Haha
As for the helmet thing, curious to your reason why the full face is better?
I was wearing my full face the day I was hurt. The chin guard was the part of the helmet that ended up in my chest. When you tuck and role and land on your shoulder and head it pushed the chin guard passed the ribs and into the lung. Remove part of the lung and replace the broken rib pieces with titanium and you will know it for evermore. Full face helmet 3/4 helmet end of the day it's what feels right.

It took me a week to look at my stuff, glad your at it in just a couple days.

Quote: Originally posted by flyguy0101

Steve, Glad you are okay- it makes me think about my lofting 2 yrs ago that resulted in literally breaking my back in half (complete horizontal fracture of my t11)- I can honestly say that while I have gotten back on the horse- I have reduced my jumping and vertical ascending to clean winds only (on shore breezes)- heres to a speedy recovery scott

Holy rapid decent Scott! T11 is about half way down so the "literally...in half" statement is on the mark. Fantastic that you weren't paralyzed. A T11 break is high enough to take out a whole lot more than just your legs. Really appreciate the well wishes. Can't say I like being in this club we both belong to but both of us are here to write about things and for you to be able to describe more tame post injury riding experiences. Mine will come, mine will come.

Quote: Originally posted by bigkid

Haha As for the helmet thing, curious to your reason why the full face is better? I was wearing my full face the day I was hurt. The chin guard was the part of the helmet that ended up in my chest. When you tuck and role and land on your shoulder and head it pushed the chin guard passed the ribs and into the lung. Remove part of the lung and replace the broken rib pieces with titanium and you will know it for evermore. Full face helmet 3/4 helmet end of the day it's what feels right. It took me a week to look at my stuff, glad your at it in just a couple days.

Jeff, that just sounds horrible. I am so happy you are around for many reasons not the least so you can write on this forum. Protective gear is such a crap shoot really; you try and protect your face and jaw and end up scooping out your chest- go figure! I took a shower just now and "discovered" a big set of bruises around my right elbow and along the back of my right shoulder. I'm loaded up with 600 mg ibuprofen every six hours so I'm sure more bruises will start cropping up.

My AC joint in my right shoulder is way better than yesterday. I can actually raise my hand to go to the bathroom without wincing today; almost wet myself waiting my turn yesterday. My sternum and various places around my chest cavity hurt the most today; it's like I fell from the sky by the way it feels.

Hey Steve!
Wishing a speedy recovery to our favorite "non-athlete". (I am sure it was just a typo!) Thanks for reminding us all of the potential disaster that awaits. Glad you aren't any worse.

Quote: Originally posted by utahtami

Hey Steve! Wishing a speedy recovery to our favorite "non-athlete". (I am sure it was just a typo!) Thanks for reminding us all of the potential disaster that awaits. Glad you aren't any worse.

Thanks Tami! Yeah, the non-athlete label was a real stinger. What were they thinking? We're all athletes, it's just that most don't get the sports network we play on. Long live the "Ocho"!

Dang Steve. Man I'm so glad you are up and as best as you can be at the moment. Get well soon bud!

Quote: Originally posted by 3shot

Dang Steve. Man I'm so glad you are up and as best as you can be at the moment. Get well soon bud!

Thanks Jason! About 48 hours out and feeling good to be alive. :saint: Ozone kites going cheap! Own a piece of history. :karate:

Wow...that is crazy! Glad you're ok.

Maybe it's time to re-buy those Nasa Stars and find some asphalt and concrete and do some concrete surfing :D

Glad to hear you're ok, Steve. I had a scare 2 winters ago when I got lofted pretty good in some really gusty winds. Happened to be on a frozen lake with boiler plate ice/snow. The 2 fishermen who witnessed it said, "Dang, that was a purdy neat trick you just did!"

Long story short, I landed hard on my side, spent two weeks sleeping in a lazy Boy recliner. Since my wife made me promise not to break anything several years ago, I made a deal to take her out for Indian food in lieu of getting x-rays. She got some good Marsala Chicken, and I can say with mostly a straight face that I just bruised some ribs.

Probably one reason why I prefer lighter winds nowadays though. Glad to see you had the appropriate gear!

Speedy recoveries,

Nate

Quote: Originally posted by nate76

Glad to hear you're ok, Steve. I had a scare 2 winters ago when I got lofted pretty good in some really gusty winds. Happened to be on a frozen lake with boiler plate ice/snow. The 2 fishermen who witnessed it said, "Dang, that was a purdy neat trick you just did!" Long story short, I landed hard on my side, spent two weeks sleeping in a lazy Boy recliner. Since my wife made me promise not to break anything several years ago, I made a deal to take her out for Indian food in lieu of getting x-rays. She got some good Marsala Chicken, and I can say with mostly a straight face that I just bruised some ribs. Probably one reason why I prefer lighter winds nowadays though. Glad to see you had the appropriate gear! Speedy recoveries, Nate

Thanks for the well wishes Nate. Scary getting lofted and then beach slapped onto boiler plate. I'm very glad to hear you got out of things with only some dinner obligations and rib bruising.

I'm writing this having just awoken from another night in my home theater chair. My head, shoulder, and hip are almost better, but son of a beach, I've still got a lot of pain in multiple places around my rib cage. I suspect cracked ribs, torn or strained intercostal muscles, cartilage, etc. One spot in particular under where my hand would be if I performed a left-handed pledge of allegiance is the worst. Hah! Small penalties.

To all - thank you so much for your continued well wishes and fellow tales of woe. Great feeling of community here on PKF - what a family we have here!

I can honestly say, I've not had any injuries from kiting. I don't push it too hard though. That along with a little luck have probably been the reason because I know a freak gust is impossible to avoid. My worst injuries have been from indoor soccer and slamming the concrete at a skate park a couple times. What you describe pain wise sounds very similar to my skate park fall. My right shoulder pain and bruised ribs. Bruised ribs took a couple weeks and hurt to sneeze or cough. My injury just happened to coincide with having allergies this last early spring. Talk about a pita, bruised ribs and sneezing every couple minutes on top of a nose that wouldn't stop running. Carrying a ladder at work was no walk in the park either. I wasn't wearing any protective gear and do not own any protective gear besides a helmet.

I'll use your accident as encouragement to get some more safety gear.

I went to the ER today because I had been getting some strange post-concussive symptoms. I got a new CT and sure enough I have an Abby Normal brain. You can see what is wrong on the CT image below. The Abby Normal part is at around 10-11 O-Clock and looks like a dent.



[img][/img]


From the radiology report: Intracranial hemorrhage: Subacute right posterolateral frontal and anterior paretal subdural hematoma measuring about 6 cm in length, 4 cm in height, and about 7-8 mm in width. In other words, a chronic subdural hematoma (way better than an acute one). The bugger formed right at the place where I bashed my head in. Guess a tad worse than a grass cut.

I had been seen and imaged so rapidly back on July 9th when this happened that the hematoma probably hadn't even had time to form yet, much less fill up with blood. Had I had a repeat scan the following day it probably would have shown up. At this point it is pretty much a waiting game for the old gucky blood to get slowly reabsorbed. Should be good to go for SnowKiting.

Christ, it's never boring around here. :sniff:

What kind of symptoms were you experiencing? Wishing you the best for the ongoing recovery. Scary stuff for sure.

Dude, I just knew you were banged up bad. You don't mash a helmet like that with a gentle bump.

For reason's I can't explain your injury really hit home. Maybe because I rely on " plastic courage " as well and know 1st hand it is only protection. No guarantee of no injury but I suspect my helmet has saved me from mild concussion at least twice.

I have been kicking myself for backing down the weekend after you went boom. Thinking your issue was playing too much in my head. I feel just a bit better about listening to the caution bells going off in my head. Better than the concussion bells!

In the U.S. would you have been out of pocket going back in a day or 2 for a follow up scan?

Sorry to see the booboo on the X-ray. Good to see all the grey matter in the center area.
I found out after 5 years my neck was messed up and now it's time for the second bilateral c2-c4 medial branch block. Not looking forward to the procedure after that. At least my head wasn't effected, I have enough brain problems.

Funny how old age makes a bigger impression on our recovery than our young desires are willing to admit. At least you won't get pulled out of the buggy again.

Well poop!... Sorry to hear it buddy

Curious too what made you go back for the second scan?

Continue your speedy recovery friend!

Helpful hint: get a mandolin, they don't hurt as much.

yea pbly want to pay attention to that...or now that its known your gonna have to
gotta admit that helmet picture left an impression on me too
good luck

Thanks for all the outpouring my freinds! Greatly appreciated. Symptoms? A general feeling that things just weren't right coupled with periodic transient numbness taking over parts of my left side. The numbness stuff started about a week ago and really was pretty freaky. As this was explained to me, when the old blood that filled the hematoma is broken down by the body's natural processes the blood break down products leach into the brain near the point of injury. These breakdown products are highly irritating to the brain and it can lead to a series of transient changes such as what I'm experiencing. Not dangerous per se but pretty freaky.

Are you flying...or resting...?

Keep an eye on your healing..... and here's to a complete recovery soon. Time schedule just needs to advance a bit.

Sorry to hear about your mishap and best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. Also thanks for posting this.

Your story makes me wonder if I would have done anything differently... maybe, maybe not. In a way, I already have: not too long ago I largely gave up on the idea of kiting on land (MTB, skates etc). The lack of good locations nearby is definitely a big factor, but the main reason was the gradual realization that I had better not get hurt on land, not really worth it, when I can kite on water and snow. (That leaves ice in a grey area, ok if very careful.)

Perhaps a friend said it best, when commenting about landboarding vs. kiteboarding in fall, winter and spring: I'll take 15 minutes of body dragging through very cold water (to get to shore, should something happen) anytime, over the 0.15 seconds that it takes to get hurt on land. Winds are far cleaner on water too.

About two years ago I was skiing on a frozen lake in difficult conditions. Very gusty winds, getting stronger quickly. I had to stop and get my smaller kite just a few minutes after launching. A big front had been forecasted to come through. I kept checking my phone and knew the expected time. And indeed, as forecasted, a big wall of wind arrived quite suddenly, with gusts in excess of 30-40 mph. Exactly at that point, I had my most intense kiting experience so far... a sudden rush of happiness of such an intensity that it left me euphoric for a long time after that. (And I can still remember it quite clearly.) The reason?.... I had finished packing up my kite just a couple of minutes earlier.

Good story br44. I've packed up many times when the wind feels like it's getting spooky for lack of a better word.

Agreed - good tale br44. I now am going to limit my mobile powerkiting to two forms. First, on land with a buggy equipped with Jeff's (BigKid) venerable AQR system. Really nice in its simplicity and purposefulness. I plan to use my Peak2s in the buggy. Yes, you can still get hurt in the buggy even without vertical ejections, but that risk seems manageable to me.

Second, snowkiting on skis. This will be in deep soft snow out in fields and large open expanses as compared to on some thin cover on soccer fields. I've got to face the fact that such early or late season snowkiting with thin cover on soccerfields is pretty much the same as my previous attempts at kite skating. In Utah once the snow is deep enough to cover the sage brush and long grass it is at least 3-4 feet deep of settled standing snow. The concussive risk is pretty minimal in such a setting and again the risks seems manageable. For snowkiting I'm going to use Ozone Access kites that have very low ARs, and while you could boost you would have to try pretty hard.

Finally, and this is really the biggest and most important part by far, I have to be willing to not start or pack it in when things are sketchy. As I originally reported in the first posting on this thread, while I was setting up I saw a large vortex or dirt devil take over pretty much an entire infield of a nearby dirt baseball diamond. Yo idiot! Don't set up after you see that! Idiot here being yours truly. :alien:

Sorry to hear about your continued complications from your accident. I guess this would go down as "another ef&^$#ing growth experience." But seems like you are taking the lessons to heart and giving the rest of us the benefit of your experience. Thanks for doing that.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Sorry to hear about your continued complications from your accident. I guess this would go down as "another ef&^$#ing growth experience." But seems like you are taking the lessons to heart and giving the rest of us the benefit of your experience. Thanks for doing that.

Thanks brother! I've grown and learned so damn much through this I think I may need to retire to Southern Florida if I keep up this growth much further.

I really don't want to be "that guy" on the forum always bringing up depressing crap and talking about my injuries. I often say "The whole world hates a whiner" and I'm sure as hell not whining. I'm just some 55 year old kid that has always loved the wind and just want to have years more of fun getting pulled around under kites with a 6-yr-old's grin glued to my face. If I have to be more careful and selective in my kiting venues that is a trade-off I'm more than willing to make.

All that said, I absolutely refuse to "walk quietly into the night". I progressed from Alpine to Telemark skiing last winter and I'll progress my kiting too.

I saw my neurologist earlier this week who read my lastest head CT study. The chronic subdural hematoma has fully resolved. I am hereby released from captivity. I haven't been under kite power since the accident on July 9th (other than two extremely brief times just to test out the AQR) and I've been itching to get out again. True to my word I've sold as much of my skating gear as I could with the rest still for sale.

Equipped with Jeff's (BigKid) AQR I'm heading down to Lake Ivanpah to meet up with Paul (Jeepersjoey) for a couple of days of buggy bliss on the playa just before Thanksgiving. I can hardly wait!

Sincere thanks for all the well wishes over these past months from my second family. It truly meant a lot.

Wuhoo!!! glad to hear it Steve!!!

Good deal all around....... good health and good(great) place to ride -I hear.........

Take some pics....and have fun.