Spare a thought for poor Simon - Two Thumbs - who will be spending tonight in a bed in hospital in Exeter.
Yesterday we went out for a bit of a play in the mud. Towards the end of the day we were in the woods at Trendlebeer Down - behind Bovey Tracey - when Simon had a very minor problem with a slippery log, stepped off his bike, took 2 or 3 flailing steps down the hill trying to catch his balance and ran straight into a tree. Unfortunately there was a dead twig poking out at just the right ( wrong?) place, and it stabbed him in the face and snapped off. Obviously I didnt tell him at the time, but it looked pretty nasty - bleeding, swollen, starting to bruise very quickly, and with something that looked like a snapped off pencil stuck in just below his right eye. All a bit traumatic and unpleasant - I'm sure Simon found it quite troubling too - but he managed to ride to Bovey, where the nice people in the doctors surgery there took one look, decided it was a hospital job and called an ambulance.
Anyway, the operated on it last night to get the twig out and clean up the mess, and I just had a text from him this morning saying the surgeon wants him to stay there another night so they can keep an eye on it.
I just spoke to Simon - apparently it is officially a branch - 3 inches long, went in under his eye, nearly reached all the way to his ear.
Was one of those days when glasses just keep misting up, so neither of us had them on. It would have missed his glasses, even if he had been wearing them. Sounds like a very lucky escape - missed his eye, missed all the nerves, was a nice smooth twig so they were able to pull it back out the hole it went in. I'm just glad he was able to ride the 3 miles into Bovey - getting an ambulance up to where we were would have been tricky and taken ages.
Maybe we can book a trip to Cornwall sometime soon , Barney?
As always, anytime you want to come to the South Hams I'd be happy to take you round.
Ouch - poor Simon, I mean two-eyes or two-thumbs etc etc !! Hopefully we'll ever have to call him two-balls (if you know what I mean...... ouch).
That sounds nasty - but very lucky indeed as not to partially blinded. It was a bugger for steaming up yesterday and my Airoh visor stayed up most of the time I was out.
Hello all I'm back home in Totnes after my encounter with the aforementioned "Branch".
A big thanks to Tim for helping me and getting me to Bovey Surgery, convinced that i had broken my cheek bone due to the load snap i heard when i hugged the tree ! This turns out to be the "Twig" reclassified to "Branch" that speared my face.
The doc at Bovey was a little reluctant to do anything till the paramedics got there i was very glad when they did, the pain was intense , the surprised look in the para medics face when they finally removed my helmet was a little concerning but they were great and very reassuring and finally got the drugs bag out !
A blue light ride to exeter and a swift assessment , CT scan , X rays luckily for me Exeter has the Maxillofacial unit which specialises in face trauma my consultant Mr Esson explained what was to be done.
Waking from the GA was ok and then upto to Mere ward for the nextr couple of nights , more Morphine for the first 18hrs and IV antibiotics for the duration , chance of infection was high as the extracted "Branch" was a bit rotton looking , i hvae the said "Branch" and will take picture of it for you to marvel at !
Anyway hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and see you all soon.
Oh and another big thanks to Timus for getting my bike back from Bovey, i owe you a pint.
and last but not least what you all want to see is the pictures
-- Edited by Two Thumbs on Saturday 2nd of January 2010 03:22:40 PM
