(There are some potentially scary pictures at the end of this story. Just so ya know.)
Hi, I'm Christy Brooker, (AKA Tattookitten)
I'm a 28 year old tattoo artist and motorcyclist living in Seattle,
Washington.
I was in a motorcycle accident Monday July 30th while on vacation in
Packwood with some friends. While coming back down from Mt. St. Helens
I drove into a u-turn switchback going a little faster than I should of
and I hit my foot peg and went off the road while trying to right
myself. I just ran out of road in which to correct myself. When I went
down I sheared off the skin on my knee down to the bone to about the
circumference of a half dollar. After getting some help on the side of
the road we got me to the hospital where they cleaned and excised the
dirt out of the wound and put a few stitches in just to hold the skin
down as the wound was too wide to stitch shut completely. They then
released me. No X-Rays, No antibiotics and no pain meds. They didn't
even check my neck or put it in a brace after I told them that my
helmet had bounced on the road a few times. I got my wound cleaned and
a tetanus shot and then was sent on my way and told that I could walk
on it and to take tylenol for the pain. The following day I got back
into seattle and at home where I could try to get better but by 9 that
evening I was in such a get deal of pain that I was taken to urgent
care at Group Health to try to get some pain medication of which I
finally got a morphine shot and some oxycodone at around midnight. They
rebandaged my wound and they took me home where during the course of
the night between 2 in the morning and 8 I took 7 of the oxycodone. I
don't even like to take tylenol for a headache. By 4 the next day my
leg had deteriorated quite a bit with large black bruises and what
looked like a huge blood blister about the size of a hand on my inner
thigh. I was taken to the ER at Harborview by an ambulance from Group
Health and had spent the rest of the night in the ER. The following day
I was in surgery for a good portion of the day.
I have contracted Necrotizing Fasciitis in the wound from the wreck.
This is flesh eating bacteria. So over the course of the following days
I have had surgery to remove the dead skin from my leg and to try to
excise the bacteria out of my leg so as to keep it from spreading. So
far this is a very extensive wound that currently spreads from my groin
all the way down and over my foot. There is no skin at all on my knee.
This area has been literally skinned down to the muscle and tendon and
at it's widest point is probably twelve inches across. I've had about
eight surgeries and we haven't even started the skin grafts yet. The
first surgery saved my life. They could literally watch the bacteria
spread out in my leg. I'm in great spirits because I have my life and
my leg. But more importantly I have my friends and my family supporting
me through thick and thin. I smile through my wound care and my
physical therapy makes me cry but I know It's all to get me back to
where I was before and it's worth it every pull and stretch. I just
wanted to spread the word about my infection because I think people
need to be reminded sometimes how close we are to death every moment. I
know the tattoo community, and I know how tough we all like to act. But
maybe you could just tell someone that you appreciate them today. We
wouldn't want to go so far as to say the big "L" word or anything like
that. (I've told more people that I love them in the last week than I
can count!) It's all cliché and you've heard it before but I never
really got it until this happened to me. I got this bacteria from dirt.
Literally. That's how it's transmitted. I almost died in two days time
from dirt. Don't take what you have for granted. You may not have it,
or them, tomorrow.
Thanks for reading my story and here is a myspace site that keeps
updates on my progress. http://www.myspace.com/forcrassybroad
I had my last surgery a few weeks ago. That was the skin graft surgery. No problems with that other than a few minor infections, a whole lot of pain and a whole lot of physical therapy.
I believe now that I got this infection from the hospital that I went to first thing after the wreck.
Here's what it looks like now.
And here is a few weeks ago.
