When it's not your time to die

Just had a call from an old friend. Like us, she went skiing at
half-term, with her daughter. And she took a tumble and (it turned out)
did her cruciate ligaments in one knee.

Anyway, she was very high up at Les Arcs, and for some reason the
ski-doo blood wagon couldn't get to her, or there wasn't one available
anyway, so she was loaded into the old-fashioned stretcher with one
rescue bod fore and one aft. You know the things.

And off they set. "All you can see is sky," she said "because you're
strapped in."

And then there was a loud *CRACK*. That was one of the handles breaking
off, that was. And off went the stretcher, with nobody holding it, and
her still strapped in.

It didn't slide. It rolled. Snow-sky-snow-sky-snow-sky-snow-sky and by
the grace of God she still had her helmet and goggles on as her face was
being mashed into the snow on every revolution.

It came to a halt 10 feet from the edge of a precipice. The rescue bods
caught up "looking shocked". I bet they did. They must have thought: "Oh
well, we're not going to get that one back."

 

Now & again you get a break, i had one the other week with the
windscreen episode

 

Bloody hell.

I'm surprised one handle breaking meant losing the whole thing.

 

I thought he did bloody well, it's damn slippery out there. [1]

Paul.

[1] Well, you started it with wheeling out the old joke
punchlines ... [2]
[2] For bonus points, name that joke.

 

Wotcha.

I had one last Halloween with the pelvis episode.



On the plus side, I can now just about sit in a car, so tonight will be my
first visit to the bike club, or anywhere else for that matter, in four
months.

Getting there, albeit slowly

 

The Fickle Finger of Fate. And if the bitch is fickle enough, just as
the lady walks out of the hospital, she gets run over by a lunatic
cager.

 

Can't figure it out.

 

Divine intervention.

I hope she'll enjoy several decades of pleasant life, as soon the
ligaments heal.

 

There is no god, if there had been, none of the above would have happened

Ligaments don't heal :-(

 

If only 1 handle broke, what was

a) The guy holding with hand 2 ? (assuming 2 per end)
b) The guy at the other end holding ?

 

Absolutely no idea. As (I assume, as it rolled rather than slid) they
were traversing at the time (she said the crunch happened on a steep
mogul field), one guy probably just couldn't hold it.

 

So, lets get this straight, while taking an injured person off the
mountain, the smarty pants rescue bods decided to have some fun in a mogul
field

 

If it was somewhere they couldn't get a ski-doo to, they probably
didn't have much choice in the matter.

 

Yes they do. Eventually...

--
Lesley
Residing in the Capital of Culture 2008
CBR600FW
Peugeot 206 S
SBS#11 (with oak-leaf cluster)
BOTAFOT#101A UKRMHRC#12
BONY#54P BOB#18

 

No. They don't. If a ligament is stretched or partially torn, the only
healing will be to the other damaged tissues around it. The ligament
itself will remain in its stretched state[1]. If it's snapped it's
snapped forever.

ACL replacement surgery is very common these days, which usually takes
the hamstring tendon, split in half down the middle, together with the
bone it's attached to, and screws it in place of where the ligament
used to be. Tendon and ligament are effectively the same material, but
the former is in a more 'live' state which can regrow and heal,
whereas once it's stopped being pulled by muscles all the time it
stabilises into another more static state.

[1] Which is why I'm destined to be taking painkillers for the rest of
my life, after all the ligaments attaching my ribs to my spine were
ripped and torn by my big smash a few years ago.

 

There are different types of sledge used, some with handles at both
ends for two people and some just at one.

I've assisted at incidents where they've had to get the victom dowm
moguls. Generally they just go straight down. Not fun for the poor sap
strapped in, and a hell of a lot of work for the piste guys too.

Indeed.

 

. . . .

That's rather what I was thinking of - a knee that eventually works.

 

Helicopter, but he didn't survive :-/

Plase wear helmet, that's all.

 

Coo, it's been a Hislop-free while. Or is it Macrae, these days?

 

Father of friend of mine, while we were skiing together.