Plates and screws: Leave them in or get them out?

[desea 0]

It is so hard to decide. It sounds as if you had PAIN, and what I really have is irritation. Sometimes worse than others. I never really believed in people predicting weather by how their hardware aches, until now. I am still so new with my "new parts", it is hard to tell if it is weather, over doing it or what. I am finally back to jumping, able to jog, and it is hard to decide on your own accord to actually have another surgery versus deal with the aches and pains. When my femur was shaped like the letter C and my hand was off its connection points, sugery was obvious. Now it is a hard decision. The wrist scares me, as in a six inch area I have so much hardware, another sugery would create more adhesions and scar tissue...this is my dominant hand, my pull hand and well....I don't want any limitations to my range of motion. I guess if I was miserable with pain, it would be an easier choice.

So, you are satisfied with your choices??

Sometimes Femur is a Verb
Sarah...Desea Rodriguez

[bozo 0]

[replySo, you are satisfied with your choices??

[Skydivesg 6]

I don't want to upset any one here with this quesiton so I apologize in advance if I do.
Please don't take offense..........I'm not passing judgement, just curious.
Did all these breaks happen from jumping?
If so could you give a few details of the accident and how you may have avoided it (canopy loading- jump numbers-etc)? Also whether or not you've had any canopy coaching before or since.
I had a compound fracture of the lefrt arm (both bones out the skin) from high school football. Both 12" pins came out within a year. Not my choice, it's just what the doctor did. I've had no problems since.

[bozo 0]

Quote

I don't want to upset any one here with this quesiton so I apologize in advance if I do.
Please don't take offense..........I'm not passing judgement, just curious.
Did all these breaks happen from jumping?


The spinal injury was from a low canopy collapse at 100 feet, due to turbulence.
The hip was a high school football injury that was pinned then... that finally wore out after all the years of skydiving, dirt bikes....etc.
The four knee surgeries were from round canopies, tandems and the hard Nevada desert landings.

bozo

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

• Quote

[Skydivesg 6]

Thanks for the info.

I never did break anything under my 28' round, PC or Papillion or Stato Star for that matter. But for the last couple of years my ankles and knees have been starting to voice their opinions of those years.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[faulknerwn 36]

That's interesting the barametic pressure bothers you. Maybe it depends upon where they are you in your body. I've had a plate and screws in my arm for 7-8 years now, and never notice them at all. Doesn't matter what the weather is doing - it just feels like my arm... Weird.


W

[desea 0]

No offense taken. Yes, it was skydiving, yes I have excellent canopy skills. Yes, I have been coached. This was a matter of temporary insanity, thinking I could fly my 108 on a hot air balloon jump, in an unfamiliar area, add a little crew action, not staying very altitude aware, and needing to find a last minute landing area, next to a highway. My suspension lines caught on the corner of a triangular shaped road sign, swung me around and impaled me into the post and tried to make me a permanent part of the sign. Yes, true and stupid, but hind sight is always 20/20. (But the pictures of the xrays are impressive) This was my first and only skydiving injury. And my last, hopefully. It cut the WFFC in half!

Guess who is teaching canopy control at our DZ on safety day........

Sometimes Femur is a Verb
Sarah...Desea Rodriguez

[bozo 0]

Quote

That's interesting the barametic pressure bothers you. Maybe it depends upon where they are you in your body. I've had a plate and screws in my arm for 7-8 years now, and never notice them at all. Doesn't matter what the weather is doing - it just feels like my arm... Weird.
W

I went through such horrible pain every time the wind was gonna blow its hard to describe it.
The Drs did test after test and the only thing they could tell me was that it affects some people and not others. I just happen to be one of the lucky ones.:o)

bozo

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

[DanglesOZQld 0]

Mine was a bad low turn with a tandem. Bad day to jump (windy/turbulent etc) but on flying my usual downwind pattern lost a lot more height that I realised. The two things that really get to me are the fact that no alarm bells were going off and that my passenger, MY responsibility, was also hurt.

I had been low and done a few DUMB things before with my own canopy and I knew I was low but this day felt nothing until just starting to turn. I did not hoon around or make hard turns anywhere near the ground except when I was on my own gear.

My attitude with tandems is that they pay bloody good money to jump so you should give them the most enjoyable (and safe) ride you can.

I had handcam (waycool glove) and the alti (barigo) mounted towards my thumb from the (upright mounted) camera. The alti looks like someone has put it on concrete and hit it as hard as possible with a hammer and the camera was totally u/s after impact. The glove however has not missed a stitch!! ;) (WELL MADE!!!!)

I have a rod (nail) through the femur with one screw at the hip and two more near my knee and like a lot of people here am wondering what the options are to get this gear out after 12 months which has been recommended by my specialist.

I have been told after the nail is out there are another two months recovery for the screw holes to fill in.

This was by the way the first time I broke ANY bone in my body and the first real injury in 13 years jumping.....
(For those who say it will/cannot happen to you ;)

BSBD!! -Mark.

"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

[Orange1 0]

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on flying my usual downwind pattern lost a lot more height that I realised.

so it's not just me - I did the same thing, on an unfamiliar canopy, and was too scared to turn low but ended up not landing in a clear area

doc want to take the screws out my ankle as soon as the bone starts knitting, possibly as soon as 6 weeks after the accident (i.e. 3 weeks time), as they are just under the surface of the skin (clearly visible, and they hurt) - anyone else had anything removed so soon? The plate stays in at least a year.

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[DanglesOZQld 0]

Yeah well it was one of those days but like I said the alarm bells were not going off even as I made the final turn into wind.

Felt like we dropped from fifty feet into nothing and I could tell straight away that we were both in trouble. After Impact my passenger had her head/Back of neck on my right arm and I was (as well as her) going into shock but trying to keep that arm STILL as she was complaining of back/spinal pain.

The two things that really worry me are
1) I injured another person and I was responsible for THAT person
2) Having stuffed up a few times and known it on my own canopy I felt nothing when turning onto final. I had been way low before this on my own canopy and panic flared out of it ok. IE- The Alarm bells were going off and I knew I was in trouble!!!

I trust the TANDEM canopies more than any other that I have flown and the flare is more than excellent on same.

The accident was on sand (beach landing).
Had it been on "normal ground" there would have been a double fatality I think.

BSBD!! -Mark.

"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"