SPOT 911 Button Actually Works

[Simmons1]

What started out as a relaxing dual sport ride in the LBJ Grasslands turned into a very long day. 2 KLR's and 1 WR250R started the day, Only the WR made it home under its own power.

The meet up spot in Decatur:



In LBJ Grasslands:





Lunch in Forestburg:




We were having a nice ride when about an hour after lunch Ed Hines, affectionately know as "Dropping My KLR", dropped his KLR on a dirt road up between Nacona and Saint Jo. I didn't see what happened as I was riding sweep.

After doing a quick assessment of the situation and deciding that Ed was going nowhere under his own power I pushed the 911 Button on his Spot. In less than 5 minutes we had a phone call from SPOT. 15 minutes later a State Trooper showed up. 10 minutes after that an Ambulance arrived. Pretty impressive considering the remote location we were in. After looking Ed over and Ed telling the Medical personnel that he didn't want a Helicopter ride they put him in the Ambulance and headed to Nacona.







ED29 rode Ed's KLR to Saint Jo and the State Trooper gave Ed a ride back to get his bike. We then went to Saint Jo to wait for a friend of Ed's that came up in a truck to pick his bike up. While loading his bike in the truck we heard that Ed was being transferred to the Hospital in Denton.

By now it was almost 5PM. Ed and I headed towards home. We had a cold light drizzle for a few miles on the way to Ponder. We decided to have Supper at Ranchman's in Ponder. After supper Ed gased up his bike and we headed down 156 towards home. Just South of Haslet on 156 my KLR shook violently almost tossing me off in the road. I pulled over with rear flat tire. With it being dark and ED29 and I both being pretty tired, I jumped on ED29's WR and headed to the house to get my truck.

For Ed and I it was a 14 hour day to ride 230ish miles. For Ed Hines, it was a much longer day.

I got up this morning and discovered the cause of my flat was a 2" nail in the rear tire.

PIGLET and I went to see Ed at Plaza Medical Center in Fort Worth this afternoon. He seemed in pretty good spirits considering the condition of his leg. Ed's leg is broken in a couple places down near his ankle. He is having surgery tomorrow to put a rod and some other hardware in his leg. He will be out action for a LONG time.

It is nice to know that a SPOT does work when you really need it to.

[BIG A]

Sorry to hear about the accident, hope Ed gets well in a hurry!!
And that is really good to know about the SPOT, have not heard a story like this.

[Crazy Threadz]

sorry to Ed...hope he recovers quickly & thoroughly...amazing review of the "SPOT" device...I have been wanting to get one for some time now...maybe this will push the envelope....

Take Care

[sharkey]

Oh man, that stinks. Glad the spot worked. The pic of the leg, OUCH.

I'll lift Ed up in prayer.

[cdc]

Sorry to hear about the accident and hope Ed's surgery will go well and he will recover fast.

[ed29]

All of the calls he made kept his mind off of the wait for his ride.

The trooper was wondering how the dispatcher could have had such an exact location way out in the sticks. He is a local and would have had a tough time describing where we were to a call taker had it been him on the ground. That is the biggest key I took away from the experience. Having SPOT staff give exact coordinates to responders sped up arrival of help immensely.

Kneecap 12:00, toes 3:00.... not good!



His KLR fared better than he, bent crash bars, bent handlebars, and a busted mirror isolator.



Some of the locals saw the ambulance coming down there road, a never seen sight to them, so they came to check on Ed. Nice folk.

Here he is all loaded up for the first ambulance ride of the day. Gee, the truck is almost Yamaha blue!



Many thanks and KUDOs to trooper Cunningham for driving me back to the crash site after riding the KLR out. Meeting in the town square was so much easier than giving directions to the boondocks to Ed's friend. It made transporting the bike so much easier for us.

[CBAT]

Sorry 'bout the injuries but good to hear about the SPOT working. I use one when I head out in the back country for peace of mind, for my wife.

[Gilk51]

Originally Posted by sharkey

I'll lift Ed up in prayer.

+1


great testimonial for the SPOT device. I mentioned this story to the wife yesterday after reading about it on Facebook. Her comment was "we need to get one of those".

[rad3766]

Hope all goes well for Ed; glad SPOT worked as its supposed to.
Just out of curiosity , was that an original or Gen. 2 SPOT ?

[Boxercup Dave]

Wow! I had a similar dirt bike injuring many years ago when a young kid ran into me and hit my left leg while it was on the foot peg. Broke both bones above the angle. Seeing the knee and foot in different directions is not a good thing.

I'm back on the dirt with a WR250R and looking at boots especially after these pics brought back memories. I'm wondering what folks are using to help support the ankle area but still have a boot that is OK to walk in?


Hoping your riding buddy is back at it soon!

[ed29]

Pretty sure it is a Gen 1. Four buttons with four LEDs above that almost make a smile near the bottom.

[XoZe]

Interesting....

http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45374

[Simmons1]

I am very happy with my first generation SPOT.

[DFW Dano]

Originally Posted by XoZe

Interesting....

http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45374

Xoze, the recall was because the gen 2's were showing low battery too early. The units still report up to the sat no problem. Mine works fine but I sent it in anyway.

[piglet]

Originally Posted by Simmons1

I am very happy with my first generation SPOT.

I have first generation SPOT also. I added the help button insurance and can say it is very good also. I used it once and SPOT called in less than five minutes and I had a tow truck in less than an hour, that had to come From Texas to Oklahoma to tow my truck back to a dealer in Texas. And the tow was prepaid by the insurance.
I don't leave home without it.

[Tourmeister]

Ouch...

IF you are subjected to be put in a cast...

All I can do is recommend that you buy a few of those long metal handled fly swatters. You know, the ones with the metal twisted and a loop on the end where you hold it. I know they told me not to put anything in the cast to scratch, but they weren't the ones wearing a cast over a normally hairy but now shaved leg!! The fly swatter handle is good because it is thin, you cannot get heavy leverage on it without it bending, which prevents scratching real hard. Also, it is rounded so it won't scrape and is unlikely to hang on anything. However, DO be careful to keep it away from any wound or stitches. For me, the short hairs growing back would get caught in the gauze lining of the cast. During the day, this was not a problem as the leg swelled enough to keep the cast tight so it would not wiggle around. In the evenings when I had it up and the swelling went down, the cast would wiggle all those little hairs and drive me INSANE! The fly swatter could be used to push those hairs down out of the gauze and that REALLY helped.

My other problem was the hydrocodone (pain killer). A dose big enough to do any good made my skin feel like I had little bugs crawling all over me, kind of a constant tingly tickly feeling. It also made me WIDE awake... So I tended to favor the large (800mg) Ibuprofen over the pain killers. Even that though, I tried to take only if I really had to. Repeated large doses of that stuff are not real good for the liver and stomach. A big thing is to eat with the drugs, at least for me. That helps prevent queasiness.

Each and every day that you go back to the doc for a follow up visit where they actually remove your cast will be like heaven... without all the angels, virgins and free beer of course If the nurse that removes the cast does not do it, ask them to swab your leg, ankle, and foot with alcohol wipes. This helps get rid of some of dead skin, but also just feels incredibly good!! If money had been no object, I would have had the cast removed and replaced weekly. As it was, I had to go a week on the first and second casts, then after the stitches were removed, another six on the last cast... That was tough. I don't know about you, but my break was in the ankle so I was strictly forbidden to put ANY weight on the leg for the duration. Getting around on crutches takes a little getting used to. IF you are lucky, you might get a walking cast which could be removed under controlled conditions (like after my small kids had gone to bed )

For showers, my folks had one of those metal legged, plastic topped adjustable height seats sold in med supply places. They used it when my Grandad stayed with them. I swiped it and put it in the shower. I covered my leg with a trash bag. First, I wrapped a dish towel around my leg so that part of it over lapped the top of the cast and the other was just under my knee. I used fat rubber bands to hold it in place, then put the trash bag over that with a rubber band up above the towel. Last, I folded the excess trash bag back down over the towel/cast. This keeps the water from pooling at the top of the bag and the towel catches what little gets in. This worked pretty well. The only thing to watch for is that the cast is rough (fiberglass) and will rub through the bottom/sides of the bag if it has much pressure on it. There were a few times where I had slightly damp toes and the edge of the cast lining got damp as well. No fun. BE CAREFUL getting in/out of your tub/shower!!

My experience gave me a much greater appreciation for those people that don't have full use of their limbs or are missing them altogether. You might feel kind of useless for a while or even get kind of depressed, but hang in there and let your family and friends take care of you. Make real sure to let them know how much you appreciate them too. Your job is just to heal. It will seem like forever during the moments, but it will be over before you know it. Then you get to start therapy and you will need it. It is amazing how much muscle mass and flexibility you will lose while you are in a cast and can't use the leg (assuming they immobilize your leg).

I hope you have a good and full recovery so you can ride another day and make this just another story to be told around the camp fire.

[TexasShadow]

My sympathies to Ed and family. Recovery will be longer than Ed had in mind before the surgery. Regardless, I hope it goes well and he mends quickly.

Baths might be more convenient with a cast. At least it was when my left leg was casted (stepped/twisted in a fence post hole with two cedar posts on shoulders). I hung the casted lower leg/foot on the lip of the tub, elevated above water. I was glad my right leg was not casted despite the surgery and more complex break.

Extended loss of any limb use throws off the neuromuscular recruitment of the entire body because the rest of the body adapts by compensation. This can result in some issues. Physical therapy should assess and address these issues or they may continue with long-term problems.

Maybe we should start a TWT Metal Club, aye, Scott?

[Valker]

When my son had his leg amputated, we discovered Glad Press 'N Seal wrap. You can completely waterproof nearly any body part for showering with this.

[L8RG8R]

Originally Posted by TexasShadow

Maybe we should start a TWT Metal Club, aye, Scott?

Ed, I'm so sorry to hear it. Hang in there. You WILL get better! That's what Elzi told me and she was right.

[KenH]

Heal well, Ed.