scars

MattB said:

Quoted message said:

I've got a really great scar on my chest, but I can't think of a mountain bike related "excuse"
for it.

Hit by a flying 8" rotor???

Yeah, I have a good one from my belly button to my ribs. Pretty good story (ski incident) but no
MTB content.

Ooh, I want to hear that one.

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"bomba" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 11:46:30 -0700, MattB wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yeah, I have a good one from my belly button to my ribs. Pretty good

story

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

(ski incident) but no MTB content.

Ooh, I want to hear that one.

Here's the condensed (yet still kind of long) version: I'm 18 years old and invincible. I recently
moved to Colorado from Michigan and was very excited to start my new ski bum/college student
lifestyle. Fall of that year the local resort has thin snow cover. I skipped class one day to catch
some fresh snow. A friend and I are skiing a recently opened run to get the ~4" of new fluff. He's
ahead and we take slightly different routes. I'm going pretty fast and making GS turns. I go to ski
over a knoll and hear my skis hitting rock. It turned out that knoll was actually a big pile of
rocks that had been covered by a little bit of snow and then wind-blown smooth. I ejected from my
skis and did a front flip into the rubble.

The first thing that hit was my right elbow, shattering it. I also took a hard blow to the abdomen
that severely winded me. I sat there trying to regain my composure and realized I had broken my arm.
It looked and felt all wrong and my palm was facing outward. I shifted myself and felt thing move
around in a very unnatural way in my arm and blood began to pour from my sleeve at the wrist. I also
had a terrible pain in my gut accompanied by a strange sensation, almost like a faucet running
inside me which I later learned was internal bleeding. I tried to find my skis so I could ski down
to the base and seek medical attention for my arm. I found one ski and collapsed in terrible
abdominal pain, unable to go on.

Fortunately someone saw this from a nearby surface (Pomma) lift. Even though I initially told them I
was OK, when they saw me still there on the next run they sent patrol. I got my sled ride to the
clinic and saw a doctor. They told me I had a really, really, badly broken arm (multiple open
fracture of right ulna). They figured I was in a lot of pain, but I told them my gut was so painful
I didn't care about the arm. I'm all doubled up in the fetal position writhing, and (according to my
bro) moaning/screaming in pain. They want to give me morphine for the arm pain, but said they
shouldn't if I might have internal injuries. They decide to skip the morphine (had the syringe
ready) and drive me down to the next town to see a doc.

The general surgeon is on vacation (only one in this town). I'm still in a lot of pain. They decide
to drive me to another town 1.5 Hours away (Montrose). They are checking me out. I'm going on about
6 Hours with no pain control and I'm going into shock, losing blood pressure, and throwing up, which
just adds to the pain. We get to Montrose and the doc gets out a 6" needle and inserts it just below
my navel. Blood squirts out and hits him in the chest. Then everyone gets all excited and start
yelling words like "Prep!" and "Stat" and then looking at me and saying everything will be fine and
smiling. It doesn't make me feel any better. My bro says he loves me. It strikes me as weird (not
that he loves me, but that he chose then to tell me).

I wake up the next day in intensive care to find out I had severed my small intestine just below the
stomach. The force of impact had pinched it against a vertebrae. I had been in surgery for several
hours. I was in traction with tubes going just about everywhere a tube can be inserted. 18 staples
in the gut and 15 in the arm. They had basically removed all my internal organs and inspected them
and then put them all back in, doing a fix-up on the torn bit. The process basically required me to
be filleted. I now had some new Ti hardware in the arm, too (8 pieces). I spent a week in the ICU
followed by three more days in a regular room. I had a morphine infuser hooked to a button I could
press. After a week on the stuff I was losing touch and having crazy (not-so-fun) hallucinations. I
stopped pushing the button.

Eventually they let me leave. Life sucked for a while there but I get better. I had to have some
more surgery the next summer on my arm. Now it works pretty well most of the time but is a good
weather predictor. I have to stay away from rich foods and regularly have digestive issues for no
apparent reason. Manageable, and I learned that even though I was 18 I really wasn't invincible.
That's an important thing to know.

I would have died if I hadn't skipped breakfast that morning. I would have died if they had given me
morphine before discovering the internal bleeding. I would have died if the guys on the lift hadn't
called for ski patrol. I would have been in much worse shape (probably dead) if my head had hit
instead of my gut and elbow (no helmet).

It seems like I was unlucky, but really I was very lucky that I lived. It changed my whole
perspective. Looking back, I'm almost (but not quite) glad it happened because it made me the
person I am now.

Crazy eh? Be thankful for all you have. It can all change in an instant.

Matt (lucky for me I was just MOSTLY dead!)

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 at 22:24 GMT, MattB penned:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Matt (lucky for me I was just MOSTLY dead!)

Oof! Man, no kidding.

Reading something like that makes me realize how lucky I've been ... and how little it can take to
turn fun into horror.

--
monique

MattB murmured while asleep:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Here's the condensed (yet still kind of long) version:

Wow, that's quite a story Matt.

penny

MattB said:

"bomba" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 11:46:30 -0700, MattB wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yeah, I have a good one from my belly button to my ribs. Pretty good

story

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

(ski incident) but no MTB content.

Ooh, I want to hear that one.

Snip Matt's story

nstead of my gut and elbow (no helmet).

Quoted message said:

It seems like I was unlucky, but really I was very lucky that I lived. It changed my whole
perspective. Looking back, I'm almost (but not quite) glad it happened because it made me the
person I am now.

Crazy eh? Be thankful for all you have. It can all change in an instant.

Matt (lucky for me I was just MOSTLY dead!)

I knew Montrose had a good hospital. Didn't know they had Miricle Max ;-) Sounds like you suffered a
high speed car crash without the car. I'm glad you learned you were mortal before you became
immortal. 18 seems like a "good" age for that lesson. Old enough for the lesson to stick, young
enough to heal O.K.

Shawn

well... mattb has me beat... if thats what we're going for. i'm glad you're ok man. keep the faith, bud

anywho, back to scar stories... there's nothing better when mountain biking than burrying a raceface big ring an inch in to your calf. thats one mark that definitely hasn't gone away in like 3 years...

"Monique Y. Herman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

At what point after an injury do you folks generally decide that a scar is permanent?

If it ain't permanent, it's a scratch.

Shaun aRe

"Monique Y. Herman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I suppose you're right. I'm just staring at this scar on my knee, thinking, well, it's been 6
months now ...

Have you not got eye strain yet?

Shaun aRe

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 at 12:42 GMT, Shaun Rimmer penned:

Quoted message said:

"Monique Y. Herman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I suppose you're right. I'm just staring at this scar on my knee, thinking, well, it's been 6
months now ...

Have you not got eye strain yet?

Yes. It's also very difficult to type while staring at my knee, so I'm hoping it will heal
up pronto =P

--
monique

MattB said:

Crazy eh? Be thankful for all you have. It can all change in an instant.

That is a quality story. And a fantastic reminder that the rest of you aren't invincible 🙂

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"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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<snipped _major_ cringe inducing words>

Shaun aRe wishing he hadn't read that... ;-(

Shaun Rimmer said:

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

<snipped _major_ cringe inducing words>

Quoted message said:

Shaun aRe wishing he hadn't read that... ;-(

what ever you do don't go and see "Touching the Void" then

Martin

fasterTHANyou said:

anywho, back to scar stories... there's nothing better when mountain biking than burrying a
raceface big ring an inch in to your calf. thats one mark that definitely hasn't gone away in like
3 years...

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"Monique Y. Herman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 at 12:42 GMT, Shaun Rimmer penned:

Quoted message said:

"Monique Y. Herman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I suppose you're right. I'm just staring at this scar on my knee, thinking, well, it's been 6
months now ...

Have you not got eye strain yet?

Yes. It's also very difficult to type while staring at my knee, so I'm hoping it will heal up
pronto =P

',;~}~

Shaun aRe - Happy healing!

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Shaun Rimmer said:

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

<snipped _major_ cringe inducing words>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Shaun aRe wishing he hadn't read that... ;-(

what ever you do don't go and see "Touching the Void" then

No - don't get me wrong, I am not squeamish like that, just it's a bit different when it's _real_,
and has happened to someone you've talked to. It becomes a little more personal, closer to home so
to speak. Even then, never used to bother me as much before I had a m/c accident myself - now I seem
to *feel* it, IYSWIM?

Cheers!

Shaun aRe

Shaun Rimmer murmured while asleep:

Quoted message said:

No - don't get me wrong, I am not squeamish like that, just it's a bit different when it's _real_,
and has happened to someone you've talked to. It becomes a little more personal, closer to home so
to speak. Even then, never used to bother me as much before I had a m/c accident myself - now I
seem to *feel* it, IYSWIM?

Or, do something that brings you close to it on a regular basis... we've seen some horrendous stuff
working first aid at races, and then ski patrolling... which is not all about helping lost little
snot nosed kids on arctic days.

Shaun do I recall you saying you are too much of a soft stomach kind of guy to ever do that kind of
volunteer work?

penny

"Penny S" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Shaun Rimmer murmured while asleep:

I was not asleep! I was just checking my eyelids for holes... ;-(

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

No - don't get me wrong, I am not squeamish like that, just it's a bit different when it's
_real_, and has happened to someone you've talked to. It becomes a little more personal, closer
to home so to speak. Even then, never used to bother me as much before I had a m/c accident
myself - now I seem to *feel* it, IYSWIM?

Or, do something that brings you close to it on a regular basis... we've seen some horrendous
stuff working first aid at races, and then ski patrolling... which is not all about helping lost
little snot nosed kids

on

Quoted message said:

arctic days.

Indeed.

Quoted message said:

Shaun do I recall you saying you are too much of a soft stomach kind of

guy

Quoted message said:

to ever do that kind of volunteer work?

You might recall but I don't! And nope, I'm not too much of a soft stomached kind for that at
all! ',;~}~

Cheers Penny!

Shaun aRe

"bomba" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

fasterTHANyou said:

anywho, back to scar stories... there's nothing better when mountain biking than burrying a
raceface big ring an inch in to your calf. thats one mark that definitely hasn't gone away in
like 3 years...

BTDT: j-harris.net14.jpgOpen ↗

Ewwww! That's one I've never done on anything close to that scale (just some punctures from the
teeth but never the full-on gash). I've seen several friends do it though. Seems to happen to
beginners more than others but does strike the occasional seasoned MTBer too.

Matt (I think I'll give up horrible injuries as my New Year's resolution)

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"bomba" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 11:46:30 -0700, MattB wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yeah, I have a good one from my belly button to my ribs. Pretty good

story

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

(ski incident) but no MTB content.

Ooh, I want to hear that one.

Here's the condensed (yet still kind of long) version:

It seems like I was unlucky, but really I was very lucky that I lived. It changed my whole
perspective. Looking back, I'm almost (but not quite) glad it happened because it made me the
person I am now.

Crazy eh? Be thankful for all you have. It can all change in an instant.

Matt (lucky for me I was just MOSTLY dead!)

Wow, compadre, you'd alluded to the big crash in the past, now we get the details. I'd seen better
dead bodies at highway crashes when I was a cop, than what you musta looked like. Somebody up
there's lookin out for you.

The greatest benefit to my big bike wreck of 2000 is it slowed me down on the descents. At 45yo, I
concentrate more on endurance, climbing, bike handling, bragging, and leave the adrenalin to the
younger set.

Paladin

"Paladin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>... <snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Matt (lucky for me I was just MOSTLY dead!)

Wow, compadre, you'd alluded to the big crash in the past, now we get the details. I'd seen better
dead bodies at highway crashes when I was a cop, than what you musta looked like. Somebody up
there's lookin out for you.

The greatest benefit to my big bike wreck of 2000 is it slowed me down on the descents. At 45yo, I
concentrate more on endurance, climbing, bike handling, bragging, and leave the adrenalin to the
younger set.

Paladin

For some reason I still have this adrenaline habit and I can't kick it. I guess because I wasn't
doing anything particularly crazy when I got hurt, it's hard to just eliminate that kind of behavior
as a result. I'm also a better skier/rider now too. In my mind, the cause was more along the lines
of being unaware of my surroundings than anything else.

I like to go fast. I just try to know the terrain and conditions before really letting it fly
(skiing or riding). I still like to "huck some carcass" on skis, but I'll check out the landing zone
and runout before doing so. I also don't do anything more than about 20' these days, which is a
pretty good fix most of the time.

Matt (and I'm an adrenaholic)