Oh Snap!!!!

Where to begin…I guess when it all started.  I decided to go snowboarding Saturday morning seeing as I had not been back to “world famous Buck Hill” where Lindsey Vonn used to ski since the Olympics got over.  I also wanted to test out my new jacket and pants, much better than the FSR suit I had before (Flaming Sh1t Rocket)  You can probably see pics from my vacation post.  I went out for the early bird special, $15 bucks from 9-noon.  I only go out for a few hours at a time since the hill is just that…about enough entertainment for a few hours.  I started going down a run that had some terrain park objects in it, namely a few boxes and somewhat of a built up jump that partially melted.  I decide the easiest of them looks to be this C-shaped box that has an angled top to ride around the curve.

I warm up a bit first, then come down the hill, falling a couple of times attempting it.  The third time…not a charm for me.  I made it about 80% of the way around and then my board decided to ride up over the lip which propelled me into the air.  The rest is a blur.  Although you are not supposed to use your hands to brace for impact, impulse kicks in.  I normally ride with my hands in fists to prevent thing like this from happening.

I collect myself and someone skis up asking if I am alright and then if I needed a Kleenex.  I declined, wiped my face off with my glove, saw it was coated in blood, then graciously accepted.  My nose and lip were bleeding pretty good, enough to leave a good mark on the hill.  When I took off my glove and tried to put it back on, I knew something was wrong.  I collected myself and went down the little bit of the hill that was left.  I drove home so I could get cleaned up before going in for Xrays.

Headed out to the urgent care place and started to feel sick, but held it back.  When we arrived, I started getting sick.  The doctor was immediately concerned that I get a CT scan to rule out any head injuries.  Luckily I was wearing a helmet and goggles.  The goggles scraped up my nose but that is about the extent of it.  He sent us to the ER to get the CT done and said they will also Xray my wrist.

The ER visit took over 5 hours…yikes!!!  They did my scans and said no head injuries, GREAT!  I did happen to break my radius bone (the bigger of the 2 in your lower arm.  I could clearly see the break on the scan they showed me.  They also mentioned I had a fracture in a bone, the scaphoid, in my hand.

Yesterday I got in to see the Ortho specialist.  The pictures she showed me unveiled even more.  I went into there thinking I would be in a cast for 6-8 weeks.  Not quite.  I see a picture similar to the one below that shows the scaphoid break.  We discuss options, and all signs point to surgery.  I would be looking at 8-12 weeks in a cast without, plus a good chance of it not healing properly.  This would result in me having the surgery after 12 weeks, extending the recovery time.  I opted to have a screw put in to fix that bone.

I managed to get on the schedule for the next day…today.  While one of the risks is that in order to get my hand at the right angle to get the screw in, they may complicate the break in my radius and if that happens she would use a plate and a few screws to make it heal quicker.

Since I work IT and sit at a desk most of the time, she was not as concerned about giving it time to heal, but when I said I was active and did tris, she felt much better with the screw to get me back up and running.  She was not concerned about running or swimming as she could do a waterproof cast, HELL YA!  The bike made her nervous about healing properly without a screw.  The scaphoid is in a very liquid part of the hand and my fracture is closer to the wrist than the thumb making it further from the blood supply and thus harder to heal naturally. 

Although a bit nervous about going under the knife, I will be glad to have it fixed and resume activity sometime in the near future without losing too much.  Looks like my May 1 first tri may still be possible.