On the 6th of March I went sailing in the KorinthianGulf,
to enjoy a good day of North Westerly wind
after a while of sailing in quite frustrating conditions.
I was looking forward to that day…
In the end, I almost killed myself (literally speaking) in
the very beginning of that session and spent that and the next 3 days in the
hospital… I had the worst and deadliest injury of them all and what saved me is
my good physical shape and the fact that apparently, as the doctors said, I
still have a lot to do in my life.
I had the worst injury there is, but got away with it with
the minimum damage. My second from the top vertebra cracked in two places, but
didn’t move in the least… My muscles helped a lot, and the fact that I spent
1,5 hour 5 times a week all winter in the gym certainly played its role. C2
fracture is also called “hangman’s’ fracture”, as it is the bone that cracks
completely when you get hanged with a rope… Quite scary… I was held in the
hospital for 3 days, as the day I hurt myself was a Saturday (not a good day to
be looking for the experts) and also because cervical spine injuries are the
most feared of all spinal injuries, since the potential for significant damage
to the spinal cord is high. So it took one or two days to have a second (more
specific) computed tomography and for the doctors to decide how they would
immobilize the back of my neck.
In the end I got away with it with a hard collar (it’s
called Philadelphia collar) with a head-band (I was afraid they would put
screws and metal braces in my face because in the beginning they were
discussing about it – horrible to even think about it) which I have to keep for
3 months (I am quite convinced it’s going to be good again sooner than that,
but I’ll have to wait and see). Then I’ll switch to a soft collar, don’t know
for how long –haven’t thought or asked up to that point yet as it’s a long way
till I get rid of this thing on my face…
The doctors explained how lucky I am and kept discussing
that it is a miracle how I do not have any neurological damage. Fracture of the
C1 or C2 vertebra can be fatal and the higher the level of the injury in the
spine, the higher the possible damage, since the greater the area of the body
that may be affected is. Cervical spine fractures may cause instability, which
can lead to spinal cord compression and neurologic disability, so I was really
really lucky, as always.
I am at home now, with a new posh bed whose upper part goes
up and down, standing as still as a stone (as far as my neck is concerned) for
the first two weeks that are really critical for the bone to start healing…
quite a challenge I must say, but can’t do otherwise… I am thinking that I will
recover 100% so I am happy, because things could have turned out VERY bad… and
I think the bone will heal very fast.
p.s. check out the photo, it’s not my own neck, but just to
see where the fracture is…
