How not to ski

On Friday, February 11 I was skiing with my daughter (30).

On the fourth trip down the slopes I got a bit off course. I had to go straight across a patch of clear solid ice for about 5 feet, because it was bumpy and not a good place to be making a turn.

Then I noticed the 20 foot 60 degree drop off. I ain't nearly that good of a skier.

As I went over the edge I suddenly realized what was about to happen and said to myself, Oh S___.

I remember rotating about 90 degrees counter clockwise. No one saw it happen that I know of, but I think I hit the back of my head at the bottom. This is probably where I passed out, because I do not member what happened for the next 10 minutes.

Apparently I had entered a half pipe on the side, perpendicular to the way you would normally ski a half pipe. They tell me that after I crashed at the bottom that I flew up and over the other side, becoming airborne. I planted my face on the icy snow. I WAS wearing a helmet, so only my face was bleeding.

My daughter came over and thought I was dead, because I was not moving and she did not see me breathing. There was a streak of blood on the snow.

Some nice skiers stopped and put their skies up in the snow in the traditional way of marking a skier down. Someone else skied the last 200 yards to the bottom to get help from the ski patrol.

Apparently, while I was unconscious, I rolled over from my stomach almost onto my back. One ought not to do this under these circumstances because there may be a severe spinal injury.

The first thing I remember was someone from the ski patrol was in my face, asking me simple questions. I could only answer a few of them. They asked if I knew the day of the week. I said either Friday or Saturday. They asked how old I was. I said I was born on July 9, 1953 and that they should do the math.

The ski patrol got my body straightened out. One person carefully supported my head and neck while the other three slid my legs around and rolled me fully onto my back from the partial side position I was in.

The ski patrol put a full head, neck, shoulder and back brace on me. They then strapped me rigidly to a back board and loaded me onto a sled. A snow mobile towed me down the rest of the 200 yards to the bottom. Someone else from the ski patrol stayed behind the sled, holding it back so I did not pass the snow mobile.

I have been skiing since 1974. I used to claim I was an advanced intermediate skier. Now I would only claim to be an intermediate skier. We were skiing an intermediate run.

Anyone that thinks the only thing the ski patrol does is yell at fast skiers is mistaken.

They kept me as warm as they could on a gurney in the receiving dock with the door closed until the ambulance arrived to take me to the Tahoe Truckee hospital. At the hospital they ran X-rays and CAT scans. No sign of permanent damage. They put me on morphine for awhile.

Between the cold weather and being in shock I was very cold. They wrapped my hands in a warm towel and placed two warm blankets over me. They had a giant hair dryer blowing hot air under the blankets.

My shoulders along the collar bone and my hands were extremely sensitive to the touch. Just dragging a sheet gently over my shoulders was painful.

After five hours I was released. I asked for a neck brace. They gave me a soft one and that seems to be adequate. I wore it 24 hours a day for 2 weeks then started taking it off during the day.

I spent Friday night at my Mom's house in Auburn. My wife drove up Friday afternoon. She drove me home Saturday. She brought my Vi-codeine and Percocet with her. Nice drugs to have handy.

By Sunday I was getting worse so my wife took me to Kaiser at home. There they took another CAT scan and added an MRI. Still no indication of permanent damage.

Apparently all I did was pull every muscle in my arms, shoulder and neck. My shoulders are no longer tingling. The back of my hands are sensitive to cold water. Warm water is OK. But the cold water causes pain.

For the first week I could only sit upright for about 20 minutes at a time. Otherwise I needed to be laying down or sitting in a recliner where the seat back supports my head and neck with a pillow.

In the evening when it is dim but there is a light nearby I see what I call a shooting star, moving from 12 o'clock to 9 o'clock. Two eye doctors have told me to not worry about it.

The doctors tell me it will be six to eight weeks before I am fully back to normal. My wife claims that this will be the first time I have ever been normal.

I worked at home for a few weeks, then started driving to the office. Last week I was so dizzy at 3:00 AM that I could not walk without using both hands to steady myself. I no longer drive. I see the doctor at the spine clinic on Monday.

This was the last ski trip planned for this season. Who wants to go skiing with my daughter and I next year?

Very soon it will be dirt motorcycle riding time. I am looking forward to that, if my body can recover a bit more.

I don't have a death wish, but now that our two children are on their own I no longer have the same responsibility to the family as I did 10 years ago.

Life is for living. Enjoy the ride.

[countrygirl]

Wow! Hope you are well very soon!

What a ski trip. Glad I never took up skiing. Hope you get back to normal soon, or atleast as normal as you were before.

[Wavery]

Glad that you're OK......... Hope all goes well with the nerve issues.

I don't do cold.

I don't even like to read about cold.

I love the snow on top of the mountains (as long as I am down here).

I didn't used to be that way but 30 days in a survival suite (nearly freezing to death) in Antarctica will do strange things to a person.

[B_and_D]

Wow, Wayne, I am sorry to hear this. You've had a rough time of it this year. I hope you get better soon.

[4Kids2Dogs]

OMG! What a ride! We have never skiied Tahoe, but faced the dreaded icy patches in Taos, NM one year. I am so glad you are recovering. My dad blew out his knee a couple years back, and hasn't been able to ski since. DH and I both ski with knee braces nowdays, but I don't ski black ever, even though I've been skiing all my life. You're right, when you have little kids to think of, you are more careful. We used to go in for all the thrill sports, but now are much different. We look forward to when the kids are grown up and we can do some of the things we used to..

Hope your recovery goes smoothly and you are up for your motorcycle season! You are the man! Rock on!

[MariaG]

Yikes! Glad you're on the mend. I am not and have never been a thrill seeker. I did go skiing once as a teen, but unknowingly going _straight_ down a mogul slope cured me of ever going again. I did make it all the way to the bottom before I fell, but I was probably doing at least 20 miles an hour by then. *G* Luckily, no lasting damage. Good luck in your recovery!

[Mr. Adventure]

I just found this on the board, and I hope you're doing better.

I learned a couple decades ago that the 7 most dangerous words in skiing are:
"Hey Dad, race you to the bottom!"

[countrygirl]

Just curious Pop ...how you are doing?

Originally Posted by countrygirl

Just curious Pop ...how you are doing?

The dizziness that caused me to have to hold on to walls and furniture only lasted one day, off and on. But it scared me enough that I chose not to drive for a few weeks.

I started driving to work again this week.

My primary care doctor referred me to an ophthalmologist and the spine clinic.

The ophthalmologist saw nothing wrong with my eyes, but had a second doctor take a look. He did not see anything either.

The first spine clinic doctor ran a few simple verbal tests to see how my brain was working and he did not seem too concerned. He asked about my summer plans. I told him skiing was over for me, lots of snow but no interest, so I would be camping and riding dirt bikes in the mountains. He said that the one thing he hoped I would not say was dirt bikes.

He did see that some of my nerves are compressed, but not due to a disc problem as far as he can tell from the MRI.

He referred me to two other doctors in the spine clinic. The first one ran a few more mental tests and said I seemed OK. How many words that start with the letter F can you name in one minute. He stopped me after 30 seconds because by then I was at 13 and they are only looking for 11. I would have been at 14, but I elected to not use one of the F words that I already use too often.

The other spine clinic doctor will be running 3 hours of tests in June. Until then, I have no other information.

As long as the dizziness stays away I can handle everything else.