Thread: What was your worst injury?

A guy at work this week lost his pinky and most likely will have limited use of his left arm. A 10 hp motor with a 50 pound fan blade + Left arm = Bad day.

Never mind. We have a winner.

Originally Posted by pdqdl

Let's see, this could get long:

On the job?

4 days in the burn unit at KU: gasoline shot all over me from inside the cylinders of an engine. The spark plug lit it up at top dead center.

Then there was the face full of boiling water from the cross flow radiator. My entire face and top right chest were totally blistered. I even had blisters in the top corners of each ear and the inside of both nostrils. Eyes? Not burned at all! I had a nice "squint pattern" of unburned skin! [Yes! I did release the pressure off the radiator cap first, but nothing came out! ??? It was apparently defective in some way]

While showing an employee how it is done, I POUNDED a steel splitting wedge down into an oak log. It leaped back out in a graceful arc and chopped the web between my thumb and first finger. (back when I had them)

Private life

Motorcyle wreck1: broken elbow, surgical pins. Broke it again the day after the pin was removed. 1976
Motorcyle wreck2:broken knee, clavicle, scapula 1980?
Motorcyle wreck3: 2 crushed lumbar vertebra, broken pelvis, atomized ankle. This was my worst injury; done in 1982, my first year in business

Head injury from a thug: subdural hematoma with parietal skull fracture, loss of hearing on left ear, loss of taste on left side of tongue. ICU for about 5 days,I left the hospital in about 9 days 1991
Head injuries are no fun guys! Wear those hard hats! Once you loose some hearing like I have you will appreciate hearing protection, too.

Shop wood planer: Careless, I cut off my right thumb and first finger.2000

2008: head-on auto collision with an idiot in my lane. Broke my neck in two places.

I got more surgeries too, but they aren't so bad as these!

Originally Posted by pdqdl

Let's see, this could get long:

On the job?

4 days in the burn unit at KU: gasoline shot all over me from inside the cylinders of an engine. The spark plug lit it up at top dead center.

Then there was the face full of boiling water from the cross flow radiator. My entire face and top right chest were totally blistered. I even had blisters in the top corners of each ear and the inside of both nostrils. Eyes? Not burned at all! I had a nice "squint pattern" of unburned skin! [Yes! I did release the pressure off the radiator cap first, but nothing came out! ??? It was apparently defective in some way]

While showing an employee how it is done, I POUNDED a steel splitting wedge down into an oak log. It leaped back out in a graceful arc and chopped the web between my thumb and first finger. (back when I had them)

Private life

Motorcyle wreck1: broken elbow, surgical pins. Broke it again the day after the pin was removed. 1976
Motorcyle wreck2:broken knee, clavicle, scapula 1980?
Motorcyle wreck3: 2 crushed lumbar vertebra, broken pelvis, atomized ankle. This was my worst injury; done in 1982, my first year in business

Head injury from a thug: subdural hematoma with parietal skull fracture, loss of hearing on left ear, loss of taste on left side of tongue. ICU for about 5 days,I left the hospital in about 9 days 1991
Head injuries are no fun guys! Wear those hard hats! Once you loose some hearing like I have you will appreciate hearing protection, too.

Shop wood planer: Careless, I cut off my right thumb and first finger.2000

2008: head-on auto collision with an idiot in my lane. Broke my neck in two places.

I got more surgeries too, but they aren't so bad as these!

After reading that, I got nothing to complain about. Makes my hand injury with a chainsaw seem insignificant.

Originally Posted by pdqdl

Yeah...I know that now.

I figured you would pdqdl, it was more for anyone else reading this post.

I am with the guys above. I have had no injuries that even slightly compare to what you have survived. I'm pretty sure that your amongst your other titles you would be the AS 'King of Pain'.



Take care Your Majesty
You have won already.

Nope. Not the king of pain at all. I didn't really post all that to "win" anything at all. I just figured you guys would like to hear about somebody else's misfortunes. Something like the old saying "Misery likes company"? I guess I do have a pretty rugged background in putting up with injuries, though, don't I?

I think it has to do with having a much higher tolerance for pain. I think when stuff doesn't hurt you too much, you don't have the same fear of injuries. ALL of my motorcycle wrecks were preventable except one, and I didn't tell you about all 13 of them.

Ok. Enough about me. Other readers: chime in with your stories. Particularly colorful or stupid injuries will be most appreciated!

I am afraid I have very few tough guy tales.

Stupid things I have done however......

In chronological order

Throwing steel roof sheets into the wind when 15 (apprenctice) I slice my hand to the bone. Got yelled at for bleeding red on a white roof.

Stepped over some scrap steel in the workshop and scraped skin of my right shin. Got infected and spent 10 days in hospital. Came within an ace of losing the leg...

Stood on a chair to install an OBD (air vent) in a ceiling. Lost my balance, fell onto a pile of steel OBDs and slashed my wrist. Arterial bleeding is only entertaining when it is someone elses. Got in trouble for bleeding red on a blue carpet.

Welding aluminium gussets into a new fuel tank without long pants on. Got 2nd degree burns to the family jewels. Easily the most uncomfortable week of my life up to that point, including the time I spilled mineral turpentine and paint stripper down my pants whilst stripping glue from a locomotive.

Fast forward a few years and rolling my cylinder mower down a trailer ramp on to my own driveway I slip on some sand and fall forward over the machine whilst pushing the handle down with my hands. The catcher on the front swings over the top and smacks me on the scone (NO FRIGGING HARDHAT) and splits my skull. Funniest thing is me standing out the front calling my wife to bring an old towel and refusing to come in cos we had new carpet laid and I KNOW how hard it is to get red bloodstains out of blue carpet.

Recently got smacked down hard by a 5-6 metre log swinging around whilst going in to the chipper. I THOUGHT I was far enough away....

In all, like I said, no tough guy stories but plenty of how-dumb-do-you-feel-now moments.

I plead the 5 th here. It seems the 'winner' is actually the loser.

pdqdl may very well be a long lost brother of mine. Pd, do you get those pesky 'splits' in your remaining fingers? They hurt like the ####ens. I finally after too many years found some cream that fixes them. (Ease up boys,)

So as not to be 'trimmmed', I should return to the thread.

I've seemed to have had a few misfortunes, however I am very blessed to be walking and breathing.


And yes, this would be an edited post, because of my not being an accountant, I don't have a record of all the incidents.

Besides the unusual, regular dings of growing up and old, I have had a few physical setbacks. I had a new custom 270 (2 shots fired at the range) and then off for a deer drive, fall from leaning on the spare tire, go off (Safety wouldn't engage due to improper bedding to synthetic stock) and either bullet shrapnel or rocks or both hit me in both legs. I was immediately up-ended and landed on my head. Brand new pair of redwings, too. Got over that one in less than a year of hobbling.

Then, I was breaking three 'rules' on my table saw (High, wide dado; no table insert), and cutting the edge of hard maple FROM THE REAR of the blade. It flipped, FAST and took off my left thumb, and fileted me to the wrist / palm. There was 6 months where there was raw flesh. But it grew back well and really isn't a hindrance. This is where I learned the time of sympathy. I was building a cabinet for the writers of Knots Landing, and I called their contractor and told him I wouldn't deliver in the morning. "Oh son, that's terrible. When you gonna have it?" Day after tomorrow.

Then I was lighting a woodstove, with the encouragement of my neighbor to 'get some heat going' that had burned down earlier in the evening. I pitched a wee bit (literally) of PAINT thinner, into the wood over coals. This is the same stuff everyone else sprays on their charcoal. It flashed at precisely the right time to travel through the air, and flash and ignite the approximately one pint of thinner still left in the plastic jug. This flashed up my arm and into my flannel shirt, turning my clothing into a wick. This vapor burned on the inside where it could and on the outside the remainder. My Kindergardner had been walking around for a week quoting "stop! drop! and roll!". It came back to me and out the door I went, on fire, and rolled across the ground. I couldn't put out the fire, so I rolled to my feet and 'flew' about 15 yards to a mudhole pond and dove in. I had to put my face in the mud to put out the back of my head/collar. When I walked back into the light, my skin from my hands was drooping nearly to the floor, and I was dripping muddy water and blood all over. My frantic neighbor took me to the hospital, where I walked in the ambulance entrance. They started to yell until they saw me, and took me right in. I've never entered the front door of the emergency room here. Is that a good thing???? Then it was off to the burn center where I got skin grafts to cover both hands and my neck, ear to ear. I used to have those 'dulips' on the bottom of my ears, and considered them a sign of intelligence, but I burned them off, and you can read the results. I couldn't get anyone to hire me for over 8 months from that episode.

I think this is pertinent:

I had an issue with a Rail Road, over the ownership of my shop I bought. I had borrowed some money from a potential customer to defend myself, under the assumption that I would insulate a house for him for repayment. I was insulating a fairly large house in town. It was July and over hot. I had bid a job about a hundred miles away, in the middle of nowwhere. This was for an old customer who was building his retirement home. I told him the price, if he would 'help me'. He agreed, and was scheduled immediately after the large house. I made a big point to him about showing up with a full trailer of cellulose insulation, to make the long trip efficient.

The fellow I owed the insulated house to for repayment came in during the first house. He said he was 2 weeks out. Perfect, behind two good jobs to cover the materials. He lacked his inspections, and had allowed for the other subs to come fix their mistakes. He then passed his inspections, and came back the next day. I explained he was still behind the other house. He started pushing my buttons, especially when he said, "I should have never loaned you the money." I started to get agitated, but didn't. I called the other fellow, and postponed him a couple days.

I went and insulated the 'repayment house'. It was extremely hot, (120 upstirs) and this fellow comes in an begins to tell me how to do it, WRONG. He admittedly had no clue, but some other insulator told him how to do it . How to do it WRONG. I began to get agitated, but didn't. After a couple days, it was over. I don't recollect insulating the second half of the house. I moved to the now third house, with a half load of insulation. My customer wondered what happened to the rest, and I explained the situation, assuring him of efficientcy. The size of his house should have taken well over a load of insulation.

Note: (I had a garage that wasn't ready to insulate when we did the house, that was in the neighborhood of this far away house. I calculated it to take 13 bags. The customer admitted it was his fault for not being ready, and I could catch it 'next time I was in the area'. I really needed to catch it with the remainder of the second load, etc.)

When I bid the house I had told my customer, I would 'throw in' whatever sound walls he wanted. When I arrived I saw that he had decided to insulate ALL the interior walls. No problem. When we run out of insulation, we'll go get more. He had a 'kid' to help and run the machine in the truck. I didn't like the looks of this kid, and thought "if he plugs up the machine once, he's out of here."

We began at 5 am, (two hours away). It was still hot, and I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. We had no mechanical problems. (rare)

Mid way through the third day, he tells me 'You're done.' I look around, and sure enough, we were done. It didn't seem like much time had passed, and WE NEVER RAN OUT OF INSULATION! My customer went to get the check (large) and I asked the 'kid', how much insulation is left? 13 bags, he said.

I was paid, (dumbfouded), did the garage, and moved back to the original house for the attic. At this point I did not see the miracles lining up in my favor. Although I did have several thousand dollars discretionary money which had not happened since the beginning of the Rail Road issue.

While there, the homeowner was whining about the plumber who wouldn't come back an put in a roof jack. The plumber was a friend of mine who had helped me when I was burned, so I went to put the vent in for him. I fell off the two story roof, (10/12), bounced off the insulation truck, and landed on my shoulder, cracking every bone in my back. (Like a chiropracter would)This was a Thursday. My boy's died laughing at their old man. I then went and got the bucket truck and put the jack in like I should have.


Back on topic:

I had told these customers they could use my cabinet shop to stain their own mouldings. They worked late Friday and slammed a 14 x 14 diamond plate steel door, (about 1500 pounds). This knocked one of the 3 rollers off, and made it not work. The next morning, they told me, and I went to re-place it on the roller. It was only flexed and would pop back on easily. I asked an elderly volunteer stainer, to 'push' on the top with a 2x3. I took an 6 foot bar and raised the door. I looked up, and no 2x3. I looked back, and no voulunteer, (that I had met moments before). Seems he had gone for help without telling me. By the time I saw him across the yard, and looked back , the door was falling. It landed on me with my head out and my butt where it shouldn't be. I was twisted. There were 4 other people there, and they came quick. I couldn't breathe, and that is a tough position. Finally, they were able to pick the door slightly up so I could get tiny breaths. I propped my forearm, in the gravel and on the diamond plate. I watched that arm expecting it to explode under the weight. They then pushed empty plastic 5 gallon buckets to help hold up the door. When the fire department arrived the buckets were giving way. They drug me out, and and then strapped me to the board. I was twisted in a knot. It exploded my 3 lower lumbar vertabraes. The doctor picked these out with tweezers during an 11 hour operation. I ended up getting a 'cage' around my spinal cord, which he thought was so damaged I would not walk. The result of this is my lower 6 vertabraes and what would be a vertabrae are bolted together. The indentions from the diamond plate and rocks on the elbow lasted almost a month in the hospital.

It was soon the first week of school, and my youngest was starting kindergarden. My wife had the money to attend to the things she needed to, and get back and forth to the hospital 40 mins. each way. A miracle in itself. I then graduated to a rest home, here in town.

Jesus had a different plan for me, and I did walk, and can do quite a bit today. And no, I didn't worry about all my broken ribs, etc. My left leg doesn't do everything I tell it to, but neither do my kids.

You're right pdqdl, I hope to make it to your age!

These were not the worst things that happened to me, and again, I am blessed to be walking and breathing.

I started writing this hours ago, and am going to quit, 'cause I'm tired', not through.

The worst thing to happen to me must have be circumcision. I was off my feet for a year!

A wiser man than I once told me if you got a bunch of people together, had them write down there worst problems, put em in a hat and then draw out a random piece of paper that most people would demand their own problems back. After reading some of these posts I have decided my flash burned balls were not such a bad thing after all.

Hey, thanks for sharing RVALUE.

And, outofmytree, flashed burned balls does sound a bit painful.

double compound fracture in my right leg, bone filleted my calf when it happened....pretty mild compared to others on here

Originally Posted by RVALUE

... Pd, do you get those pesky 'splits' in your remaining fingers? ...

No, I don't. In fact, I'm not even sure what you are referring to. Sorry.

Despite all my injuries, I have outstanding health, and I heal very quickly! (too much practice?). I never have skin irritations, and I am not allergic to ANYTHING, including wasps, bees, poison ivy, or even sycamore tree sawdust. I largely heal without scars, too.

I never get sick either, except for a never ending stream of tonsillitis (not less than twice per year) until I was 30-35 years old. Maybe all that strep throat boosted my immune system?

We were all blessed with some special attributes. I think it is important to appreciate the good ones, improve our weak points, and calmly accept what we cannot change.

Originally Posted by pdqdl

No, I don't. In fact, I'm not even sure what you are referring to. Sorry.

Despite all my injuries, I have outstanding health, and I heal very quickly! (too much practice?). I never have skin irritations, and I am not allergic to ANYTHING, including wasps, bees, poison ivy, or even sycamore tree sawdust. I largely heal without scars, too.

I never get sick either, except for a never ending stream of tonsillitis (not less than twice per year) until I was 30-35 years old. Maybe all that strep throat boosted my immune system?

We were all blessed with some special attributes. I think it is important to appreciate the good ones, improve our weak points, and calmly accept what we cannot change.

Lucky you, those splits are from the 'winter dry' and chemicals. They can hurt. Glad you are a thorough healer. Are some allergic to sycamore sawdust? I don't like walnut sawdust, but I'm not allergic to it. Maybe falling limbs.....

Originally Posted by GNAR13

double compound fracture in my right leg, bone filleted my calf when it happened....pretty mild compared to others on here

Well come on! Tell us how you did it.
The dumber your mistake, the better for this thread.

I can remember the most painful thing I ever did.
Was about 16-17, and my CL175 wouldn't idle right when it was really hot. Took it for a hard ride, propped it up on a milk crate, and somehow, in the process of adjusting the carbs or the valves or something, I managed to press my bare shoulder up against an exhaust header about 2" from the engine. I heard the sizzling noise before I felt it, then I felt the pain, then smelled the BBQ. The hole in my shoulder had black charcoal like flesh around it. Went to sleep on a big bag of ice that night and woke up again in more pain than ever after the ice melted. I never want another 3rd degree burn.

First aid tip: NEVER ice a burn injury! It increases blood flow to the area, along with inflammation and pain.

But you know that now, don't you?