Skiing accident
I guess you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
I went skiing at La Dole on the French/Swiss border last week and fell, hard, twice. Both times I was not able to control my speed and lost control of my balance. The first time I fell backwards very hard. I hit my head, but the helment saved any injury there. But I landed very hard on my back and this hurt like hell. I lost my breath (for the first time in probably 40 years). Nothing is broken except my confidence. Sterling was right there to help me. We had to walk down a bit of the hill to a level part, and then we skied the rest of the way down.
When I hit my back, I felt a sharp pain go from my back, through the left side of my chest, to the front of my chest. This pain has not gone away. We went to lunch, and then tried again. I successfully navigated several small “blue” hills until (of course) the last one of the day. I hit an icy patch while going too fast; my left ski (the uphill one) came off the ground and then hit the ground again a little skewed. It dug in a bit and I fell forward, hitting my chest rather hard, and lost my breath again! Once again, Sterling was there to help me down the hill. But that was the end.
I went to work on Friday–no big deal. But I hurt a bit, still. I attributed the hurt to muscle pain.
But on Saturday, it was still very bad. So we went to the doctor. He says I have a cracked rib (or two). Ugh!
I expect a one-month recovery time.
Now, three of the five people in my family (me (cracked ribs), Alex (broken wrist) and Joanne (”not fun”)), are probably never going to ski again.
I interacted with a fellow at work recently who broke his shoulder while skiing, and cannot even sit up for more then an hour or so. And I see several people all the time at work on crutches.
You know, I just don’t get skiing. It is not fun (to me) to hurtle yourself down a mountain at (shall we say) breakneck speed, on the edge of loosing control at all time. I guess this appeals to some people, especially if they have been doing it since they were babies. There were a few moments for me that were a bit of fun, but nothing so fantastic that I would want to risk it again.
I think I am going to change my gym workouts with golf in mind, from now on (as soon as I can bend over and twist my torso again). Golf is a MUCH safer activity!!!
Update, March 8, 2009
Although the cracked ribs are not completely healed, I am feeling much improvement on that front. Sterling wants to go skiing again, but I doubt that is going to happen.