Thread: Probably my worst week ever. Bummer.

UPDATE: See post #10.


Everything was going just great until Saturday afternoon. I had had a good week, then a couple of friends and I decided to go to Devil's Lake State Park on Saturday to have some fun for the day. The first activity was bouldering. A group of seven friends and I went up a hillside by hopping from one boulder to the next. It's actually pretty low risk. THEN, we came up to a steep face that a friend and I thought we could handle while the others went around. She made it up. I didn't.

I fell about 15 feet to land on my lower back right on a rock, bounced, rolled another dozen feet before I fell and bounced again (this time on my head), then slid about 20 feet to come resting on a rock, head pointed down, legs up. I never actually lost consciousness, but I had a concussion and couldn't move my upper legs (toes and all that worked just fine, though). I got a rope rescue, then was take to the hospital where they determined that I had fractured my pelvis in two places. Ow.

I'm at home now, but walking is darn hard. I expect to be down for 4-6 weeks, which means no biking, DDR, football, judo...you know, all the things I do to have fun.

Oh well. At least I can work from home, and maybe I'll get a jump on my writing.

oh my goodness 15feet high...that is one hell of a fall..
I have never heard of bouldering before.
I have just found out through google.
are you actually qualified to do that?
and was not there someone who is to guide you because it looks tricky to me.
I wish you wuick recovery ...you have been very lucky I have to say

Bouldering is finding a slope like this and climbing it with just your hands and feet (no ropes or harnesses).



Everyone's "qualified" as long as they're reasonably fit; as you can see, it's not especially steep or difficult to do. However, higher up, there were some sheerer faces, with fewer gaps to hang onto. I had stepped onto a rock face with a 50-60 degree angle, and had two handholds that didn't offer me a lot of leverage.



However, my feet kept slipping, and finally they slid off the ledge, yanking my hands from their grips. My hand got torn up pretty good, and my arm was all scraped up from the trees and branches I crashed through, but those wounds are superficial. My friends made it to me in under a minute, and they got a ranger there in about half an hour. It took another two hours for the fire department to show up, immobilize me, pull me up, and put me into an ambulance.

The doctors said pretty much what I told you: after the CT scan and the x-rays, they determined I had fractured my pelvis in two places. They told me to follow up with an orthopedic surgeon, to not put weight on my left leg, and that it would take over a month to recover. Luckily, all my friends and family have been especially helpful, so things have been as smooth as possible, considering. Also, my injuries could have been way worse (landing four inches more towards the center of my back could have resulted in paralyzation; not coming to stop against that last rock meant my fall may have continued for another several hundred feet), so I have a lot to be thankful for.

Well, that's bad and has to be a little painful. But just in time for nanowrimo. Let's hope the healing process works swiftly, nevertheless.

wow what a beautiful view of a picture you have given Gamer I just hope you are in agood mood and happy to just chill whilst recovering slowly.
great drawing by the way haha...
I can see the fascination it looks likes a lot of fun indeed.

Ouch. And you were actually conscious while all that happened. Wishing you a fast recovery.

Originally Posted by candid petunia

Ouch. And you were actually conscious while all that happened. Wishing you a fast recovery.

Thanks, and thanks to everyone else too. You actually think some weird thoughts while that sort of thing is happening. I distinctly remember thinking after the second bounce, "Boy, it must be years since I've hit my head that hard."

Originally Posted by Gamer_2k4

Everything was going just great until Saturday afternoon. I had had a good week, then a couple of friends and I decided to go to Devil's Lake State Park on Saturday to have some fun for the day. The first activity was bouldering. A group of seven friends and I went up a hillside by hopping from one boulder to the next. It's actually pretty low risk. THEN, we came up to a steep face that a friend and I thought we could handle while the others went around. She made it up. I didn't.

I fell about 15 feet to land on my lower back right on a rock, bounced, rolled another dozen feet before I fell and bounced again (this time on my head), then slid about 20 feet to come resting on a rock, head pointed down, legs up. I never actually lost consciousness, but I had a concussion and couldn't move my upper legs (toes and all that worked just fine, though). I got a rope rescue, then was take to the hospital where they determined that I had fractured my pelvis in two places. Ow.

I'm at home now, but walking is darn hard. I expect to be down for 4-6 weeks, which means no biking, DDR, football, judo...you know, all the things I do to have fun.

Oh well. At least I can work from home, and maybe I'll get a jump on my writing.

I love Devil's Lake, haven't been there in a while though. Personally I'd have done that 50-60 angle with some sort of safety device, but hey. Here's to a good recovery.

well sorry to hear about that

One year anniversary update!

Turns out being bedridden for three straight weeks causes you to spend a lot of time on your laptop, checking out dating sites because why the heck not. That's how I found my current girlfriend (coming up on ten months together), and I couldn't be happier.

My pelvis healed perfectly (I was doing judo again in January, not two months after my fall), and I'm back to doing all the things I love. In fact, I went back this past Saturday with a couple of friends to see the accident site again and take some measurements. Here's my little spontaneous documentary.



The video has some flags as marking points, but we didn't get measurements of the distance between them until after the video was taken. Here they are, so that you can quantify my pain.

Green flag to first yellow flag: 11 feet, 6 inches (pre-fall handholds to point of first impact)
First yellow flag to second yellow flag: 17 feet, 3 inches (freefall to pelvis-breaking impact)
Second yellow flag to final resting place: 20 feet even (post-fall tumble)


And, just for fun, here are a few pictures of me bouldering.

Holy cow, I am amazed. I'm afraid this affirms my fear of heights, though. Glad you didn't break your head!

PS. Do you always look that mischievous?

Originally Posted by Foxee

Holy cow, I am amazed. I'm afraid this affirms my fear of heights, though. Glad you didn't break your head!

I actually smacked my head pretty hard on the way down, but the CAT scans showed no damage (other than a massive bump on my head). I'll try to dig up that picture if I still have it.

Originally Posted by Foxee

PS. Do you always look that mischievous?

Only when I'm tempting fate.

Originally Posted by Gamer_2k4

I actually smacked my head pretty hard on the way down, but the CAT scans showed no damage (other than a massive bump on my head).

Ouch!

Only when I'm tempting fate.

Sounds like it's been a habit.

I have no fear of heights. However, I have a great fear of the ground. This incident only supports the righteousness of that fear...

Congrats on not ending up permanently disabled! (Next time, bring a rope. My fear of the ground is greatly relieved by having a rope, especially if it's attached to something else.)

Originally Posted by Morkonan

I have no fear of heights. However, I have a great fear of the ground. This incident only supports the righteousness of that fear...

Congrats on not ending up permanently disabled! (Next time, bring a rope. My fear of the ground is greatly relieved by having a rope, especially if it's attached to something else.)

...hopefully not your neck.