Hey All,
Thanks for all your kind thoughts and wishes. I am still "racing" every night in my dreams and wake up to a pool of sweat and my side hurting. I just wanted to give you all a little update on what exactly happened during my injury and what I learned from it. At around 1 P.M. on April 8th, I had just resupplied in my home town of Payson, AZ. I finally found some KT tape at Big 5 for my knee, which had been giving me some issues for quite a few days but that point, and some other things that you could not just find at local gas stations. I only resupplied with about a liter and a half of water for the Payson to Pine section because I was very confident/motivated from a great resupply in my home town and had just hiked the whole Highline trail only about a month before. I was one of the only people that probably knew that the dreaded Highline Trail had been well cleaned up and no longer did every foot of it come out and try to bite at you. Anyways, I was very motivated to get up to Pine, resupply very heavy on food and kick the hell out of the Highline that night to try getting back up to where Alice was. As soon as I left pavement in the neighborhood on the north side of Payson, I started ripping down the first decent only to have a near miss with a 3 foot tall boulder and clip a small 4 inch tall anchored down rock. I went over the bars faster than I ever have before. When I hit the ground, I could not breath, but I figured I just knocked the wind out of me... First thing I thought, "What bones did you just break?". I started moving all of my limbs very slowly and to my surprise, everything was mobile. I had a large gash around my left elbow, but I thought it would manage without stitches. Once, I finally had the courage to stand up, I almost immediately fell over from being lightheaded and dizzy. I walked my bike over to the nearest Ponderosa pine tree and hung my bike up on a branch. I went for my multitool to bent back my brake rotors...unfortunately I collapsed on the ground and felt extremely nauseous. I battled the feeling of nausea, dizziness and lightheadedness for sometime while on the phone with my fiancé telling her what happened. I was very upset because just minutes before I felt SO GREAT! I explained to my fiancé that the symptoms were most likely from a small concussion because I hit my head pretty good (YES I had a helmet on!). I have had many concussions in the past and this one didn't give me any visual symptoms so I truly believed it wasn't anything severe. After about 30 minutes to an hour of debating on if I should just return back to Payson, I decided to make a reservation at the cabin up in Pine, ride/hike on and get some rest in a bed that night and then continue with the Highline Trail first thing in the morning. As I made my way up toward Pine hiking the accents and biking the small amount of decents, I felt like I had zero motivation and no energy unlike just a few hours before. I started to have very uncomfortable pain inside my abdomen, but I kept thinking, "That was a very hard crash, I'm sure my organs just got knocked around good!". I even saw Jens and Gunther pass by and say, "Man dude, you don't look so good." I continued up the huge climbs all way to Pine finally arriving at That Brewery. At this point, I was in some very serious pain and it was radiating all the way up my sides and into my shoulders. The problem and reason I did not take a ride straight to the hospital is that I was simply stubborn and wanted to finish the first of my three large races to attain the Triple Crown Challenge. Once I got to the small cabin around 8 P.M. I "tried" laying down on the bed to call my fiancé and tell her I was going to try and sleep it off... I couldn't even get a full sentence out of my mouth... I hadn't even been in the cabin for 5 minutes and I got back up and went back over to the entrance of That Brewery and waited for a ride to the hospital. Once I arrived at the Payson hospital, I went back for a CT scan of my abdomen. I was told that it would be about 45 minutes to an hour before I would get the results. Within 2 minutes they ran back into my room and said, "You are taking a helicopter ride, you ruptured your spleen and you bleeding badly." I told the nurse that I was about to lay down up in Pine and just "sleep it off" and she said, "Honey, if you would have went to sleep, you would have never woken up...". About 20 minutes later I was airborne and my life flipped upside down... Earlier that day, I was making great time, super motivated and was finally riding in cooler weather. Now, I was flying in an Air Evac, racing down to Phoenix, not knowing if I was going to see my pretty fiancé's face again or even be able to pet my dog again. I was supposed to be getting married in less than 3 weeks... It was pretty emotional because I thought for awhile that my own drive and perseverance was going to be the thing that killed me... "Why didn't I just turn the damn bike around and go into Payson to get checked out 9 hours ago..." I really thought for awhile, that by being stubborn and hiking all the way up to Pine, I may have just killed myself. When I arrived at the Level 1 Trauma Center in Scottsdale, the doctor was on the helipad completely scrubbed out waiting to receive me. I was wheeled into a room of no less than 20 people trying to rip my clothes off and get an assessment... The trauma doctor was the most calming person I had talked to all day. He made me feel immediately comfortable. I still remember asking him the words I have always feared to have to ask, "Doc....am I going to make it?". He smiled and said, "Of course you are." Anyway, I was able to see the CT scan images and he showed me that my abdomen was filled with blood and that my spleen was now in many pieces. He was highly impressed that I could even walk with a Grade 4 Spleen Rupture and said I must be tough. I just told him, I was probably just stupid. They embolized the main artery through an angioplasty in my femoral artery and stopped the bleeding. I will now have to get many vaccinations and antibiotics to stay healthy for the rest of my life, but I should feel normal in about 6-8 weeks. My Triple Crown Challenge is going to have to wait till next year
Lessons Learned-
I do not consider myself reckless and I am truly intune with my own mind and body. I kept checking all the way up to Pine for any swelling, discoloration and bruising of the abdomen and there was nothing. Even to this day, over a week after the injury, I have no bruises or swelling of any kind. So even though you aren't showing any external symptoms after a brutal crash, you might want to get checked out if you are feeling abdominal pain.
I like to pride myself on always pushing forward and never quitting. This has been instilled in me throughout my entire life...but there is a time to let your ego down and at least get yourself checked out. If you don't look out for your body, you can't push it even further next time. We only get one chance at this life and one body. Don't screw it up beyond what is fixable.
I have also learned that there will always be the people in this life that encourage you to get back up, brush yourself off and try again and then there will also be people that try and keep you safe by holding you back. I'm not going to tell you which ones I usually listen to, but just remember, they all want to see you safe...
Cheers to all you 300 and 750 finishers! You guys and gals are amazing!
-Tanner
Show Posts
