EYWTKAMABIWRTS

everything you wanted to know about my accident but I wasn't ready to share (updated 28th February. Done, gone home, Scroll to see more)

Here's the lowdown since curiosity abounds:

1) NO, I didn't have a skiing accident. I resent the implication. I owned that fucking Hill. (Family Friendly video)

2) It was a sled 🛷 . It's not an extreme sport. It's called a Rodelbahn (toboggan road) and is considered fun for the whole family. Sebastian supplied the sleds/toboggans, and after a full morning on the mountain skiing. We planned to use the few remaining hours of lift access to run the Rodelbahn. Totally reasonable.

3) The run isn't like a luge or bobsled but a trail down reasonable slopes (switchbacks adjacent to a green dot, blue square ski run) but maybe a bit narrower.

Rodelbahn at Nauders

4) I think I over-steered at the exact wrong time and was catapulted into the trees, and down a steep slope, bounced off many trees, broke a few down, scattered some stones, etc

* Update Feb 6th: With Laptop in hand I was able to collect the GoPro footage from the earlier runs and the fateful crash. Trigger warning: it is not especially graphic or anything (not Joe Theissman or anything like that, but some might be bothered. I the victim am not bothered).

video of rescue

Sebastian I hope they return your girlfriend's sled. Oddly enough, they found 2. Which did delay my rescue a bit while they searched for a second body. But it seems the other had been there a while. But maybe you can claim two sleds when you go to pick yours up.

5) looking back up that hill I couldn't see the track or even an imaginable path through the trees. I don't remember hitting my head to hard but it did snap my GoPro right off and possibly I'd be in a coma or dead except for my helmet. As Tillman and the guy who winched me back up the hills out of trees said, "you are a lucky boy, now stay warm and stay lucky". I may have been in pretty severe shock.

6) I would rather not repeat that story anytime soon. That's why I write this account now, it is traumatic to relive and recount. That's the entire accident. I get that I'm lucky to be alive, and having feeling enough to have this pain. But honestly, step on a Lego before telling me about the dangers of winter sports or questioning further.  I don't owe you anything additional,  really.

7) I have a fractured tibial plateau (that part of your shin bone that completes the joint at knee)

Orthopedic Trauma Association info about the fracture

* Update Feb 2, Thursday: swelling in the knee is sufficiently down such that the deputy chief of emergency sports orthopedics said I should be scheduled tomorrow or Monday

* Update Feb 4, I woke from surgery, or respawned in a similar game level at the point of post surgery. 

8) I fractured several ribs, right side 4-8 and left side 2-12 (yes, that's almost all of them. I'm aware)

wiki entries about the bone numbering and identification

9) I fractured my back specifically lumbar L1-L4 (no apparent damage to spine or nervous system). I've been told I'm a lucky boy, by the guy who first spotted me in the woods and took the chance to climb down to check on me. Tillman, whoever you are, and wherever you are from in Austria, thank you. And thank your Dr. Girlfriendbof Tillmann who insisted you keep me warm, thank you. 

10) I bruised my kidneys. Had visible lesions under CT and initial ultrasound. But nothing that affected function as we can find. e.g. I never pissed blood 

11) the knee/tibia requires surgery. But this hospital is super busy and are trying to send me home for surgery instead. Supposed to be less than 2 weeks from initial injury for better outcomes.

Meet "Frank", my Frankensteins Monster of a leg

12) I should not fly with 15 broken ribs. Pneumothorax is a risk, they did find a small pocket between the lungs and my thoracic cavity. At elevation, if that volume expands, my lungs might collapse. 

collapsed lung risk

This is the thing in movies TV when a doctor shoves a plastic pen into the chest of a person with problems breathing to relieve pressure on their lungs.

13) insurance company/companies is/are/was a fucking nightmare to communicate with (*initially). One automated system for the home-based health plan would only try to sell me insurance, encourage me to get my flu shots, and then hang up if I asked to be connected to a human. Another, promised a call back, but I'm in Europe GMT +1 and my insurance company is in Michigan GMT -5. Business overlap is 2 hours each day.

Fortunately l, my employers have travel insurance for employees traveling abroad for work. As I'm here initially for a global Sales conference in Paris and a 3 day workshop in Dresden, I qualify. If not for that, I might still be in limbo. The travel insurance company policy is worth every cent. 

* February 2, 2023 travel insurance company and hospital are talking to each other at least.

* February 4, 2023 I guess I can be a bit more charitable about the effectiveness of the insurers once one is able to establish communications. 

* February 13, 2023 Travel insurance company has pledged to cover EVERYTHING. They even offered to fly a family member from my home country to stay with me for a while and help with the flight back. But as many of my dearest friends all live in Europe, many within a few hours train or drive, I did not need to pull my brothers or children away from their lives on my behalf. 

14) the hospital I'm in is in Austria, my stuff is in Zürich, my "home" is in Grosse Pointe, and those willing to help are pretty much everywhere else.

the view from my hospital window, like a kick in the nuts, a beautiful kick in the nuts, but sore nonetheless.

15) Krankenhaus-Zams earns it's positive reviews for sure. I haven't had a bad interaction with anyone here. Which some readers might think is unremarkable, but after many different interactions with American institutions, it's remarkable to me. My lack of native language is patiently and kindly worked through. My bar and restaurant German fluency is a bonus. Which the staff find entertaining, or at least they haven't let me see their annoyance.

*Update Feb 5th*

16) I've had visitors. My things had been stashed in Heimo's apartment in Zürich since 14th of January. My skis, boots, etc he's warehoused for years, but this trip I knew I'd be on the road a planned 3 and 1/2 weeks. Some work, some play, which makes packing completely a pain. So, I packed my winter gear, 4 days of "business casual", 5 days of streetwear, and assumed I could do laundry in between. For Skiing and Sledding, I only packed an overnight packing cube and brought the winter overgear. Well, the one-day-in-Austria-plan is kaput. Now I might need all that stuff, plus my laptop.

Michael, who's my boss, took the chance to drive over, scoop Heimo up from St. Margrethen Switzerland and drive together to visit me. I've been staying with each of them independently for years, they've heard hours of anecdotes about each other, and have been collaborating with my brother Dave to get me settled in hospital. I'm so very privileged to have such a network of friends around the world. 

17) *update February 10th

The insurance company doctors feel it is inadvisable for me to leave the hospital before I have my "safe to fly" determination from the doctors. Which means no fewer than 4 weeks from initial accident or 2 weeks after a clean X-ray 🩻 which I still haven't had yet. Most recent x-ray has some fluid still in thoracic cavity but no visible air pockets. 

I might be able to leave the hospital ward and transition to out-patient care to get me "free-to-fly" recommendation. That might mean 2 weeks in hotel. But that would still be an improvement over holding the record for longest occupation of this room. 

18) more visits

Fabri, Dani, me, StringGrrl, and Alan

don't sweat it, that's alkoholfrei Bier (near beer). Still on some painkillers and might as well ride out the month for an unintentional generator cleanse February.

19) Very high likelihood that i get discharged as soon as February 16th, and can shift from the Krankenhaus-Zams St. Vinzenz to a nearby hotel so that i no longer need to share the room and disturb the other patients with my snoring/apnea. I will still need to await the free-to-fly order and clean bill of heath at a future point. 

Until I get the fit-to-fly clearance from the doctors here, I am recommended to stay near the hospital and not board a commercial jet, there is a risk that any remaining pneumothorax (air betwixt the lungs and thoracic cavity walls) will inflate like a bag of chips at high altitude and collapse my lungs. Apparently, without a doctor at ready and small surgical theater on-board I would expire while waiting for MacGyver to sharpen a used Biro to shove past my ribs in attempt to equalize the pressure. 

* Update Feb 14th:

So I will stay here at a local hotel in Landeck, Tyrol, Austria. Hotel Tramserhof was even kind enough to offer me the "pensioners" rate since I am in recovery from the Hospital. 

20) February 16-27th no longer in hospital, had to stay in Landeck, Austria until I'm cleared to fly. Pneumothorax was cleared and remaining fluid was sufficiently small that doctor issued "Fit to Fly" Thursday the 23rd of February. 

21) insurance company booked the flight finally, from Zürich to Detroit. Zurich, Switzerland is a 3 hour drive from Landeck, Austria. So the day started on the 27th at 9:00 am to take taxi from Tramserhof to The Radisson Zürich Airport. Then picked me up at 6:30 to take a flight from Zürich to Amsterdam Schiphol airport, then continuing to Detroit. 

Generally everyone has been very kind and generous with offers of help, & I'm unused to accepting kindness. Worse, there's little any of my friends, colleagues, and family can do at this point. I just need to wait.

That's been almost as upsetting for me as anything else; to be honest, it's challenging you know? I'm usually a problem solver or helper. Not the one in need. It's humbling and difficult.

Thanks for your concern. I appreciate it even when I can't process it. I am trying to learn to accept the kindness of others, it is a journey. I am grateful for all the care offered by my colleagues and friends (new and old).  Regular programming of me being an insufferable know-it-all will return eventually.

We'll see about any medical costs and loss of income, as I exhaust my sick days, later. That's a tomorrow problem, today's problem is getting healthy enough to leave the hospital and then fly home. Short Term disability has been triggered and I will try to stay off the clock sufficiently to really heal. I haven't taken or even thought of taking this much time off of working since EVER.

In lieu of prayers, please offer your votes and advocacy for a more humane health care system in America (and wherever you live). I'm trying very hard to be less afraid of surviving this accident, but the fear of bankrupting myself, my family, and passing the any lingering dept onto them if I am short- or long-term disabled was my greatest anxiety. 

Update Feb 5th: I am privileged that the company health plan and the additional travelers insurance seems to work. But still, health care is a human right, especially if we live in places that want to enforce full terms birth of every pregnancy. 

Update Feb 14: If you would still like to uplift my spirits, consider pitching in to help my robotics team (not my team, but a team that I have supported with sweat equity, donations, time, and experience since my adult children were on the team nearly 10 years ago. They can always use additional funding to offset the costs of Designing, Engineering, Prototyping, Building, and Programming a 100 lb competitive (not destructive) robot each year.