Popped Spleen

April 18, 2008

A few years ago during the US Open I was just having some fun at the end of the day messing around on the railjam setup. I was hitting the single downbar and attempted a frontside lipslide. It was late and I was lazy - my tail didn’t get over the rail. Instead, it knocked into the side of the rail and forced me into a horizontal, laid out position above the rail. Gravity did its work, pulling me down belly first. I folded over the rail and ended up doing a forward roll down the last few stairs. No big deal, I got my breath back, rubbed my sore noggin and hiked back up to claim my redemption. I got it, so I felt better but not for too long. My friend had a room in the Inn right at the mountain so a few of us went to hang out for a little bit. After ten or fifteen minutes I started to feel a steadily increasing stomachache. After a few more minutes I remember laying down on the floor sprawled out because it made me feel a bit better. I grew up around there and my friends and I were staying at my parent’s house. We left the hotel because I felt awful and just wanted to go home.

Getting to the car wasn’t too bad and once I was sitting in the driver’s seat I felt better. The pain was off and on during the 20 minute drive home but I didn’t think much of it. I get home and open the door of the car to get out. Standing up lasts a fraction of a second, and before I know it I’m on the driveway with the worst pain ever in my gut and my left shoulder. My friends do all they can to get me into the house, and as soon as I’m in the door my mom is already there, sensing something is quite wrong using her motherly senses. Ok, back out to the car - to the health center down the street. We’re there five minutes later and getting out of the car this time is even harder than the last time. I’m laid down on the bed an my belly is poked and prodded. It hurt a lot and I was scared because I had absolutely no idea what was up.

They told me that I had most likely ruptured my spleen and that I would need an ambulance for an hour ride to the nearest hospital. They couldn’t give me any drugs during the ride which sucked. Every bump felt like my stomach was ripping in half. They said that the docs in the hospital who would examine me needed me to feel every poke and prod to the max to better determine what was going on. Once the doctors in the hospital concluded that my spleen was indeed ruptured I was administered morphine which worked wonders. In my drugged up haze, the doctor told me that my degree of ruptured-ness was a 2 out of 6, 6 being the worst. That was semi-comforting but knowing that I was bleeding internally was not nice. Here’s how it works - just like other tissue, your spleen will do its best to stop bleeding. If its too bad and can’t stop itself from leaking then the only choice is to have it out. In my case, they told me that it would stop bleeding by itself and I didn’t need to have it removed. I was quite happy to not have to go under the knife. I spent almost 3 days under intensive care at the hospital until I was able to leave. Everything still hurt and the car ride was brutal. Once again, every crack in the road made me feel like my abdomen was being ripped out.

Once at home, I was instructed to move only when necessary. Your spleen is attached to all of those muscles in your abdomen and if you move around alot then it’s like ripping open the cut all over again. Whenever I walked to the bathroom or wherever else I was going I looked like a hunchback. Standing up straight hurt so I just stayed hunched over all the time. The recovery time for a removed spleen is much quicker than that of a damaged but not removed spleen. It was march, so riding the rest of that year was out of the question. I was a little bummed and almost wished I had had it taken out so that I could get back on the snow sooner, but now I’m glad that I still have all my organs - even if it did mean a longer recovery time. Your spleen is not a necessary organ but it is part of the lymphatic system which is part of the immune system. - It’s important. If you ever hit your stomach real hard or have any kind of hard impact to your midsection be aware that pain in your left shoulder means you are bleeding inside. It’s weird - here’s how it works: You bleed - the blood puts pressure on your diaphram (the breathing muscle). Somehow your body translates this as pain in your shoulder. It’s a scary thing - I was lucky and I probably would have been okay if I never went to the hospital but if it’s worse then you’ll bleed to death without even seeing any blood.