Desert Disaster
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:09 pm
A friend and I took my Power Wagon on a trip to the Mojave Desert to check on some cabins and do some shooting. It was a great time until I rolled my left ankle on a rock. I fell down seeing stars and knew right away that I had broken my ankle. This was proven out when we removed my boot and my foot kinda flopped out sideways, but fortunately there were no bones sticking out.The first order of business was to get a splint on the leg because I was getting a little queasy watching my foot flop about. We used what was handy, that being a couple of 2X4's and duct tape, to splint the leg and stabilize the foot. The next problem was getting me to the truck. We were at least 100 yards off into the desert where we had set up our targets and the terrain was rocky with several small hills between me and a road. At first my friend tried to support me as I hopped, but given the rough terrain and the fact I weigh in at about 210 and he would be lucky to hit 140, this was not going to work. I ultimately ended up scootching on my ass on the down hill parts and crawling on my hands and knees on the uphill. Fortunately i had leather gloves and the pants I was wearing have knee pads so i did not get too torn up.
Obviously the trip was over, but we had planned to return home the following day so nothing was packed or ready to go. I had to sit and try to direct my friend and another couple of guys helping us on how to load the truck. It took about an hour to pack up and during the wait I realized that I was going to have to drive since my friend has never driven off-road let alone in a fulls size truck. Getting down from the cabins is about 4 1/2 miles of moderately technical road, but very rough and steep in spots so every bounce and jolt was sending a few sparks from my ankle. We made it out of the mountains, aired up and headed for home. I had decided at this point to head directly home, around 250 miles, rather than head for the nearest ER because I work at a large hospital in Orange County as an RN in the ICU and wanted to be treated by people I know. I had also decided that I would drive the entire way because I know the truck and the route so could probably get home a little sooner.
I took the fall at 12:30 PM and reached my home at 6:30 PM and finally made it to the ER at 7:00PM. Exam and X-Ray's showed a pretty bad fracture of my left ankle called a "tri-malleolar fracture" basically three fractures on my distal tibia and fibula I was told I needed surgery fairly soon so I was admitted and finally made it to a room on the orthopedic floor at around 12:30 AM, it had been a very long day. I was in surgery about 36 hours later and ended up with 13 screws and a metal plate in my ankle
I'll be off work for at least 3 months and at this time completely non-weight bearing on the left leg for at least another 3 weeks. That's why i have the time to post long winded narrations of my little disaster.
Anyway, a few pictures from the ordeal:
Obviously the trip was over, but we had planned to return home the following day so nothing was packed or ready to go. I had to sit and try to direct my friend and another couple of guys helping us on how to load the truck. It took about an hour to pack up and during the wait I realized that I was going to have to drive since my friend has never driven off-road let alone in a fulls size truck. Getting down from the cabins is about 4 1/2 miles of moderately technical road, but very rough and steep in spots so every bounce and jolt was sending a few sparks from my ankle. We made it out of the mountains, aired up and headed for home. I had decided at this point to head directly home, around 250 miles, rather than head for the nearest ER because I work at a large hospital in Orange County as an RN in the ICU and wanted to be treated by people I know. I had also decided that I would drive the entire way because I know the truck and the route so could probably get home a little sooner.
I took the fall at 12:30 PM and reached my home at 6:30 PM and finally made it to the ER at 7:00PM. Exam and X-Ray's showed a pretty bad fracture of my left ankle called a "tri-malleolar fracture" basically three fractures on my distal tibia and fibula I was told I needed surgery fairly soon so I was admitted and finally made it to a room on the orthopedic floor at around 12:30 AM, it had been a very long day. I was in surgery about 36 hours later and ended up with 13 screws and a metal plate in my ankle
I'll be off work for at least 3 months and at this time completely non-weight bearing on the left leg for at least another 3 weeks. That's why i have the time to post long winded narrations of my little disaster.
Anyway, a few pictures from the ordeal:
What he said ! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
