I have had a lot of insignificant injuries (burns, bumps, bruises, cuts, etc...). I actually was climbing on Friday and hurt myself a little. Went to toss my flipline around a North American Pine and it flopped over a limb on the back side I didn't see. Rolled over my hand (which was ready to catch it) and the hook knocked me right below my left eye. Split the skin open, and bled pretty good for a few mins. Just held pressure on it, waited for it to stop bleeding, and continued.
The worst injury I've had to date happened a few years ago. I have a boat (1992 21' cuddy cabin Inboard/outboard pleasure boat with a Chevy 350) that we run in the Chesapeake Bay. Was having issues with the boat overheating (turned out to be a cirmped hose in the lower unit which fed seawater to the fresh water heat exchanger). The boat overheated, and was blowing steam/water from the heat exchanger cap. I had 4-5 friends in the boat, and we were ~3-4 miles from the boat launch up a small river inlet. We pulled over, and shut the boat down. Pulled the dog house, and started the waiting game for the motor to cool down. After 25-30 mins, I felt the heat exchanger hoses and they had no pressure on them at all. So, I pressed down on the radiator cap and it blew apart. I shoved all passengers into the cabin and attempted to throw a towel over the geyser. It wound up burning the entire right side of my face (2nd degree burns), including my right cornea and inner ear. I still ensured everyone else was safe (no other injuries), and contacted a local boat towing company and got towed back to dock. So, I ended what should have been a fun day with 2nd degree burns covering the entire right side of my face, and a $750 tow bill. About 5 mins from reaching the desitnation my face started to blister up pretty bad, so we called 911 and the ambulance met us at the dock. Got a ride to the ER, and plenty of pain meds. Wasn't much that could be done until the burn started to heal. Had eye drops for my cornea, and an order to keep peeling away the damaged flesh so new skin could grow in it's place. Got ~3 weeks off of work (to prevent any grease/oil/dirt/dust from entering the wound) and a ton of narcotics to survive the pain. If anyone's interested, I can provide some pretty rough pictures of the healing process when I get off working at my first job.
End result was a full recovery with no scars. You honestly would never know I had any injury at all. But, you'd better believe I have a lot more respect for overheated engines and will keep them damned things covered up until they are cooled back down to ambient temperature no matter what the circumstances are. Steam burns aren't fun!
EDIT: Here are the pics. These were taken 3-4 days afterwards, as the real damage started to show. Up until that point, my skin just looked pasty white from the dead layers of skin. By this point it was peeling off revealing the depth of the burn.
~Will Courtier~
