Back home again
Posted: September 2nd, 2010, 4:23 am
I doubt anybody noticed, but I've been off the board for awhile. I've been in the hospital since 7/17 with a completely busted pelvis from falling off the damn bike. I was going over some small whoops, gave a little too much throttle and got the bike vertical and waited too long to bail out, and I ended up landing directly on my left buttcheek on the upslope of a whoop, completely destroying my pelvis and causing massive internal bleeding which almost killed me.
It's a long story, involving a medevac helicopter ride to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, twenty units of blood, coding twice during my trauma surgery, medically induced coma, an infection of the pelvic cavity, which infected the hardware in my first fixation, requiring that all the screws be removed and my pelvic cavity to be physically washed and debrided with three different operations over a week's time, along with my being filled to the gills with IV Antibiotics, then a new set of hardware was installed that ties my pelvis into my L4 vertebrae with about eight screws and a couple rods, bone grafts, and a tensioner. I saw the X-ray, I look like goddamn Frankenstein's monster down there.
I got discharged home a week or so ago, I'm getting around okay with crutches, although I'm still in a buttload of pain. (hooray for Hydromorphone!) I'm probably going to have to sell the bike, along with my other toys, (jetskis, boat, quad), to pay some bills since I haven't and won't be able to work for about another 2-3 months. If anyone's interested in a '90 steelie in great condition, (new Vertex this spring, susp sprung for a 275lb rider, starts first kick hot or cold) let me know. For that matter, if anyone's interested in a '97 Seadoo XP and a '98 Seadoo XP Limited on a double trailer, or a 22' Crestliner cuddy cabin boat, get at me.
It's good to be back home, even though my legs are atrophied to about half their normal size from five weeks in a hospital bed and I need constant care from my wife, mother, or mother-in-law to get by.
Luckily, on this board, I'll still be allowed to hang with you misfits if I sell my bike. 
Here's a pic of my original fixation, the one that was removed due to infection:
And a pic of one of my surgeons just after he drilled a bolt through my left tibia so they could hang 40lbs of traction for a week to pull my pelvis back into place. They did this in my bed while I was awake! Bad-ass.
I'll try to get a pic of the final fixation at my next followup appointment next Tuesday. It's nuts. It's great to be home and it's great to be posting on the board. Unfortunately, I still have about half of the red blood cells I'm supposed to have and sitting up this long in a chair has made me really tired, so I'm going to have to go get back in bed now. Thanks for all the comeraderie, and I'm sure I'm going to hear it if I sell the bike, but the damn thing almost killed me, I don't mind selling it.
It's a long story, involving a medevac helicopter ride to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, twenty units of blood, coding twice during my trauma surgery, medically induced coma, an infection of the pelvic cavity, which infected the hardware in my first fixation, requiring that all the screws be removed and my pelvic cavity to be physically washed and debrided with three different operations over a week's time, along with my being filled to the gills with IV Antibiotics, then a new set of hardware was installed that ties my pelvis into my L4 vertebrae with about eight screws and a couple rods, bone grafts, and a tensioner. I saw the X-ray, I look like goddamn Frankenstein's monster down there.
I got discharged home a week or so ago, I'm getting around okay with crutches, although I'm still in a buttload of pain. (hooray for Hydromorphone!) I'm probably going to have to sell the bike, along with my other toys, (jetskis, boat, quad), to pay some bills since I haven't and won't be able to work for about another 2-3 months. If anyone's interested in a '90 steelie in great condition, (new Vertex this spring, susp sprung for a 275lb rider, starts first kick hot or cold) let me know. For that matter, if anyone's interested in a '97 Seadoo XP and a '98 Seadoo XP Limited on a double trailer, or a 22' Crestliner cuddy cabin boat, get at me.
It's good to be back home, even though my legs are atrophied to about half their normal size from five weeks in a hospital bed and I need constant care from my wife, mother, or mother-in-law to get by.
Luckily, on this board, I'll still be allowed to hang with you misfits if I sell my bike. Here's a pic of my original fixation, the one that was removed due to infection:
And a pic of one of my surgeons just after he drilled a bolt through my left tibia so they could hang 40lbs of traction for a week to pull my pelvis back into place. They did this in my bed while I was awake! Bad-ass.
I'll try to get a pic of the final fixation at my next followup appointment next Tuesday. It's nuts. It's great to be home and it's great to be posting on the board. Unfortunately, I still have about half of the red blood cells I'm supposed to have and sitting up this long in a chair has made me really tired, so I'm going to have to go get back in bed now. Thanks for all the comeraderie, and I'm sure I'm going to hear it if I sell the bike, but the damn thing almost killed me, I don't mind selling it.
