“You will never be able to walk the rest of your life without a cane”
I have survived many major injuries in my life but I have suffered three broken ankles. I broke my Right one twice, once in the Air Force while working on a large plane, and I slipped off the wing. Ten years later I broke it again Skydiving. I was involved in many accuracy competitions, so I was able to return quickly to jumping with the aid of the military-style jump boots I used. I began to use my left leg to take most of the force of the landings. One day, because of high winds, I landed very hard off target and caused a major break in my left ankle that caused it to become disconnected at the ankle joint. The plowed field I was forced to land in had large chunks of unplowed hard-dried dirt and my ankle twisted when I hit one of them. That was one of the times I witnessed and used the incredible power of adrenaline. The military-style jump boots that I wore at the time also proved their value. I was able to walk across the large field carrying my parachute and equipment to my car. The car was a stick shift, and I drove from 45 miles to my hospital. Once I got to the emergency entrance of the hospital the pain was so bad I could not get out of the car and needed a wheelchair and physical assistance.
I was 32 years old and over the next several weeks, I was told by three doctors when that I would not be able to walk the rest of my life without a cane. All of them said too many pins would be necessary to hold the ankle together. All the doctors had tried to open the ankle joint to determine if it was fully disconnected but it was too painful. I lived in San Francisco and heard about a doctor that one of the players on the San Francisco 49ers had used successfully. He was an elderly German doctor who had practiced in Germany before coming to the United States. He could not fully open the ankle either because of the pain but he told me about a procedure that used an adhesive instead of pins and convinced me to schedule the surgery and he would do what was necessary. I simply gambled and trusted him because my worst nightmare would be to be disabled so young. After all, that would also end my Skydiving and my other planned athletic activities.
After the surgery, I woke up from the anesthesia in my hospital bed. When I opened my eyes, I saw his grinning face inches from mine. He was so excited; it seemed like he was shouting. He informed me that under the anesthesia he had been able to open the ankle up and put it back together and had been able to do the adhesive procedure. In my groggy state and with some pain returning, I remember thinking that it was more information than I wanted to know. Hearing that my ankle had been opened was not great news and I was happy that he left so I could go back to sleep!!
On an office visit, a couple of months after the operation he removed the cast to check the progress of the surgery. He was about to put a new cast on, and I very adamantly told him that I had intended to compete in a Skydiving competition soon and I could just use a reinforced Jump boot that I had brought with me. He disagreed but allowed me to put the boot on and screwed up the examination table higher. My attitude was that I would show him that I had figured it out and I could handle it. I put the boot on and was surprised at how much pain there was with the cast removed. I jumped off the table putting my full weight on my booted ankle and almost fell flat on my face because the pain was so bad when I tried to put all my weight on my ankle. He looked down at me groaning on the floor and said, “Have you changed your mind?” I nodded emphatically shaking my head “Yes!” I also asked him to prescribe more pain pills to make up for overconfident stupidity!
I was able to continue skydiving activities, pioneered freefall photography, and set a world record. We developed a good relationship in the healing process. I had his home phone, and one Christmas Eve I called him at 10:00 PM and told him “Thank you for my life!” I am going to blame it on the drinks we had because even now as I am writing this, it is still a bit embarrassing to say that two grown men were sobbing together on that phone call. There was a lot of genuine happiness being shared and I owe him and many Surgeons and Doctors my life as I have been able to lead it.
The Doctor made the statement once when examining my ankle and admiring his work “This one will probably be stronger than the other one!” Many years later after having no problems at all, I agree with him!
I plan to share other stories about my many successful recoveries, but I feel that I have had a very charmed and miraculous life. A part of me is in a bit of awe now that, because of the worst business failure of my life I have been forced to write about it.
I am planning to use the energy produced to make my life and others the best part of their lives
A big failure provides big Adrenaline energy for success, and I plan to share as much of it as I can and leave this life on the dead run!
