broke my wrist

[Treetom]

6-foot dbh red oak, split into two trunks at about 6-foot, i'm free-climbing to around 15-foot or so on one trunk, so i could set my wire core lanyard, stepped on a questionable limb so i could take my next step (stepped close to trunk thinking it would hold)- it did not hold: landed on both knees, both hands, head smacked the ground. now typing with one hand. the first thing i heard from the other climber was: "ryan, bring the bigshot." he must have figured it'd be best to set a climbing line before scaling the other trunk. Treetom- in pain, feeling dumb, humbled and grateful: the 200t didn't even get scratched.

 

[tree MDS]

Sorry to hear that Tom.

Good on you for posting it, I'm sure alot of people on here could benifit from it. I always tell anyone I see climbing even a short distance without a lanyard to put it on - for just that very reason.

Hope it heals well and soon man!

 

[Treetom]

thanks, mds. the crew is still on job, finishing up. ryan is all geeked up, just set the climbing line on the first shot with the bigshot.

 

[masiman]

6-foot dbh red oak, split into two trunks at about 6-foot, i'm free-climbing to around 15-foot or so on one trunk, so i could set my wire core lanyard, stepped on a questionable limb so i could take my next step (stepped close to trunk thinking it would hold)- it did not hold: landed on both knees, both hands, head smacked the ground. now typing with one hand. the first thing i heard from the other climber was: "ryan, bring the bigshot." he must have figured it'd be best to set a climbing line before scaling the other trunk. Treetom- in pain, feeling dumb, humbled and grateful: the 200t didn't even get scratched.

Thanks for posting. I sincerely hope you heal fully and quickly.

Thanks for reminding all of us to only free climb as high as you are willing to fall.

 

[oldirty]

glad to hear about the saw but not so about the wrist. heal up man.

 

[Blakesmaster]

That sucks, man. Hope you heal soon.

 

[Adkpk]

Bummer man, get well soon.

 

[Treetom]

Thanks for posting. I sincerely hope you heal fully and quickly.

Thanks for reminding all of us to only free climb as high as you are willing to fall.

i just got all the "willingness" knocked out of me masiman.

 

[gilraine]

any accident that your are alive to feel dumb about is a good one, especially in your business..

 

[ropensaddle]

I have broken mine from my early days not tree related and now they hurt it stinks as you start to season imo. I sometimes get a pain and remember oh yeah that was the time I tried to jump that ditch on the Elsinore and think I was stupid lol. Get better pard

 

[Bigus Termitius]

I have broken mine from my early days not tree related and now they hurt it stinks as you start to season imo. I sometimes get a pain and remember oh yeah that was the time I tried to jump that ditch on the Elsinore and think I was stupid lol. Get better pard

LOL! I wish I could point to a specific time. I was 10 foot tall and bulletproof( often 90 proof) well into my twenties.

Now, I'm losing count of all the bulletholes I never knew were there.

Get better Treetom, sure glade it was only a wrist.

Are you just sitting in a cast waiting for it to heal? I might be able to suggest somethings to speed things up, but I'll have to wait till my much better half gets home.

 

[masiman]

i just got all the "willingness" knocked out of me masiman.

We're never too old to learn

 

[outofmytree]

Everyone makes stupid mistakes at some time or another, I know I have. Posting them in a peer based forum takes guts.

Get well soon.

Billy Joel "You learn more from your accidents than anything you can ever learn from school".

 

[Treetom]

"Are you just sitting in a cast waiting for it to heal? I might be able to suggest somethings to speed things up, but I'll have to wait till my much better halve gets home?"

thanks, Bigus, i have a soft cast for now. tomorrow it's off to the ortho...ortha.. bone doctor, surgery most likely. for now it's ice, elevation, and opiates. my better half broke her wrist last winter on a wednesday, surgery on friday. healed up relly quick. hoping for the same. in the meantime, i can operate the crane, giving the new climber a chance to ride the ball.
__________________

 

[pdqdl]

Be sure to let us know what bones you broke. Some are much worse than others.

I broke my elbow twice when I was 15; after two surgeries, I have a permanent pin now. It never causes me any problems. Other fractures: not so lucky.

 

[Treetom]

Be sure to let us know what bones you broke. Some are much worse than others.

the left radius was broken lengthwise in two places at the end toward the hand, some small bits and pieces also shattered on impact. catscan tomorrow will reveal more. surgery scheduled for next thursday. expected recovery time of three months. work safe, everyone.

 

[pdqdl]

Are they plating it, wiring it together, or pinning it?

You might be lucky, in that your injury does not involve too much "joint". The articulating surfaces of joints (the parts that rub) are much more inclined towards arthritis. The radius definately participates in the joint of your wrist, let's hope your fracture is well behind that.

I had what is called a "parchutist's fracture" of my ankle in 1981. Essentially, my foot bones were driven between my two leg bones like a wedge, and all the ligaments that hold the tibia and fibula together were ruptured. I have pretty bad arthritis in that ankle now; it is useless to consider walking on all day.

I can see how you might have a similar fracture in your wrist. If that is the case, you should expect problems with flexibility and post-injury arthritis. Although my ankle hurts like heck, it is plenty strong enough.

Follow your therapy instructions carefully. After the immobility of a fracture, surgery, and healing time, you will loose all flexibility in your joints. Restoring that flexibility soon is imperative to your long range healing of the injury. BTW, physical therapy is can be far, far more painful than the initial injury or the surgery.


And take longer too...

 

[Treetom]

Are they plating it, wiring it together, or pinning it?

BTW, physical therapy is can be far, far more painful than the initial injury or the surgery.

And take longer too...

doc says he'll be putting a plate in. sounds like we have similar injuries at opposite ends of our bodies. how did you get the "parachute injury"? as i mentioned earlier, my better half fell on the ice last winter and had a similar wrist injury (with metal plate repair) with a very short (a few weeks) recovery period. hoping for the same.

 

[pdqdl]

Motorcycle wreck; foot first into a curb at about 50 mph. Did really bad things to my foot and my back. Funny thing is: if the curb hadn't been there, I would have gotten out without a scratch. I was real good at controlling slides. If I had bounced and tumbled on the ground like most folks do, I would probably have been scuffed up like crazy, but not broken up so bad.

Stupidity, going WAY too fast.

 

[pdqdl]

Did the doctors say anything about immobilizing your wrist by pinning or screwing the radius to the ulna? They pull the pin/screws out later. That is what they did to my ankle to make sure that all the damaged ligaments could knit together again without any movement.

If it is as simple as plating the cracked up bone back together, it sounds like you didn't tear up the wrist joint itself. That would be a good thing.