my greatest fear happened to me

**nancie2k** · 03-12-2006, 08:44 PM

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joined the ranks of the disabled when a skier slammed into me the lower third of superstar (killington)where it gets the steepest. i had stopped for a moment to see whre my friends were, looked up, no one was in sight, took abut 2 turns and i saw a blur of yellow and bam! felt my right leg hurt as i was still upright. continued to fall, ski did not release. got carried down by ski patrol. ambulance to rutland regional,xray showed shattered tibial plateau, fibula also messed up. doc there said he could not do the surgery, after a few days there with a splint on wrapped with ace bandages i had an external fixator put on-2 pins in my femur, 2 in my shin. looks like an erector set .doc said i had to go to hospital for special surgeries in new york to get repaired. came here via ambulance on a friday- accident happened on the sat before.so much pain- had morphine i/v every 3 h and 2 percocets the other 3 h alternating, was gettng medicated on average every 2 hours.barely kept comfortable. when i got here they had a pain management team give me meds.-oxycontin every 8h, and i am up to2- 7.5 percocets every 4h alternating with dilaudid s/c about 2 hours after the percs. i can also get morphine i/m if needed. they had to move the pins on my shin lower down for when they can operate when the swelling goes down enough. they did this with a spinal and general last monday and a self medicating pump with dilaudid.
so it has been 15 days so far on bedrest leg elevated and pain meds.
i supposedly have the best in the world for this, he said he had all ski injuries last week, and 4 the week before. he also said mine was about the worst case of fractured tibial plateau he has seen
my leg was the size of a telephone pole

surgery is finally scheduled for this tuesday

**Skibumtress** · 03-12-2006, 10:13 PM

Nancie, if you can (and want), post your photos of the erector set (or the link to the K-Zone thread). Folks, this is one horrid injury!
Nancie, from your posts on the K-Zone board and our PM's, your spirit is amazing.... I know, I know.... it's the meds talking..... seriously tho, your outlook is amazing..... we're all pulling for you!

**Endlessseason** · 03-12-2006, 11:06 PM

Holy freaking CRAPOLA!!! Yeah, now that I've read this, your greatest fear will now become one of my worst nightmares. Best wishes to your speedy recovery. I can't even imagine what this must be like. Yikes.

You just made standing around on a ski hill sound extremely dangerous. Thanks, Nancie2k.

....I think I'll just keep moving right along on the slopes.

**caddah** · 03-12-2006, 11:56 PM

sounds pretty brutal. I went through the erector set ordeal. had mine for 2 months (dislocated knee) theres a picture of it on my injury journal....think it's post #9

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=42924

among other things i did fracture my tibial plateau. i dont know how long they estimate you will have the external fixator on, hopefully not as long as I did, but you will get used to it, even though its pretty scary looking at first. by the time I was ready to get mine taken out i was using it as a handle to lift my leg around. keep the pin sites clean if you are taking care of them yourself.

good luck and heal up fast

**BeanDip4All** · 03-13-2006, 12:08 PM

Wow. you seem to be in admirable spirits given the situation.

the lower part of superstar can get chaotic between the lift, the base, and all the people who don't know where they're going etc... we used to have to run race-trials on that trail over and over, I never got why the coaches loved it so much... especially with it being a main "thru way" of the mountain

good luck!

**nancie2k** · 03-13-2006, 04:14 PM

thanks, all-
i tried putting the pics up here but it said it was too big.
maybe not thinking clearly, but can't figure it out. the ones on the k-zone site are from the first time, did not get the new ones off the camera, yet, but it is basically the same but lower down. it seems it is a go for surgery tomorrow morning at 8am. the main surgeon, dr. helfet, has not yet seen me today, but 2 others have. i have signed the permission again.
been out of bed 2x a day with the walker, hurts like hell when the blood rushes down.
i am scared of waking up in terrible pain again-even tho they assured me here that it would not happen, the OR docs did not give me a strong enough dose to be comfortable til many hours had passed when they moved the pins.
hope i have not built up too much of a tolerance already

can't wait for this to be over. it is going to be a long night

**criscam** · 03-13-2006, 04:53 PM

damn! makes my broken tib/fib seem like a sprained ankle. what happened to the kid who hit you? (reprimanded?) good luck with your surgery, keep up the "high spirits", and let us know how you make out.

**Mtn Man** · 03-13-2006, 11:12 PM

Holy crap too, I didn't know it was this bad

Good luck with the surgery tomorrow!!!

B)

**Skibumtress** · 03-13-2006, 11:20 PM

Best of luck Nancie........ prayers and good thoughts sent your way.

**nancie2k** · 03-17-2006, 04:55 PM

surgery was successful, i was told

was in recovery for many hours while they tried to get the pain under control again after the spinal wore off. had to hit the pca button every 10 min and was getting 2.5 of dilaudid each time. they then put me in their icu, as i had lost about 300 cc of blood. the erector set is gone, they had a splint on the bottom part of my leg, leaving the top open for swelling.
they wanted to give me a transfusion the next day, but i declined.

**TurxSki** · 03-17-2006, 05:28 PM

Oh Damn. So sorry you're messed up. Sounds terrible, could have been worse, I suppose

Get better over summer, and come ski out West when you're healed

Good luck.

**nancie2k** · 03-17-2006, 06:57 PM

i keep losing my internet connection

it turned out my hemoglobin was 6- no wonder i was so tired and worn out. they did give me 2 units of whole blood yesterday. they also stopped the pca, removed the drain in the knee yesterday and took off the splint and put on a huge hinged brace from my ankle to my crotch, so i get to be on the continuous motion machine. i started at 20, today i worked it up to 38.
my hemoglobin has gone up to 9, and i am feeling a lot less light-headed
they just moved me out of the icu to another floor

**nancie2k** · 03-17-2006, 07:30 PM

they had me try to stand up yesterday, that new brace felt like it weighed 100 pounds. after changing the dressings this morning,( saw the incision is a bit inflamed and now i am getting i/v antibiotics 3xday.) i got up again and walked a bit with the walker and the brace weighed only 95 pounds!!! hahaha
they have to get me a smaller one, hopefully tomorrow early. nothing happens quickly in the hospital unless they want to draw some blood.
between iv's and blood drawings, i have at least 28 holes in my arms , a lot from misses.

my new roommate had her hip replaced yesterdayshe's 55
in a lot of pain, too, poor thing

**SkiEvil** · 03-17-2006, 08:52 PM

I did my tibial plateau, LCL and MCL plus the lateral meniscus 10 years ago. Got lucky with a brace and no surgery or erector set

+++++++++++++++++ vibes sent!

**jenscats5** · 03-18-2006, 12:26 PM

Well your spirits are good!! Best wishes in your recovery N2K!!

**nancie2k** · 03-19-2006, 06:28 PM

physical therapy came in and started teaching me how to go up and down stairs with crutches--that is painful AND scarey!!!!
worked my way up to 45 on my cpm machine today.
trying to get my knee straight really hurts, too.
there is some drainage at the suture line, and they are keeping me on the intravenous antibiotics, can't go home yet while i am on them. it would really s*#k if i had an infection on top of all this

**dirtybryan** · 03-19-2006, 07:31 PM

Intense, sending good vibes.

Are you at Albany Medical Center? I live not too far away and I imagine your family you are a ways from home, so if you need anything, just PM me.

**nancie2k** · 03-20-2006, 10:13 AM

i am at the hospital for special surgeries in manhattan
i live in nj,bergen county- husband says it takes about 25 min with no traffic-when he's lucky
of course, it is not in my insurance network. been here 17 days already

i have some pics in this album http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2108186636

hope that works!
doc came in this morning and STILL have drainage at suture line, so keeping on intravenous antibiotics for another day or 2, then going on oral. still not sure when going home yet, either.
trying to get out of bed more frequently and doing exercises in bed.

**nancie2k** · 03-20-2006, 10:18 AM

my roommate woke up around 3am all disoriented-she did not know where she was, thought it ws 1970 and that ronald reagan was president!!!

**peterslovo** · 03-21-2006, 07:02 AM

wow. those images are tough to view, and the pain for me to fathom. best wishes for a speedy recovery!

**Yeti** · 03-21-2006, 08:49 AM

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Same thing happened to a good buddy of mine, basically:

Originally Posted by another buddy

SK was away skiing at Killington this past weekend with his son. They were on an easy (green?) trail going to the lodge for lunch when some maniac pretty much ran over SK and he fell about forty feet and crashed into a tree. From what I understand he fractured almost all of the ribs on his left side and one on his right side. Also, he has a pretty badly broken collar bone and a bad concussion with some bleeding from his ear. He is conscious and his vital signs are good and stable - and has spoken with his wife a few times. I also was told that no one knows who ran him down - the perpetrator basically hit and ran and did not go to get help.

From what I was told he will be having surgery on the collarbone in Vermont (a hospital in Rutland, where he'll be for a week) and then will likely transfer to a hospital/rehab near home for possibly a month. He may be out of work for awhile (2-3 months.)

Coulda happened anywhere, but I wonder why so many at K-ton.

**Mtn Man** · 03-21-2006, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Yeti

Coulda happened anywhere, but I wonder why so many at K-ton.

It's all those damn NJ people, they ski like they drive

Posi vibes to Nancie!!! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

B)

**snowsprite** · 03-22-2006, 01:09 PM

Hi Nancie, just wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you and hoping you're doing okay today.

I just got up the courage to view those photos you posted...and wow!

Your mental state is amazing considering what you're going through right now. Hang in there, and I'm wishing you all the best.

Sprite

**nancie2k** · 03-22-2006, 09:21 PM

thanks for all the positive thoughts!
every morning they change the dressing, every morning i don' t see signs of improvement. at least there are no bad signs, either!!
they have now changed the antibiotics from (i/v)ancef to vancomycin i/v which is stronger and it burns, to be infused over 2 hours. twice a day.
at least i see improvement in the bending and extending of the knee, and getting along with crutches. i am being very aggressive with physical therapy!!!

DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN

the i/v just infiltrated and now they will have to restart