low rider wrote:Awhile back while on a jump down in Sacramento,there I was standing on my head doing about 200 mph admireing my shadow on my friend when his eyes got real big and he just opened in a standup,I knew exactly what that meant and I opened as fast as I could,My Stiletto came out perfect and snivled for about 4 or 5oo ft.There I was in the saddle at about 400 ft.I reached up ,and being the genius that I am, tried to pull the slider down past my brakes as part of the normal routine.Slider got stuck on one brake and the other brake popped off,so now I am on a Stiletto 120 with one brake in one hand and the slider stuck on the other one so I cant get it off,Times up,one brake line in hand grabbed the riser on the other side and stopped spiraling got it straight and pounded into this farm field with the biggest dirt clods I have ever seen.Snapped my right leg off about six inches up from my heel...Tib,Fib smashed ALL bones and dislocated foot from where it was supposed to be.Still hurts sometimes while skiing but thats about it,otherwise it feels pretty good.......I feel your pain ..........Get well soon,,,,,,,,,,,, Vail

dirtstrip wrote:The greatest things you will look back on that you do in your life will not be skydiving, it is just rush for the moment, it will be the time you give your daughter and family and the time you spend together and they will always have time for you. Within reason, include them in your flying and make the best of both worlds. The cats in the cradle man, cat stevens.

bocephus wrote:Hey Tadpole,
I got a replacement nov 08 at 43 years of age. I got my medical back 3 months later when they say you can flex past 90 degrees. They have you walking the next day after surgery and you will be saying why didn't I do this sooner! It was nothing more than taking the ortho final report and getiting a class one flt physical. If any questions give me a call.

Good Luck!

Paul

Tadpole wrote:Thanks everyone. It feels good to hear nothing but good stories of other who have gone through this.

Tadpole wrote:So, some of you may remember that I broke my hip on a jump 3 years ago. The reassembled it with 3 pins back then. I've been having lots of problems with it the past several month, extreme pain and so on.

Long story short, I have avascular necrosis. Basically the femoral head's (the ball joint part of the hip) blood supply didn't heal correctly and it wasn't restored. We knew this was a chance going in from the beginning, I just didn't expect it. So now most of the ball joint is dead and the rest is continuing to die and it has started to collapse. It's no longer a smooth ball shape, so that's part of the pain, and the reason for the popping, clicking, and snapping noises I get all through the day and night.

I'm waiting now for a referral to a joint replacement specialist up in Denver to see what type of replacement they'll do. It's looking like some newer material they expect to last 30yrs...no one's had it long enough to know for sure yet..haha. Either metal or ceramic. Some will go in the socket, and then they'll "resurface" the ball joint. But that's a bad name in my opinion. They'll lop off the dead stuff and rebuild it with new stuff. The unknown part right now is how much needs to come out.

So, that's it. Fake hip to come sometime this year...before I'm 35 even. I look forward to being out of all this pain though. Still flying when I feel good, and trying to fly as often as I can since I'll be grounded for awhile once I go under the knife.

Here's a pic. You can see where it's collapsed and no longer a nice round shape.

Tadpole wrote:Thanks Paul. I'm thought since I have a current medical, I just self ground once I'm unable to act PIC and then I'd end up reporting this to my AME once I go to renew. Am i supposed to be letting them know about this sooner?