My name is Geoff Welch and I'm addicted to riding my SC Nomad. I'm writing this to inform a few and especially to say thank you to the six riders who stayed to assist when I broke my left femur into several pieces last week. I apologize ahead of time for misspelling names and if my version of events is incorrect. I probably missed a lot or saw things differently due to the inner chaos and the insane pain I was in. Explaining this pain is tough because there's nothing to compare it to for me. If you know one of these guys mentioned, please share this thread with them.

On the weekly Wednesday night ride, 3-24-10, Jim McWhorter, Grant Salyers, Allen Yama, Michael Wade, Todd ????(sorry Todd), and I left Juliet Thorner for some fun. Jim led us west through the neighborhood, up the short single track and into that first small "playground" where there are several good jumps. I immediately raced to the north west corner of the area to hit my favorite jump like I've done a hundred times before. It didn't even feel like we had begun the ride yet.

I lower my head and admit I'm a show off--I wanted to hit this one big! I had good speed but leaned into my tail whip before I even left the jump (big no-no!). I failed to correct my early lean when in the air and landed at the same angle. My bike shot out to my right, my left foot clipped in, making my left leg taut just in time to have the ground rise up and slam the hell out of it. I screamed upon impact and thought I felt it break. I heard Michael (who hit the jump big and flawlessly just before me) yell for Jim and the others. He later told me he knew it was bad in the air, I was just "off". Damn teenagers--Michael is one hell of a rider and only 14.

They came over and asked if it was bad and I said I thought it was but wait a few to see if the crazy pain would go away. I eventually moved and immediately knew my left femur was broken. The pain was beyond anything I'd imagined before. I told them to call 911 as I knew throwing me into a truck was not gonna work this time. What seemed like an hour went by. During that time Grant held me steady and listened to my moans of agony. He eventually admitted he didn't know what to do but said he knew how to pray. So pray he did. Grant, thank you for your humility,thoughtfulness and help. Your prayers didn't diminish the pain but they calmed me and I was less anxious until the bone crushers arrived.

Allen also suggested calling my long time friend and riding partner, Leon Welch, who showed up outta nowhere. Leon, thank you for taking care of my truck and bike and calming my wife down over the phone. Your friendship means a lot.

more tomorrow...

Hey Alan... sorry for mispelling your name. I like to tell stories and it gives me something to do while bedridden so I'll continue with it here. Hopefully, it will answer your questions and more. When people I know have been injured, I've always wondered how they were doing and never knew who to ask, including you when you were out with your boken leg. To avoid that issue, I will update this thread from time to time to let you know how I'm doing. Thanks for your support!

Hey everybody. Will someone please reply to this post with an opinion of what I've written so far. If this story thing is lame, someone please tell me so I don't continue down the path of fools. Although it wouldn't be first time nor will it be last. If you're uncomfortable with a post, send me a PM even so I at least know if this is a waste of time. Thanks

Hey Jeff, sorry you got hurt. I'd like to say I feel for you but I don't think I could imagine being in your position. Was going to call and say "Hi" but this seems more fun for you. Like wise, my boys and I are reading your cool posts. Hope you get better fast so I could take you up on your offer to rideshare to the foothills. If there's anything Mars, Ivan, Isaac or I could do for you let us know. Stay positive.

I broke my femur, tib/fib and cracked my kneecap in football a long time ago. I was in a cast from just below the groin to toe cast for about five months. Then a lighter cast for another two months. Not too much traction. Took about a year total I'd say to where I didn't notice anything anymore. Years later, I still get odd muscle cramps at times in that quad but overall things aren't too bad for me.

Rest up and heal up. Hope you're at least feeling better soon. In a while it'll be all about wanting to shower and clean it and all that and the pain will be manageable.

part 3...

There it went again, that pain that is just damn unexplainable—it literally felt out of this world. I read back what I had written and it sounded kinda dramatic bringing up the devil and toilet bowl thing, but I don’t know how else to get the point across that this pain is different. Pain is not even the correct word anymore—our language is a limited tool to describe it with. Anyway, they pulled at my leg again to get the traction off and I know I woke the whole ER up w/my yelling.

I gotta admit, I had a misconception with regard to pain meds. I thought if you took the strong opiates, especially morphine, you wouldn’t feel a thing. I couldn’t have been more wrong. They shot me up again with who knows how many milligrams of morphine and as soon as they touched my leg again I went to that other place. I begged them to just knock me out! They wouldn’t.

Things started to get foggy at this point due to all the drugs. When I kept moaning even after the morphine injections, they went to something else. A nurse came in with a new needle and I asked her what it was. She said it was the closest thing to heroin they had without getting illegal and that it should do the trick with the pain. I didn’t care what they gave me at this point, as long as it provided relief. Something close to heroin? “Let’s party!”

It pretty much did the trick. Again, my memory of this time is foggy but I believe I went through x-rays and then back to ER. After awhile a man came in, not sure if he was a doctor, nurse, specialist of some kind, but he showed me my x-rays on his iPhone. Isn’t technology great? I was too messed up to think of asking him to send them to my Blackberry. I will do that later. I don’t remember and I couldn’t tell for sure, but I think it was broken in four pieces. It broke up closer to my pelvis into two large pieces with a couple smaller pieces broken off in the middle.

Later, two doctors came in who claimed they would perform my surgery that night. They didn’t sugar coat it and said it was a very bad break and it would be a long road to recovery. Additionally, they said they would be installing a titanium rod down the middle of the bone pieces and a few screws to hold everything together. Under normal circumstances, the rod would not ever be removed. I would be required to stay in the hospital for 2-to-3 days.

Wow. That’s some heavy news. I’ve broken a couple bones before and I guess I expected to get yanked and pulled, have a cast installed and sent home that night for several weeks of recovery. Surgery? Titanium rods and screws? Multiple days in the hospital? And they added that it would most likely take 4-to-6 months before I was walking normal and without pain. That news just changed my life. I normally ride my bike 3-to-4 days a week, do light dumbbell and core work on my non ride days and 90% of the time eat healthy enough to feel great and maintain the weight I want. Not no mo!!

A couple of gangsters got shot later that Wednesday night and stole my trauma team. Consequently, my surgery was postponed until Thursday. When they shared this with me, they also said they had to use traction over night to maintain bone alignment.

A little while later, I believe it was the same man who showed me the x-rays, wheeled me into a private hospital room and said he would be installing the traction device. He described the process which included drilling a hole through the front of my shin bone, inserting a rod through the hole, and then tying some weight to the rod that would hang over the foot of the bed, keeping my femur stretched and aligned. “Whuch you talkin bout Willis??” I said, “no really, what are you gonna do?” He said no joke, that’s what he was doing. I just couldn’t believe that with today’s technology, they didn’t have a better method than drilling a damn hole through the non broken part of my leg. But sure enough, that’s what he did.

They gave me some more meds, including a local down near where he would be drilling. The only sensation was the burning flesh smell and the drill pulling my leg hairs as he entered and exited my leg with the bit. And I have this vague memory of Tim the Toolman down there with his Black and Decker. It was surreal. He got it done, assigned me a room and installed weight.

Next came the catheter. Holy moly!!!! I tried to talk them out of this one but they said for surgery I had to have one and they wanted to monitor my urine after. Here we go… I won’t go into too much detail here because it even grosses me out talking about it. I repeated the same mantra, “We can bare anything for a few seconds.” It basically felt like someone was shoving a stick in my dick, period.

Had a few friends visit the next morning and surgery was eventually scheduled for approximately 2:00 PM. It finally happened and like everyone, came out of anesthesia groggy and out of it for awhile. Got back to my room and was welcomed by my wife, then our two sons and my parents. I had lots of love and support and knew I was gonna be okay.

I was hooked up with an IV for fluids and hooked up to a morphine pump. I could give myself 2 mg of morphine every six minutes!! Yes!! That stuff is strong. At first I was trying to wear out that button because I was afraid that pain would come back. As long as I didn’t move my leg I felt fine with the morphine buzz. The only problem is I was nodding off midsentence and sending some strange text messages to folks. I told my boss I would be back to work the next day and others that they tied 150 lbs. to my leg for traction when in reality it was only 15. I think I told a nurse that I injured myself jumping over six school buses on my bike. That was after last week’s Redbull Rampage win. I was the life of the party!

Doctors eventually came by and said surgery went fine and I would be there another few days for observation. They confirmed they were successful in nailing the titanium rod through the femur pieces and everything was screwed into place. I would not get a cast at all and “have a good stay, goodbye,” on to the next patient. I ended up being there for 5 days because of the pain. The physical therapist came by on day 3 but I could not get off the bed. Even with Vicodin and the morphine pump, I went to the dark pain place every time they tried to move my leg. Day 4 was a Sunday and the physical therapist did not have time to see me because they only worked a half day.

Finally, on the 5th day, I said, “just do it” and we did. I loaded up with the morphine the half hour before physical therapy (they instructed me to) and was finally able to get down the hallway on a walker and crutches. When I was done it was like at the injury site, tremors, sweats, breathing like I just climbed a good hill and pain, the same insane pain. They wheeled me out that night which was another journey of pain. Deep in my thigh bone, I could feel every grout line, every doorway seam, going over area rugs, the natural bumps in industrial floors, every little grain of sand under the wheelchair wheels hurt like hell. More of the bumpy jolting pain on the way home with my leg stretched across the back seat. On Monday, 3-29-10, at approximately 9:30 PM, I finally made it to my bed, the place I’ve hardly moved from since. That night, the reality of no nurses, a lack of 24 hr care, and the lack of a catheter set in.

to be continued...

this is a great story, sorry it happened to you! Mike is going to take me over that way to see the jump. I do have to tell you that it is nice to know that everyone knew what to do for you till help arrived! this is something that I worry about with Mike riding and jumping the way he does. I knew something happened when he called me to come get him at 730, Geff we are glad you are getting better if you need anything let us know our prayers are with you.

Mike Lisa and Bob

hey I started riding with clips today!

Hey Lisa! Say Hi to Michael and Bob. Thanks for the kind words and for you and Michael visiting me in the hospital. Having some of you guys visit me like you did meant a lot and lifted my spirits, so thank you. Glad to see you're riding clipless now too. Your overall skills should improve even faster now with those. Have fun.

David, thanks to you also for the support. I remember meeting you that day too and riding with you a few times since. I'll let you know when I'm ready and hopefully we'll meet up. Do some riding for me.

part 4...

One wouldn't think I'd complain about a lack of a catheter but not having to get up to pee was a bigger deal than I realized. Since I had crutches, I used them to get to the toilet a few times that first night; however, it also required my wife's help because I could not get my injured leg off the bed by myself. She had to slowly slide it to the edge of the bed and then very slowly lower it to the floor as I turned with her. I then lifted myself up with the crutches and got myself to the bathroom. I was very unsteady because of the meds and the pain. Even to this day, whenever I am upright, the pain in the injured part of my leg is so unbearable that I do almost everything in bed. But I had to find that out the hard way the first night. I didn't want to be confined to a bed so I was committed to getting myself to the toilet. I made it each time, but I was in tears and I ended up getting pee all over the place. I was a mess. After 3 or 4 attempts that first night I gave up and resigned to peeing in a urine bottle. I knew I would be using a bed pan for BM's because sitting on a hard surface with an edge below my femur was out of the question. You should have seen the look on my wife's face the first time I gave her a steaming pile in that pan. I thought she was gonna barf into the same pan. She made jokes about dealing with "big boy poop" again, referring to a few years ago before our youngest was potty trained. At least she's joking about it.

Three days after I came home my vicodin was getting low already. According to the perscription I could take 1 or 2 pills every 4-6 hours. Except at night if I slept through the time, I stayed with 2 pills every 4 or 5 hours. One pill was not enough. When I tried just one I'd exprerience pain while just lying there. Even with 2 pills I still feel a constant ache at certain times of the day. They only perscribed enough for the first 4 days and I realized I had to get a doctor's authorization for a refill. With enough pills to last me another 24 hrs, I started calling KMC and the pharmacy to get it handled. What a nightmare! The Ortho department told me I was not yet a patient of theirs since I had not had my first follow up appointment. I spent 5 days in their hospital after having my broken femur operated on, yet I was not a patient of theirs. I wanted to strangle someone. Consequently, they could not sign off on my refill and if I needed more pain meds, I'd have to go back to ER. What!!!!???? If I could help it, I was not gonna do that so I started calling different people there and complaining. The next day, a few hours before I took the last pill I had, I finally got a Doctor working the hospital to call me back and I explained my situation. I told him the perscription had to be a mistake and they couldn't expect me to return to ER. He agreed and helped me out. After I took my last pill, the pharmacy called and said I had a new bigger perscription waiting and this one had one refill. Thank God there was one understanding person there. Every other person I talked to on the phone treated my like a piece of #$%@. I hope the way the County runs its medical is not anything close to what we should expect from "Obamacare." If that's the case, we are in a world of hurt.

I've pretty much caught up to my current status. I've been home exactly one week as I type this. I still have not noticed any improvement as far as the pain goes. I did some online research and most of the info says pain starts to fade 2-3 weeks after surgery. This Thursday, 4/8/10, will be 2 weeks out from surgery so hopefully I'll start feeling some improvement soon. I still pee in a urine bottle while standing on my good leg next to the bed, use a bed pan for BM's, wash myself in bed daily (my wife gives me a thorough washing in the bathroom on a bench every other day)and fill my time with books, mags (MTB of course), internet and movies. Netflix is the best! I can watch movies instantly over their website.

Part of my job with Probation is that of a trainer. I'm part of a small group that teaches field safety, including firearms tactics, house entries, and overall decision making in high stress and potentially violent situations. A lot of what we do occurs in reality based training scenarios using paint rounds. Our department bought a dozen Glocks that are specifically manufactured to only fire these paint rounds. So basically, sometimes I get paid to play and teach high stress paint ball. What can I say, somebody's gotta do these jobs. It is a blast to say the least. Talk about adrenaline! Anyway, the group of guys I teach with sent out emails to see if other officers were interested in bringing my family dinners while I was bedridden. The response was unbelievable and we now have dinners lined up for the next two weeks. That's one less thing my wife has to deal with which is actually a huge deal. I just wanted to share with you some of the generosity and support I've received over the last dozen days. This is only a part. I've received numerous phone calls, cards, and visits from friends and family since this incident. I truly appreciate each and every gesture because sometimes it's hard to swallow all the attention.

Like I said earlier in this post, I'm always curious about the recovery of other riders when they've been injured and would just get bits and pieces of info at various rides. I will update this regularly to keep those interested informed with regard to my recovery. If you don't care, don't read the thing.

Jack, I'll give G & G a call. Thanks for that. If anyone else has any secret healing tips, throw them my way. May all of you SSFTA'ers have injury free rides!

Geoff