Haemorrhaging money as well as blood, our guest ski blogger, Chris Tomlinson author of Skiing With Demons was helied off the mountain. He blogs for Style Altitude from his hospital bed about his (costly) road to recovery..
The journey had cost me €2550 – but it was worth every penny. The helicopter ride cost €968 alone, which seemed like a very arbitrary figure. Does anyone say to the pilot, 'that’s outrageous, I’ll walk'?
I was heading for reconstructive surgery in Switzerland, which I was more likely to survive than my credit card, until my wonderful girlfriend hatched a plan to repatriate me. The thought of a long stay in a foreign hospital was almost too much to bear but mercifully my friends pulled out all the stops and got me on a plane - all I had to do was escape from casualty. Debbie had found a top leg trauma surgeon and had a hospital bed waiting in Birmingham.
After the surgeon had sewn my leg back together I still couldn’t feel or move my foot. He explained that, after six weeks recovery and maybe another month or two of physiotherapy I would 'probably' get both abilities back.
My third cathartic, snowy memoir was languishing on my laptop. I now also had the material for a suitably dramatically, if gory, first chapter. Most keen skiers will end up on crutches at some stage. If my books were to be a compendium of a geriatric ski bum’s life, then injury and recovery had so far been omitted - I was literally suffering for my art.
I might have welcomed the free time more if the snow during Season 8 wasn't shaping up to be epic. I might have to un-friend my Morzine friends if they don’t stop posting pictures on Facebook of the fresh tracks they're making.
I’ve witnessed other people return from injury and tried to help them with what I now suspect was patronising advice about psychology. I know the biggest challenge will come long after my wound has healed - learning to trust my rebuilt leg to support me.
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