It all happened on a gorgeous afternoon on December 28, 2007. After buying a season's pass to Blue Mountain, I was coming down on my 6th run of the season (I remember this because I remember it costing $120/run for my pass...), and I fell. Nothing spectacular. I was just doing a triple backflip double twist, while holding a baby that I had rescued from a bear with my own hands. As I was coming down, I noticed a little bunny directly where I was going to land, and the only way that I could protect the baby AND the bunny was to sacrifice my body. Hit "read more" to see the results...
So those are the pictures of the break. It was explained to me as a spiral fracture. The technical, engineer side of me explains this as a torsional fracture. The sadistic side of me likes to explain it as (MORE GRAPHIC CONTENT) taking the 2 ends of the bone, and twisting until it breaks. As you can see in the pictures (x-rays 2, 3, 5 and 7, in particular), the fracture actually twists (or spirals... get it?!) up the bone. This is apparently a not uncommon snowboarding injury, and I am convinced that it's one of the few ways that you can break your leg snowboarding without including an outside source (a skier, a baseball bat, a tree). If you want details of how I think I did it, ask, and I will oblige.
Now for the pretty picture. My "bionic" leg. No fooling around here...
So there it is. You might notice the one screw that seems to be going in the "wrong" direction. That one is a function of the shape of the fracture. It isn't just a wayward screw. Trust me, I asked. And my mother asked. The plate and screws are still in my leg, and they won't come out unless they really start bugging me. Which they haven't yet, so here's hoping!
And no, I don't beep going through airport security. Don't lie, you were going to ask. Everyone does.
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