freak surfing accident

General Discussion
1

Ran into an old buddy today, and was shocked by what I saw - he’s aged about 10 years since I last saw him, which was only a couple weeks ago.  He was wandering around the alley near his home, looking disoriented.  I immediately sensed something was wrong.  When I got closer, I could see his face was gaunt, he looked thin and frail, his hair was matted and unkempt looking, and his clothes the same.  None of which is normal for him.  Then, talking with him, you could tell his speech was slurred and erraticly paced.  All very disconcerting to me - he’s a guy I grew up with, have known and been friends with since we were little kids.

Here’s what he told me, I’m still trying to process the whole thing, and figure out what happened.  He said he had a surfing accident, where he wiped out, and was pinned by the lip in a position that strained his leg, bending it in an unnatural position, and straining his back as well.  He immediately became dizzy, and felt paralyzed.  He held to his board, and floated in, unable to move much.  Eventually, he got in, where his girlfriend, who was filming him, met him.  It took him awhile, but he felt a little better, and was able to stand, carry his board, and make his way back to the car.  He said a woman along the way said he looked so bad that she offered to carry his board for him.

He went to his girlfriend’s house, still feeling dazed, and looked for any signs of damage - there were none.  But he felt bad all week, dizzy, weakened, and not himself.  Then, taking a shower a week later (!), he noticed a HUGE black and blue bruised area all around his leg / hip area.  It freaked him out.  He had plans for a Jalama camping trip, with his girlfriend’s family, which he followed through with.  He said he felt pretty crappy, but he went.

Then, when he got back, he started really feeling weird.  Like he couldn’t think straight, couldn’t focus his mind to even organize his thoughts, or proceed with his daily activities.  He’s a retired bachelor, who lives alone.  He ran into a friend who told him he needed to see a doctor, and right away took him to an emergency care center.  They did blood tests, which he’s awaiting results from.  They scheduled an MRI of his brain, which he hasn’t had yet.  And they told him he likely had a mini-stroke, as a result of all the bruise blood in his system.

Its a lot for me to try to process, really upsetting to see my buddy in this condition.  Despite being nearly 60, he has always been active and strong, and surfs about once a week every week, been surfing for over 40 years.  

Anyone ever hear of anything like this?

Here’s a picture of him taken recently

 

2

Wow, Huck.  I’m really sorry to hear that.  Sounds like he’s at least getting the medical attention he needs.  Hopefully, with treatment and some time he’ll recover.  Please let us know if his condition changes, for better or (hopefully not) for worse. 

3

I’ve been reading up on strokes, and they’re pretty heavy.  #4 cause of death in the U.S., full recovery is pretty rare, especially if symptoms last for more than 24 hours.  His symptoms fit, the diagnosis is likely correct.  Sure hope he fully recovers!  

He’s a big reason I got back into surfing myself, after many years away.  He used to say we should go surfing again someday (we basically learned to surf together, and used to do surf trips, etc. together).  I told him I haven’t been in the water for over 20 years.  Then one day him and his little brother showed up with boards and wetsuits, said you’re coming surfing with us and we’re not taking no for an answer.  They took me to Malibu, gave me a longboard, and I stood up on a little one footer.  A week later he took me to Leo Carrillo, and this time put me on a soft top.  That was all it took - within a few months I had two wetsuits and several surfboards, and even tho its been 5 years now, I’m as fully stoked as ever, my quiver continues to grow!

The picture BTW is one of his own homemade boards.

4

As we age, this is one thing we need to be aware of.  A large bruise can result in a moving clot of blood, and if it reaches the brain or the heart, can cause serious complications.  Just recently had a 40 yr. old friend involved in a semi-serious car accident, he felt fine, took a day off to recover and went surfing at his local rivermouth break in the OC.  The next day he was disoriented, and felt numbness in his arm.  Emergency room visit showed that he had a moving clot and a full blown concussion!  As I am over 60, (and brain damage is a subject I teach) large bruises &  blood clots are nothing to be ignored.  I hope your friend got a correct diagnosis (more than one) and is on heparin.  (blood thinner)  At his/my age, the sections of the brain that are damaged can be trained/relocated to other sections and rehabilitated.  My dad is 92 and has had 2 cerebral strokes so he doesn’t know what he did for a living, but he can tell you how big PV cove was back in the 30’s on a special day and who he surfed with!  Hope your friend recovers to 100%, is that pic from 4xx,xxx PCH?  Just my 2c…

5

So sorry to hear about your friend’s illness…

I dig thru the swaylocks archives regularly but never post because I’ve only made five boards and my glassing skills leave lots to be desired. But, I’m a cardiologist so I can actually help out here…

First off, please make sure your friend gets appropriate medical care as soon as possible. I don’t know what tests were done during his er visit (and all of this is second hand info so please take it with a grain of salt), but, based on the story you’ve told, he needs some tests and they should be done relatively soon. Patients with stroke symptoms in the ER usually get Ct scans or MRIs urgently. 

As others have alluded to, a blood clot can form at the site of an injury (a DVT). If the blood clot gets dislodged it can travel within the body (embolize) and cause problems. Most DVts travel to the lungs (causing a pulmonary embolism)- venous blood goes to the right side of the heart which then gets oxygenated in the lungs. But, people with a right to left shunt in the heart (a small hole due to a patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect etc) can have the clot get to the left side of the heart and then to the brain. There is lots of debate about what to do if one of these is found in the heart…

I would defer to the docs that saw him in person, but I would think he needs the MRI, an ultrasound of his legs and an echocardiogram with a bubble study. He should also be considered for a blood thinner (depending on what the tests show). Someone mentioned heparin but he’s not on that if he’s in an alley because its an IV medication when used for this purpose. 

There are lots of other possibilities besides stroke that should also be considered-I won’t bore your with the details as this forum is really better for tips about surfcraft and rants about epoxy resin.

Hope this info helps.

6

please bore me with details 

7

Hi Huck -

A local friend of mine just had something weird as well.  Maybe somebody here knows about it?  I was a neurodiagnostic tech for many years and have seen spinal cord tumors, etc but not this.

He rather suddenly lost function of his lower extremities but then just as suddenly, regained function.  A day or two later, symptoms returned.  His wife took him to the hospital where brain scans and spional cord scans were OK.  Repeat scans a couple of days later revealed a damaged section of his spinal cord… the docs are calling it a “spinal stroke.”

My friend doesn’t surf but it’s painful to see him in a wheelchair which he needs help getting in and out of.

8

Hi Huck,

It could be a thousand different things…that’s why it’s best to have him evaluated by a good doc…

I wish him my best…hope it all works out ok…

9

Johnmellor. My brother in Law has MS sounds similer to what he has delt with

10

thanks to all the responses on this - I’ll pass the info along, and hope for the best

11

Sorry to hear this about your buddy Huck. My dad who was 59 at the time, had a weird experience when we were in Spain on a holiday a few years ago. Was in the pool one afternoon and we got out, my dad went upstairs in the villa we were staying in to get changed and a few minutes later came back down he couldn’t remember anything, didn’t know where we were or even what country we were in. He said he was drying off in his room and then his mind went completely blank and dizzy. He walked out onto the balcony and didn’t recognise anything. He was like this for what I could remember about half hour. His memory was starting to return by this time while I was taking him to the local hospital as we thought it sounded too much like a stroke and also his dad died at 57 of a heart condition. The docs at the hospital ran tests on him there and then without hesitation and couldn’t find anything that flagged up as a stroke but they didn’t rule it out. They thought it could a minor stroke and said to take it easy and take there report to our docs when we get back to England. Luckily he made a full recovery but he was a gymnastics coach and fit as a fiddle.

I can’t remember the full result of the tests they did back here but it didn’t turn out to be a stroke as they couldn’t find any signs of one but they did say it was something but only minor.

It goes to show no one’s invincible. No matter how fit you are.
The mind can react to a traumatic experience in very strange ways too. And for quite a long time and still have a full recovery.

I hope your buddy can make a full recovery from this. It always happens to the best of us. The evil bas***d’s in this world always seem to get away with it.

12

Hi cornishsteve - 

I don’t have any statistical data to prove it but have been told (by an expert) that approx 60% of blood clots dissolve on their own.  It is possible that your dad had one that temporarily blocked circulation to part of his brain then dissolved and that is what caused the symptoms yet revealed nothing on tests.

In my former line of work we would also have considered things like an electrical disturbance or even a tumor.  Glad to hear your dad recovered.

13

Thanks John. It was a short episode but a scary one at that. He retired a few months after that and no more problems.

Hopefully hucks mate gets back on the road to recovery.

14

Huck, keep us posted on your Friends progress. Let him know that there are Surfers from all over the world are sending healing wishes and prayers his way with love and aloha.  Getting older isn’t for sissy .

 

15

Update: spoke with him recently - he took advice and had tests done. Not a stroke after all. Turns out instead he has major sinus infection, which he thinks he picked up surfing vta overhead. They are treating it, but might go in and excavate. He is back to talking normal. All good at this point. He doesn’t even remember half the wacky stuff he was doing.