June 14th, 2009- Catastrophe!

June 14th, '09.

 My good friend, Mark, and I had planned to go out on the ATVs in the gravel pits. My son and I rode ours to Marks place and then we all went to the pit.

Oh it was great, jumping over the mounds and climbing the hills- and another friend, Carl, turned up in his pick-up and joined in. It was really good until I managed to roll mine over and fell 15 feet, then had it land on my legs.

Of course, I was knocked a bit sparko for a minute or two, and came to when Mark dropped my upturned 4 wheeler back on my legs when he tried to pick it up by the exhaust. I knew it was pretty bad. When I tried sitting up I knew I had broken some ribs and I discovered my shoulder was a bit of a mess. When it rolled, the throttle and brake master cylinder hit me in the right upper chest and shoulder.

I was soooo lucky to have my friends there. We finally got me to Carls truck and they drove me to the local hospital where the Xrays showed it was not a good scene so I was transferred by ambulance to Winnipeg Health Sciences.

While waiting for the Triage, I tried to stand up and it wa sonly then, when my left lung collapsed, that it was discovered my right lung was punctured.... Needless to say, Triage was forgotten and I became a full emergency case. I was rushed in, my chest was drained and the lungs reinflated then I eventually got put on a ward, doped to the eyeballs on morphine and plugged in to all these odd monitors..

 Anyway, it turned out I had 6 broken ribs, a punctured lung and a seperated shoulder. All the ligaments that hold the shoulder joint together were basically destroyed in the impact. Very painful indeed! I had a chest tube in to keep the lung from collapsing again so had a little box I had to carry once i was back on my feet, which I was by Tuesday 16th.

They finally got tired of me on the following Sunday and I was allowed home. I still could not do much for myself but I was home.

On July 14th I went back to work. Keystone were fantastic about it and put me on van trailers to let me, and them, know if I could do it. I managed, simple as that, and now, 12 weeks on, I am back up to full mileage again. I still get pain, and the shoulder is really not very nice as the collarbone is unattached still and pops out all the time, but I am working, that's the thing.

Interestingly, all the stuff and nonsense about having to pay for healthcare out here has proven untrue. In Canada, you are covered but you are not covered in the USA. I had to pay nothing for my treatment, and the people at the hospital were fantastic. Even the food was good!!

 As a footnote, if you ride 4 wheelers, please be careful. I don't frighten easily, but this frightened me!!