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phile
Trad climber
SF, CA
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May 17, 2010 - 11:00am PT
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Heal quick; thanks for the report, and glad you're ok. Sounds like a bad bounce!
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JesseM
Social climber
Yosemite
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May 17, 2010 - 01:31pm PT
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Great TR John,
Glad you are doing OK. How did the surgery go? Make the best of your recovery time, and get back on the rock when you feel good again!
Jesse
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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May 17, 2010 - 02:11pm PT
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My friend Mike Jackson broke his ankle right off a ledge while doing the Prow as well! It was @ 1985 or so I'd bet. They'd slept higher up on the wall, what ever that ledge is. He said it was a mental error, like 3rd piece up of the day and it was because he wasn't quite awake. They finished the climb that day, Mike jugging with a single leg, and crawled down North Dome Gully. Then got a cast. I was cringing as he told the story. He had a remarkable partner who basically did all the sh*t except the jugging and crawling - his feeling was rescues should be reserved for when the sh*t really hits the fan.
Congrats on the learning experience and on having a cell phone!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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May 17, 2010 - 02:11pm PT
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"The next day the ankle will be reset at the hospital in Modesto using a plate and 8 screws. Time to start the rehab process."
Ouch. That sounds painfully familiar. Do you have a bimollalular fracture, whereby the ends of each of your tib and fib have busted off [those are the "bumps" on the outsides of your ankle] and that's why you need the plates and screws? That's what happened to me.
I flew home to Canada for surgery, where it's "free". As well as the plate and screws, they also put a diastasis screw in my upper calf, just under the knee. This was to prevent me putting any weight on anything.
This break happened to me in May. The diastasis screw came out in August. "Go use it," said my bone Doc. "Just don't break it again, cuz I won't be able to fix it very well a second time."
One week later I made a 24-hour caving trip in Kentucky. Four weeks later I climbed Son of Heart on El Cap. In February the following year, I asked them to take out the plates and screws, which they did.
I have been pretty good ever since. It doesn't really hurt, and I can run, schlepp and [aid] climb. I have lost mobility, but that's about it. How much do you care if you can't press your knee to the wall when your toe is touching it?
I'm *really* careful aiding above ledges these days....
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JohnRoe
Trad climber
State College, PA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 17, 2010 - 02:45pm PT
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Thanks for all the support and encouragement on this thread. The surgery was on Thursday and went well, I was discharged on Saturday and will fly back to PA tomorrow. In the "allergies" section of the discharge form, the hospital wrote "Math professor". Still trying to figure that one out.
I can post up some x-rays when I get home. Also, I think Jesse took a few pictures while we were up on the ledge and, if he wants, he is welcome to post them.
Jesse, congrats on your LF ascent, I hope that the speed jugging practice was helpful :-)
JohnR
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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May 17, 2010 - 04:19pm PT
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Thank you for the TR, John, and Thank God for YOSAR, and that your recovery looks to be well on its way. I hope you recover quickly, and I hope all of us realize how fortunate we are to have such marvelous emergency resources in Yosemite.
John
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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May 17, 2010 - 05:09pm PT
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Hey couchmaster,
That may be easy for you to say, but unless you've had a mangled limb before...perhaps you don't know what it's like. If Johns ankle was as trashed as he claims, he didn't have a choice and did the right thing. Shock is the real deal and can kill you if not lead to a more serious accident. So don't flip him sh#t for calling a rescue.
I skied into a tree this winter and broke my tibia plateau. I sat in the woods for thirty minutes alone waiting for someone to stumble on me because I was totally imobile. It was humbling.
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Footloose
Trad climber
Lake Tahoe
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May 17, 2010 - 05:26pm PT
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Wow, John, what a story!
After you heal up, then give
it another go!
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PaulC
Social climber
Traffic Jam Ledge
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May 17, 2010 - 06:30pm PT
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John,
Last summer, we met on Traffic Jam ledge at Seneca. I hope you recover quickly.
Paul
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aaronfm
Trad climber
BA
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May 17, 2010 - 06:46pm PT
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I wanted to chime in and thank everyone for this outpouring of support for John!
Indeed, when I lowered John back down to the ledge he was pretty banged up. His ankle was deformed and obviously broken: the foot was medially rolled almost 90 degrees. Even being in shock, he was in *a lot* of pain -- I'm amazed he didn't pass out -- thank god for the morphine yosar brought up. . .
John had an amazing attitude throughout this whole ordeal -- he's one tough guy!
And again, a HUGE THANKS to YOSAR, and in particular Jesse and Matt, who I got to spend quite a bit of quality time with on Anchorage Ledge.
(And Jesse: I hope you ripped up Lurking Fear this weekend!)
-Aaron
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gonamok
Trad climber
Dont look at me like that
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May 17, 2010 - 07:32pm PT
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way to gut it out dude. We can learn from every accident, so your post is a community service. Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery.
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Hauler
Big Wall climber
Lodi, CA
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May 17, 2010 - 11:00pm PT
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Hey John, glad to hear your ok. I wondered how you did after meeting you at the base. I was part of the team that came down after...you named it...a miserable night in the wicked snow storm. I was hoping you would be okay with unpredictable weather, but it sounds like you got another ride. Sorry you didn't get to top out after the efforts to fly out here to do that. At least your safe and you got an awesome story. Sounds like YOSAR really has some effective systems. I hope I only hear about them and never get a first hand impression. Heal quick.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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May 17, 2010 - 11:36pm PT
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C'mon, dude - read my post, and give me the technical beta on your ankle fracture!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 18, 2010 - 12:00am PT
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Matt,
I don't think couchmaster (Bill)'s post about his friend Mike's broken ankle was meant as a critique of John's need for a rescue. I think he was saying there are occasionally some stubborn people out there, most likely with a much more minor break, who are able to continue OK. (Or self-rescue, etc.). Not everyone is so lucky, of course.
I broke a finger on El Cap once, and we continued up, with me not leading anything more. I think we both know the severity of breaks vary.
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BooYah
Social climber
Ely, Nv
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May 18, 2010 - 12:22am PT
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No whining, Pete. Homeboydudeguy is down now, he'll have plenty of time to revisit such things.
Good on ya, HBDG.
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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May 18, 2010 - 12:23am PT
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Woah John,
That is some scarry stuff!
Good luck with your recovery. Take care,
Zander
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aaronfm
Trad climber
BA
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May 18, 2010 - 12:51am PT
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PTPP,
Yeah, it's a bimalleolar fracture.
-aaron
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Ron Raimonde
Big Wall climber
Sedona,Az
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May 18, 2010 - 04:55pm PT
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Hey John, Glad to hear you are OK. I climbed the route the next day and knew of your rescue but not the details. There was some blood on Anchorage ledge, so I figured it must have happened above there. I am surprised about the location of your fall, It is steep and pretty clean. Not the usual place you would be worried about ankles. There was a blown head higher up about the third placement into the strange dihedral,we figured it might have happened there. Kudos To YOSAR as usual. Good luck with the rehab. RR
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sun_q
Trad climber
NY
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May 19, 2010 - 05:28am PT
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Hi John,
As many have said already, good work on keeping it together throughout the pain (and choosing a partner who also kept his cool). And of course YOSAR is just way too amazing.
n.b. In fact I do have listed in my medical records that I'm allergic to any drug in the family of functional analysis, while long-term exposure to synthetic forms of "higher-symmetries" has given me certain precious immunities.
See you State College side!
Eric
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Tradmedic
Ice climber
Thunder Bay, Ontario
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May 19, 2010 - 07:24am PT
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Great report, thanks for posting. I'm sure nobody ever wants to be in need of a rescue, props to YOSAR.
As a note, nausea/vomitting associated with morphine doesn't constitute an allergy. It is in the side effect profile of the drug along with respiratory depression, and a drop in blood pressure for some. The antiemetic may have been something along the lines of IV gravol. The mechanism of action for gravol isn't completely known.
There is another post from somebody who did have an allergic reaction (rash, itchiness, etc) With any kind of airway involvement being the cardinal sign that it warrants treatment with epi as a temporizing measure for IV antihistamines to do their thing.
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