Bad Idea... (long read)

[Tobi]

So yesterday i went for a great hike with my better half and the two brats... we found out that JET loves the water, and that Tobi was showing off for him and just barreling through the riverbeds (never done that before) He even got tired after we got to the very top and froglegged in the river! unfortunately i wasn't in any shape to be taking pictures.

I made a horrible judgement call last night about halfway up there is a large rock you can jump off when the water isn't low, leave it to me to not check before jumping. I threw caution to the wind and took the 15 foot fall into about 5 feet of water... In my defense which i don't have much of atm... 3 weeks ago it was 8-10 feet deep and i barely skimmed the bottom when i tucked

So horrible idea. check... way out. check... death march. check.

As soon as i'd surfaced i knew i'd broken it. It wasn't in excruciating pain but it did indeed hurt and felt liked i'd at least rolled my ankle. I attempted to walk it off in the chest deep water and to no avail, i couldn't even put weight on it under water (it seemed to be sliding from left to right) I'm surprised i didn't panic to be completely honest, because i was in a hell of a pickle. I'm looking up the 20 foot incline that was difficult to scale with 2 legs let along one. I started to make my way up, being cautious to not injure myself any further, I wasn't much success in not hurting myself much but i was doing okay, it took me about 15 minutes of knee shredding to get to the top and finally back onto the trail, I was feeling hopeless at this point. I told my Gf that it was broken, i saw it sliding back and forth with my own two eyes now, and i was sure that it wasn't supposed to move like that.

We began to head down the trail, mind you... these are crazy stairs and a LOT of them, we'd gone up 200+ stairs to get to the point we were at, and there were more than likely another 100-200 to go up to the flat areas. I began to get into a groove going down, and then i heard a shout from behind us. A guy named Roger (Dojo owner and athlete) decided that it would be a better idea to get me to go UP than go down. I started on my way back to the top...

This was grueling... probably the single most painful thing i've ever experienced in my life. Without a doubt the hardest. This guy pushed me to my limits without a doubt he kept reminding me that i wasn't getting out of there unless i got to a place that the rangers could safely remove me in a vehicle, and that if my Adrenaline wore off i was in deep trouble... This guy pretty much saved me.

The only good way i could get up there was to take quick steps on my bad leg keeping it nice and straight as i pushed off of it, otherwise it was a horrible pain that i didn't intend on feeling any more often than needed. Roger had my left shoulder, and i had a rail to my right, and we made our way up. we finally got there after about 40 minutes of trudging... They then took off down the mountain to get help for me.

I'm actually completely amazed by the compassion of these guys. They were more than willing to give their time and efforts to help somebody that was just careless, They could have just left it as "it's going to be easier to go up than down" and continued on their way. These were great guys... It's awesome to know there are still nice people out there.

Anyways, I finally made it down to the car, this happened at about 2:30 pm, I went home took a shower changed, and headed off to the hospital around 6. The first hospital we visited i was looking at nearly a 10 hour wait, there were already old timers that had been there with chest pain for 6+ hours. We then decided after about 3 hours it wasn't going to fly... we went to the hospital my GF works at and i was x rayed within 20 minutes of leaving Triage.

Results... I broke my fibula (outside bone in my leg) in a nasty way, the doctor told me think of twisting a candy cane... Not good. Since it broke in that way, there was no way that my ligaments are all in tact in my foot. I got crutches, percocet, and a boot to stabilize it. I can't have surgery until after the holiday weekend of course, and also it will give it time to let the swelling go down, he told me the surgery would most likely be pins, plates, and screws to get everything put back together...

I've only slept about 2 hours in the last 2 days, the night prior to going to the mountain i was up all night as well so i'm getting on the grumpy side, as well as not being able to care for myself is driving me to the nut house.

All in all I keep reminding myself that it was a horrible idea, and beating myself up about it. I'll definitely check the water before haphazardly jumping in, no matter if i was there the day before, or 2 weeks before. Everybody does stupid things... This is the first stupid thing that's gotten me seriously injured! gotta start somewhere!
I just wanted to share the story, I know some of you saw my update on FB and i just didn't want to type all this in there! I'm going to be watching some Tosh.0 reruns to laugh at other people getting hurt! maybe it will take my mind off of the pain!

TL;DR Terrible ideas, and lack of sensible judgment is going to cause you pain. Broken leg, and surgery incoming.

On the plus side though... Tobi had a BLAST riding down the trail in the back of a golf cart!!! he didn't have to stretch to have his head in the wind, he just stood there and was smiling ear to ear the whole way!

I have a question for anybody that's ever had a break similar to this or surgery like this... how long was the recovery? and is it the same or will it ever be the same as it once was? I'm a bit worried about waiting a week and it starting to heal a bit and then them having to re-break stuff! I've also chosen to fill my script for the percocet, but i highly doubt i will be using it, i'm not sure if it's pride ( I can deal with the pain) or stupidity... feel free to weigh in on that as well! I just don't like them but at the same time, if i don't sleep for a week because of the pain i'm going to be a bear...

EDIT:
Silly Tobi teaching me to keep it elevated...
DSC01900.jpg

[Donna Little]

Holy crap that sounds awful! I'm glad it wasn't worse but I'm sure you're feeling like it's plenty bad enough. I don't know anyone that hasn't done something similar in their lives that either ended in an injury or a near injury so don't beat yourself up too badly.
I've fortunately never broken anything other than my big toe but my sister had a spiral break that sounds similar to your's. She had a plate and screws in her leg I believe and was on crutches for around 6 weeks. She recovered very well but did ultimately have to have the plate removed in an additional surgery about a year later. It was bothering her she said when she'd walk up a hill or stairs. I drove her to the Dr. to have that done and it was a very fast simple surgery and she was back on her feet really quickly.
I wish you all the best and for a very speedy recovery!

[SilverBeat]

Wow. That sucks.

A lot.

I have a question for anybody that's ever had a break similar to this or surgery like this... how long was the recovery? and is it the same or will it ever be the same as it once was? I'm a bit worried about waiting a week and it starting to heal a bit and then them having to re-break stuff! I've also chosen to fill my script for the percocet, but i highly doubt i will be using it, i'm not sure if it's pride ( I can deal with the pain) or stupidity... feel free to weigh in on that as well! I just don't like them but at the same time, if i don't sleep for a week because of the pain i'm going to be a bear...

I had surgery in 2006 on my ankle to remove bone fragments and scar tissue from a bad break in 2004 [I broke it, was walking on it, it broke in another place]. I needed surgery again in 2008 because the buildup was so bad. But I had no health insurance. So instead I got a cortisone shot... probably the most uncomfortable thing I have ever experienced. I had two more in the three years that followed, but the first one barely did anything, and by the third I was doing more harm than good. I now have an incredibly swollen ankle full of scar tissue and I can't bend my ankle in certain ways. I have been lucky enough not to have limited mobility from this--the dog and I walk 2-3 miles a day, plus I work on my feet.

My recovery time from the first surgery was about a month and a half.. I was in a soft cast for a couple of weeks and then it was about four to six weeks before I was able to go back to work.
This time around they're expecting that I will need about a month, possibly less, to recover. The other expectation is that I will not need to have this surgery again, since they believe that complications during the initial surgery and my lack of caution [I sprained it twice between 2006-2008 and was running more than I should have been] may have caused the scar tissue to build up so rapidly.

And as far as pain meds go, I can't take them. Most because they don't have an effect, but others because they are so strong that I get migraines when I DON'T take them and/or abdominal pains when I do.

[chowder]

How horrible for you! And yes, we have all done stupid things that we regret later....just most don't end up with such a bad accident.

As far as healing time, that will totally depend on you. Your age, your bone condition, your genetics. If you have really good bones (lots of calcium and bone density) then you should heal up fine. I'm old but I have great bones and heal up great from things. Other people younger then me never heal. So, drink your milk and eat your cheese and yogurt!

The percocet.......I've had two children and several major surgeries.....I take the drugs. I spent my whole youth in the military refusing every drug that was offered to me and not even taking an aspirin. Now I get huge migraines and I take whatever drug it takes to make them go away. My motto is, why suffer and make the people around you suffer with your mood. Just don't overdue it. They can lead to some rebound headaches if you are susceptible.

Good luck with the leg and the surgery! Just take it easy and don't try to do too much too soon. You don't want to do anything to screw it up once they fix it.

[mischiefgrrl]

Ouch, ouch, OUCH! Glad you found some cool fellow hikers as most are. I don't think anyone who hikes can say they've never had some sort of injury while doing it.

I've had a broken fibula and a broken femur. The femur took 12 weeks of different casts and then 6 months of a brace and physical therapy. The fibula was much easier in comparison. I had a hard removable cast and a boot for 6 weeks with no physical therapy afterwards. The removable cast helped keep my muscles from atrophy unlike the femur break. Don't push it no matter how tired you are of being hobbled - it really does take the full 6 weeks to heal and it will ache the entire time.

You're lucky you can take percocet for the pain. All of those meds make me throw up and all I could handle was Ibuprofen.

[xellil]

Holy crap.

Look at the bright side - you didn't DIVE in.

[Tobi]

Ya i'm trying to stay positive! thanks for the encouragement... it's hard for me I usually am cautious and for some odd reason i threw caution to the wind this time!

I'm hoping i can get the surgery done soon... Thanks for giving me some ideas of healing times and stuff... I've got very good bones, and i heal rather quickly *always have* and i'm just hoping it does't change anytime soon!

OMG... Xelill i can't imagine... i mean i wouldn't dive in, only because i'd much prefer like 15-20ft+ for diving but I know lots of people have died to those sorts of things... very sad :(

[Scarlett_O']

EEEEK!!!

Hope you are able to have a fast recovery!!


WOW sounds like something that Jesse would do!LOL **rolls eyes**

(What can I say, Im a pessimist and tend to ALWAYS look at the "half full" glass and go "Who the $#@& drink all my drink....and let me guess...there isnt any left, right!?")

(Oh...but hey...look on the bright side...now that you are semi out of commission Tobi NEEDS his little brother!!)

[Tobi]

Guys will be guys right?! you can't blame us completely... Jet is growing on me tbh... He and Tobi are now playing tug of war on an hourly basis anymore! Tobi and his 50lbs, and jet at a meager 15... Tobi just drags him around but he still puts up a good fight, he'll be around for winter i'm sure

I just wish it was easy to find a great home for a pup anymore :( I think i'll be terribly picky when it comes time to re-home him.

[DaneMama]

Oh wow!!! Glad you are in one piece, even if you're slightly broken. It could have been a lot worse. And at least it's a good story right?! How sucky would it be to be injured with no cool story behind it....

Good luck with surgery and keep us posted!

Here's to a full and quick recovery!!!

ETA: PLEASE do your physical therapy. Everything they tell you. That's the key to a successful recovery!