# I royally funked myself up Sunday. Warning: Graphic pics included



## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

Howdy fellas!
Bored stiff at my place and I figured I would post about my crash and hospital experience. Ill apologize ahead of time. Im really doped up and also a bad writer. So enjoy my post  
So last Sunday i decided to go for a timed ride at Lake Lurleen Park here in Tuscaloosa Alabama. Im "training" for my first race (Bump and Grind) so im trying to ride hard and get in top notch shape.

So im rocketing down the long steep gravel hill next to the dam going about 25mph and my front end washed out. My left knee was the first thing to hit, then my left wrist, then my right elbow, and finally my back. This gravel is so steep that i started sliding and didnt think i was ever going to stop. My adrenaline was pumping hard so i jumped up and shook the dirt off. A hiker who was watching asked me if i was okay and i said i was fine. Upon further inspection of my body, i found that my left wrist was in pain and that i was missing all the skin on top of my left kneecap exposing my patella and ligaments. lets just say it was a bloody mess. I pretty much had a freakout and went into shock right there on the trail.

Thankfully another biker rode up with lurleens emergency number so i called and asked for some help. Im also very thankful that i was 2 miles from the trailhead and accessible by a truck.

I took this pic in the bed of the truck. The lighting was weird because of the flashing shadows of the trees. Its my knee with a chunk out. pretty gruesome huh?









I drove myself to the hospital to get stitched up and stuff and i had to wait 4 hours in excruciating pain. I guess when you are not dying you get moved to the back of the line. Understandable. But all i freaking wanted was a pain shot or pill.

The docs finally came to check me out and were pretty concerned about gravel in my knee. They took me back to x ray my wrist and knee and turns out they were right! I had a ton of gravel stuck in my knee under various flaps of severed skin. Also the xrays showed a fracture in my left wrist but none in my knee. Thank god!

So they took me back to my room to fix me up. They gave me some hydrocodone and poked me with 10 localized numbing shots around my wound. Then i got to watch the lady tweeze out pieces of rocks and gravel. It was a pretty graphic thing to watch. Heres a pic for all of yall at home.









After they removed most of the gravel they re-Xrayed and turns out they diddnt get it all. So i had to get more numbing shots and the lady went back to playing "operation" on my knee. Finally its all clean and rock free(almost, there were a few they couldnt get to)
Picture of the rock free knee









Sexy aint it? So they put a cast on my arm and they prepped me for stiches.









The lady stitched me up really well. No amount of localized numbing meds would help at this point so i had to just HTFU :thumbsup: 









And they discharged my ass and now im home. Ill have a cast one for a week or two and i will have the stitches and brace on my knee for 2 weeks. So ill be outta the gym and off the trails for at least 3 weeks.  I dont know what im going to do with myself! I need some videogames or something.

Walking to class is freaking awful. It takes me about 30 mins when it used to take 5 on my road bike. Wish me luck that i heal soon!
Be safe fellas!

Sheepo

Heres my rash. Not too shabby. (pain pills are really working)


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## highdelll (Oct 3, 2008)

ouch dood!


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## jtmartino (Jul 31, 2008)

Killer wipeout. Glad to see you're not too hurt, and hopefully you recover well. Gonna have a sweet scar on that knee...


How's the bike?


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## derockus (Mar 27, 2009)

i dig the quilted stitch pattern. keep that thang clean!


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

jtmartino said:


> Killer wipeout. Glad to see you're not too hurt, and hopefully you recover well. Gonna have a sweet scar on that knee...
> 
> How's the bike?


Ha, my mom asked me the same thing. mom knows i broke my bank to build her a couple months back.
Its actually pretty good!
Selle italia flite team edition has some scrapes on the left side
Titec micro bar end (left) is a little ripped up and the plug is destroyed
Scratches on my stans flow white rims from the gravel.
And thats it. No problems with my niner carbon fork or fsa slk bars or anything

I have been waiting for a homebrewed components bash before i post pictures of er but i might have to post a teaser shot for yall. 

Sheepo


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

derockus said:


> i dig the quilted stitch pattern. keep that thang clean!


Yeah the stitches were weird. But they are workin and hurtin! Ill let the doc clean it when i go get checked up on tomorrow. They are gonna re xray my arm and look at my stitches.

Ill keep yall posted :thumbsup:

And highdell,
I know man! pretty gross. I got sick to my stomach lookin at it on the trail. I had to lay down in shock. But it diddnt start hurting for another hour or two. I actually considered riding out haha. Bad Idea

Keep the shiny side up!
Sheepo


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

Stripes said:


> Big OWWWWWW! Healing vibes man.
> 
> This an example of why I will always wear knee guards, no matter how easy the trail.
> 
> ...


Thanks man. Never thought knee guards would be necessary but what the hell do i know. Ill prob wear one on my bunk knee till it heals and just take it easier when i ride.

Yeah i agree, 3 weeks def isnt the end of the world. Its just more of a PITA than anything.
Sorry to hear about the ACL. I have bad knees and ACL injuries are common in my family. So its only a matter of time for me

Heal up soon man! Get back on those trails and shred!
Sheepo


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## highdelll (Oct 3, 2008)

Sheepo5669 said:


> Thanks man. ...


pssst! 
(Stripes isn't a man )


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

Stripes,
Lolskis. Sorry Dudette.


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## jrockmetalhead (Feb 4, 2011)

Dang, that hill is super steep and the gravel is loose as hell. Props on just going down it flying.


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## nachomc (Apr 26, 2006)

Looks like a torn hymen  

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=696828


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

jrockmetalhead said:


> Dang, that hill is super steep and the gravel is loose as hell. Props on just going down it flying.


I know! I was totally asking for it. I had been goin down it progressively faster and faster but from now on, its slow cruisin. 

Heres a pic of the stitches from this morning. I was shocked to see how much they had healed up already!












> *ROFL* No worries I can't believe you're only going to be off the bike for three weeks. Dang, that's impressive.
> 
> Thanks for the well wishes. Knee injuries, whether done by gravel (yours) or by a surgeon (mine, my ACL injury is old) really suck. Healing vibes man I'm not sure how you can prevent an ACL injury unless you live a sloth life, but that's not a mountain biker's style.


Stripes,
Might actually be less than 3 weeks. Doc wants to take the stitches out next wednesday(13th). Sorry to hear about the ACL. Just the thought makes me cringe. But Its no reason to take it easy in life. I have enough years after 65 to sloth around and get fat.We all gotta enjoy our youth!

Doc also cut my cast off my wrist and said that he doesn't think its fractured enough to have a cast on. He also says i can get back into the gym whenever i feel like it.:rockon:

And NachoMC,
Im glad the knee was the only thing i tore going down!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Peace and grease 
Sheepo


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## Ride Monkey (Mar 13, 2011)

Perhaps you'd like to get yourself some knee and elbow pads for next time? :madman:


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

Monkey,

Hell no! If i wanted safety i would pick another sport.

Jk, i might pick up a pair to be on the safe side until my scab turns into a leathery pad itself.

Sheepo


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## highdelll (Oct 3, 2008)

Sheepo5669 said:


> Monkey,
> 
> Hell no! If i wanted safety i would pick another sport.
> 
> ...


In all seriousness, I wouldn't change what you do unless you feel like it.
You know the risks (obviously).
Some wear pads, some don't.

Personally, I don't...who wants knee pads while cruising down fire roads? ut:
I also commute on the road so that may explain my penchant for death 

(No, I don't wear knee-pads while commuting - though, I'm sure I could skin my knee)


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## -bb- (Feb 3, 2005)

You royally funked yourself up?

I doubt it... otherwise you would look like this:


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## kmacon (Nov 15, 2006)

Seriously though, aren't you glad as hell that the gravel hill is by the dam and not somewhere on the far side of the lake. It would have really sucked to have to walk out from over there, though with the adrenaline pumping I bet you could have ridden out. Looking back, I've been amazed at some of the predicaments I have ridden away from.

There's plenty of miles at Lurleen to keep your heart and legs pumping. Lay off on the gravel (and sand), otherwise you are just asking for trouble.

Good luck with the healing and hope we see you at BNG!


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## nachomc (Apr 26, 2006)

Ride Monkey said:


> Perhaps you'd like to get yourself some knee and elbow pads for next time? :madman:


When you ride do you wear your tinfoil hat too?


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## 245044 (Jun 8, 2004)

Hope you heal well...I hate gravel.


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

High Dell- i hear that, I dont think ill need em after i heal. I just have to take it easier on the DH. I used to speed in my car in high school until i wrecked. I drove much safer after spending a week in the hospital! Ill do the same here.

BB- thats actually what i looked like before the surgery 

Mopartodd- Thanks a bunch. im actually healin super fast. The docs cut my cast off already and wanna take my stitches out next wednesday! I psyched to say the least.

Sheepo


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

kmacon said:


> Seriously though, aren't you glad as hell that the gravel hill is by the dam and not somewhere on the far side of the lake. It would have really sucked to have to walk out from over there, though with the adrenaline pumping I bet you could have ridden out. Looking back, I've been amazed at some of the predicaments I have ridden away from.
> 
> There's plenty of miles at Lurleen to keep your heart and legs pumping. Lay off on the gravel (and sand), otherwise you are just asking for trouble.
> 
> Good luck with the healing and hope we see you at BNG!


Man, you dont know how thankful i was to crash so close to civilization. With truck/ boat access! Man i felt like the luckiest unlucky man in the world 

I usually ride alone w/ my cell but it usually doesn't have service. Im taking it super steady on DH from here on when alone.

Thanks, ill keep healing up and ill def see you at B&G. cant wait! Just gotta heal and get in tip top shape. 
What classes are u racing in?
Sheepo


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

Whatsup guys! Just checkin in with an update. I thought i would be healed up and riding again a few weeks ago but how wrong i was... The wound is still healing and isnt even closed yet. But it is making progress. The wound was down to the bone and it is healing up attached to the patella(knee cap) which really limits my mobility. But in the past week i have made amazing progress. I have started walking normal again and the flexibility has partially returned.

As of this morning i could bend it past 90 degrees so i decided to see if i could sit on my road bike and spin my cranks backwards. I could!!!!!!! So i immediately took it outside and tried to ride around my complex. Its amazing being on a bike again!!!

Unfortunately, during the month without using my quad, my left leg has withered to that of a starved etheopian, so i pretty much have NO strength. Jumping is hard and landing is even harder! I cant keep my left leg tense when landing, it folds under my weight. And the tendon is damaged so buildiing the muscle up is painful also.

Heres a pic of how it looked as of this morning. Much better huh???








Im planning on a flat road bike ride in the next couple days to get my cycling fix and work my legs some.

Ill keep yall posted with my progress.

Sheepo


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## qkenuf4u (Jan 24, 2009)

Hey my girl said all that yellow needs to come out pronto. Its calle Sluff and can lead to possible more infection .... you might be able to pull it out w tweezers if thick enough or a 4x4 w sterile water.... she's a PTA and loves wound care. Been in the business for 25+ years so she's very good at her job.


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

qkenuf4u said:


> Hey my girl said all that yellow needs to come out pronto. Its calle Sluff and can lead to possible more infection .... you might be able to pull it out w tweezers if thick enough or a 4x4 w sterile water.... she's a PTA and loves wound care. Been in the business for 25+ years so she's very good at her job.


Yeah man. My doc has had me on a cycle of colagonase santyll? Spelling is way off.
Its supposed to chemically debreed the wound. But honestly, today after your post, i accepted that it isnt working. So i got a scalpel, tweezers, and some medical scissors and i went to town on the s.o.b. It looks a lot better. 
Heres a pic for ya lol









Sheepo


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

Stripes said:


> Glad to hear the wound is closing over.
> 
> A month without using your quad? You need to get some PT. That's something serious to recovery from. I didn't use mine for only a few days and I'm still in PT for it--3 months later.
> 
> Have you followed up with a doctor on your would? It's a good idea to keep it from getting infected.


Dudette, 
My left quad looks absolutely awful. My singlespeeders legs are absolutely gone! I think itll be okay. Im really into strength training and i am actually excited about building it back up again as fast as i can. Itll be my little project.

I have been staying up to date with the doctor. And my step-dad is a doc, so i have him to check it out everytime i go home. Im not worrying too much about infection. Im keeping it super clean and i have a pretty stong immune system.

Good news is that my quad has started to come back just in the past week. I also went on my first road bike ride again today! I had a lot of fun but my poor left leg is soo weak.

Ill keep yall posted

Sheepo


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## qkenuf4u (Jan 24, 2009)

Sheepo5669 said:


> Yeah man. My doc has had me on a cycle of colagonase santyll? Spelling is way off.
> Its supposed to chemically debreed the wound. But honestly, today after your post, i accepted that it isnt working. So i got a scalpel, tweezers, and some medical scissors and i went to town on the s.o.b. It looks a lot better.
> Heres a pic for ya lol
> 
> ...


pic wont show up.. send it to me at [email protected]..
thanks
lance


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

qkenuf4u said:


> pic wont show up.. send it to me at [email protected]..
> thanks
> lance


Edited. Let me know if its still not working.


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## qkenuf4u (Jan 24, 2009)

She said ya still need to clean up the rest of that yellow crap... good luck with the rehad 7


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## gbradley428 (Apr 22, 2011)

I know it's off subject, but were you or the local trails effected by the tornadoes?


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

gbradley428 said:


> I know it's off subject, but were you or the local trails effected by the tornadoes?


We have 2 here in town and honestly, I haven't seen em since the storm. But I think they would be okay because they were not in the direct path of the destruction.


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

qkenuf4u said:


> She said ya still need to clean up the rest of that yellow crap... good luck with the rehad 7


Damn man, Ill knock it out after the gym today. Thanks for the advice

Sheepo


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## WACK-A-n00b (Apr 28, 2011)

Sheepo5669 said:


> Thanks man. Never thought knee guards would be necessary but what the hell do i know. Ill prob wear one on my bunk knee till it heals and just take it easier when i ride.
> 
> Yeah i agree, 3 weeks def isnt the end of the world. Its just more of a PITA than anything.
> Sorry to hear about the ACL. I have bad knees and ACL injuries are common in my family. So its only a matter of time for me
> ...


Three weeks for a badass scar? That's a good trade... and remember, pain dont hurt. 

I once saw a girl fall on her face walking up some steps and caught a stair nosing right across her nose. Looked a LOT like your knee, but her story sucked. Think about that.


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## disfocus (Aug 26, 2009)

Depressing thread.
I scored a similar injury on Sunday--degloved the area below the patella. Surgeon reckons I'm looking at six weeks off bikes, which sucks because I usually ride everywhere and tow the kids in a trailer.
Not looking forward to watching my quad etc shrink the way you described, plus it's another 5 days of keeping my leg straight before I can even experiment with bending it 15 degrees, so I imagine what little flexibility I had is out the window too.
Couple of questions for those reading this thread:

1) Good exercises/stretches to do as mobility starts to return to minimise loss of strength and flexibility?

2) Good knee/elbow pads for xc/trail? I'd been contemplating padding up before this happened, but I live in the tropics and decided they'd be too hot. Anyone used the POC joint VPDs?


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

*Sorry buddy*



disfocus said:


> Depressing thread.
> I scored a similar injury on Sunday--degloved the area below the patella. Surgeon reckons I'm looking at six weeks off bikes, which sucks because I usually ride everywhere and tow the kids in a trailer.
> Not looking forward to watching my quad etc shrink the way you described, plus it's another 5 days of keeping my leg straight before I can even experiment with bending it 15 degrees, so I imagine what little flexibility I had is out the window too.
> Couple of questions for those reading this thread:
> ...


Sorry to hear it man! Its never fun getting hurt.

Im actually still healing like 2 months later... i still have an open wound and a hole all the way down to the bone. Its super weird and my doc cant figure out to make it heal from the inside out. But the good news is that i have been riding again for a few weeks and im still on track to race the weekend after next.

As for keeping strength and improving flexibility, you will have you see what you can do when you get your stitches out. I couldnt bend the knee due to lack of flex and horrible pain so the only real exercise i could do was leg raises. Lay on your back and raise your straight leg into the air and hold. MUCH harder than you would think when injured. But just doing a little bit helps your muscles from shrinking.
If you have good flexibility in your knee, maybe you can do some knee dominant leg exercises. (ex. leg extensions or leg press)

A major tip i have is nomatter how much it hurts, try your hardest to keep doing daily activities on it as best as you can. For example, when walking up stairs, try your hardest to use both legs(like you would healthy). I diddnt even try because it was uncomfortable and it just made the withering so much worse. Also, When walking try your hardest to avoid limping. Walk as normal as you can. As soon as i started walking normal again my flexibility started to return exponentially. Its not the easiest way to get around but itll keep you moving in the right direction. The little everyday things will keep you healing up and prevent you from getting worse.

Whatever you do just dont say "**** it" and quit using it till it heals. Thats what i did and my quad got tiny. It is still much smaller than my left. It has started to return and my right has gotten much bigger too due to the hard riding i have been doing. Being 20 with a lot of T. doesnt hurt either 

Good luck healing man! just remember that itll all be back to normal eventually. Its super depressing but when you are back on the bike again you wont even think about how shitty being injured was.

I am interested in hearing more about how it happened. also, keep us posted with updates.

Heal up!

Sheepo


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## disfocus (Aug 26, 2009)

Thanks for the tips guys.

It was one of those silly crashes. En route to the trails we were planning to ride, we took a short cut along a 1km-ish stretch of fun, twisty singletrack. There are a couple of sections of bridge over mangrove swamp, and one of these has recently been replaced with some kind of plastic wonder material (they used to all be wood, but long-grassers-homeless people-set fire to them for cooking fires). It looked deceptively grippy, and had a grid pattern of square-edged grooves cut into it, so I hit it at somewhere between 25 and 30kph (15.5-18.5mph)--a reasonable clip, but not caning it.

Half-way along the bridge turns a corner, and I discovered that actually it's about as grippy as wet ice. I slid out in what I thought was a fairly gentle bingle (and mostly was--no damage to the bike, couple of bruises on my arm and a light hipper) until I looked down after checking my bike and realised half my lower leg seemed to be folded back on itself! Just below my kneecap I must have caught one of the edges of a drainage groove, and peeled a chunk off like a glove. Ouch.

Luckily, not only was I just 2km or so from the local hospital, but for once I was actually riding with someone else. After applying some pressure and arranging for our respective wives to meet us at A&E (love mobile phones), I stuck my right leg out and ratchet pedalled with my left while my mate boosted me with a hand from behind until we got to the hospital and I very thankfully transferred to a wheelchair. I was lucky again in that I got to see a well-respected surgeon/specialist almost immediately and was out of there a few hours later having been very professionally stitched up inside and out, having escaped theatre, a general and a longer stay by a nanometre of intact ligament.

Now for the healing...


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## JonathanGennick (Sep 15, 2006)

disfocus said:


> There are a couple of sections of bridge over mangrove swamp, and one of these has recently been replaced with some kind of plastic wonder material


I don't have much love for that sort of material. Someone in our club bought some of that to lay down on a stretch of trail that they didn't like. It is scary stuff. I helped put it in, because I had promised to help. But having seen it, I don't want to ride it. Having that sort of material on a steep downhill is probably more dangerous than just the raw dirt.


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## nathans213 (Jun 17, 2011)

*bloody mess!*

That's a lot of blood. Took an awful wreck on a wall ride and fell about 15 ft onto my knee... Worst wreck of my life.


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

nathans213 said:


> That's a lot of blood. Took an awful wreck on a wall ride and fell about 15 ft onto my knee... Worst wreck of my life.


Ouch mayne! Was that recently?

For all who are interested, my knee still hasnt healed. Its a giant scar with a pea sized hole that goes down 3/4 cm. This was from where my wound was the deepest and to the bone.

But on the brighter side, I have been riding non stop and having a blast.

And i won that race! 1st place!


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## Sheepo5669 (May 14, 2010)

disfocus said:


> Depressing thread.
> I scored a similar injury on Sunday--degloved the area below the patella. Surgeon reckons I'm looking at six weeks off bikes, which sucks because I usually ride everywhere and tow the kids in a trailer.
> Not looking forward to watching my quad etc shrink the way you described, plus it's another 5 days of keeping my leg straight before I can even experiment with bending it 15 degrees, so I imagine what little flexibility I had is out the window too.
> Couple of questions for those reading this thread:
> ...


How you healin man?


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