What was your worst injury?

[pdqdl]

Damn. That's a pretty gnarly groove in your hide. Is that the back of your calf?

How was that done?

 

[ShezTreeNThar?]

Damn. That's a pretty gnarly groove in your hide. Is that the back of your calf?

How was that done?

I Got one this past Dec ‘22, my leg almost got taken completely OFF! It’s actually kinda half the left front and side, went through my chicken leg like butter. Bad part was I didn’t even do it to myself, we were clearing smaller trees out of the way to get some equipment into a tight spot, one of my crewmates had the big saw about 3ft left of me, another was about 3ft right of me and the one on the left bucked when it hit something, the very tip of the bar came right across my lower left leg just below the knee, took out my muscle, tendons, ligaments, peripheral nerve and broke the fibula. The surgeon thought it would be a 2 hr surgery, until he got into it, ended up 6&1/2 hrs reattaching everything and 3 nerve grafts, I still can’t feel half of my lower leg, can’t flex my toes or foot up towards me, can’t feel half of my foot either. I didn’t cry, Definitely went through a lot, very painful procedures in the ER with no pain meds, I said a lot of awful things, but didn’t cry. My Dad always told me that I was a woman with a truckers vocabulary. An I let ‘em have it that day, and for a few weeks later. My Fiance gets mad at me every time I mention even thinking about picking up a saw or saying I’m ready to be going back to work. But its so awful boring staying home I can’t stand it.

 

[pdqdl]

Wow. Tough break. That kind of injury would be harder on the girls; I'm sure not too many guys are worried about how good their legs look to the opposite sex. If your fibula is shattered right below the knee, that will mess up your ankle in surprising ways, and really hurts like hell when walking on it, at least until the fracture is all healed up nice and strong. Go ahead. Ask me how I know.

Just a side comment: when I am running a crew, I try to make sure that nobody gets withing striking distance of their co-workers. My minimum clearance for guys cutting weeds and brush with a circular brush cutter is 20'. Sometimes guys chopping up brush with chainsaws need to be a bit closer together, but only when one guy is helping with a stuck saw, or something like that. Whomever let 3 people work together with chainsaws inside a 15' diameter circle should be feeling very guilty.

Now I am familiar with that very sinking feeling when you discover that your life has changed because of an injury.
https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/some-wtf-pics.128850/post-7498227
Trust me. That sinking feeling is a LOT worse when you realize you did it to yourself. Your anger should at least feel right, 'cause you know it wasn't your own fault (except for being too close). I believe it is a lot easier to forgive the person that injured you than it is to forgive yourself. It took me a long time to get over that issue.

 

[ShezTreeNThar?]

It was just one of those things, we had a few little saplings and 4”-6” trees left to get out the 3 of us jumped in and we’re all minimum of 3’ away, the big saw was the only one left within reach and just to get it done he grabbed it, the trim saws were in a tree with someone else and the guy to my right had a trim saw and I had the 461 (the guys hate it, I tease them about them saying it’s too heavy, I tell them it’s how I can eat the way I do and keep my whopping 115lb figure lol. I don’t think either of us expected it to jump that far but it did, I could never be mad at any of them, they’ve all been like a bunch of brothers to me. I knew going into this as a “job” (and not just doing it at home on the farm) that it’s not “IF” someone gets hurt it’s “WHEN”. (As if you can’t get hurt as a part of regular property maintenance). But as a “job” it just increases your chances by 10fold or more. Literally , I thank my father every day for all the things he took the time to teach me. He passed away summer of 2020, (no offense, I know this forum is predominantly male) But my dad never wanted me to “have to” depend on a guy, or anyone else for that matter. I have A LOT of skills that, in the career world, are normally skills that a male employee would possess. Everything from working on gas and diesel engines I can take apart a 5.7 GM and get it back together like no one’s business,among many other gas and diesel engines I’ve had to deal with, I can weld (arc-mig-tig) regular occurrence on a farm property, using a plasma cutter( I have my own welder and plasma cutter), I can frame in anything, hang and finish drywall, hang siding, I’ve done roofing, plumbing, residential electrical (of course had it inspected, but I did the work and yes it was correct) I also have operated multiple various pieces of heavy equipment from bobcats to the larger size backhoes, large dump trucks and hauled the 8 ton backhoe behind it. I’ve hauled trailers that are almost as long-43’-44’as a full sized semi trailer@53’. The one thing I think I would like to know more about would be tile and masonry in general, I can do it, but I wouldn’t dare attempt to work on someone else’s house with my basic knowledge. But I literally thank my dad every day, even though he is gone, for the options he gave me by taking the time to care enough about my future to make sure I learned what he took the time to teach me. So any of you guys that are fathers to girls, just remember, it’s definitely worth the time you take to let them learn by helping you fix things with you and taking them places with you and just taking the time to answer questions with a thorough explanation of “why”, instead of doing whats easier, which is usually the shortest answer possible. It’s totally worth it. Girls worship their fathers, long after their gone!

 

[j-jock]

It was just one of those things, we had a few little saplings and 4”-6” trees left to get out the 3 of us jumped in and we’re all minimum of 3’ away, the big saw was the only one left within reach and just to get it done he grabbed it, the trim saws were in a tree with someone else and the guy to my right had a trim saw and I had the 461 (the guys hate it, I tease them about them saying it’s too heavy, I tell them it’s how I can eat the way I do and keep my whopping 115lb figure lol. I don’t think either of us expected it to jump that far but it did, I could never be mad at any of them, they’ve all been like a bunch of brothers to me. I knew going into this as a “job” (and not just doing it at home on the farm) that it’s not “IF” someone gets hurt it’s “WHEN”. (As if you can’t get hurt as a part of regular property maintenance). But as a “job” it just increases your chances by 10fold or more. Literally , I thank my father every day for all the things he took the time to teach me. He passed away summer of 2020, (no offense, I know this forum is predominantly male) But my dad never wanted me to “have to” depend on a guy, or anyone else for that matter. I have A LOT of skills that, in the career world, are normally skills that a male employee would possess. Everything from working on gas and diesel engines I can take apart a 5.7 GM and get it back together like no one’s business,among many other gas and diesel engines I’ve had to deal with, I can weld (arc-mig-tig) regular occurrence on a farm property, using a plasma cutter( I have my own welder and plasma cutter), I can frame in anything, hang and finish drywall, hang siding, I’ve done roofing, plumbing, residential electrical (of course had it inspected, but I did the work and yes it was correct) I also have operated multiple various pieces of heavy equipment from bobcats to the larger size backhoes, large dump trucks and hauled the 8 ton backhoe behind it. I’ve hauled trailers that are almost as long-43’-44’as a full sized semi trailer@53’. The one thing I think I would like to know more about would be tile and masonry in general, I can do it, but I wouldn’t dare attempt to work on someone else’s house with my basic knowledge. But I literally thank my dad every day, even though he is gone, for the options he gave me by taking the time to care enough about my future to make sure I learned what he took the time to teach me. So any of you guys that are fathers to girls, just remember, it’s definitely worth the time you take to let them learn by helping you fix things with you and taking them places with you and just taking the time to answer questions with a thorough explanation of “why”, instead of doing whats easier, which is usually the shortest answer possible. It’s totally worth it. Girls worship their fathers, long after their gone!

It is so depressing to learn of your catastrophic injury. I admire your courage, and hope you will regain the full use of your leg.