Xtreme Anatomy

Danny spent his working days this summer in a very risky job. He was a white water rafting guide on the Kern River. I learned long ago not to worry because the thing that finally happens always comes out of left field.

For instance, a call from my son saying he was in the hospital with spinal damage not from a job injury, but from jumping off of a bridge for 'fun'. Since the accident he has estimated that he hit the water at 72 miles an hour. The problem was that he landed in a sitting position rather than feet first.

His fellow guides are all well trained in first aid and they strapped him to a board and carried him up the very steep hill, while trying to hide whenever a car went by because, as it turns out, it is illegal to jump from that bridge. Go figure.

Bridge at French Gulch at Lake Isabella - note the steep sides

Danny was hurt at 9pm on Monday, July 6
I got a call the following day around 1pm and went to
Bakersfield with much trepidation.
Bonnie and Elizabeth were visiting and Bonnie bought me a
tank of gas for the trip - thank you!

Yikes - never how you want to see your son.
He was getting morphine at this point, but not a drip.
Always fun to watch the morphine wear off and have to see
someone suffer before they are due for their next dose.
Here he is in emergency where he stayed for 24 hours before being
admitted. He was fitted for a back brace, or jacket as they call it.

The upshot was that Danny has a compression fracture of the L1 vertebrae.
As vertebrae injuries go, this one has a very good prognosis. it is painful
and takes 6-8 weeks to heal but a full recovery is expected.
His smile is deceptive, it hurt a lot, but when there is a camera in your face, you smile.
I was mainly trying to capture the hair.

On Wednesday evening Danny was discharged. We went home via Lake Isabella so we could stop by his house and pick up some clothes, etc. Here one of his roomies is signing his brace.

The fellow river guides.

Dan decided that it is too hot here in Winchester to keep his mountain man hair -
no white water to rinse it in daily.

Cooler.