One long ass fall...

Well it finally happened. Years of narrowly escaping death and bodily dismemberment has finally caught up with me. On February 8, 2009 about 5 hours before flying to Portland, OR I was bored at home and trying to get motivated to go climbing, play guitar, mtn bike, video games, etc. A friend/coworker came over to help me with some bike maintenance and he wanted to go climbing afterwards and that was just the motivation that I needed to go hit the gym before heading to Oregon.

It was typical day at the gym, but this time I was trying to push myself to boost my aerobic endurance as much as possible by only climbing the steep lead wall at Rock-N-Jam'n. Towards the end of the session I was leading a 5.11 route with a few tricky clips. As I neared the anchors I was about 5-ft over the bolt and in the process of clipping the anchors. A hold spun under my left foot and before I knew it I was free falling to the gym floor. About 8-ft from the ground I actually had time to think, "I'm still falling and I think I'm going to hit the ground!" Well I did actually and when I hit the ground it was immediately followed by the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. My lower back was in excruciating pain and I knew this must be real bad. I always heard that under extreme pain the body goes into shock and it releases natural pain killers to relieve the pain, this was NOT the case. Conscious, but nearly unable to breath I was down for the count. The only minor relief from the pain was when an employee applied a cold washcloth to my forehead. Luckily the night before I met a 2nd year med student Ben that just happened to be on the scene to quickly take control of the situation to try and find the source of my problem. My worst fears were building of a possible spinal injury. The ambulance finally arrived on the scene to take me to St Anthony's Level 1 Tramua Center. The longest ride of my life.

My wife had been learning to snowboard so by the time she found out she was 3 hrs away from being by my side. Luckily I was accompanied by my friends Mike, Pete, Bryan, Karyn, Dave, Emily, and finally my wife. Living so far away from home it's easy to feel scaried and alone, but my friends have become an extension of my family and they made sure I was never alone and if I ever got scaried they were right there by my side.

It was finally confirmed that I had indeed crushed my L1 vertebrea and it was compressing my spinal cord. Surgery was required immediately to fuse the T12 to the L2 vertebreas. I also found out that I broke my Left Talus (heel), and possibly tore my ACL and miniscus ligaments in my left leg. I spent the next 5 days in the main hospital wing hopped up on Morphine and Diloted. So many people came to visit me during this time, but I never had the energy to acknowlege any of them. However I knew they were there and I will be forever grateful.

At the 5th day I was moved to the Rehab Center which I spent the next 9 days in to undergoe daily OT and PT sessions. Initially I was in a wheelchair, then I moved up to the walker, and eventually I graduated to the crutches. On the 9th day of being hospitalized I started to come around. It all begun when my wife wheeled me outside to take a stroll around the lake. She also brought me my dog Madori, and spent the day reading me letters from concerned family and friends. This was very touching and really made me feel blessed to have so many people behind me. That night a cleansing occurred and I spoke to God for sparing my life and allowing me to avoid paralysis. It's unbelievable how a typical trip to the climbing gym ended as badly as it did. If I had fallen any higher, any different I may not be here now, or I would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life. The tragic thing is this happens to people all the time. It really makes you ask the question, "Why me?" I don't have the answers, but I know my life has changed because of this. I've learned to appreciate my friends and family so much more. I've learned to be more patient with life in general. I've learned that there are so many things left for me to do that I want to enjoy them as much as possible with my lovely wife, my two dogs, and my friends and family.