Ouch.....
Back about 11 or 12 years ago I was out snowboarding on a Saturday. We had just received 16 inches of fresh powder the night before. It was a "bluebird" day, skiers and snowboarders know what that means. :msp_w00t: Last run of the day I was cruisin' down one of the trails that cut across the side of the mountain. The trail was groomed so the downhill side has a nice little "curb" that was begging to be slashed. As I was flying through the air I realized that the "curb" was nothing but fluff and I had gone through as though nothing was there at all. As I said this was on the downhill side of the trail. My 15ft free fall ended with me landing on a tree stump taking the entire impact on the left side of my ribs. I never lost consciousness, I remember it all. The sound I heard was like some one jumping on a heavy
duty wicker basket, turns my stomach just to think about it. I had the wind knocked out of me just short of passing out. I managed to climb up the bank onto the trail and even walk about 100 yards down the trail. I was feeling really tired and by this time the pain in my chest had become almost unbearable. I sat down on the side of the trail, and couldn't get back up. I also started to get a tickle in my throat, made me cough. You guessed it, coughed up blood. :msp_scared: Right then a ski patrol came over and asked it I was alright? I said no, do you need help?, he said, I said ayuh. They put me in the sled, took me down the mountain, and loaded me into the ambulance. After checking me over the EMT says, "I'm really sorry but I have to intubate(?) your lung, it's collapsing, this is gonna hurt, a lot". So he makes a 1 1/2 inch cut on the side of my chest and inserts a tube into my left lung. They must have been giving me morphine because the pain was starting to fade and so was I. So to make a really long story just a little bit longer and to get to my worst injury ever, I ended up with 6 broken ribs, punctured/collapsed lung, and they didn't even know until after they got me into the emergency room that my spleen was in a bunch of little pieces. I now have a "zipper" that starts 3 inches below my belly button and stops right at the tip of my sternum. Spent 9 days in the hospital and only missed three weeks of work. The surgeon told me "it could have been a whole lot worse", I'm still here livin' and breathin' so I agree with the Doc. :hmm3grin2orange: You just never know.....
Work safe. ::thumbsup::