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Gathermeister was down and is now back! (updated title)

Uncle Louie

The Original Gathermeister
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OK here is the latest.

Per my Spine Doc's orders I went in for a CT scan yesterday morning. I also had an x-ray done at my request because some pain has developed where my right arm meets my shoulder.

The appointment with the Doc was today. Everything looked remarkably good. The girl who did the CT yesterday said she had read the report from the hospital in Utah and said I looked remarkably agile given an injury that I was lucky to both survive or not end up paralyzed by. The doctor today said the healing of the vertebrae looked well ahead of schedule and I should begin weening myself out of the neck brace at whatever pace I felt comfy with. I was cleared to drive again and can head back to the Chiropractor so long as there is no manual adjusting. Activator adjustments only.

The X ray revealed some damage at the head of the Humerus. It couldn't be confirmed if there was a hairline fracture or a scar from a previous injury. I ran it past my doctor and we both suspect it's a scar. The pain only started 2-3 weeks ago, and it isn't constant. That doesn't really fit the bill for a fracture, and when you add swinging a hammer for 45 years or so......we're thinking scar. It's something to watch, but probably not an issue.

There is some whiplash damage. The two major muscles which help hold the head in place really took a hit. Especially the right side. Most of the remaining discomfort I'm feeling now is right behind my ears and along the spinal column left and right of center the length of my neck or so. I expect after the next appointment on 5/14 the doc will recommend Physical Therapy.

That's it for the moment. Looks like I'm out of the woods!

UL
 
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SKI-3PO

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Thanks for the update UL. So happy to hear things are going well.
 

Tricia

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Getting the darn thing scheduled was, to say the least, a challenge. We go tomorrow morning and get the results Thursday afternoon.

UL's also developed an odd pain in his right upper arm so we're going to get a few pictures of that while we're at the hospital. Not sure if it's a bone bruise, hairline fracture in the humerus, or something else that may have gotten jammed from the fall's impact. He never put his arms out to break his fall (his face did that), so we wonder if maybe his ski pole rammed into his arm. No idea, it's just good that UL is so photogenic! ;)

He's getting better (and has a raging case of cabin fever as he still can't drive). We did trek down to see Gary and Candy this past weekend to pick up UL's skis. Thanks again, Gary, for bringing those back to KY for us. It was such a help!
The concussion's going to take time. UL appreciates your thoughts and good vibes so much, and so do I. :hug:

OK here is the latest.

Per my Spine Doc's orders I went in for a CT scan yesterday morning. I also had an x-ray done at my request because some pain has developed where my right arm meets my shoulder.

The appointment with the Doc was today. Everything looked remarkably good. The girl who did the CT yesterday said she had read the report from the hospital in Utah and said I looked remarkably agile given an injury that I was lucky to both survive or not end up paralyzed by. The doctor today said the healing of the vertebrae looked well ahead of schedule and I should begin weening myself out of the neck brace at whatever pace I felt comfy with. I was cleared to drive again and can head back to the Chiropractor so long as there is no manual adjusting. Activator adjustments only.

The X ray revealed some damage at the head of the Humerus. It couldn't be confirmed if there was a hairline fracture or a scar from a previous injury. I ran it past my doctor and we both suspect it's scar tissue. The pain only started 2-3 weeks ago, and it isn't constant. That doesn't really fit the bill for a fracture, and when you add swinging a hammer for 45 years or so......we're thinking scar. It's something to watch, but probably not an issue.

There is some whiplash damage. The two major muscles which help hold the head in place really took a hit. Especially the right side. Most of the remaining discomfort I'm feeling now is right behind my ears and along the spinal column left and right of center the length of my neck or so. I expect after the next appointment on 5/14 the doc will recommend Physical Therapy.

That's it for the moment. Looks like I'm out of the woods!

UL
Thanks to both of you for the updates
I've been wondering how you're healing.
 

Jim McDonald

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Great to hear, keep on keeping on! :golfclap:
 

Phelmut

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Of all the crazy runs you've gone down it's insane that you were injured so badly in such an odd accident.
 

Uncle Louie

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Of all the crazy runs you've gone down it's insane that you were injured so badly in such an odd accident.

I still don't have a full grasp of what happened. I have a theory, but that's about it. The light was very bad, but what I saw in front of me wasn't what was in front of me. I even had looked to my right and saw the group. The height of the drop where they were standing (maybe 40' away) looked to be about at the level of their knees (about what I saw in front of me). In reality the drop was about 3.5' feet, and I was at a complete stop at the edge of it when I pushed off.

I didn’t expect UL to go to such great lengths to avoid skiing with me. But there it is, one run and he’d had enough.
LOL , Not the case as I'm sure you realize and same for the rest of the group. I'm sorry you and the rest even had to witness it. It must have been horrifying to watch. I asked one of you (can't remember who) to apologize to the rest of the group for me. I sincerely hope that was conveyed.

Dave (or anyone else in the group) Maybe you could help me with part of this. Am I correct that that I landed w/o any attempt to block my face with my hands ? I don't remember being off balance at all and suspect I hit face first. I didn't even know I was falling. All I can picture is what it would look like if a mannequin were pushed off the edge and landed in a typical skiers position. That even close ?

Sidenote- Yesterday was day 1 of being able to walk around w/o the neck braceogsmile. Doc cleared me to do that as long as I'm not doing anything strenuous.
 

David Chaus

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@Uncle Louie I was the closest to you. Your description is pretty much what happened. You stopped at the edge of the drop at the cat track, which was maybe a 2’ drop. I remember thinking you were being cautious. The light was flat; when you dropped in it looked like it was a longer drop than you anticipated, and the track was pretty level with no slope to minimize the impact and because there was hardly any forward momentum you dropped straight down. You hit the track and the impact pitched you forward, and you pretty much landed on your face and helmet. You didn’t have your hands up in front of you, there wasn’t time and it looked like you were surprised.

Thinking about it now, a longer drop might’ve given you more time to react and absorb the impact with your legs, or a little forward momentum might have allowed you to ski through the landing. Instead, you went vertically down with no absorption (impact 1) and then pitched forward and landed on your face (impact 2).

After you landed I heard a few swear words coming from you, and you said you heard a sound or two that concerned you, due to past issues, though you were able to get up. You took a few minutes to get oriented. We were asking if we should keep you there and get patrol with a sled, however you felt you could ski out, and requested we find the easiest way down. Which I did.

FWIW I found myself in a similar situation a couple weeks later back at Stevens Pass. I was skiing some trees which end in a cat track, found myself with a small chute (maybe 5’) to the cat-track, and I was facing the up slope of the cat track. When I hit the track, the very slight upslope of the cat track made it an impact that was very jarring, where I wasn’t expecting any impact, and I realized how easily I could have done an “Uncle Louie.” Next time I will make sure I am always skiing onto a track in the direction of the fall line of car track, however slight a difference that may be, and to have enough forward momentum (but not too much).
 
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David Chaus

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IIRC the heel pieces of the bindings both released as UL was pitched forward, before his face hit the snow. They were both off when we were helping him up.
 

Uncle Louie

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I am (obviously) wondering if the shoulder pain could be related to post-release ski impact on the body.

That's exactly what I have been wondering. I remember hitting face first and yelling OW a bunch of times then moving my hands to cradle my head to lift it up. I had heard my neck crack on impact and when I lifted I saw the imprint in the snow (round and a few inches deep). A moment or two later I heard Phil's voice asking if I was OK and I indicated "I'm not sure yet".
When I finally did get up I noticed the skis right behind me on the ground perfectly parallel. I don't know if they stopped there that way or if someone moved them.

The pitch of the cat track / road was (lower) to the skier's left so my right side probably hit first but not by much. It would explain the shoulder injury.
 

Uncle Louie

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Thanks David. That does fill in the blanks a bit. I agree that had I been moving forward it may have been a non-event or maybe a fall with some other minor injury. Without question this is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me on the hill.

Time to recover !
 

Philpug

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As with Dave, i was also there and saw it happen. Dave said it was about a 2' drop but that is where he was. It was Dave, then me than UL all in a row above the cat track. With about 5 feet between us, the drop actually got greater, Dave had about 2', I had a bigger drop and UL even more. We all knew there was a drop below us but were unaware how significant or sharp and how the cat cut into the terrain above. I didn't see how Dave approached it but I was very catious and just side slid over it. UL, took what appeared to be a more aggressive approach, pivoted and pointed his skis downhill and with a proper body position he dropped straight down. His skis followed the terrain and the tips went directly into the cat track, in the instantous moment he didn't even have the chance to get his hands away from his poles to break his fall. His head went directly into the cat track and with his body mass scorpioning is when he heard the cracks. He was fortunate in one major area, the snow was still soft. His face left an impression almost up to his ears in the cat track.
 

Uncle Louie

The Original Gathermeister
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As with Dave, i was also there and saw it happen. Dave said it was about a 2' drop but that is where he was. It was Dave, then me than UL all in a row above the cat track. With about 5 feet between us, the drop actually got greater, Dave had about 2', I had a bigger drop and UL even more. We all knew there was a drop below us but were unaware how significant or sharp and how the cat cut into the terrain above. I didn't see how Dave approached it but I was very catious and just side slid over it. UL, took what appeared to be a more aggressive approach, pivoted and pointed his skis downhill and with a proper body position he dropped straight down. His skis followed the terrain and the tips went directly into the cat track, in the instantous moment he didn't even have the chance to get his hands away from his poles to break his fall. His head went directly into the cat track and with his body mass scorpioning is when he heard the cracks. He was fortunate in one major area, the snow was still soft. His face left an impression almost up to his ears in the cat track.

Sounds like your view was a little more of a vertical drop with the skis taking a little more of a vertical angle with even less horizontal distance traveled.

I remember lifting my head up with my hands and looking at the impression. The "carpenter" side of (what was left of) my brain put it at about 4" deep. (I knew that was trouble). BTW Phil, when I motioned you toward me while we were skiing down to tell you about the tingling in my hands, it was a whiplash symptom.

Thanks for all the help with everything after Phil :thumb:
 

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