Always need a backup ;)

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peakbagger

Minister of Fire
Jul 11, 2008
8,776
Northern NH
My winter preps were done a few weeks ago.

Bulkhead full of wood and plenty fo 2 year plus wood in the piles - Check

Backup heating oil in the tank (bought some cheap last summer) - Check

Recent vintage snowblower with key spares since the plow guy retired - Check

Plenty of surplus net metered electric power to run the mini split - Check

Plan to need my ankle reconstructed and on crutches for minimum 8 weeks - Not Check

Last Saturday was a nice day. I needed some exercise so decided to climb the local ski slope, Wildcat Mtn in NH. Its 4,000 footer and about a 2000 foot vertical hike. It started out cool inthe AM but I ended up in shorts and a T- shirt. The route follows the maintenance road to the summit. While heading up a couple of ski patrol folks were heading up in a ATV to the summit. I made it up to the top and saw they were doing prep work for the hoped for opening in few weeks (once they get some natural snwo and colder temps they will crank the snow guns on) I got some good views of the east side of Mt Washington and the surrounding mountains. I headed down and was walking in the grass down the ski slope. No ice or snow at the time but a bit wet under the grass. About 20 minutes down from the summit I stepped wrong and landed on the ground in quite a bit of pain. I look down and my foot is rotated 90 degrees to the right vertically and not lined up with my leg. I gear up to stay warm and call 911. After some confusion with dispatchers I get NH Fish and Game on the line and am talking to one of the celebrities on North Woods Law. Officer Lucas. I tell him where I am and he asks if he can drive a pickup truck up the maintenance road, I was around 1800 feet vertically up from the base. I tell him about the ski patrol and he tells me he will see what he can do. In about 10 minutes a few hikers come by and I tell them my problem and the say the ATV is right behind them. Turns out the ski patrollers are also EMTs with the local ambulance squads. They do the assessment and immobilize my ankle which had to be creative as it was quite twisted. Then its an interesting climb onto the ATV and a bumpy 20 minute ride down the mountain and on to an ambulance and then to the ER. The ski patrollers could not give me painkillers but they did help me take a few advil from my pack. Surprising how well adrenalin and a few Advil work that was th only painkiller I had all day until I got home. The ER doc walks in looks at my foot and his eyes get wide. He asks how long its been and priority one is to get the foot back in place. He decides to knock me out as he said given my size and what he had to do he didnt think he and the nurses could restrain me as it really was going to hurt. Its the same shot and dose as a colonoscopy so 20 minutes later I am awake with a big splint arrangement on. They take a X-Ray and the end of two bones are broken. So now its wait around home limited to one floor (the boiler is in the basement) waiting for an Ortho surgeon. Looks like next week for the surgery.

So its good I had backup plan. I have a brother who is building a house on a 10 year plan nearby so he will be staying with me as needed for support. Its good practice for him as he has never burnt wood and his future driveway is far worse so he can see how my track drive blower works.
 
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Good to hear you are prepared. Sorry to hear about the injury. Hope you have a speedy recovery!
 
Good luck on your recovery. Yup........always be prepared, you never know.
 
Get one of the kneel on scooters if your docs agree. They may look silly for an ankle but just to wiz around even your one floor they are just better. Bet you could even stud the tires if you wanted too;)

Our second oldest broke his ankle in kindergarten. Didn’t even bother with crutches straight to scatter on day 3 or 4. By week 2 he was just as fast as he was on two feet. Not at all helpful with stairs but I’d take a that 4 wheeled scooter over crutches in the slush and snow anytime.

Hoping for a speedy recovery.

Evan.
 
So sorry Peak that "that happened"---what a trip---at least the doc knocked you out and got it ready for the next doctor project--so sorry and so glad you have your brother there with you until you decide on the next move of action and can be on your own again..For a "outdoors person" who is a worker this will be a very different adventure for you and I bet it was a pretty day too...Saying prayers peakbagger for you and the holidays are coming but by that time you will be well on your way with the healing process and things will become routene..Hang in there forest friend and things each day will get brighter...Take plenty of calcium and vitamin D and stay hydrated..keep calm and eat and read a lot...get well soon...old clancey
 
they had you in mind when they come out with the saying go big or go home. best of luck get well soon. if it's going to be longer than you expected look into renting out one of those chair lifts for the staircase.
 
Sorry to hear of your misfortune. At least you've taken time to "be prepared," although I don't think that's what you had on the mind.
things always seem to work themselves out. Your brother staying with you is one of them. At the least, this has happened now and not while you were trying to get prepared for this winter's season.

Keep us posted on your updates.
 
Well my boiler training had some surprises resulting in a safety letting off that I have never tested. My Burnham like other wood boilers of the era had two pressure relief valves, one calibrated slightly lower than the main one. Its output is a pipe to the firebox. Due to combination of things he managed to lift that relief and was surprised to see water/vapor spraying out of the firebox and ash door. He was stressed out and I was smelling smoke so I made it down the stairs on my crutches and figured out what was going on. Looks like no harm and he understands the operation better. The minisplit is running today so we will give it try again this evening.

I have some folks coming this weekend who want to help so I will have them fill up my bulkhead from my woodpile. to save that hassle later on.
 
Well my boiler training had some surprises resulting in a safety letting off that I have never tested. My Burnham like other wood boilers of the era had two pressure relief valves, one calibrated slightly lower than the main one. Its output is a pipe to the firebox. Due to combination of things he managed to lift that relief and was surprised to see water/vapor spraying out of the firebox and ash door. He was stressed out and I was smelling smoke so I made it down the stairs on my crutches and figured out what was going on. Looks like no harm and he understands the operation better. The minisplit is running today so we will give it try again this evening.

I have some folks coming this weekend who want to help so I will have them fill up my bulkhead from my woodpile. to save that hassle later on.
Good to here all is moving along fine ...... but how are you doing?
 
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Waiting until Monday to have the ankle rebuilt. They could not fix it right away due to swelling so they had to wait until the swelling goes down to operate. If they wait too long the bones try to start healing on themselves in the wrong place. One them is floating around not attached so not sure what happens to it.

It sucks losing my independence.
 
Waiting until Monday to have the ankle rebuilt. They could not fix it right away due to swelling so they had to wait until the swelling goes down to operate. If they wait too long the bones try to start healing on themselves in the wrong place. One them is floating around not attached so not sure what happens to it.

It sucks losing my independence.
I am sorry to hear this.
And yes, loosing the ability to fend for one's self really does suck.
Pay attention to your nutrition for a speedy recovery.
 
Well one step towards a bit of independence. I ordered up a knee crutch, (IWALK3). Took me a bit to assemble and adjust but I was walking around in about 10 minutes (far shorter than the assembly and adjustment. Beats crutches and in theory I can do stairs. It takes a lot of load off my good foot when standing. My surgery is on Monday so I figured I would try it out sooner than later.

Now I need to rig up some traction for the foot pad. I have a selection of traction aids for hiking including a broken pair so I expect I can get something rigged up. Now I have to rig up a sock for my splint so my toes do not get cold.

Once I get my bulkhead refilled, I should be back in the wood boiler business. I even think I may be able to use my snowblower and my stair climber to stay in shape.
 
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see if you have an OT (Occupational therapist) you can tap into - video call or personal. They are the ones with the professional expertise to "rig stuff up" to make you able to take care of yourself while you have limitations. (Splints, traction, safety etc.)
 
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Once the surgery gets done I will be pushing for PT as soon as possible.
 
Yes PT is good. They help you get your body back to specs. OTs help you function even when your body is not up to specs (yet, or, I worst case, always).
 
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I missed this thread when it was new. Sorry to hear about your injury, but I do know what it feels like to lose independence, even if temporary. I hope your surgery goes well and you can see OT/PT and begin getting back to normal.
 
Just seeing this thread now.

Sorry to hear about your injury. Good luck tomorrow, and best wishes for a speedy recovery.
 
Tomorrow when you wake up from surgery you will be on your way to recovery and keep in mind they can do wonderful things now a days and your ankle might have pins or whatever but it will be in normal position and healing as well...Take you vitamins and make sure you get some sunshine and eat good too...You will figure it all out and in no time you will be optimistic about the future with walking and my friend once told me --she had major surgery--and suffered a bit--but one day in time she was all better and headed in the right direction and she knew she was better...Bless you and best wishes tomorrow and Christmas is coming and you will be splinting around just wonderful and keep this in mind...Good Luck tomorrow...clancey
 
Good luck today . . . speedy recovery wishes.
 
Well the good news is they got the fix in and didnt have to do some temporary repairs, so supposedly in 6 weeks I graduate to some form of mobility. The hardware is a seven inch long plate on one side of the fibula (thats the snall leg bone) with 7 screws and 2 screws on the other side of the tibia (the big bone). Lots of sutures rubbing but not a lot of pain now, but the sutures will be irritating for 2 weeks before they come out. It was supposed to be day surgery but I got admitted overnight as one of the nerve blocks didnt work so I was pumped full of lots of pain meds from noon to 6 Pm until something worked. I think the staff in the wards are burned out from Covid and appreciate someone who isnt dealing with Covid.
 
Well, don't go to a place with metal detectors ..
Hope the recovery will go smoothly, even if not fast.

Yes, staff is quite burned out. Whenever there is no Covid surge in hospitals, there is a big backlog of postponed elective surgeries. So it's been busy for quite a long time now.
 
Sounds like quite a major surgery. I hope the operation went well and the healing is quick.
 
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Update Two weeks from hardware installation. I got my sutures out today and everything looked right. I also got swapped to a removable walking cast. Its far more comfortable but no weight bearing for 4 weeks until the next X-ray and appointment. I hope I can switch to a knee crutch which will up my mobility. I got a CD of my latest Xrays, looks like they raided the hardware store;)
 
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