question for those w/ metal

[akarunway 1]

How many of us skydivers have rods, pins, plates,screws etc. and are still jumping? I jump now w/ some in each leg and don't have a problem. I'm more woundering (pun intended) about fused vertebrae and metal on the spine.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[sdgregory 0]

do the rods/pins/plates have to be a direct result from skydiving? I have a rod . . . oh wait you mean METAL! my bad.

[skymick 0]

I busted my L1 vertebrae in May this year, ended up witha chuck of my hip taken out and fused with L1 to rebuild it and 2 rods to support it. The metal is only temporary (should get it out next year sometime). After much thought (2 months worth!) I decided to jump again with it in, I started jumping 2 weeks ago and have about 6 more jumps with no problems so far....

I know the smart thing to do is wait till I get it out, but I had to get back into it and so far im glad i did (though if i hurt myself again im screwed). Dont have any pain at all on jumps, even on deployment (with a safire 2) and landings, if anything packing hurts the most hehe.

Before I jumped again I consulted my surgeon (who said no of course) and a jumper/doctor who was a bit more optomistic, of course everyone else I spoke to had an opinion too...found a fair bit of advice on these forums too (from people who previosly hurt themselves)

Are you in a similiar situation or just curious?

[akarunway 1]

No not for me. My buddy fucked up ( I won't go into details) but has 4 vertebrae fused w/ a rod on either side screwed together. It's been 7 months and he's still acting like a pussy. Gonna sell his rig and all. I jumped 10 mths after getting busted up. Doc said I could go at 6 mths but I didn't jump til I felt OK. I think that w/ the fusion you would just lose a bit of your back bending ability and I think he's playing the pity me thing. Just looking for input

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[skybytch 259]

Three vertebrae fused together here - L4/L5/S1. No metal though; my surgeon didn't think it was needed.

[skymick 0]

Well if the metal is only temporary then I can see the point in waiting due to the extra risk involved but if it aint gonna come out then unless this mate of yours is gonna lock himself in a room the rest of his life I dont see the point in giving up things that you love doing, you just need to take extra precautions. The way I see it I could give up skydiving like I was told to but I could get wiped out in a car crash and be fucked up anyway, so as long as all the risks are taken in to account I dont see a problem. Maybe get his guy to consult a jumper/doctor to get a perspective on the risks invovled.

With fusion (mine isnt as bad as his though) you do loose some ability to bend, but my doc told me not to lift too much, dont jump, dont bend and take at least 3 months off work, I didnt listen that much and was back at work a month after the accident and even though i know I should pay more attention to my doc, I can say my back feels great for it. And this guy is playing the pity thing after 7 months?? lucky bastard that only worked for about 3 months with my mates

Anyway after saying that if the guy isnt ready to do it then he should'nt. Have a look at this thread to see other views from people with metal inside....

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=644159;#644159

Cheers

[skybytch 259]

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It's been 7 months and he's still acting like a pussy.

Different people heal at different rates, and from what I've seen some people never "get over" back surgery (whether that's physical or mental I don't know). It's been almost 3 years since the surgery for me and I still have days when my back muscles hurt quite a lot and days when the sciatica pops up to say hello again. But I'm not the type to let that stop me from living.

I jumped once 6 months after surgery, realized it was too early for me and waited another 6 months before jumping again. There were times during those 12 months that I seriously considered not jumping again. It's definitely more risky for me to skydive now than it was before; your friend may not be willing to take on the increased risk. imho that doesn't make him a pussy... it may make him smarter than I am.

[akarunway 1]

I'm ragging him hard but it just doesn't seem to be working. Another approach?

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[akarunway 1]

He's back to SCUBA diving but he expects everybody to carry all his gear etc. etc.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[skymick 0]

Quote

I'm ragging him hard but it just doesn't seem to be working. Another approach?

Show him that thread I mentioned earlier where other people are describing how they came back to jumping after injuring themselves (to show from other people's perspectives) and get him to speak to doc who is also involved in skydiving, normal docs tend to be extremely conservative (which is'nt necessarily a bad thing). If after that he still wont jump then maybe you have to accept that he is still not ready to take up skydiving again. Like skybytch said, its not only a physical thing, its also a mental thing you have to overcome.

[Eiley 0]

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my doc told me not to lift too much, dont jump, dont bend and take at least 3 months off work

Did your doctor mention anything about drunken wrestling in the spa...?

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And this guy is playing the pity thing after 7 months?? lucky bastard that only worked for about 3 months with my mates

Was it that long? I thought it was basically just til the next person hurt themself and was in more pain than you.

Cheers,
Eiley

nothing to see here

[skymick 0]

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Did your doctor mention anything about drunken wrestling in the spa...?

hey he never mentioned that! I think feral copped the worst of it anyway . Ill be bringing the back brace along next time im in the spa to be on the safe side though!

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Was it that long? I thought it was basically just til the next person hurt themself and was in more pain than you.

Yeah that was feral but the sympathy didnt last that long, once I lost the back brace that was it..pack of uncaring bastards!

[imdskydiver 0]

I broke my leg in 2000 , I had back problems for 15 years to the point where i thought that i might have to give up work , With one good smack and three months off i can now say that i am pain free and enjoy our sport even more . I still jump with the metal spike in my leg .

[jb092 0]

I have my L-4 and L-5 fused with a rod on each side in 97. I had 500 jumps at the time I now have 2000 and havent had any problems with it.

What could possibly go wrong?

[LoudDan 0]

I have three screws, and five wires in my left ankle, three broken collar bones (yes you can break the same one twice in the same place), a twice separated right shoulder, reconstructed right knee, and a crushed L2. I haven't had any problems skydiving with any of it, (sleeping on cold damp ground at boogies causes some interesting sensations in the morning) and no, I did not do all of this on one bad landing......it took a few

Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

[Quincy 0]

In my neck, C6 - C7 fused with a plate and 4 screws. Waited six months after it was done to jump again. Since then, 200 jumps and so far, so good.

[chaoskitty 0]

I have screws in my cheekbones from jaw surgery, but that had nothing to do with skydiving. Dont see it holding me back much.

Good grief, theres a lot of us falling apart!!

[dsbbreck 0]

I have L3-L5 fused with metal. Couldn't wait to get back in the air. Jumped before my doc recommended, but that was my choice. It was the best thing for me. The pain isn't there when I'm having fun.

If your friend doesn't want to jump, you can't and shouldn't make him. Each person has to live his own life. I wouldn't allow him to do the pity thing though. He'll never learn to live with his injury if he keeps letting people do things for him.

David

"Socrates wasn't killed because he had the answer.......he was killed because he asked the question."

[GraficO 0]

Valentine's weekend 2003

Last jump of the day doing 2-way wing-suit I came in the exact same way, same winds, same direction as the previous 3 jumps I made that day... same amount of smash for a swoop... just the last one was a little different.

Overall my landing wasn't anything spectacular... 110 degree front riser to final. Scooted across the ground on my Samurai 136 like normal but the first step was a doozie. I put my right foot down first thinking that this was going to be a normal run-out and I felt something go. 5 or 6 more steps and the right foot felt "squishy". I stopped and stood there knowing something was not right. No cartwheels, cloud of dust and certainly no high-ho-Silver!

I sat down and drank a beer as it was sunset load and then got help back to the van and the DZ thinking that my next move was going to be to the emergency room.

As it turns out I had completely crushed my right heel (calcaneous)... 9 screws and a plate later I thought I was on the road to recovery but I developed a staph infection. After 3 months of trying to treat it with oral antibiotics it was decided that I needed to take the next step and go through a ton of tests to decipher if it was in the bone or not.

Test results came back that the staph had infected the bone severely and the only option was to go in surgically and remove the hardware. While the foot was open, also scrape off all the damaged bone/tissue from the staph and hopefully it wouldn't be so bad that the foot would have to be amputated.

The ortho surgeon went in and lucky for me it wasn't bad that they would have to take the foot. Even after scraping of and cleaning all the areas that were infected I would still have to do daily IV antibiotics for 6+ weeks.... then rehab... then physical therapy... and hopefully back to jumping.

The short of it is that I spent February through July doing various daily and weekly therapies, surgeries, pills, needles, tests, etc.... and my first jump back was at WFFC. I made 3 at the convention under a huge Triathlon.

As of today I only have made 30 jumps this year... as compared to my normal 150-250.

I still can't walk quite normal because the strength isn't fully recovered and PT has given me a good deal of my range of motion back. I have orthodic inserts in my shoes and slowly getting back to being somewhat normal now.

Freek accidents suck….

GraficO

GraficO

"A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

[firediver 0]

well, as far as input goes....how much for the rig????????!!!

Skydiving isn't scary;...but clowns...CLOWNS are scary!

[jkm2500 0]

I have 2 screws in my right fib from a training accident in the Army. It has not hindered me one bit as far as skydiving. I did lose quite a bit of range of motion on that ankle. The only thing that suffers is my running, and I do that as little as possible, and it makes for cool x-rays.

The primary purpose of the Armed Forces is to prepare for and to prevail in combat should the need arise.

[akarunway 1]

dunno. he just got back from Eloy. I'll see if he sold it later today

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[Jiggs 0]

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And this guy is playing the pity thing after 7 months?? lucky bastard that only worked for about 3 months with my mates

Just works on the principle of next in line - failing that when we realise that you are going to be okay, after that you are open game!

"Don't blame malice for what stupidity can explain."

"In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our despair, against our will comes wisdom" - Aeschylus