When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

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Eau Rouge
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When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by Eau Rouge »

Three weeks ago this past Sunday, we were finishing the yearly Easter tour to all of the grandparents houses with egg hunts and lots of candy. The evening was coming to a close with a thrilling Blackhawks game and as the game moved to the 2nd intermission, we decided that it was getting too late to keep up my 2 year old daughter, Elise. We thought that leaving early would get us home before the end of the game, and if it went to OT (which it did), we wouldn't miss the end.

So we packed up the baby, the buckets of candy and everything else from the last stop on the tour, and started to head out to load up the Jeep for the ride home. As I was leaving the mud room to head into the garage with my daughter, I missed a stair heading into the garage, and saw my life flash before my eyes. I saw stairs, railing, concrete floor and the back of a car in my path, and thought only about protecting Elise in any way I could. I collapsed down 5 stairs, landing square on my right knee cap, but protecting the baby from hitting anything on the way to the ground. I heard a loud, revolting pop as I hit the concrete, shielding her from the ground, even as I rolled on my side.

My father-in-law grabbed Elise from my arms as I grabbed my right knee, and when I felt that my knee cap was missing and not where it was supposed to me, I let out a loud scream. Elise, who had not made a peep to this point, started crying pretty hard, and they swept here inside and called 911.

An ambulance ride, ER stay and some pain killers later, I found out that my knee cap was shattered into 2 pieces and would need surgery. They sent me to an orthopaedic specialist, and was scheduled for surgery 6 days after the accident. Hobbling around on painkillers for a week while my knee was in 2 places was awful, to say the least.

So the surgery came, and as outpatient, they brought me in, knocked me out and opened the knee wide to put it back together. The pieces were too small to screw back together, so they wound up taking the small bits out and literally stitching them into the large knee cap piece still remaining. Beautiful technique, actually. I had the surgeon show me later exactly what was done and it was a thing of beauty how they did it.

So here I sit still, a little over 2 weeks post-op, still taking pain killers, and waiting for Friday to have my 17 staples removed from my knee. I'll be able to start re-hab after that, and I'm looking forward to doing normal things again, like driving. Sitting at home is making me crazy. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

So here's the cool stuff... the original digital Xrays from the ER, and the first look at the knee following surgery. Fun stuff!

Image

Image

Image

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by THUNDERSTRIKE1 »

I know your pain all tooooo well and have that same surgery scar on my right knee shattered from truck accident with an immoveable huge arse tree.Shattered in three pieces still pops bone to bone at times but is fine for most part.Hope yours does better job than mine did.Get well soon an try stay active with it as much as u can stand it.DON

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by reign79 »

Damn!!!!!! Doug hope everything works out it's amazing how fragile the human body is.
Ryan

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by Charlie don't surf »

Ohhhhh cool!!!!! RCPS Titanium staples!

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by Eau Rouge »

I donno why, but I feel like hanging up Christmas lights when I look at my knee. :mrgreen:

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by murphy3428 »

That really sucks!! the knee is a very painful iinjury 10 years ago I feel off a second story roof onto a concrete driveway my left knee is what broke my fall now I have a man made knee which I have my good days and bad but life goes on. Hang in there Doug I hope your recovery is quick

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by bearrickster »

I feel for you good luck and do your re-hab.
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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by justinspeed79 »

Damn.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by fordtransman »

Wow... I'm sorry that happened. To share the pain with you, I went into a tree in 1999. (Belted Passenger) Sort of a street racing thing. I shattered my right upper arm (humerus) like a tree branch in the wind. One long titanium plate and 16 permanent screws later. It took 40 staples to close the wound. Also, I shattered my Spleen into 3 pieces. (Speenectomy) Exploratory surgery found I bruised my left lung, but the rest was ok. 35 staples in the gut on that one. I have a really cool 3/4 inch wide, 11 inch long scar to show off. Some permanent nerve damage in the right forearm.

I hope the healing goes really fast.

Lots of bonus points for protecting your daughter at all costs. :)

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by a01butal »

Doug, I can't imagine the pain you must have been in, you will come back and move on with your life but be patient and take each day in rehab as a landmark on your journey.

Just had my knee scoped 2 weeks ago, I hobbled around on it for about 2 years, couldn't stand the pain and swelling anymore (icebags several times a day) so finally manned up and got it done. I'm doing rehab now and see improvement everyday, just don't mend as fast anymore but this is so much easier than some peoples rehab processes I have witnessed.
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This is all very interesting!

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by jwscab »

wow man, sorry to hear, but it sounds like you are in very good hands. Those xrays are amazing!

Awesome work on keeping the little one safe!

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by YZ-10 »

Ouch dude! wishing you a speedy recovery

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fastang
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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by fastang »

Thats going to leave a mark!!!

As bad as it is you got lucky nothing happened to your daughter. Nice job protecting her! When she gets older and uses the line "you never do anything for me" you can show her the scar to remind her how good a father you are! :wink:

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by teman »

WOW sorry to hear about the accident, I hope things heal quickly.
-Kevin

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Re: When good holidays go very wrong... (mildly graphic)

Post by Eau Rouge »

fastang wrote:Thats going to leave a mark!!!

As bad as it is you got lucky nothing happened to your daughter. Nice job protecting her! When she gets older and uses the line "you never do anything for me" you can show her the scar to remind her how good a father you are! :wink:
I'm contemplating getting a tattoo on that knee with her nickname—I can remind her for the rest of her life. :D

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