Skiing is Dangerous!
Before I start let me just say that there are inherent risks to everything. It's possible that this lap top's battery could malfunction and burn me to death (possible but not probable). There are however certain activities which are inherently more dangerous. Being a single male, in my mid-20's I enjoy many such activities. (Wakeboarding, Biking, cliff jumping, motorcycle riding, etc). Skiing is one of them.
An Unfortunate Event:
I was skiing in Heather Canyon at about 1:30pm Friday March 2nd, 2007. I stopped just before the run out at the bottom of 1/2 Moon Bowl. To keep my speed up for the heather canyon run out I decided to drop the last portion. It's what I do and everyone else does every time. This time however was different. As I went to make the final turn in between two trees my uphill ski separated from my boot. Maybe I let it sink too much in the snow, maybe the snow stuck to it, maybe it hit some snow covered branch, but for whatever the reason it came off. This caused me to drop my uphill boot (right) into the snow catapulting me forward and sling-shooting me up hill, head first into a tree.
I hit the tree first with the top right portion of my head. The tree then struck my scapula (shoulder blade), shoulder, and back. I ended face up under another tree totally stunned, fighting for consciousness. I was unable to breath or move at all for what felt like an eternity (I'm sure that it was only seconds but it felt like forever)
Post Tree:
The first thing that came back was the ability to take shallow gasping breaths. Slowly I was able to gain more control of my body back so that I could call for help. I'm still not exactly sure who heard me first and what all transpired as I lay in agony in the cold snow but I believe that Matt was the first "on the seen" and I remember telling people to get someone to call ski patrol with a sled and have them come to 1/2 moon bowl and cross my skis in the run. While we waited for the sled and ski patrol I regained motor control of all my extremities except my right arm. At this time we thought that it was pretty broken up.
Ski Patrol:
When the patrol arrived one of the first things the did was call for O2 and start an ambulance rolling (Both really good calls in my estimation). Here is where things start to fade for me. The pain in my right hand, arm and side had become excruciating. I'm sure that they got me on some morphine and I think that the started me on an IV drip as well. They looked over my body for bleeding (I didn't have any external) and eventually got me on a backboard and into the sled for my free toboggan ride.
Patrol pulled the sled to the HRM parking lot and then loaded me, still in the sled, into the back of a pickup truck. The truck drove me from the HRM lot to the clinic at the main lodge. All in all I as highly impressed by the efficiency, level of care and everything that the ski patrol provided. Guys I didn't get a single one of your names but you all frekin rock!!
Clinic, Ambulance and Trauma Center
where I have At the clinic began the attempts to warm me up. I was really, really really cold. Hot water bottles, blankets, getting me out of wet cold gear, etc. And then the initial assessment: Joel's status = not good. I remember taking xray's and maybe a cat scan too. The morphine was really setting in and I remember telling some of my co-workers how to contact my parents, where my stuff was, and various things like that. I remember asking to go to a specific hospital friends who work in the ER. The ruled my trauma too severe and just sent me straight to Legisy's Level one Trama Center. Eventually the ambulance arrived at Meadows and the wheeled me out into the cold, into the warm ambulance and we were on our way to the Trauma Center. Let me tell you that the drive from Meadows to Portland seems a lot shorter when you are either sleeping after a hard days skiing or bull-shitting with your friends than when you are flat on your back with broken ribs, messed up arm and shoulder breathing with the help of a tube.
At the Trauma Center:
Again here are parts I don't remember all that well. There were lots of people doing lots of things. The thing that stands out the most in my mind though is when the inserted the chest tube. By "inserted the chest tube" I mean that the zapped me a few times with some local anesthetic and then spread my broken ribs apart and jammed a tube under my right are into my chest cavity, yes that hurt a lot. This concludes must of what I can remember from the first day after the accident. I'm sure that other people will have more to add as well and I'll end up editing this some too.
Total Damage:
- 8 Broken Ribs
- Broken Scapula (shoulder blade)
- Punctured Loung
- Right Brachial Plexus (major right arm nerve damage)
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