happened on Saturday, he saw Dr Tyler Clark of Golden State Orthopedics & Spine on Monday, and went in for surgery on Wednesday.  “I live in San Francisco, and I don’t have a car, so it wasn’t super convenient getting to Walnut Creek, but it was so worth it for the level of care I received,” Matt says of his GSOS experience.  “It was great to be taken care of so rapidly because that provides the best outcome, but all along the way, everyone has taken such good care of me.  Everyone on the therapy team has been great to talk to and Dr Clark rocks in general.”

Matt’s first post-operative appointment was the day before he flew out for the wedding and he got all the surgical bandaging removed, which was a huge relief for the wedding photos and meant he could wear a more streamlined brace that would fit under his suit jacket.  

He laughed his way through our interview, but he admits it took him and Sophie a little time to see the humor in sunscreen and a wrist brace.  “I’m in the San Francisco Triathlon Club, and it’s become a club joke that everyone makes their partners stop all activities three months before an event!” he says.

Now that he has recovered and is back to biking, Matt says, “The bad part has already happened.  Get patched up, don’t be miserable!”