Surfing injury's (have you got a story?)
PS. next year I'm getting travel insurance, just incase.
That was a ripper story. Seriously.
And Indo, respectfully man, FFS always get travel insurance. Don't be a tightarse.
I'm tired of reading of some familys crowd funding to get some muppet back to Oz after coming a gutser. Cost of a slab and can save you a lot of heart-ache.
Radical.
Great story Indo.
Cheers mate.
Far out indo you're a lucky man.
It's always sketchy thinking of what may happen getting hurt in remote areas without help close by.
Especially in 3rd world countries where you know that if you did have to go to hospital, they may be trying there best to treat you but it's not like you'd get back home.
Intense stroy Indo.d.
Living in cronulla in my youth i started with the beachies early then the reefs which one of them being shark island, not many bad injuries there except hitting the reef hard on big days or cutting my foot, which was deep to the bone but i couldn't really feel it as the water was cold.
i have surfed a lot of heavy slabs in my booger years but the worst was a fickle fun spot that was only 2-3 ft tubing. rock ledge stuck out about two feet out of the water while i was in the tube. ran into it and was winded for what seemed like hours.,my cousin was laughing his arse off.
Ive been lucky i guess but i still get back pains.
west Sumbawan hospital in maluk is great, i had my wisdom teeth taken out for 300 000rp($30. the doctors and equipment is good. one good reason for staying near an epic wave.my other wisdoms in sydney cost me $900 each.
Amazing story ID! Stoked to hear you're on the mend.
I've got a few stories indo but afters yours mine would sound woosey , I admire the fact that all common sense flies out the window at the thought of having a good surf.
Only a month ago ID? Yet you've been posting here in that time and said sweet FA. Got that British stiff upper lip, eh?
I surfed Suicides a couple of years back, 'twas the first session of the trip and first time I'd surfed it. I had to straighten out on one before it gets to the end of the reef and swings into deeper water. I was travelling over barely fin deep water and had to take aim at one of the narrow grooves running through the reef lest I shoulder charge it.
Makes you realise how quickly things can turn south. And still can't quit believe you tried to surf two more times and caught six flights - plus boats, buses, taxis etc.
Yeah Groundswell i actually go to the Dentist over there in my wife's home city but normally just to get a clean, use to be about $20-$25 but closer to $30 now but still way cheaper than OZ, again the Dentist i go to is a foxy young Chinese/Indo girl and the surgery is as modern as any I've seen in Oz and spotless and i can normally get a booking even when i ring up the day before.
I dont trust the doctors over there though, maybe there is good ones especially in the cities or international standard hospitals but in remote areas they are generally from the bottom of the barrel and don't seem to have a clue.
Ha ha yeah Stunet, yeah it happened about a month ago or so and have posted a few times since when i was in Padang and KL and in hospital last week :)
I guess its only really hit me how much of a big deal it was once i was in hospital last week as all the doctors and nurses were blown away i went on so many flights and didn't feel that different (apart from the small planes), and they seemed to think i was pretty lucky as a few have said it could have actually been life threatening especially going surfing.
BTW. These things always make sense looking back, but a few days after i did it, i was pressing my ribs and i could feel this weird spongy feeling, at the time i thought it was my fat that had been splattered from the impact, but talking to the doctors and nurses it was actually air that had escaped and was sitting outside my lung..pretty freaky.
Indo- the Black Knight:)
heavy indo. gd to hear you are on the mend.
..Well I reported last year on a deep fin chop to upper thigh ( a few cm away from main femoral artery) that happened in bali when I landed awkwardly on fin in 2ft of water straight into the sand. After 14 stitches in a bali hospital, for some reason I thought everything was going to be fine and I may even be able to head back out for another surf in two weeks after the stitches were out..so as I had to extend visa ( which took over a week) I decided to stay on in the warmth and relax and heal rather than head back to a cold aussie winter. After 3 more weeks and still hobbling around I realised although it was scarring ok.. that there was no way I was going to be able to surf. In hindsight .. I probably should've headed home earlier, as when I was x-rayed they just said "what a mess" . They said there was foreign bodies in there- presumably sand possible wax but i think more like sand..that hadn't been cleaned out properly! Also nerve damage which explained why my leg was numb and incredibly painful, and I couldn't walk very well. Whether or not the nerves were damaged from the fin chop itself or from surgery in emergency that i don't know.( luckily no infection though). So began the wait to get in to see a good plastic surgeon..which took two months to get in. In that time I experienced muscle atrophy ( muscle wasting) which in turn was affecting other muscles which were having to overcompensate.I finally got into see the surgeon and he says that since it had been so much time he wasn't keen to re-operate as it may cause more scar tissue and possible further nerve damage, and it would be very difficult to find the sand to get out as they are now "encased".Unlike glass and wood metal etc which tends to often try to make its way out sand doesn't move he said. He had the belief that some of my nerves will grow back.. and since then it has improved ( has been one year) but still have numbness and pain. I've had to see physios etc to rehabilitate and the whole thing has been an ordeal. It is hard to determine if the pain is also being caused by inflammation due to the sand. The one good thing is that after 6 months I finally was able to get out in the water again.. but in waves that aren't too heavy. I normally would be keen to go back to indo this time of year but I have lost a fair amount of mojo..and gotta say surfing average waves and getting to my feet in slow motion doesn't exactly prime me for heavy reef breaks..
Indo as Zen said i cant believe that a guy who surfs o/s as you do didnt have travel insurance?Rule of thumb is if your hurt and you cant surf get home cause things can go pear shaped real quick,you can always go back.........lucky it wasn't your head on the brain coral.Glad to hear your getting better.
I know I will get it from now on, i use to get it my first few trips but these days i generally don't bother, actually i blame my Indo missus i remember her saying once when we were considering getting travel insurance, why do i need travel insurance?, I'm from Indo, I never had travel insurance when i lived in Indo and i kind of thought, he yeah thats true, Indo's so cheap even when I've gone to the doctor after an accident just big gashes etc its been dirt cheap.
But the reality is when something more serious happens, i would only let an international standard hospital and doctors operate on me, which can actually be expensive even in Indo especially if you need to air lifted from somewhere.
Ive learnt my lesson, i will be getting the very best travel insurance from now on and checking the fine print, and ensuring it covers evacuation or whatever.
Anyway being the tight arse i am, I'm happy to say none of it cost me a cent, doctor was bulk billed even though i only have a medicare card and the X-ray was done in emergency and ambulance and hospital stay in Melb all covered as under emergency care even though it was over three weeks since i had the accident before i went to the hospital.
Amazing medical system we have here in Australia, even the hospital food wasn't to bad i was loving those full Aussie western meals roast etc and the nurses and doctors were amazing and told it how it was.
Cheers for the story Saltyone, your story also sounds heavy.
With what I witnessed a few weeks ago in Indo is have VERY good insurance and a credit card that you can draw a least $10000 grand on straight away.
I hope you're voting to keep that amazing medical system indo.
You must be one tough nugget ID. I would have wimped out long before that.
If you ever have to get a medivac flight is when the travel cover will shine.
No injuries worth mentioning on my part, but I was in Bali earlier this year when I rode past an Australian couple and their 2 young boys on the side of the road a few hundred metres from the Ulu temple entrance.
The mum had come off her bike with the youngest on the back and they were pretty banged up. I turned around and went back, nobody would stop even though the road was busy. They had been there a while, basically in shock. Lots of skin missing, nothing broken. I pulled over a van with Korean tourists in it and made the driver take them and follow me back to my bungalow where I patched them up as best I could and organised another car to take them to the hospital in Nusa Dua. Walked back later (twice) and retrieved both of their bikes. They came by my bungalow a couple of days later to get the bikes, I was out surfing but they left a carton of longneck Bintangs on my verandah. Fcuking shameful the way nobody stopped for them, they were clearly distressed and covered in bad grazes on every part of their bodies.
Jonno, a mate of mine was involved in that machete attack at Desert point a few years back where a guy almost lost his arm at the shoulder. There was a story in Tracks about it apparently, never read it myself but hearing the story first hand from Jonno it must have been a pretty harrowing experience. Long way from any help. Long way in the dark just to get the guy to a car, in deep water around a rock headland carrying a guy with his arm just hanging on, all the while not knowing where the crazy attackers were in the dark.
Currently laid up on the couch with a torn soleus (internal calf muscle). Nothing as dramatic as Indo and the others. Late take off at a solid Medewi last Wednesday, tried to ride the foam down and that's all she wrote. Explosion of pain right through whole leg. Then legged locked in full spasm.
Floated through to the inside to try and get in...... Anyone who has been to Medewi will know the point is lined with large sharp and slippery boulders of varying size. Zero visibility in the water due to heavy rains so no idea where I was putting my feet down. Honestly never felt pain like it.
Dragged myself as far as I could then had to get helped out of the water and over the rocks by a couple of the locals. (Most embarrassing)
Full on paranoia about getting a DVT on the flight home.
6 weeks out of the water and moving house to Ocean Grove on Monday, so Misses is less than impressed with my incapacitation.
Old man injury apparently.
That's full on ID, as hako said, mine are lame compared to that.
Just out of interest (I'm a nosey bastard:)), what did you witness recently in Indo Fraser-Gordon?:
On the subject of travel insurance, and I'm sure this has been discussed at length previously, depending on who you bank with and what credit card you have, automatic travel insurance. Check with your bank on the details.
Fraser G. must have been some heavy injuries....chopper ride out of Gland ,hows the guy doing ?
pelvic fracture- open book. Good outcome considering, On the mend with long journey still ahead with recovery and rehab. Similar injury to Bede. Helicopter ride back to bali, surgery, hospital stay, and medivac back to Aus. All covered by insurance probably in excess of 150 grand in expenses, the cover for a month was about $130, best $130 you could spend. You are absolutely crazy if you don' t have good adequate travel insurance (unlimited medical).
Just to clarify injury was to mate of mine this year Gland
Yep get good insurance -live n learn-I stupidly got Jetstar insurance and cos my surgery was in emergency and I didn't stay overnight with general anaesthesia ( big mistake) they wouldn't cover the hospital fees which was over 1000 bucks. Really shitty company- plus their new board size rule sucks!
Too right saltyone. Get good insurance. Be very cautious about who you are insured with and read all the fine print. A mate left last week for 6 weeks in Africa and just about every insurance she could find, had a get out of paying clause by the insurer. Mate is very very fastidious and reads every word of a policy (and she investigated many). One example she mentioned, if in a car accident, she had to have a full written report by an official government body within 24 hours of said accident. As she pointed out, a) if in the middle of the Serengeti looking at animals where is the nearest government official, b) can she reasonably be able to communicate with anybody that she needs to contact an official government body (and the right one at that), and c) name any government body in the world that is that efficient. Sure, some insurers come to the party, but some don't.
As for accidents, nothing as full on as Indo or anyone else on here. Buggered my ankle up 19 years ago. Mis-judged the landing of a floater, completely blew my ankle out that I had to drag myself up the beach to my car (luckily an auto). Pretty much mis-diagnosed straight off and told to strap it and keep off it. Still suffer pain today. Still wear an ankle brace sometimes when my ankle needs it.
This story is from a few years back i believe freeride76 was also staying at g-land at the time. It was a big day at speedies around 8 feet solid and perfect, i got one in and talked to a mate on the way in who pointed out to me a guy floating having trouble.
We thought he broke his back so we paddled out to him and put him on my board flat and safely made our way to shore. then i ran to the doctor Phill who was busy stitching somebodies bad cut. He seemed like that was important but i said this guys broken his back and gone white in the face.
It turns out he had a broken pelvis so they pumped him up with painkillers and other stuff and laid him down. he looked like if he stayed there any longer he would soon die but the helicopter in bali was booked out apparently...apparently by Japanese tourists on a site seeing mission.
So Dr philll drove the injured brazilian back to banguwangi and onto bali hospital. that road through g-land is meant to be hectic and full of bumps so he would have been in a lot of pain.
Bali hspital then sent him to Perth and he recovered there..
But it was alll thanks to my friend Matt Percy for pointing him out to us, thats one thing ive noticed about Matt Percy and also Wingnut (cronulla ex pro too) they both are really good at spotting people in trouble.
That bill would have been huge fro travel insurance which he did have but they had trouble trying to find a helicopter which made a lot of people in camp angry at the insurance company.
Anyway just sharing that im not sure if you guys above are talking about a different guy or not as back then there was no helicopter.
he wasn't a brazilian Groundswell. If we are talking about the bloke Sep 2008.
He was a south african now living in Aus, Perth I think.
Not a great surfer, bit out of his league for that day.
Dr Phil had tried to stabilise him for a chopper ride out the next day but in the early hours realised the guys vital signs were diminishing and he probably wouldn't be alive in the morning. He was bleeding internally. Drove him overland to Banyuwangi in the wee hours, commandeered a hospital bed and managed to keep him alive until they could chopper him from there to Bali and thence a private plane to Perth.
If anyone knows how the guy is doing now it would be great to hear how he is getting on.
Good on ya for the rescue mission Groundswell.
Haven't heard much about the guy since but it was mainly Matt Percy who saved him in the first place, i was riding one in with the south African out of my site... just a very lucky situation that Matt spotted him.
Good work from dr phill too. A lot of injuries that day h e had to deal with as well.
Brother fractured forearm second day of ments boat trip mid may. Sat on the boat and chewed painkillers for another 10 days.
Flew to Bali and straight to hospital where they tried to put a cast on from finger tips to shoulder. He told em no way and we stayed in Bali for another 10 days. Poor bastard had to watch me get waves of my life for 18days adamant he didn't want to ruin the trip.
Had full insurance but that ended up a nightmare.
Some good come out of it for him tho, he just scored a 3 month gig at one of the landcamps and a free 12 day boat trip to finish.
I also just booked him a trip next year same tw,same boat that he doesn't know about yet because he didn't wreck my trip. Yyeeeewww
A friend of mine was on his first trip overseas - to Bali of course - straight to Uluwatu for his first surf and had the lip land square on his back , driving his leg through his board.
Missed the entrance to the cave and had to do a lap with his broken leg.
Got carried up the stairs , after he'd dragged himself up the old bamboo ladder , then it was straight to hospital where they set his leg incorrectly , in a dog leg bend that required rebreaking upon his immediate return to Australia
Yeah the insurance company wanted to send my mate to Banguwangi , then maybe fly out of there to Surabaya. Or trying to get on boat or overland back to Bali. Not an option with our thoughts of the injury, specially when you have insurance, didn't agree basically told them not possible. Pressed the insurance company to get a chopper. They claimed they couldn't locate one. Our team on the ground were able to find one and put the insurance company in contact with them. Chopper out the next day. Ideally would have got him medivac that day.
Picked up an ear infection from an Indo trip a month or so ago. Had to use ear drops after every surf for 2 weeks after I got home. Fucken heavy.......
Can you like claim those ear drops on travel insurance, Ringo?
I reckon a few of you have surfed PNG from memory. There is a right up there that apparently breaks like old Kirra but its over very shallow live coral (never saw it breaking). Was told by the expat running the show at this surf camp of a guy who head butted the reef after going deeper and deeper up the reef on a man on man ego show with some other nut case.
Guy comes up covered in blood and just makes it back to the boat before passing out. He has a massive open gash in his head and his skull bone is visible. The boat guns into the local port and crew get him to the local hospital. Guy running the surf camp checks in with the local doctors and an air vac jet is called in from Cairns. Local doctors determine they cannot wait for the air vac and start to clean and staple the massive gash up. Guy in and out of conscious screaming at the doctors not to touch him but just put him on the plane. He needs to be held down while the local doctors work on him. Air vac jet arrives and he is flown back to Australia.
Travel insurance? I'm told that jet costs $80,000 for the round trip.
On the trip I was on, many of us got minor reef cuts, nothing you wouldn't ordinarily be too fussed about but two of us ended up in hospital back home with pretty serious infections.
Unfortunately not Stu and I'm out $17. Currently working on some sort of crowd funding campaign to try and recoup my losses.
Ongoing knee injuries I've blamed on everything but surfing. Now thinking most of my friends who surf have knee injuries they blame on other sports.
Sound familiar to anyone else or am I just paranoid?
Yeah mk 1 I got 2 bad knees too. Thought it was from running but has steadily got worse in the last 3 years. Bummer when it hurts to crouch and it's not cool to ride a wave with 2 dead straight legs let alone trying to get tubed so after much physio work I'm off to get a scan and see specialist
My worst surf injury didn't even happen in the water. I was walking across the rock platform to jump off slipped on some algae and landed on my rail. Being as the whole local crew were watching I jumped off anyway......with two broken ribs. I couldn't even catch a wave just got washed all the way in.
I had another one when I went surfing too soon after a general anaesthetic. I was in slow motion. The wave wasn't. I completely missed the board and hit the bottom with my extended foot so that it bent back as I was forced down on it. I got to the beach and literally could not walk. This is mid-afternoon on a crowded beach and I am crawling up towards the car park. There must have been fifty people watching and not one offered help.
"i was pressing my ribs and i could feel this weird spongy feeling, at the time i thought it was my fat that had been splattered from the impact, but talking to the doctors and nurses it was actually air that had escaped and was sitting outside my lung.."
- Ahhhh!!!
I'm lucky never having anything bad. Years ago I fell flat on my board and the nose went into my neck. It was bruised and sore for a few weeks and then got better. Now I can't swallow if I put my head forward! hahaha
Pulling into good size shories had the rail the meaty part smash me straight in the nose,the rail looked like a spiders web.
Busted nose and two black eyes.Bent nose for life.
I have broken mine twice penmister much the same way. Had surgery after the second one, lucky it was an ENT surgeon so I can still breathe through it. A mate got a plastic surgeon, looks great but not so hot on the actual breathing bit.
Gary fractured his fibula in 3 places a few years back on a small wave that was at max about 0.6 Garys.
Went up for a closeout floater, got held up by the strong offshore, the wave pitched a bit further than expected and he landed a bit behind /on top of the explosion.
In trying to make the landing, Gary's hulking frame had his weight centred over his front leg. The exploding white water hit the underside of the board just in front of his foot and SNAP.
After checking to see if his ankle was still attached (it was, phew! not the Tibia!) he floated to beach and dragged himself up the shore. Reticent to call for too much help for what he thought at the time was a very badly sprained ankle, he then hobbled about 1km over sand dunes back to the car and drove home - thanking the good lord Gary above for the advent of cruise control (it was the right leg).
X rays the next day confirmed the break. Surgery, no weight on the leg for 6 weeks, out of the water for 3 months.
The motto - Don't surf like it's 1986, keep that sort of throwback to your fashion and hair styling.
Ok I've got a few so beer with me as I type and think at the same time it doesn't come out that great !
I broke my nose rocking off, timed the white water as you do but the explosion of water hitting the ledge went straight up as I was mid air board beneath me , hit so hard it compressed my arms up with both hands on rails and smashed the deck of my board straight into my face. Landed in the water as normal but blood pissing from my face, had to continue the paddle out otherwise I'd been pushed back on the rocks. Punched through some heavy duck dives and was out the back. Took first wave in , it shut down and I lost my balance going to prone in, got rolled and leggy snapped. Fuck it all that day.
Talking about knees , I twisted my right knee(backfoot) so much going for high speed direction change that it chipped the top of the tibia off as well as displacing a lot of cartilage, good Ol John Flynn at tugun for that arthroscopy back in the day. Have had another op of same nature since, and recurring problems, last x-Ray showed I had bone fragments in my left knee also, have not done anything about that lot though.
Speaking of John Flynn , Ended up there again after slamming my ass into the sand surfing a dredging bowl at Tugun, had pins and needles in my legs and floated in to the beach , Lay there motionless until I had feeling again and hobbled up the beach bleeding from my ass- not actual ass, I lost a bit of bark from the impact, got dropped off by a mates Mrs still in boardies and covered in sand , went into pretty serious shock so shaking like a leaf , got x-rayed , broken coccyx and subluxation to l3 - bloody lucky . Got sent home with suppositories and lube ha ha - I opted for drinking long necks instead of which flatmate was a bit unimpressed before lunchtime . Have also had a lot of troubles since, have got some good orthotics. Which leads me onto my last operation (2010) was right ankle arthroscopy by a renowned surgeon from narrabeen, he was surprised at how rooted my ankle was and I was still walking ,backside floater sent me into see him, apart from the whole joint being a mess I have a crater in the ball joint bone 8mm across and same again deep, of which he drilled into and around to promote regeneration !! These ops your heel is put in a vice and a clamp around your thigh and they wind out your ankle joint ! - Found this out when I asked what the massive bruising was around my thigh ! Most post op pain I've ever been in and took mainline morphine as soon as I woke from anaesthesia , cocktail of endone and oxy to rehabilitate through the pain, living on third floor of old brick shitbox in queensy and crutches and stairs was not a good idea. Has never been same since and still gives me grief !
So they the most serious ones I guess , lots of stitches etc , oh and a ballsack injury but I'd need a typist as my hands start trembling when I relive that one !
My injuries pale into insignificance compared to previous post however here they are:
Broken nose duck diving. Lip landed on the back of my head and drove me face first into the deck.
Board came back on the leggie and fin through the cheek ( 20 stitches)
Board came back on the leggie and fin into top of my head 5 stitches.
Face plant on bottom turn and broken eardrum.
Spin out cut on cutback board to ribs - broken ribs.
Nose of board into the back of the head- luckily I was wearing a Gath. First inch of the stinger crushed. I wouldn't have been writing this without the helmet. I wear it every surf.
Lesson learnt !
So im not alone on the broken nose thing,face driven into the deck of my board first time blacked out and nearly drowned,was learning then but copped one years later.Stitches from fin of board as it sprung back just above the eye,i always cover my head now especially when you cant feel the weight on your leggy,fin chop top of shoulder..more stitches no annesetic,doc was all out. Torn knee cartilage pulling into a back hand tube and compressed,that ones come back to haunt me now 23 years later.But the worse one was a full tear biceps muscle which really fucked my surfing thanks to some cunt pushing the lip down when i had pulled into a tube at Anga on the real shallow section and got rag dolled arms going everywhere and then tear....hurt like hell but eventually tore right thru 6 months later so it has destabilized the shoulder and has given me a lot of grief over the years......also a bone chip from a fin to the knee which is still floating around in there......funny thing is some guys never have anything happen to them,lucky bastards.
some of you talk about bad knees. unless you have impact injuries the issue could be tight leg muscles and closed hips. i had chronic sore knees, couldn't walk without pain some days, stairs were a problem and squatting was impossible. after full medical investigation found nothing i got onto a great physiotherapist who gave me stretches and i later found yoga. that was years ago and i'm pain free and have full mobility and use of my knees.
Hey Jezza64. Was in Balian recently and met a lovely couple, Mel and Anton, from Ocean Grove.
If you run into them, say hello. Of course they won't know me as batfink, well, um, anyways, hello to Mel and Anton! Hope the kids are all good! :-)
Off topic, but any sharks batfink?
More shark stories than sharks Linez. There was the obligatory annual bite only a couple of weeks before I went, I think a Canadian bitten on the arm and apparently it was a sight, plenty of stitches and no more surfing for him for a while.
First day a rumour went around the lineup about a shark sighting that morning. Other stories too during that one week, but generally I suspect they are out there every surf, and tend to be smaller ones by our standards. Have seen some big fish out there, but generally I don't think about it except when the water is murky brown.
Floyd, have to agree with you. Every time over the last 10 years that I have had knee and hip joint problems they have all come good after stretching. Currently have a minor inconvenience with left knee and hip (back leg) but haven't been quite able to isolate the right muscles for stretching, but I suspect it is more about the tight leg muscles rather than impact injuries.
As for the stories, I have very few. The board to the face while rocking off one biggish day, but somehow avoided my nose so no broken bones. Stress fracture to the ribs not long after I started surfing, I think just the stress on those floating ribs, and that was a bugger. Couldn't lie comfortably on my board for 3 months so had to just stop and wait for it to heal.
A few boards to the head when coming up, yep, I always come up with my arms over my head now if I can't feel tension in the legrope, or if I feel too much.
Other minor injuries of no note, thankfully haven't got the nose to any part of my body, that can hurt bad. A few twisted and swollen knees, always on backhand cutbacks where the front leg gets stuck while the body is twisting. Usually 4-6 weeks recovery.
A friend of a friend was in Ulus last year for his son's wedding. First day there, day before the wedding, first wave duckdived and head slammed into board, seriously broken nose still bleeding at the ceremony the next day. Ouch!
Too many rock-offs where my dignity has been smashed to smithereens. Otherwise pretty lucky.
Here's a quick one that combines shark and surf injury. Well, kinda.
Camped at unnamed wave in NW WA last century, as was my wont for years. Early in piece, tore hamstring when back foot came off in tight bazza (backhand) and ended up doing splits. Out of water for 4 weeks in dust watching, drinking, fishing, body whomping, training, drinking, waiting.
Did I say drinking?
Anyway, first surf back ping hamstring again, 2nd wave or so. That pissed off (torn hamstring has got to be the most annoying injury I've ever had) I just paddled into shore along the point, swearing and splashing and generally losing my shit. Notice some people on point waving, even yelling, couldn't give a fuck. Get into corner and old mate and all-round legend up there (RIP fella) greets me with the story that a shark trailed me in and then flew at my feet, doing a splashy u-turn at the last minute. I didn't even realise. And I guess it didn't really even sink in then either as I remember telling him that I didn't fucking care as I'd just re-torn my fucken hamstring.
Anyway, I had Surfing Oz membership insurance! Ka-ching for shark bite!
Well here is mine my story and accident is a very recent one.
Location: Mentawai's (Telescopes area)
Straight out from Padang fresh off the plane, its was my second surf and i was just in time for one of the biggest swells of the year can't remember what size they were calling it but it was a very long period swell something like 17 seconds, i was staying with friends so it was him and me in his boat, the wind was NW so it was straight out to Suicides rights (Ariks) not the best wave in the Mentawai's but still a decent wave when there is a bit of swell.
Conditions were great high tide, offshore, lines stacked to the horizon, solid overhead and only a crew of about half a dozen with some local kids inside getting scraps, i was amped and there was plenty of barrels and lining up perhaps as good as it ever does.
I got a small warm up wave, then a set came through overhead in size, i was perhaps a little deep and late but i went anyway, i made the take off but it ran off too fast, so i straightened out and jumped off something I've done many times here, i thought i was fine, but then the white water kind of rolled me like a rag doll, next thing BANG and i felt a numbness..FUCK i just got rolled on a big coral head, and hit it with full force with the side of my body then it kind of rolled me onto my shoulder, I'm sure it was one of those brain coral ones, it didn't feel real sharp just hard and big and round.
It can be a pretty shallow reef but when i came up i was still in a decent amount of water, i got washed down to the inside and paddled to the shoulder, i still felt that numb pain and i had a full sleeve rashy on so i wasn't to sure what id done, i pulled it up and asked one of the local grommets "ada luka?" (is there cuts?) they said yes, so i ripped it off but it was only really grazes nothing to bad, i knew i was hurt but not sure how bad, so i paddled back out to the take off area and sat a little wide hoping in five to ten minutes the pain would go and id get my energy back and continue surfing.
I played it cool with the other guys just saying id hit the reef pretty hard but was just a little winded and only had a few grazes.
5 minutes passed and i started feeling more pain and felt weaker, maybe 10 minutes maybe passed and i started to think fuck i better go in as I'm getting worse, so i paddled to the boat, it was then i realised i had no energy and was having trouble paddling and had to kick to actually get moving, after what seemed like forever i finally got to the boat, I managed to somehow get into the boat, drank some water and rested, watching perfect waves peel off and guys getting barrelled, finally my mate came in, by which time i was feeling pretty sore, we spun of back home lucky it was only five to ten minute boat ride.
As soon as i got back to where i was staying, i thought id have a shower, wow was that a bad decision as soon as the cold water hit me instead of feeling refreshed, my body tensed up and i gasped for breath as pain shot through my body like in a spasm, i nearly passed out and felt like i was going to throw up, and which time i realised i must be really hurt, i managed to scramble outside and lie down on the deck on the way i passed my mates missus and said i really don't feel well i think I've really hurt myself i mean this could be serious, she said she had some kind of miracle oil and massaged it into my back and muscles, which fully helped relax my muscles and got me back to the more bearable pain i had before the cold shower.
I then went up stairs and laid on the floor hoping id feel better after a few hours relaxing or if i was real lucky a sleep, it was when i was laying there with just a board bag between me and the timber floor that i realised fuck I'm having trouble breathing, i was in so much pain, the whole side of my body was numb with pain, but for some reason i really had to relax and concentrate to just breath, i did think fuck maybe I've punctured my lung, but thought if i had id know and i would be spitting some blood like in the movies, I'm not sure if i passed out but for a while i was just in a haze, i remember thinking shit this is serious but fuck i don't want to go to a hospital or doctor here as they would probably make it worse, but i just remember thinking fuck i feel like i could die and for a split second or two i actually accepted it and just thought okay whatever happens happens.
Anyway fast forward to that night although i was very very sore latter i felt a bit better like the worse had passed, over the next few days although the side of my body ribs and back was really sore i felt as i was getting better each day and just took neurofin to reduce inflammation, apart from that i just had a cough which i though was from passive smoking about two pack of garam garam a day.
Anyway my plan was just a quick trip out to the Mentawais for a week and then i had a flight booked on a small plane to some other island further north where i had boards, and thought in time id be able to surf i just needed a few more days.
Anyway during the flight again i had trouble breathing and went into a coughing fit, again i just tried to relax and concentrate on my breathing, at the time i just put it down to the cough i had from passive smoking and that i felt like crap.
Anyway a few more days passed, a week or so and i was feeling better but still very sore down my back and my ribs, especially when i played down the wrong way or coughed or sneezed and just an ache the rest of the time.
But i had to see if i could surf i couldn't go home not knowing id tried, one morning the conditions were perfect for one of my favourite waves, we pulled up and it was pumping overhead glassy perfect barrels, i had a mate with me but he is a fair bit older and the waves were a bit too much for him, so i paddled out alone, it hurt paddling but i just thought id deal with it, almost got to the take off area when a bigger set reared up and just went crazy and broke right in front of me, oh fuck i was more worried about getting bounced on the reef, i held my breath and took one wave on the head, it felt like forever and i came up gasping for breath, then there was another exactly the same, so under i went again, this time i felt like i was going to drown, i popped up gasping for air and luckily id been washed further inside and towards the channel and was out of the impact zone, but fuck i was still gasping for air and it was pretty painful paddling, after that i though i better go back to the boat, the swell period was crazy i think it was 17 seconds again but felt like 19 and the wave was going pretty crazy.
Next day i thought id give it one more go, the swell had dropped a little and the period had also dropped and it looked like the swell had lost its teeth, we pulled up at another of my fav waves a more rippable wave it was still solid way overhead maybe double overhead but again no one out, my mate also joined me, fuck it hurt paddling my ribs hurt so much, but i managed to get three waves but paddling and especially trying to catch them was very very painful I also got a few waves on the head and got much more worked over than normal, so i thought i better go in as the pain was way overtaking the stoke factor.
After that i realised it wasn't realistic to surf and id just have to go home basically only having one proper surf.
Anyway after going to Java to visit family and then KL for a few days I got back to OZ I was still pretty sore so i thought i better go to the Doctor and get my ribs checked out, thinking maybe i just had one cracked rib, so i went to the doctor (a foxy little china doll) and she seemed more concerned with my breathing, so also booked me in for an X-ray of my ribs and lung.
So i went to the hospital and got X-rays, they soon told me it was a little more than a cracked rib and that i wasn't going anywhere, as apart from three cracked ribs i also had a punctured deflated lung with half a litre or more of blood in it, i also had quite an amount of air on the outside of my lung that was part of the reason for my deflated lung as it stops it going back to its proper shape.
Anyway to cut a long story short a few hours latter i was puffing down Ketamine (Special K) , feeling like i somehow didn't exist any more but at the same time traveling through worm holes into galaxy far far away on one of the best trips of my life, all the while the doctors were cutting a hole in my ribs and stuffing a draining tube into my lung, i then got an ambulance ride to the Alfred hospital where they had to let my lung drain for a few days and i had half a dozen more X-rays.
Apparently the worse thing you can do if you this injury in particular air outside your lungs is to take a plane ride of which i took six separate plane rides.
Yeah so about a month latter or so I'm still a bit sore but breathings all good just got a patch on my ribs from where they stuffed a hose to drain me and just got to let these ribs heal.