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January 19, 2004
Man down... [part 1]
Well, I was hoping that I would return from my snowboarding trip this weekend with some excellent stories about runs I did or tricks that I pulled. I mean, I could tell you about them, but that wouldn't be the most important news. Long story short, I broke my leg. It sucks.
I have an anterior tibia plataeu fracture on my left leg. Basically, the part of the tibia [0] that comes in contact with the femur [1] has a crack in it. It is not a complete break, which is good, but I have to take special care to keep my leg horizontal at all times.
I was going down a tree-run, following a friend of Jason's [2]. He took a tree run that was fairly narrow and not very straight. I kept up with him very well until the last turn of the run before the run opened up into a clearing. I lost my edge and my body went horizontal as my left leg slammed into the tree. I felt a pop and couldn't move my leg. About 5 minutes later when my brothers caught up to me, I was on the ground and I couldn't move my leg. The Ski Patrol came about 10-15 minutes later, affixed me to a sled and brought me to the first aid station/clinic that was on the mountain. After waiting about 45 minutes, I finally got into the clinic to have x-rays taken. It was confirmed that my leg was broken. My boarding trip was cut short.
I spent the remainder of the trip on the couch taking care of my leg, keeping it iced and taking ibeuprofin to keep the swelling down.
I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning with an orthopedist (sp) to determine the best course of action to take with my leg, whether that be casting the leg or whatever.
My mom is out here in California now. She is spending a couple days here to take me to the orthopedist [3], and help me get situated to only having one usable leg. On one hand I really want to be able to be independant and be able to take care of myself, no matter what happens, but on the other hand, I think that I could really use some help these next couple days.
[0] the bone bewteen your kneecap and ankle
[1] the bone between your kneecap and hip
[2] Jason's friend is an awesome snowboarder and it was probably a bad decision on my part to try to keep up with him and do the runs that he was doing
[3] it's hard to drive stick-shift with only 1 leg =(
Posted by Michael at January 19, 2004 11:56 PM
Comments
As a fellow participant in snowsports injuries, let me say first of all, tough break man. We all like to push the limit a little bit, and you don't realize how far you are out until you get bit. Take care of the leg and realize that it could have been much worse, really :)
Posted by: Naginata at January 20, 2004 06:03 AM
Ouchies. Take care of thyself.
Posted by: Nathan at January 20, 2004 06:57 AM
Get better fast! And hooray for moms to come take care of you when you're sick =)
Posted by: Elizabeth at January 20, 2004 10:15 AM
Bwahaha! You're mom's there! (* Point and laugh. *)
Seriously, though, it's cool that she can come help you out. I'm glad you were there for me so I didn't have to puke my guts out all night in a hotel room. :-)
Posted by: ryan at January 20, 2004 10:32 AM
Ouch! Hope you get to feeling better soon. I was gonna say that at least it was your left leg so that you could still drive, but then I noticed your footnotes. =)
Posted by: ångel at January 20, 2004 01:39 PM