Mike's Sweet Wreck

Mike thinks that the gods have decided that they don't want him snowboarding. I am beginning to think he is right. Last year he sat out basketball and baseball due to an injury in his knee that was taking forever to heal. He was told about the ban from snow boarding by his orthopedist one week before the season opened and right after he bought a beautiful board, bindings and boots.



He got to gaze longingly at the board all season but didn't get to use it. I felt so bad for him.

This year got off to a great start. He went twice before the school ski club even started going because his brother's friends that drive took him along and the weather cooperated. He had a blast. He's been skiing since he was 5 but this is his second year boarding and had been getting pretty good at it. So fast forward to the 1st school ski club outing this year. Mike is diligently locking his board up each time he goes into the lodge. Every time except once that is. He wanted to grab a quick drink. He went into the lodge, came back out and his board was gone! The recovery rate of stolen boards is very small. We were all heartbroken. We decided that he would rent a board for the rest of the season because next season he may opt to play varsity basketball and you can't do both. So this past Wednesday the school was not sending a ski club bus because it's regents (high school state exams) week. But Mike got a ride from the parents of a kid in his class.

At 7:30, I got a call from the ski patrol. You don't want phone calls from the ski patrol. The guy told me he had Mike in his office and that he probably fractured his collar bone.


When he got home at around 8:30 we looked him over and had him sleep on the couch so he could comfortably stay upright. He was well wrapped up by the ski patrol and was comfortable so we decided to take him to the orthopedic doc in the morning. Morning arrives and the ortho receptionist asks where the ER report is. I said he needs an xray and a visit to you. The ER will just redo the splint and tell him to go see his ortho doc. This is a waste of time and money. Well she says we need an Xray and a report. Fine. I take him to the walkin and get shuttled back and forth from walkin to hospital radiology back to walkin. His doc still won't take him because they need a full report which takes a few days! This is after we find out he has a displaced and overlapping fracture, meaning the bones are out of line and overlapping. Mike can hear them crunching! But he is supposed to sit around like that for days. The hospital doc says let me see if I can get him in with a nearby ortho guy. Fortunately for us we see this local guy. He sends us up to a prosthetic and medical device place nearby for a clavicle strap. End of story...7 hours later with a much needed late lunch at 3.

We got home, Mike slumped into the couch with his clavicle strap installed and proclaimed," It was a sweet wreck".

I'm exhausted.