Continuing with the saga of Ira Riklis’ broken leg:
Once I got home, taken to NYU Medical, and placed comfortably in a bed with my leg elevated, I was told that my leg was not healing well and they would have to operate again. The next day I was taken again to surgery to have the cast removed, the leg effectively rebroken, and then reset.
I was told that it was good that they did so for two reasons. First, if left in the French cast my leg would have had a serious curvature (it does still have a slight curvature) and I would have been lame. Some people have told me that I’m lame anyway, but I don’t think they are referring to my right leg. Second, the cast was pressing down on my ankle and would have left a serious pressure sore. To this day you can still see a slight discoloration of the skin at the point where the sore had been.
It is scary to think that in a major ski area such as Courcheval or Megeve that the quality of medical care was so sketchy. I don’t know if it has improved, but the quality of medical care I received in forty years ago is a major reason why I have never wanted to ski in Europe again. Vail has a world renown medical facility and even people who do not ski come to Vail for treatment, in particular of sports related injuries.
Today, while I still revel in the thrill of speed while skiing, I am very careful. For one thing, I started wearing a helmet several years ago. I also rarely fall and I’m careful to stop skiing when I’m tired. It’s one thing to suffer a skiing injury when fifteen, completely another when nearing the end of fifty-five.