Of plates and bolts and ankles and legs.

I was going about 45 kms/hr when the toe-edge of my board caught a chunk of ice and I twisted through the air. This, in itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. Generally you hit the snow, pop back up and off you go. Things were different this time. My board caught, and when I twisted around my left ankle twisted inside my boot. The only popping I did was when I heard the pop in my ankle ...

I tried to get up to no avail - there was nothing to feel in my left ankle and bottom of the leg - and the pain ... oh my god! I took my boot off and moved the foot around. It felt weird and disjointed so I put the boot back on and sat there looking down the hill from the top of Blackcomb in Whistler.

It took about 30 minutes for a ski patrol guy named Dominic to arrive. He felt around, chatted, check my neck, head and shoulders. He also checked my other leg and my thighs. No pain except that damn ankle. In hindsight I realize that when the sled arrived I was in quite a bit of shock. I hadn't talked much except to joke a bit and I figured I would get down the hill, hobble to the chalet and drink a couple of beers. Instead, I was informed that an ambulance was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill. No special coffees, no food ...

After a trip down the mountain on a sled (strapped in like a mummy, looking at blue sky with puffy white cumulus clouds and wondering if I was going to be part of some slapstick comedy where the sled dislodges and hurtles down the hill) I was hustled into the ambulance. I still felt fine. I realised things were serious but, hey, a tensor bandage always does the trick. When the paramedic took off my boot however, things took a rather nasty turn. The purple ankle, on both sides, looked awful and it was triumphantly announced to me that I probably broke my ankle in two places ....

Waiting in the hospital. Only T3s in my belly even though they offered me something stronger. Fuck I need to pee! I have had two coffees and a bottle of water today and have yet to go to the washroom and now I have been sitting here (well lying here actually) for two hours.

Nope, not allowed till after the xray.

Xray time and all I can think about is taking a leak.

After xray my nurse announces that I cannot go to bathroom because I have broken my ankle AND my leg. She promply hands me a cardboard bottle thingy with a handle and closes the curtains with a smile. (With dismay and delight, I recognize that smile. This nurse stitched up my son's foot last year after he cut it with my machete while chopping kindling. We had been camping in Pemberton area - really up in the bush - and that cut really changed the rest of the week! And now she was telling me that I had to put on some designer hospital shorts and that although they would love to have me at Chez Whistler Medical Clinic, I would instead have to go to Vancouver to get all fixed up... Funny nurse. Worked better on my son then me.)

Well, today is two days later. I had to wait a day for surgery because of other more serious accidents and then they put me under. Two plates, three screws/bolts to fix a broken ankle, a broken fibula and the fibula and tibia being torn apart at its base.

And here I am sitting on my couch.