layton Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 (edited) I was downclimbing the last bit of the Fox in Redrocks since my ropes didn't quite reach after toprope-soloing it and slipped. I fell 15 feet, bounced off my back (which is slightly fucked) and landed on my lovely unpadded rockshoes. I broke my right foot (4 metatarsals) and could see the bones pushing up under the skin. (puke). My left foot hurt too and I couldn't put much weight on it either (1 broken metatarsal). I crawled out on my hands and knees down the rocky slope for about 90-120 minutes through the quickest way (through cactuses and scrub oak) and cut the shit out of my arms and legs. Then I dragged myself down the trail for another hour until someone spotted me about 75 yds from the car and called in the rescue which I yelled at him not to do. Instead of giving me a walking stick, 20 SARS backboared me to an ambulance after waving off the helicopter that landed next to me. Then in the ambulance a newbie got to put in my I.V. for the 1st time and magaged to get it in, but the he turned around and walked into the hose going from my vein to the bag. The needle didn't rip out cuz I grabbed him by the shirt and told him not to make another fucking move. They rushed me to the wrong hospital (there's one 3 blocks from my house) far far away from home and there were no beds so they stuck me in the hallway for 3 hours still on the backboard to stare at the ceiling. Oh, did I mention they forgot to pad the backboard? Ok, so after 3 hours on an unpadded backboard, your broken feet strapped tightly to the board start to hurt just a bit more, and the occipital protruberance on your skull kinda aches. You smashed back cramps up just a wee bit. Finally some off duty doc saw my agony and cleared my spine so I could get of the board. Oh wait, before all this. I had to take a piss really bad. So the paramedic who had to wait for me to be admitted gets a pee bottle and holds up a sheet to hide me pissing. Pissing into a bottle on your back strapped in really good is not easy so I grabbed some excess blanked she was holding and used it to collect all the spillage going on. When I was done she split and left me with a urine soaked blanked to keep me warm. I had to use it cuz I was shivering from cold and shock. I finally got moved to a bed and was left there for 3 more hours. Until the x-ray guys wheeled me in and took photos. They said I was, "fucked". 2 hours later a nurse came by and gave me 2 codine tablets. My 1st painkiller since my fall. I wanted more. My feet were puffing up like a sausage left on some forgotten tube-stuffer set on extra-plump. Finally Andrew (the guy whose foot got smashed on the Cloud Tower TR-ironic) and Jason Martin show up with sodas and burritos. Jason, the intellectaul writter, brings me Newsweek. Maxim and Weekly World News wan't coming. Andrew stays a bit longer to witness a true scream as the RN pulls quick hard traction on my toes. It's now midnight, some dude wraps my feet in an ace wrap and puts a splint on my right foot. He tells me my metatarsals are broken....really, no shit I think. Another hours passes and I get my I.V. pulled and am told to go home. I get a the number of a surgeon. This was friday. The surgeon can be reached on Monday (today). I get a prescrition for codine and ibu. The hospital pharmacy closed for an hour right after I got there. Fuck. I never saw a doctor, and no one ever once gave me ICE for my feet (which were never elevated). Even after I asked, and Andrew asked...no fucking ice. I got let go from my job today, but I saw the surgeon. My feet were too puffy to get surgery today, so I gotta wait a week from tuesday (tomorrow) for surgery on both feet. Relocation, reductions, and pins pins pins. I wonder if they are B.D. or Charlet pins? Maybe Ushba? I got a bag of frozen peas on my left, and a bag of frozen corn on my right. I guess when this is over, I can have some fuckin kick-ass succulant suckitash, assuming I progress to lima-beans and carrots. I'm going up to Bellingham when I can drive. Hopefully in two weeks. Nobody climb shit till I get better, although I already got about 300 pitches in since the 1st of the year. I've been skippin' the codine and taking my ibu, ice, and lots and lots and lots of See you guys soon hopefully. Edited May 6, 2003 by michael_layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlpineK Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Bummer dude. Sounds like the paramedics in LV are a bunch of jackasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 That SUCKS! You have my sympathy, amigo. I've been knocked out of commission myself a couple of times and been in a similar place. My only advice is listen to the Docs and be sure to give yourself time to heal - I've known a few people who succumbed to the temptation to get back on it way before they were ready and ended up spending about twice as long on injured reserve as a result. Heal fast..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolyn Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Damn! Heal quickly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Crikey, you got the worst medical care money can buy. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordop Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 (edited) . Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 hey i guess now necro has a reason to sponge bath you!! you can climb 4th class with me all summer! i am getting two swedish female porters soon!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleblebleb Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Mike. That sucks. Fucking incredible hospital story too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucK Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 (edited) Can you play pool while metatarsally disabled? That's what I'd do, if my feet were broken. I'd play a buncha pool. It would probably be a good hustling ploy, to be hobbling around on crutches. Pool. yeah Like jordop said, the projects will wait. Think about it. A fine schooling in the art of billiards could serve you well in your later years. Think of it as training. Or darts. Darts. yeah Edited May 6, 2003 by chucK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambone Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Sorry to hear that mike, keep your chin up man, you'll recover! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_Simpkins Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Mike, That sucks. Hope you get better soon. Take it easy. When you get up here, we'll get you some get well . -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_detrick Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Get well soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleblebleb Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 I was thinking, it's apparently better if you're visibly in a lot of pain in those Nevada hospitals. Yelling and screaming, like. Hey, where's icegirl? She works in a hospital. How frequent is this kind of stuff? Whatsit take to get immediate attention? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Martin Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 I'll tell you guys something... Mike is a hell of a trooper. The day after the accident I went in to retrieve Mike's gear from "The Fox." I've climbed the route a number of times and have always disliked the approach. Though it's short by Red Rock standards, most of it is a third and fourth class scramble up slabs and cactus choked gullies. As I approached to get the gear I couldn't help imagining Mike crawling down this thing. I don't think Joe Simpson ever had to wiggle himself over scrub oak and cacti on his epic. Periodically on the approach I saw little patches of grass where it was clear someone had stopped and laid down for awhile. Man o' man, it was seriously hard core for him to crawl out of there. The hospitals down here suck. Because there is no cap on malpractice suits and malpractice insurance is so high, doctors are leaving the state like crazy. I once found a guy with a compound fracture in his leg. Once we got him to the hospital, they had him lay on the floor in the waiting room among all the other beat-up people for three hours before they even brought him back into the hospital proper. The moral of this story and Mike's is: Don't get hurt in Red Rock, Mt. Charleston, Wheeler Peak, Clark Mountain, Cave Rock, or whereever else you might climb in Nevada. There are two ironies to this whole craziness. First, at a climbers cleanup on Saturday I was told that only a week before Mike got hurt another climber was doing exactly the same thing (top-rope soloing on the same route) and had almost the exact same epic. The differences being this climber rappelled off the end of his ropes and broke one foot... The other irony to this is that Mike's roommate is a climber who broke both ankles in November... At least he's in a supportive household. Get well soon. I think everyone here is with you and is thinking about you! It's all about drinking lots of beer and watching lots of movies this spring. You'll be back on your feet before you know it. Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necronomicon Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Save the codine for the bivys this summer, we ate all the vicodin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisT Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 That's one of the better TRs I've read in a long time! Sorry about your accident and I hope you get better and back climbing real soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genepires Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Damn Mikey, sorry to hear about your fall but glad to hear that you didn't crack your head open. Damn impressive with your self rescue from the desert. I got all scratched up just walking out of those climbs, can't even imagine what it must have been like to crawl out of there. Going out to for ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregm Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 ouch. can we all chip in and send you a fruit basket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 that is the worst hospital experience I have ever read or heard about. take care and get better soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Bad Karma? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Oh My - I would hate for anything like that to happen to my worst enemy. I hope you heal quickly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Sorry to hear...... It takes time to heal. Things could have been worse--for instance they could have held your manhood for you while you trying to take a piss. You will be back out climbing.....I guarantee it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkemp Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Sorry to hear about your accident and damnation, the way you were treated! Cheese-o-Pete, what this world has come to... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialed Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Dude you would have been way better off just going home lying on your couch and watching Different Strokes reruns. That's bullshit. I hate ineptitude like that. Well, the rocks not going anywhere - you'll get back!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkemp Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Please excuse my ignorance but what is 'solo top roping'? Hang a rope from an anchor and move up an acsender as you climb? Thats all I can think of. Thx in advance... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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