Post your Hot Swoop X-Rays

[ianmdrennan 2]

I guess my question stemmed from a 'what if I broke that leg again' scenario and the effects of having titanium in the leg. Granted in 10 years this is the only bone I've broken doing this and at that it was a fluke so I know it's rare. I just wonder what complications could arise in the above scenario. Of course I'll be asking the Dr on wednesday when I go in to have the staples removed.

Oh, and btw, this thing is healing at an unbelievable rate. I'm blown away how much better each day is than the one before. I'm glad I chose this option (so far!)

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[speedy 0]

I'll have the rods removed from my back. At the moment there are 3 vertebrae held together, after removale there will be only two, which will give me a little more flexibility.

The cost of my little episode was very roughly $30,000, leaving out what would have been loss of earnings. All covered by insurance.

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[flydog 0]

I asked the same question. My ortho told me that they have techniques to remove bent rods and its no big deal. I asked if he had ever had anyone break their leg after a rod was put in. He told me only two people and they broke the rod too so it was an easy fix.
See what your Dr. says but mine is very low key and said dont worry about it.

[monkycndo 0]

Asked my ortho about my plate and screws. He only removes them if they cause a problem. Doesn't like the possible complications from "un-needed" surgery. He has only done a couple removals.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[kefran 0]

i have 2 big titanium screws in my left knee (due to motocross fun) tibia one is 6cms long and femur one is 8cms. they told me it was better for me to keep them for the rest of my life unless i suddenly feel some pain from them .... well .... somwhere it begans parts of us i guess and scars ar here to remind us i don't know about the whole bone ones, but surgeon told me that,in my case, if i break the screws for my knee i won't be able to recover more than 30% (unless i get a complete new knee ... )

--------------------------------------------------
I never used 2 rocks to start a fire ... this is called evolution !

[ianmdrennan 2]

Yep, the Dr recommended I keep it in too. He didn't see a problem with potential future injuries.

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[AiRpollUtiOn 0]

We were jumping with a lot of wind, but no problem.
Between take-off and jumping the wind increased seriously. Landing went fine, flared it out completely, but when i was turning around to go pick up my chute a gust picked me up and I hit the ground shoulder first about 15 feet further.

That was last year, the damn thing popped out again 2 weeks ago when initiating a 270. I managed to land in half brakes (running at top speed...).

The recovery is going well now.
My BOC will be changed to the left side next week.

http://modulo4.rendered.startpda.net/17850001-17900000/17865028_500_500_s37y.jpeg

"Don't make me come down there" - God.

My site:http://www.skystudio.nl/video.html
Some of my vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/TomSkyStudio

[Tonto 1]

I had my Stainless out of my femur a year after I broke it. The centre shaft was simply destroyed and only the femur heads remained. 40 cm plate, 14 screws and a bit of wire held everything together.

The op to have it out was short - about 45 min - vs the 5+ hrs it took to put it in, and I walked out (late) the next day. No running for 6 weeks to allow bone density to increase, and I never jumped for 3 months after the op - just to make sure. Done 5000 injury free jumps since then, but am now an old dog learning a new trick so expecting the worst at some point.

If you have any dental work, or any maintenance stuff to be done, (like rotator cuff surgery etc) the time to shedule it is when you have the hardware out. They work on you like a pit crew if you give them a chance!

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[peggs82 0]

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They work on you like a pit crew if you give them a chance!

t

LOL!

[freeflyn 0]

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After completing a superman I got my legs underneath my torso and planted my left foot on the ground. My foot placement was less then optimal to say the least as I placed it in a sprinkler indentation.

The end result was a spiral fracture of the fibula, a bimaleolar fracture of the tibia, and a torn piece of cartilage/ bone from on the talus at the tibia/talus junction. Resulting in 7 screws and a plate in the posterior fibula, a vertical screw in the tibia to reconnect the medial malleolus, and a glucose pin in the talus. Total surgery time = 4hrs

I had my hardware removed yesterday here is a pic of what was removed (my original post had an error, as there was 9 screws total). I should be back in the air in about 3 weeks.

[piahenzi 0]

Re Medical costs and Dr fees - read MEDICAL
LIABILITY INSURANCE!! That is what is causing the high prices for services... let's face reality here.
On another note, what about the costs for life insurance to cover skydiving?? A bit off topic here and maybe a new subject altogether for the forum but for those of us who are breadwinners for the family the USPA coverage is just not enough. I am currently paying $1700 annually for a 10 year term life insurance policy for $250K that covers death caused by skydiving. Anyone out there got a better deal??

[cois 0]

Howzit man, I've seen you've posted alot of opinions on skydiving and the skydive community respect your views.

Speaking of posting x-rays.... I just busted up my fumer real bad and have alot of steel in my leg en pelvis. The medical personnel is of opiniont that I cant be allowed to jump again unless I have real soft landings.( basically be able to do one legged standups!)

I used to jump 'n bladerunner 120 (a south african manufactured canopy that probably compares best to a stilleto) loading @ about 1.7.

Taking my current situation, what type, make and size canopy in your opinion gives one the softest land... strait and level into the wind?

[selwynj 0]

Hey Francois,
Not just your main but your reserve too? Heard about your unfortunate accident. Care to elaborate?
I broke my femur a couple of years ago and had the pin taken out a year later. I jumped with the pin in as soon as I was comfortable and strong enough to jump again. The healing takes a while but you can help out by exercising your leg should the doctor give the OK. Hope you heal fast.

“It takes ten years to get ten years’ experience” Eric "tonto" Stephenson D515 PASA

[cois 0]

the canopy I jump have a very positive recovery arc, the bladerunner, very much the same as a heatwave or stiletto. The canopy thought me some very bad habits turning low in order to get the maximum swoop, before the canopy levels out, about 1 second after releasing the front riser. I've put about 100 jumps on the canopy in question,

On the 12/06/07 me and some friends made our way to a dz with a higher altitude than ours.

Instead of just getting a feel for the new air, I decieded to go big on the first decend, I paid dearly for that action, I opted to land close to the landing line, so I had no exit route should I need to deviate from course. I hit the ground frontriser in hand. My body almost popped like a fat guy farting!

Fumer broken 3 places, pelvis 2 places, ribs, and a bloodclout passed threw the hart and into the lungs.
Some bad sh"t right there.
This jump has all the elements of a fcukup.
1.old canopy=old technology
2.going big on your first jump @ a new dz
3.Not leaving a exit point

Now I have 6mounths paid leave and nowhere to go.
Any info on reserves and canopies that land reel soft, one leg soft?

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Technically it's a BASE jump and not a swoop, but I'd like to make a point to jumpers who still believe that a wing loading of "only" 1.5 or even 1.0 can't hurt them.

.8 wingloading under a 245. Perfect 3/4 brake accuracy approach except for that part where a woody shrub or short tree grabbed my leg. About 1/16th the energy of a nice swoop.

According to my wife it's important for the airplane to know where it's going to land before it takes off. I agree even more now.

OTOH every guy would love to have a second rod. And it _is_ titanium.

Tibia/fibula fracture, 12mm IM nail and four screws. Incident details here http://www.basejumper.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2877388

The creepy bend was in my leg when I landed. That's how I knew I really broke myself.

The insurance company has the running total at $20,000 so far. Fortunately I'd already used my deductible on other problems (you can catch septic bursitis packing parachutes!) so I only had to pay 10% or $2000 which brings me to the in-network co-pay limit. Plus the $2500 in lost wages (even with disability insurance). $1000+ on lodging and getting rescued when I couldn't even crutch arround.

I expected aches and pains for which there's Vicodin. There's even NORCO with less acetaminophen so you can eat more and survive leaving the hospital before you're done needing morphine shots for breakthrough pain. What I didn't know is opiates don't work well for nerve pain. After five weeks I finally talked to a doctor who'll did something (neurontin) about that.

[hparrish 0]

I don't think most folks could read my MRI so I'll leave the picture out and just describe what happened.

Around 1300 Jumps total / Injured at 1300
1000 HP Landings under my belt.
175 - 200 Jumps on my new JVX.
99 JVX loaded at 2.27 : 1

Injuries

1.) Cracked 4 Ribs
2.) Tore Cartlidge in Both Knees.
3.) Tore LCL on Left Knee (Repaired).
4.) Tore PCL on Left Knee (Replaced).


Most accidents are a combination of mistakes. My Accident was a combination of 5 mistakes that I can recall.

1.) I tried to swoop the pond on my first jump at a new DZ. I did walk the landing area prior to my jump.

2.) I Changed my Dive Plan. I was setting up my pattern at about 1100 - 1000 ft, and it appeared that my team mates below me were starting their turns lower than 750' so I decided to start my turn lower than that. I always start my turn 750 ft or higher (270).

3.) I initiated my 270 at just below 500 feet. Even though I knew this was too low. I still did it.

4.) I did not abort the turn at 90, 120, 180 whch I should have done.

5.) For some reason I went to rears to dig out instead of toggles. Toggles could have lessened my impact.

So those were my 5 mistakes. The Result was that I slammed into the pond going about 60 mph and destryoyed my knees and cracke multiple ribs. My face also slammed into the water and I did two flips through my risers. I looked like a rag doll.

The accident happened September 22, 2006. I'll be returning to jumping this November. Cost was around $30K, for Ambulance, ER, Surgery, PT, and Medical Massage.

[ianmdrennan 2]

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Tibia/fibula fracture, 12mm IM nail and four screws.

Same here - my post op x-ray looks almost identical (although my break was minor compared to yours). Let me know how you heal up - mine was surprisingly fast (driving in 4 weeks, skydiving in 11).

Blues
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[brianfry713 0]

Here's mine, it was a B.A.S.E. jump, but it ended up with a 15 mph downwinder.
http://www.basejumper.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2877261

BASE 1224, Senior Parachute Rigger, CPL ASEL IA, AGI, IGI
USPA Coach & UPT Tandem Instructor, PRO, Altimaster Field Support Representative

[RMURRAY 1]

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Most accidents are a combination of mistakes. My Accident was a combination of ?? mistakes that I can recall.

excellent post. I wish we all could read a post from everyone who has banged themselves up with a note that starts with these words. hope you are healing well...

rm

[udder 0]

"Done 5000 injury free jumps since then, but am now an old dog learning a new trick so expecting the worst at some point."

bsbd tonto...

"In one way or the other, I'm a bad brother. Word to the motherf**ker." Eazy-E

[phoenixlpr 0]

Tonto is gone.

[ianmdrennan 2]

Guys,

I know you want to pay your respects to Tonto, but please do them in the Blue Skies forum - I don't want to have to delete well intentioned posts here.

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[hparrish 0]

Thanks...........I wish we could get some more of the Pro's to speak up. A few have spoken.

I think it speaks volumes when people we all respect....can share their hard or not so glamorous experiences.

I think it opens more eyes to hear from someone like Ian Bobo (just an example), that he got hurt doing X, Y, and Z. Folks may take a little more caution with their own cavalier approaches. I think a thread like this could do allot more than the theads where the 300 jump wonder is asking about a Velocity at 2.2:1 wingloading and gets his ass REAMED again. I'm getting tired of that thread repeating itself.

Hoping more folks will step up to the mic. It's a great Thread Idea and a really good learning tool.

[speedy 0]

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Ok, so question for those of you with titanium rods. Did you keep them in? For those who had them removed, was the surgery to remove them as traumatic (same recovery times and pains, etc) as putting them in or were your recoveries faster?

Blues,
Ian

I am going in to hospital next week to have my titanium rods removed. This is only possible due to the bone graft they did to repair the vertebrae.
I will let you know how the OP goes. I expect a 3 month layoff before I can jump again.

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[speedy 0]

And here is what they removed.

Still, I feel a little less robotic now

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl