Thank you for the accident report. Now you can join the small group of
cavers who have been involved in a caving accident.
Jim
On Aug 13, 2013, at 12:34 PM, Gill Edigar wrote:
It was pointed out to me that I never published an accident report
on CaveTex. This was posted to fb about 8 August
>>>----fwd---->
(Today's report. Justin and Guin and maybe others were watching and
have reported to me most of the following, minor parts of which I
remember.) Sometime after lunch we were gathered around several
leads at the bottom of a pit dig of a small city-owned cave in South
Austin which was being excavated for aquifer recharge purposes. The
discussion was over and I stood up to leave, had a momentary
blackout, and fell backwards into a 10 or so feet deep pit that was
one of the dig leads. I remember the very first part of the fall but
not much of it. I landed on my back amongst several large boulders
which had been dug out but not moved yet. I'm told that I was
unconscious for 15 seconds or so (who was counting?) and then began
speaking incoherently for, maybe, another minute. Troops were
dispatched to call 911 and I, apparently, got up and started heading
out the entrance which was 40 or 50-feet away via a sloping passage
big enough to stand up in--mostly. I remember none of it. The
ambulance (or fire truck) responders and I showed up at the entrance
about the same time. I was packaged and taken to St Davids South,
about a mile from my house. I remember one short segment in the
ambulance and then finally came back to reality in the emergency
room just as they were wheeling me off for a cat-scan. It showed 10
fractured ribs, some minor vertebra damage, and an intact skull
despite the nice lacerations yall have seen in Ellie's earlier post.
If I held still there was no noticeable pain but virtually any
movement resulted in big-time hurting the my left rib cage and left
shoulder. Strangely, I had no headache or other aches or pains. They
kept me in the hospital overnight so my condition would settle out.
My blood pressure was pretty high (I suspect adrenalin), all other
organs operating pretty much according to specs. I spent the night
sitting up, sleeping (mostly) due to a generous sleeping pill, and
took a walk in the hall with the PT girl who determined that I had
normal mobility--and pretty much everything else. Just remember that
the next time somebody says something about me around the campfire--
ha. The doctor made his afternoon rounds and, at my request, set me
free. Getting in and out of bed or chair required some caving
maneuvers and MUCH pain. I try to limit that. Every time I move I
try to make it a learning experience to see what hurts and what
doesn't. I have been sitting up on the side of the bed typing--
instead of sitting in the chair or leaned back in bed--and it seems
to be the most relaxing and painless approach although I'm going to
get tired of it at some point. I tried to roll over on my side but
couldn't do that painlessly and suspected I could be damaging some
of the tender rib fractures. Transitioning between sitting and
standing (mostly standing) induces pain in my lower-left-rear ribs
but mostly goes away after standing a half-minute. I have no spinal
pain best I can tell, just the cracked ribs whenever I try to move.
I've moved into the back living room because my usual bed is on a
loft about 5 feet up a set of stairs and my general access is easier
to obtain. Thanks to all who sent messages and smart-assed remarks.
(More to follow)
--Ediger
