Some bad news for Blue Thunder (aka: "Nine Toes")

[biglou]

As some of you may have seen in my "Ride Reports" thread, Blue Thunder (Jason) and myself managed to find each other in the worst way in the woods at Merwin, MO almost three weeks ago. He got the worst end of the deal, breaking the first two toes on his right foot and splitting his foot about two inches in between those first two toes. It was one of those absolute freak occurances. As it turns out, he has had a lot of pain and has gotten an infection in his big toe. When he had the stitches removed last Friday, the doc commented that he didn't like the way things looked at all. Turns out that there is a good chance that he will lose some or all of that big toe. Another trip to the ER today due to severe pain and suspected re-opening of the stitched wound confirmed that.
Jason is one of the more than a dozen people that I have met through DRN and is a great friend with a loving family. He is one of those guys that is always in a great mood and tends to make light of things when bad luck is upon him. For this reason, I wanted to take the time to wish him the best and to let him know that I and all of his KCRider friends are hoping that he is out there roosting us and putting us to shame in a very short time.
He has already come to grips with what he is facing, and knows that there will be some obstacles ahead. Such as falling over when he stops walking, having the kids laugh at him when he goes to the pool and trying to find shoes to fit! I just wanted to say good luck (ever using the rear brake again!).
In all seriousness, if you know Jason, you know that he will appreciate the sick humor here. He surely knows what a tight-knit community we have here in KC in light of some recent events. And he surely knows that we are all wishing him the very best and a speedy recovery.
This Saturday at Merwin is a Dirtbiking-Bachelor party for Thunder-33, another one of our group, and we are hoping J can make it out as the Master-of-Ceremonies/head trash-talker/Burger-flipper! Anything to get him back into the arena!
Good luck, brother. :)

 

[KDX220rm]

It will take him now twice as long to clean up his bike.

Guess we could call him Twinkle Toes?????????

 

[Blue Thunder]

Hey..thanks fellas..of course I always enjoy the sick humor! I'm lucky there is no infection or the toe would be gone already. There is a lot of dead tissue around the toe, they want to cut/scrape some of those areas and see if any live tissue still exists. They will be monitoring me close the next few days/weeks to see how it is progressing. Thanks for all of the calls and having a great bunch of friends near to chat with.
Twinkle toes is not the first, my bro likes the Microsoft theme, "Yamaha NT" that could be "no toe" or "nine toes" its still up for discussion. LOL

 

[Yamamoto]

Riding Boots

Did you have Real Riding boots or Hiking boots on ?

 

[Blue Thunder]

I'm almost offended by such a question..just kidding! Full gear as always, I was wearing my trusty MSR System 6 boots. The survived w/o a scuff, the pressure of the toes getting bent backwards is what caused the skin to burst open between the toes. I think they used 30lb test spider wire to stitch me back together. The docs have seen my boots, they said w/o them I would be minus a foot not just damaged toes. Reminder to all, never ride w/o the boots, if you don't have them, you should.

 

[Yamamoto]

Cool

I have the MSR System6 as well ..Great Boot. I wish the soles were better though.

I only asked the question because I felt that IF you did not have Proper gear on that you could be used as an example. You still can though because with out the boots you may hae lost your whole foot !

P.S. would lighting speed reactions from not wearing "Riding boot" have helped?

 

[Blue Thunder]

Due to the fact that I ride at lightning speed, any quicker reactions were not possible! LOL Lou and I were both coming out from a blind corner and closed too fast to do anything other than hold outside lines and hope for the best. The thought of getting my foot out of the way came to me, but only after hearing the smack of plastic, which was a little too late.
My MSR's are showing their age, about 4yrs old, I was hoping it would have ruined them, therefore making the Tech 8's a need instead of a want.

 

[MX265]

Blue Thunder, I knew the new MSR System 6 riding sandals were a bad idea. :eek:

Seriously, sorry to hear about your situation. I hope it turns positive and you recover quickly. :( These kind of injuries, well, they just suck.

 

[Blue Thunder]

Thanks for the humor and the comments MX265, the sandals..I really thought they would be stronger.LOL I am soooo ready to walk like a regular person again, everyone at work thinks its funny to ask "what would you do if I stepped on your toe" my response is " my other leg has an immediate reaction to kick you directly in the groin"...that seems to quiet the crowd. Ha

 

[zio]

Hopin' all goes well for you. If you don't mind, the wife and I will keep your big toe in our prayers;). Seriously, just glad to hear your high-spirits. Best of luck, and keep us informed. Any friend of BigLou's (or any other wop, for that matter) is a friend of mine.

 

[Tree Crippler]

You'll be able to predict the weather now. I broke mine a year ago and can feel them on certain days. Good luck with the big toe.
Bona Sera Zio

 

[jeb]

A good buddy of mine from Branson, MO. did something similar at Chadwick, MO. about 4 months ago. They ended up amputating his two largest toes back to the ball. Bad deal with some follow up surgery, some very expensive drugs and the holes are still not closed. He's a very good A rider and knows to keep his toes up. Stuff just happens sometimes.

BTW, his new email userid is two_toes_gone so he's trying to keep a sense of humor he's very focused on getting back in the saddle.

 

[Blue Thunder]

I am very ready to be riding again but will just have to wait it out and go watch some local events. September is loaded with scrambles, one every weekend between the KS/MO series. I've said it before, but the smell of premix and sound of thunder is good therapy. Thanks again for the kind words and support, looking forward to roosting again soon. Jason

 

[andymstevens]

....geeeez all the sympathy already.

Maybe someone will take pity on him and send him a new brake pedal/lever. tee hee hee......

I wonder if this'll slow him down so I can at least keep up with his dust.:eek:

(painfully slow brother of Blue Thunder)

:p

 

[CR Swade]

I think you ought to save the offending appendage so we can pysche dudes out at the races-just kidding! Don't go losing a toe already! Oops sorry man.

Hey look at it this way, Jason-now you will get to use ALL of the cool parking spots (handicapped smiley face inserted here).

 

[DMATT125]

hey blue thunder

sorry to hear about your foot. i had basically the same injury only it was my pinky toe and metatarsal(the whole left side of my foot) that was amputated. i also had numerous brokan bones.glad to hear you fared better than i did. my wreck happened the same exact way as yours,blindcurve,goin too fast, head on with buddy. it took a few months to heal and really didnt hurt much at all after the surgery. the doctor also used silvadene cream (for burns)to help rejuvinate tissue.lucky for me mr dr. was one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the country. the foot came out ok(he does nice body work:D ).being out of work for 6mos watching soap operas was a pain in the a**.andremember less toes less lint buildup.
hope you get well soon good luck e-mail me if you have any questions