well not really… third day down there and second day of surfing at Haapiti about 3.5hrs into the session i went up for a floater towards the end of a head high wave. my board flipped over and i came down hard on my board. i popped to the surface got my board and started paddling backout feeling something weird on my left thigh. i looked down and saw my shorts spewing blood. I paddle up to photo. man Mark Johnson. who i was surfing with, to take an look and he says “get to the boat i’ll get the others.” about two hrs later i am stitched up kinda pissed off that i get my first fin cut in 15+ years of surfing on a surf trip… no big deal 4 or so days off and i’ll surf on it. yah right. about 24hrs after the accident i can’t stand or even touch my leg and i am getting hot. 8pm and my girlfriend drives me to the hospital. massive bleeding into the surrounding tissue and infected is the report. the doc. says there is a good 2liters of blood pooling in my thigh. but it is strange that the area of the stiches dosn’t hurt. it is the area about 3 to 4 inches above that is just killing me. so take the antibios., pain killers, no walking etc… two days later and still a high fever with intense pain so back to the hospital. they tell me i am doing fine and the antibiotics should start working and all will be well. i spend most of the night in the shower with ice on my head trying to keep my temp below 104. i finally get i down a bit and get some sleep only to wake in a violent shake followed by strange flashes of light in my vision? so now it is saturday and i am feeling pretty good no pounding headache, almost no fever, leg feels ok. the worst is over, yah right. i decide to get on the plane back to hawaii as the flight only goes once a week, it leaves around midnight… the doctor who i live with picks me up and we have some breakfast, shoot the shit, i am feeling really good. leg a bit sore from the plane but i think everything is ok… so she finally gets around to looking at the wound an i know instantly by the tone in her voice something is not good. no my thigh is all bright red and hot, but not around the stiches. she say lay down maybe it is from sitting up all night, we’ll give it two hrs and they we go to the emergency room for an iv… two hrs go by and she calls a surgeon friend of hers and he asks me “when you went back to the hospital did they open the stiches?” i tell him no and he says “i’ll be there in ten mins.” he arrives takes one look at my leg and says “that is not a fin cut” injects me with some pain killer and opens the stiches. next thing i know he has his pliers like 4" in my leg. So i hit something underwater, not coral and not a fin, and here i sit… check the photos…
Well we are glad you are still around, but you have no idea what it was?
From the whole it looks like it is a circular cut that was torn. Like a large needle, thorn, spike,…etc. punctured your skin and then it didn’t come straight out but went out at a harsh angle. This is my observation.
Hope you have a better time whereever you go next.
Ty
Jeez… Hang in there and get back home safe John…
Our thoughts are with you
I guess you and I (knee surgery) will be out of action for a while
You in tahiti in the hospital with your girl and me with 4 new boards soon in hand from CMP that I can only stare at but you definitely have it worse.
Kind of understand now why CMP always puts surfco’s on his boards…
Go see Dave S when you get back maybe you can get set up as another one of his commercials and a lifetome supply of Surfco fins…
Please get well and all your groups gets home safely…
What did the doc pull out with his pliars? It’s difficult for a nose or tail to puncture through tough muscle like that, but it can happen. Here’s another but rare possibility: I’ve heard of cases and know of one firsthand in Hawaii where surfers sitting on their boards (Laniakea) or even just walking on the reef (Kaneohe) got harpooned by leaping or fast swimming needlefish. Very sharp and pointy noses. One guy I talked to said said it was crazy, he was freaking out looking down at his bleeding ankle and the living spear that got him, then he to had to yank out the flopping fish from his ankle himself. Not much you can do if you’re in their way between them and their target baitfish. In any event, good thing you got good medical attention quickly enough.
jjp,
Uhh. That close up is nasty. New it would be, but I had to look. Yuck! Hope you heel up soon. Mike
Howzit Tubedog, Gotta watch out for those needle fish for sure. A few years ago a kid fishing with his dad at Kalihiwai in a small boat had one jump out of the water and struck the kid in the eye and went through into his brain and he died. Another friend was surfing Pakalas and one came flyimg out and stuck in the back of his shoulder, left a nice bug scar. Aloha,Kokua
Does this come under the heading “traveling can be fun?” Heck of a way to spend a vacation!
Hope you recover soon.