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The Accident
It was at this time on the 26th of September 1995 while driving to see a customer, a large four wheel drive failed to give way and my delivery van was no match.
At first although in shock I didn't think I was injured and tried to get out of the car, I couldn't as my legs were trapped.
As I was in a “flat nosed” delivery van there was no motor in front of me and the front of the van collapsed inwards and my legs where squashed in-between the front of the van and the drivers seat, my feet were trapped under the clutch and brake pedals and my right knee was squashed in-between the steering column and the seat. Workers at a nearby building site and other drivers came and heaved on the front of my van to free me. They managed to get me out as the ambulance arrived.
Hospital
I was taken to hospital, my own doctor just happened to be in the emergency ward that day, he asked me who my normal doctor was and I said it was him. He didn't recognise me because at the time I was 29 years old and very strong and fit and from recollection I had only seen him once since I had returned to Pt Lincoln.
I had a large gash near my right knee so I was told it needed surgery, they took an x-ray and said there were no broken bones. After waiting for 3-4 hours I was sent in for surgery, when I woke up I felt pain in my back and asked my wife to look, there was a red welt on my back where the pain was coming from.
The surgeon came to speak to me and told me that the x-ray was wrong (at that time Pt Lincoln hospital only had a very old x-ray machine) apparently as soon as he started cleaning up my gash he had found bone fragments. He also stated he had found a torn muscle which he said would need to be repaired.
It was his last day in Pt Lincoln so he wished me luck and said I would be transferred to the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH). I told him about the pain in my back and he said that would be dealt with in Adelaide.
Four days later I was flown to the RAH, after being checked in, X-rays were taken of my knee, it showed there was a puncture fracture in my tibia below my knee from the steering column or something simular, the force had split the top of the bone (tibial plateau) in my knee joint. I had a special cast fitted which allowed me to bend my leg, but was told not to put any weight on the leg and was given crutches.
I complained about my back pain regularly but the only help I could get was the Panadiene Forte I was taking for the pain coming from my leg. I did receive a back massage from one nurse but the doctors just kept saying there was nothing they could do about it for now. I also noticed my ankles were both swollen in particular the right one, but the doctors said not to worry this would probably clear up with rest (my ankles had been trapped under the clutch and brake pedals). I received instructions from a physiotherapist on exercises I should do.
After six days I was sent back to Pt Lincoln, I had been told I was being sent back to the Pt Lincoln Hospital instead the ambulance took me home.
Rehabilitation
I was told I should recover in six to eight weeks. I saw my local doctor every week for the first month and completed the exercises I was given every day.
The RAH had organised an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon who regularly visited Pt Lincoln, I saw him first in October 1995 and he told me to gradually increase the weight I was putting on my right leg, I complained about my back and he said it was normal to have some back pain and that it would go away once I got back on my feet.
On the 16th of November the cast was removed and I was cleared to start physiotherapy, at this time I was putting about twenty kilograms of weight on the leg whilst still using crutches. My leg was still quite painful and I was unable to sit or stand for any more than a few minutes without increasing pain in my knee and back. I was still taking standard pain medication every four hours
Around this time my wife and I decided we would have children, we thought at that time I would be back at work by the time our child was born. My wife fell pregnant soon after.
I kept up the daily exercises and attended hydrotherapy twice a week and visited the physiotherapist twice weekly. By the end of March 1996 I was able to fully weight bear on my right leg and was able to walk without crutches but with a walking stick, however every time I walked any distance the pain in my knee, ankle and back increased .
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