Major Injuries
2011-08-02 22:45:18.757407+00 by Dan Lyke 7 comments
So this recent "blunt trauma to the ribs" incident got me thinking about some of the major injuries and illnesses I've sustained. These are the major ones, I've cracked helmets in accidents not listed here.
- Broken left arm, crashing a tricycle down a hill, I think first grade. Cast for 4(?) weeks. Best 4 weeks of my early grade school, 'cause I now had a built in club and wasn't the runt of the class for a short time.
- Pulled ligaments in my left knee, skiing accident, somewhere around third or fourth grade. Cast for 6 weeks.
- Concussion with temporary amnesia following an incident of some sort at a Boy Scout Jamboree. High school somewhere.
- Bicycle crash with severely sprained arm, I think I remember being told it'd have been less severe if I'd broken the arm, and substantial road rash. High school.
- Pneumonia for most of a high school semester. '84?
- Broken foot, climbing fall, '88 or so. I think I only learned this later, after the following incident, when a doctor looked at X-rays and asked me "when did you break your foot?", 'cause I just kept on truckin'.
- Similar major foot sprain, probably '90. I think this was when Eric and I were going down to the boulder at Signal Point and I ended up on crutches. It was also when I learned that you can't skip steps going downstairs on crutches. Secondary ouch effects.
- Facial scarring. Inline skating crash in the Provident parking lots. Probably '91.
- Concussion, inline skating crash, late '91 to '94. Yes, I was wearing a helmet. I was skating at the riverpark, misjudged a jump at a curb cut. Had that "oh crap, I'm losing peripheral vision" issue...
- Knee hit a rock in a mountain biking crash over in Wildcat Canyon, Berkeley. '96-'98. Notable not because it was a major hit but because it's my baseline for most pain I've experienced. Walked my bike out of the canyon, but couldn't talk while doing so.
- Inflamed tendons in my chest, circa 2001. Scary, I couldn't walk quickly because I couldn't breathe enough to suck in air to actually move.
- ACJ separation. 2008 crash at the skate park.
- Last Saturday, blunt force trauma to the ribs, possible break.
Anyone remember others? I know I've cracked a helmet or two in mountain biking crashes when I lived in Fairfax, but those didn't really result in injury. A couple of scary moments paddling, but again nothing I'm remembering as "out for a month". I know there are one or two other "this hurts like hell" doctor's visits, but those seem like the biggies.