| First of all, sorry for the lack of updates. Work has been incredibly busy, and when I'm not working, I'm hanging out with the other video boaters. That leaves no time and energy for things like updating a blog.
Of course, I have plenty of time now, because, according to the doctor at the ER, I can't work for a while.
Let me back up a bit and explain. I was out with Sam's trip yesterday, running the Lower New for the second time. I handled all the class 4s without any trouble the first time I did it (last week), except for a near-flip in Lower Keeneys (one of the bigger and more infamous rapids). This time, it wasn't a near-flip; I went over right in the middle of the drop. I set up for a roll, and that's when I hit the rock. I was told later that the hit bounced my boat up out of the water a bit, but I didn't feel like I'd hit it that hard. I washed over the rock and slammed against another one just downstream, which I also washed over. After that, I felt a few waves, then the water flattened out. I tried to roll but brought my head up too soon and flopped back down with a mouthful of water. At that point, I decided it was time to swim. When I came up, Charlie, who was also running with Sam, was close by, waiting to help me. He said afterward that Sam had signaled him to go get me because the hit was so bad they were scared I had been knocked out. With Charlie's help, I got to shore without losing any of my gear. As I swam, I could feel my right shoulder tightening up and becoming more painful than I expected. I had been prepared for a major bruise, but this was far worse. Charlie and I stood on a rock in an eddy and waited for the trip to come through. We couldn't do much else. I told him my shoulder was hurting badly if I moved it at all, and I wound up holding onto the top of my PFD with my right hand and holding my elbow against my side with my left. Suddenly, Charlie asked, "Has your hemet always been like that?" I took it off and saw a big scrape on the right side -- and a crack. My head had hit the rock so hard it had broken my helmet. It was at that point I realized that I'd had a really serious crash. When the rafts got to the bottom of the rapid, Charlie signaled them to come over. Chris, the TL, pulled his boat in next to us. He'd said at lunch, just a few minutes earlier, that he didn't want to do any first aid that day, but now it wasn't a matter of choice. He tied my arm up in a sling and asked if I wanted to hike out and get taken to a hospital. I told him I'd rather ride it out down the river and get someone to take me once we got back. They loaded my boat onto Motorboat's raft and tied it down, and my other gear got loaded on Chris's boat with me. I sat in the back row of the raft and held onto a strap so I'd be less likely to fall in; Chris had ordered me not to because swimming in a river with one good arm is not a good idea (though I knew I could if necessary -- I mean, I did get to the eddy without someone pulling me). I spent the rest of the trip bouncing down the river in the raft, wearing Chris's helmet and only getting occasional splashes. There were a couple scary moments, and I was hurting worse by the time we got on the bus (a fact I don't blame on the rafting), but it was, all in all, as good a time as one can have while injured.
When we got back to base, I changed my pants, Chris helped me get my PFD off and put my arm back in the sling, and Charlie took me to the hospital. The verdict: Nothing broken, but the doctor didn't feel justified giving me an MRI to find out if anything's torn just yet. I'm going back tomorrow, the earlier end of my 2-3 day follow-up wait, and demanding one -- and something stronger than friggin' non-prescription Motrin, which is the only pain medication I've had since this whole thing started. (In case you can't tell, I'm mad about that. You would be too if you were hurting as bad as I am right now.)
Actually, I may go tonight if someone's willing to take me. I hate to miss the fireworks and all that, but I won't have any fun if I'm in this much pain. Labels: bad run, injury, Lower New (Gorge), raft trip, rescue, river people, story, swim, yay carnage |
That was the only really good pic in the bunch, unfortunately, because it was 7:30pm on a gray day and we were in the bottom of a valley. Hopefully it works out better next time.