Doonut Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 The Doonut clan had a bad day Sunday. A lesson in complacency occured and changed the rest of our family's season for the worse. Sunday morning around 10am, after a nice big country breakfast myself, Mrs.Doonut and Killswitch headed out for a little lake ride to visit some friends. About a mile from home we run a small unmarked trail to connect from our road to a back lake. It's usually pretty rough as its not a groomed trail and it was pretty knarley Sunday am. I lead thru the trail followed by my daughter and third in line Mrs.Doonut. I popped out on the lake, which is all of about 500 feet thru the trail and a few seconds later Killswitch pulled up beside me. A minute goes by and no Mrs.Doonut. HUH? Must be stuck I think. I shut down my sled and had KS do the same. Nope, Don't hear her sled. I start walking back into the trail as there is no room for opposing traffic. I first see her sled sitting at a 45 degree angle to the trail and figure, yep, stuck. Its not running and I can't see my wife anywhere. Then I hear it. That cry/scream of pain. I start running thru the foot of drifted new snow ( not easy in my big boots ) and get to her sled. Its smack dead into a tree and she is lying on the ground beside it curled up in pain. A quick assesment leads me to believe she is ok for the most part but I think her arm is broken . Now, here I am a mile from home, my wife down and in obvious severe pain, her sled treed, the wind howling right down the trail, my 10 yr old daughter out of sight sitting on the lake and I need help, fast. I phone a riding buddy and catch him just as he's getting ready to head for home(whew). He drops everything and heads out to meet us. I get Mrs.Doonut up and walk/carry her out the trail to the road where my buddy meets us on his sled. We load her on infront of him and he makes a bee line down the road to the highway where his wife meets them in her truck. Off to the the hospital they go. Now, its just me and KS and 3 sleds, one of which is blocking our route home. What to do. I push,pull,yank etc and get her doo out of the tree. Try to fire it up, nope, won't turn over. I pry the side open and see the clutch gaurd jammed into the primary. Tear it out and voila, it will start so I limp it out the rest of the trail and to the lake.I get KS to jump on the back seat and head back out the trail to the road. I walk back to the lake and pull the tether off my sled, ride KS's sled back to the road. I ride/limp Mrs.Doonuts sled back out the road to the cabin with KS following me. I get KS in the cabin head back out to get my sled by way of a quick double ride from my buddy. Now back at the shack, we quickly put the sleds away, stoke the fire, let the dog out for a break because I know we will be in Bracebridge for a while. I gather up Mrs.Doonuts health card etc and we dig out my truck. We all jump in my truck and head around the lake to BB. Nice, total whiteouts, nearly miss the offramp because we can't see the signs at the side of the road. One hr later, we finnish the 15 minute drive to the hospital. I head in and ask about Mrs.Doonut. "She's already in x ray" was the answer. WOW! what service. Not used to that in a ER ward these days. Sure enough, she has a compression break of her left arm at the wrist. Not pretty. Her season is done,4 to 6 weeks in a cast. Her sled may be done( not sure yet, I need to give it a close look) I didn't have time to assess the total damage. The doctor said she would have to wait a further 3 to 4 hrs before they could knock her out and fix her arm. Should have skipped breakfast. So, back to the shack thru the driving storm myself and KS go. I pack up, close up the shack and head back to BB again thru a nasty blizzard. At 6pm we leave BB and head for home. Nice drive, NOT. Major whiteouts all the way to Gasoline Alley. NASTY. Moral of the story, even tho you have been down that very same trail 100,s of times. Even tho you are going very slowly. You need to pay constant attention to everything. A small frozen log at the edge of the trail kicked her right ski and bounced her off the left side of the trail right smack into a tree. A week ago, the snow was soft enough that the log would have moved. Yesterday, after some cold night time temps, the log was going nowhere. Remember, what we do IS, not can be but IS dangerous. Even in the most familiar surroundings, bad things can happen. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan XC700 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Glad to hear it was just a broken arm & nothing more serious.............hope she has a speedy recovery Doonut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easy Rider Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Sorry to hear about your wifes bad luck. Hope she has a speedy recovery! You are so right about how quickly conditions can change. I was just talking to a riding buddy who told me his mother was out for a nice, sensible trail ride yesterday, hit a snowdrift in a whiteout and has some nice bruises to show for her involuntary dismount. Lucky not to have any broken bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hi-mileage Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Thats too bad,sorry to hear but it could have been worse.It is a good story to bring you back to reality.Lucky you caught your buddy,lucky you were close to cottage,lucky you were close to hospital,lucky it was a arm and not a leg,lucky you are an experienced sledder. Just change all those luckies to no phone,no help,in the bush 100 miles,have to leave someone and go get help. I hope your wife feels ok,and heals quick. Thanks for the story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildbill Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 It always happens too easy . Give our best to your wife and we hope for a speedy recovery. The good news is arms mend the sled is replacable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domino Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Ouch is right! Sorry to hear about. Tell the Mrs. to get well soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Please pass on my best wishes for a speedy recovery for your wife. You are right that we always have to be aware of the unexpected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trax Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Your wife is blessed to have a resourceful partner who could take charge & battle the weather in order to get her the help she needed. Great job to you & your gang! Good advice, thanks for sharing. Best wishes for a speedy recovery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeater466 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Sorry to hear of your misfortune, best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4mysled Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 glad to hear all is o.k. I had a similar event a few years back. Riding the ditches to the trail, my wife riding behind me came over a small hill where the snow was piled high from a driveway and flipped her machine. Luckliy it didn't hurt her. However a few weeks later riding the sun caught her helmet and I noticed it was cracked at the bottom of the helmet near the jaw. We figured out that the machine must have landed on her helmet. So I whole hardily agree, always pay attention even when riding well known areas.Once again glad to hear that everyone is o.k. and hope your daughter did not get freaked out by everything. 4my Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14 snow Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Sean, this is all just bad luck. Hopefully Mrs will recover quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maple Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Doonut, please pass on my best wishes for a speedy recover to Mrs Doonut. Hope her recovery is as quick and painless as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reved Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I hope the heal goes fast and well for your wife DooNut. Things can happen fast out there, just imagine what would have happened on a wide trail with a lot more speed involved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue er Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 best wishes to your wife and hope for speedy recovery, just reminds the rest of us it can happen at anytime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazman Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Sorry to hear of your misfortune, best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery. I have the luxury of riding with my wife ........now that is a good thing...because it keeps me from flying down the trails ........like when ure out with "The Boy's" There are alot of times when I look back and she's not there.........and you wait and you wait then you get ready to turn around to go find her and then she comes around the corner and once again ure relieved to see she is alright ............Hopefully I never have an experience like you did........thankfully everything worked out well for all Cya Taz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhatboyC Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I wish her a fast recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ontariof7 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Wow, quite a story. Please pass on my wishes of a speedy recovery to Mrs. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giddy UP Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 WOW - that's a horrible thing to have happen! I'm glad everything turned out as best it did. Wish her a speedy recovery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mother Christmas Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Sorry to hear about Mrs. D let her know that I wish her a speedy recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irREVerent Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Wow, Doonut...that's nasty ...and could easily happen to any of us. At least it wasn't in an isolated area where help wasn't so close at hand. Sorry for your bad luck, and all the best to your wife for a rapid recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 That's too bad for D, this being K.S.'s first year out on a "real" sled ... hopefully she heals quickly and 100%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevRiders Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Glad all is ok..best wish's for a speedy recovery.. M&L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailblazer Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 WOW! Sean, I too wish Mrs. D a speedy recovery. Hey, do you and MikeD share the same wife? Thanks for sharing your story with the rest of us. Hopefully it'll make someone think of all of the ramifications of an incident on the trails before one happens. Here's wishing a safe season for everyone. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doonut Posted February 14, 2008 Author Share Posted February 14, 2008 Hey, do you and MikeD share the same wife? Jeff AHHHHH, not formally but just the other day the girls were actually discussing how funny it is the number of times we have slept together over the last 18 yrs. OOOOPS, did I really just say that???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domino Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Hey, do you and MikeD share the same wife? Jeff AHHHHH, not formally but just the other day the girls were actually discussing how funny it is the number of times we have slept together over the last 18 yrs. OOOOPS, did I really just say that???? You and Mike!!!!???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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