2009-06-02 49 10

Tue 2 Jun 2009 in Bamberg: 49.8167809, 10.1509371 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Today's location is in a barley field next to Brück, a borough of Dettelbach.

Country: Germany; state: Bayern (Bavaria, EU:DE:BY); administrative region: Unterfranken; district: Kitzingen

Weather (19:00): Sunny, 23°C

thepiguy's tracklog (it cuts out shortly after reaching the hash point, which is a shame. A tracklog of the accident would have been very amusing!)

Expedition "Report"

Srs0, Danatar and thepiguy all left Würzburg together at 17:30 on their bikes.

4 hours later thepiguy returned home... alone... riding Danatar's bike.

More details to come after srs0's surgery.

*Only one geohasher was injured, and he's doing fine. We wouldn't be joking about it if he wasn't!

Expedition Report

The Geohash

At 17:30 thepiguy and Srs0 met with Danatar at the Berlin Wall fragment in Würzburg, then they cycled towards the hashpoint with Danatar leading the way. At the bike factory outlet store in Rottendorf Danatar bought a pannier for his bike and instantly put all his belongings into it to ease his back. They continued to Dettelbach, passing a few of Danatar's old hashpoints on the way. At Brück, the three geohashers at first had to circle a field to get near the hashpoint, then they used tractor tire tracks to reach the actual spot without trampling the crops. After taking pictures and having fun in the waist-high barley, they used another road for their way back. It was more level and they were soon near Rottendorf again, when suddenly...

The Hashtastrophe

...Srs0 got in a biking accident. He went off the road, and hit a hidden concrete pipe in the grass. His bike didn't like this interruption and, considering he was going 35-40km/h at the time, the bike decided to throw him off. He instinctively shielded his head and neck area (he was wearing a helmet, but still safer) and prepared for impact. Upon hitting the ground, he looked up and saw his hand. Yikes. That's broken. He then proceeded to calmly announce that his wrist was broken to Danatar and Thepiguy, who had ditched their bikes and were running back. Danatar and Thepiguy, both having first aid experience, agreed. Srs0 said "Dang it" five or six times while Danatar called for an ambulance. While waiting for the ambulance, first thepiguy did a full body check, and then Danatar. It was confirmed - besides his right wrist, Srs0 was (thankfully) uninjured, excluding a few scratches and bruises.

The first "ambulance" to arrive was the first responders unit from Rottendorf, which confirmed that his wrist was indeed broken. They then tried to get him to sit up, but were unable to do so due to his positioning in the ditch and his pain when they tried it. Next were a police motorcycle, though Srs0 couldn't see it as he was looking the other direction, and a police car a moment later. A professional ambulance was next, which was shown the way by an ambulance with less gear. With the new arrival's help, Srs0 managed to sit up, then stand, and walk to the professional ambulance, where they tried to make him comfortable.

Shortly after a helicopter could be heard, and then to his amazement Srs0 saw a helicopter land out the back window of the ambulance. Out rushed a Doctor, who asked Srs0 a bunch of questions and then administered a bunch of painkillers (though Srs0 wasn't in that much pain after sitting up and taking his weight off his arm). The doctor then reset his hand to a semi-normal alignment (so it was at least pointing the right direction), and then got back out. Srs0 called a few people, while Danatar and Thepiguy told the police outside what had happened.

It was decided that Danatar would sit up front in the ambulance, as he spoke German and could help, while thepiguy found a place to lock up the bikes and ride home to get Srs0's health insurance information. (He took Danatar's bike, thus making it impossible for Danatar to reach the 2009-06-04 hashpoint). The helicopter took off, and then the ambulance started moving. Meanwhile Srs0 was chatting with the EMS person in the back with him, and they talked about everything from the German medical system to what Canada is like to Srs0 explaining his job working with lasers. Srs0 got the names of the EMS person and his partner, and plans to send them chocolates in thanks (as they were both really nice). Then, when discussing how nice of a city Würzburg is and how the EMS guy loves living there, they arrived at the hospital.

The Hospital (June 2)

Fun fact: X-rays (or Röntgen Rays) were discovered at the University of Würzburg, of which the hospital srs0 went to is a part of, in the building at 49.8000 9.9307! (The hospital is the University of Würzburg Hospital.)

Upon arriving at the hospital, Srs0 was hurried into a room and quickly met the doctor. The doctor was extremely nice, and spoke English! Fantastic (most of the technicians and nurses didn't, but thankfully Danatar was there)! He was then ushered into the X-ray room, where he had two x-rays taken of his arm. Then it was off to the cast room. Here they hung his hand up with what Danatar told him were Mädchenfänger, "girl catchers" in German (the finger clasps that don't come off when you pull), and put weights on his arm to pull the fracture apart. The doctor pushed and pulled on his wrist for a bit, trying to get it more in-line with normal. Then a cast was put on, and Srs0 was left with his arm hanging from the clasps while the cast solidified. Danatar used the time to teach a bit of German to Srs0: "Mein Arm ist gebrochen"

After the cast hardened, Srs0 found that he was loosing feeling in his fingers. They decided that it must have been too tight, and off came the cast. Danatar and Thepiguy (who had just arrived) were sent out of the room while the Doctor and nurse in charge of casts set up the continuous x-ray machine. They then filled Srs0 with more liquid painkillers and were a lot more forceful with his wrist, pushing it until it looked more normal in the x-rays. By the end, one of the bone fragments had been moved a couple inches lower and the bone alignments as a whole were better. They then put on a second cast and let Danatar and Thepiguy back in.

After the cast hardened, Srs0 was sent back to the x-ray room for another round. The non-continuous one provides much better resolution, and the Doctor wanted a better picture. Here thepiguy took a covert picture of the x-ray image, which can be seen below. Note that this is after a lot of work, so the image is actually a lot more "normal" than it was at first.

The doctor still wasn't satisfied with the image, and told srs0 to come in between 08:00 and 09:00 the next day for a CT scan. Srs0 was also told that it looked bad, and that he could expect to need surgery, though the CT scan would confirm either way.

It was now around 01:00, and Danatar, thepiguy, and srs0 rushed to catch the last tram. Thepiguy and srs0 thanked Danatar profusely, and then said goodbye. They headed home, had a quick "meal", and went to bed.

The Hospital (June 3)

Srs0 got up at 06:30 to get ready, while thepiguy got up at 07:30. At 07:45 they had left, and made it back to the hospital around 08:05. There they struggled to figure out how to sign in, as they hadn't needed to the night before. Thankfully they ran into the doctor from before, who told them where to go. After signing in, they went and sat around for a bit before meeting a new doctor.

The new doctor didn't speak English as well, but knew enough that srs0 and thepiguy could understand him. After a quick discussion about the night before, he sent them off to the waiting area for the CT scan, where srs0 was quickly admitted. He was quite impressed with the device, and admired it while the technician prepared it. After the scans, srs0 and thepiguy headed back to the waiting room for the doctor. There they sat until around 11:00, at which point they were finally called again. The doctor showed them the ~150 pictures that the CT scan had generated, and explained what they were seeing. Then, he said "pretty much worst case". Uh oh.

Apparently srs0 had fractured both his Radius and Ulna in a couple places, and one one of the portions had pretty much exploded. He was told that they'll be putting a T-shaped plate into his arm to try to re-fuse all of the fragments, and will have to take some extra bone from his hip, as the bone was shattered too much to be put back together at points, and had to be recreated instead. They were then informed about the risks of surgery, srs0 accepted, and signed the paper as well as he could (which was terrible, as he was using his left hand).

For the rest of the morning and early afternoon, srs0 and thepiguy went to see the anesthesiologist, then went back to the doctor, srs0 had blood taken, was told more about the surgery, and then had surgery scheduled for Monday the 8th at 06:30. Thepiguy left after the anesthesiologist (as he still had to go to work, though srs0 appreciated his help that morning), and then srs0 headed home.

The Aftermath

Srs0 went back to the hospital on the 4th, but there's not much to say. Well, he was told by two doctors and two doctors in training that it's the worst wrist break they've seen. Srs0, however, is just glad that it's only a wrist injury!

He's currently waiting for Monday, and hopes that the surgery goes well. He's been told that he'll be confined to hospital for around 48 hours (maybe more), and then will have a cast for 4-6 weeks after.

It looks like srs0 won't be seeing any geohash points for the next while. However, expect more from him in the future (and possibly near future if any are in close walking range)!

Edit: I just realized that I spent most of the afternoon writing this. Looks like geohashing still has me captive!

Linguistic Note

Danatar spent some time in the hospital teaching srs0 how to say what's wrong, so, as per his (repeated) request:

• Pronounciation for English-speakers: Mine arm ist ge-bro-ch-en.
  • It's hard to find a good way to represent the final word in English sounds.
  • Mine arm east gay-brow-chen (chen spoken like chem in chemistry) :)
• German words: Mein Arm ist gebrochen.

Images

Actual Geohash

• 

  thepiguy checks which way to go while Danatar just starts going!

• 

  Wading through the waist-deep barley at the hashpoint. No plants were harmed in the making of this picture

• 

  Some of us had more trouble than others...

• 

  Arrived at last!

• 

  There was nowhere else to put him.

• 

  The view from the hashpoint.

Hashtastrophe

WARNING! The following image is of a graphic nature! Srs0 was very quick to diagnose his broken wrist.

• 

  Srs0 decides to take a break from cycling so he can smell the flowers.

• 

  A 40km/h bike accident draws quite the crowd!

• 

  srs0 arrives at the hospital. Sadly, not by helicopter though.

• 
• 

  Cast number one. Clearly the drugs must be working. (srs0 is apparently immune to pain)

• 

  I think I see the problem...

• 

  thepiguy and Danatar were there the entire time for moral comedic support.

• 

  Cast number 2! This one will be on for a few days.

• 

  thepiguy went back a few days later to retrieve the bikes. On the way home, he leanred the German word "kaputt."

Achievements

Local radio station "Radio Gong": "Rottendorf, Würzburg rural district: Bicyclist hits water pipe

"Forearm fracture after biking accident. In a biking accident on Wednesday near Rottendorf (Würzburg rural district) a 21-year-old was seriously injured. The young man went off the cycling track to Effelsdorf and finally hit a water drainage pipe. Because of the collision's momentum the 21-year-old was thrown over the handlebar and landed in the ditch with a broken forearm. He had to be brought to a hospital in Würzburg."

Srs0 (with thepiguy and Danatar) earned the Media Attention Geohash Achievement by being immortalized in the hearts of others during the (49, 10) geohash on 2009-06-02 for breaking his arm and ending up in a police report..

Srs0, thepiguy and Danatar earned the Police Geohash Achievement by meeting three policemen (in a car and a motorbike) while attempting the (49, 10) geohash on 2009-06-02.

Also, bicycle geohash for everybody:

• thepiguy's total distance:
• srs0's total distance: ?? + 10.3 = ?? km by bike, + 9 km by ambulance
• Danatar's total distance: 21.7 + 10.3 = 32 km by bike, + 9 km by ambulance