um any one said tourniquet yet,,, oh and an i found lady's napkins handy in your 1st aid kit they work a treat for soakin the claret from oozing nasty gashes
What You Should Do If You Get Hurt in the Woods When Alone
- Thread starter Gypo Logger
- Start date
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every time, you post that pic of your injury,,muh legs get weak...........
The basic rule..." First, do no harm".
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Hats off to all the times we never got hurt! No sence, no feeling. I think this is one of my best pictures, even if I say so mineself.John
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
You mean the one that caused the brain injury or the one that made me criminally insane? Lol
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Glorified hangnail.
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Nothing that can't be buffed out. Lol
Trx250r180
Saw polisher
lose your load ?
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Not that I recall.
Pa Pa Jack
ArboristSite Operative
My event didn't happen while cutting wood, but it makes a point that I never really understood.
On November 11th, I was in PA hunting with cousins. I normally pick the last two weeks of archery season to spend with them. This year was no different.
We didn't get out real early, because I had seen a dentist several days earlier because of an abscessed tooth. This was the follow up visit. I had explained to the Dr. that I was there for deer season so he set me up as the first patient of the day. He's a deer hunter also.
Got to the property about 9 o'clock. I had decided to hunt my favorite stand. It also happens to be the most difficult stand to get to. It sits on the highest ridge we have and it is very thick undergrowth. Over the years, I have established an ATV trail the runs up a very steep hill on the backside of the ridge. It is a really fun hillclimb. I can get within about 200 yards of my ladder stand. Around the stand itself, we have cleaned out 5 decent shooting lanes out to about 75 yards. All in all, it's a pretty danged good set-up.
I got into the stand at about 10 o'clock. The rut had begun to pick up as the weather cooled off the last two days so I was really looking forward to the day.
I had only been in the stand about 5 minutes when I suddenly felt very ill. I can't really explain it, but I was just suddenly very "fuzzy". I sat there for about 10 minutes and it kept getting worse. My hands and feet began tingling and I was quite light headed. My first concern was getting out of the stand and on the ground. It took me another ten minutes to get down. I had to sit at the base of the stand and gather my senses enough to get to the ATV. Although it was only about 200 yards, I had to stop twice and literally lay down to gain enough strength and balance to continue. I had no way to get in touch with my cousin who was hunting the ridge on the other side of the valley. I still had no idea what was wrong, but something was really bad.
When I got to the ATV, I had to sit for a while and gather the strength to get it turned around and headed in the right direction. I could have taken a shorter route back to the cars, but there would not be anyone there to help. I had to get to Dave and the shortest way to do that was to go back down the same way I had come in. Not a fun prospect feeling the way I did. It's a very steep descent. Half way down the hill one of the front tires broke it's bead and went flat. It was extremely hard to steer now.
I finally managed to get to the bottom and out to the dirt road. I knew where Dave was hunting and his stand was only about 150 yards up the hill but I couldn't muster the breath to yell for him. In fact, I realized I almost couldn't breathe at all. Things were getting worse by the minute. I decided to force the ATV up the road to the top of the hill and then come back the trail to Dave's stand. That is about a 3/4 mile trip.
He heard me coming and thought I had connected with a deer and was coming for help to recover it. When I pulled up to his stand, he knew something was wrong instantly. He told me later that I looked like death warmed over. I simply told him I needed a hospital "Right Now".
Our car was about 2 miles away. We always park at a friends house who normally is not around because his work takes him all over the country. I drove the quad to the car and Dave had to recover his quad and follow. Somehow, we go me into the car and began driving to the nearest hospital. It was about 20 miles away.
Our route would take us by the East Finley Twp. road crew maintenance shop. We decided to stop and see if anyone there could help. Dave found 4 guys there on their break. they jumped in and started making calls. In 11 minutes we had paramedics from three local VFD's there. It seemed like hours to me, they were really a life saver. They immediately called the hospital and dispatched an ambulance.
A half hour later, I was in the ambulance and headed for the hospital. Because of our location, they could not send any vitals to the Dr. until we reached to higher ground. They got IV's and electrodes all over me. They gave me four aspirins to chew. I was convinced this whole episode had some thing to due with my COPD. I have been on medications for this for 10 years. I had no real pain, just felt horrible.
When we reached the to of the ridge, the Dr. in the ER got the transmission of the EKG and immediately told them to give me nitroglycerin. That is when I knew something worse was going on. I have been married to an emergency room RN for 46 years. I know they don't give nitro for the hell of it.
When we got to the hospital, we did not go to the Emergency Room entrance, we went to a side entrance that opens up directly into the treatment rooms. They had me in, x-rayed, unclothed, scrubbed and shaved in about 5 minutes. I was in the OR in 8 minutes and they were doing a cardiac cath in less than 20 minutes.
They found 100% blockage on one of my arteries. They installed a stent and had me in CCU recovery in under and hour.
Everything has turned out well. Dr. Clampsey told me I should have been dead. He cannot believe the story I just described for you. If we had driven to the hospital on our own, I would have died. The emergency people that were involved saved my life. It the ER had not been aware of my impending arrival, they would not have been ready and had a surgical team on stand-by waiting for me. IT would have meant at least a one hour delay.
I had a serious heart attack. There was no pain like you see of TV. I didn't drop and grab my chest in agony. A heart attack does not have to be that way. You know your body better than anyone else, If you feel "wrong", see a Dr. ASAP. I never thought it had anything to do with my heart.
I was lucky. I will never go out again with no way to signal for help. I have always let someone know exactly where I was going to be, but never carried a phone or a walkie-talkie. That will change. Be careful my friends.
I guess "What I learned", is that you know your body better than anyone else. If something doesn't feel right it probably isn't. I think we try to be "manly" and work through it. That just might get you killed.
On November 11th, I was in PA hunting with cousins. I normally pick the last two weeks of archery season to spend with them. This year was no different.
We didn't get out real early, because I had seen a dentist several days earlier because of an abscessed tooth. This was the follow up visit. I had explained to the Dr. that I was there for deer season so he set me up as the first patient of the day. He's a deer hunter also.
Got to the property about 9 o'clock. I had decided to hunt my favorite stand. It also happens to be the most difficult stand to get to. It sits on the highest ridge we have and it is very thick undergrowth. Over the years, I have established an ATV trail the runs up a very steep hill on the backside of the ridge. It is a really fun hillclimb. I can get within about 200 yards of my ladder stand. Around the stand itself, we have cleaned out 5 decent shooting lanes out to about 75 yards. All in all, it's a pretty danged good set-up.
I got into the stand at about 10 o'clock. The rut had begun to pick up as the weather cooled off the last two days so I was really looking forward to the day.
I had only been in the stand about 5 minutes when I suddenly felt very ill. I can't really explain it, but I was just suddenly very "fuzzy". I sat there for about 10 minutes and it kept getting worse. My hands and feet began tingling and I was quite light headed. My first concern was getting out of the stand and on the ground. It took me another ten minutes to get down. I had to sit at the base of the stand and gather my senses enough to get to the ATV. Although it was only about 200 yards, I had to stop twice and literally lay down to gain enough strength and balance to continue. I had no way to get in touch with my cousin who was hunting the ridge on the other side of the valley. I still had no idea what was wrong, but something was really bad.
When I got to the ATV, I had to sit for a while and gather the strength to get it turned around and headed in the right direction. I could have taken a shorter route back to the cars, but there would not be anyone there to help. I had to get to Dave and the shortest way to do that was to go back down the same way I had come in. Not a fun prospect feeling the way I did. It's a very steep descent. Half way down the hill one of the front tires broke it's bead and went flat. It was extremely hard to steer now.
I finally managed to get to the bottom and out to the dirt road. I knew where Dave was hunting and his stand was only about 150 yards up the hill but I couldn't muster the breath to yell for him. In fact, I realized I almost couldn't breathe at all. Things were getting worse by the minute. I decided to force the ATV up the road to the top of the hill and then come back the trail to Dave's stand. That is about a 3/4 mile trip.
He heard me coming and thought I had connected with a deer and was coming for help to recover it. When I pulled up to his stand, he knew something was wrong instantly. He told me later that I looked like death warmed over. I simply told him I needed a hospital "Right Now".
Our car was about 2 miles away. We always park at a friends house who normally is not around because his work takes him all over the country. I drove the quad to the car and Dave had to recover his quad and follow. Somehow, we go me into the car and began driving to the nearest hospital. It was about 20 miles away.
Our route would take us by the East Finley Twp. road crew maintenance shop. We decided to stop and see if anyone there could help. Dave found 4 guys there on their break. they jumped in and started making calls. In 11 minutes we had paramedics from three local VFD's there. It seemed like hours to me, they were really a life saver. They immediately called the hospital and dispatched an ambulance.
A half hour later, I was in the ambulance and headed for the hospital. Because of our location, they could not send any vitals to the Dr. until we reached to higher ground. They got IV's and electrodes all over me. They gave me four aspirins to chew. I was convinced this whole episode had some thing to due with my COPD. I have been on medications for this for 10 years. I had no real pain, just felt horrible.
When we reached the to of the ridge, the Dr. in the ER got the transmission of the EKG and immediately told them to give me nitroglycerin. That is when I knew something worse was going on. I have been married to an emergency room RN for 46 years. I know they don't give nitro for the hell of it.
When we got to the hospital, we did not go to the Emergency Room entrance, we went to a side entrance that opens up directly into the treatment rooms. They had me in, x-rayed, unclothed, scrubbed and shaved in about 5 minutes. I was in the OR in 8 minutes and they were doing a cardiac cath in less than 20 minutes.
They found 100% blockage on one of my arteries. They installed a stent and had me in CCU recovery in under and hour.
Everything has turned out well. Dr. Clampsey told me I should have been dead. He cannot believe the story I just described for you. If we had driven to the hospital on our own, I would have died. The emergency people that were involved saved my life. It the ER had not been aware of my impending arrival, they would not have been ready and had a surgical team on stand-by waiting for me. IT would have meant at least a one hour delay.
I had a serious heart attack. There was no pain like you see of TV. I didn't drop and grab my chest in agony. A heart attack does not have to be that way. You know your body better than anyone else, If you feel "wrong", see a Dr. ASAP. I never thought it had anything to do with my heart.
I was lucky. I will never go out again with no way to signal for help. I have always let someone know exactly where I was going to be, but never carried a phone or a walkie-talkie. That will change. Be careful my friends.
I guess "What I learned", is that you know your body better than anyone else. If something doesn't feel right it probably isn't. I think we try to be "manly" and work through it. That just might get you killed.
Great story PaPa Jack. Several good points, glad you turned out OK. Aspirin is a great drug. Some people can't use it, it can set off a fatal asthma attack. For the rest of us, we probably should always have a fresh bottle around.
Are you a diabetic? Diabetes significantly alters Signs and Symptoms of a heart attack.
What you describe are the signs of shock. Your irritated heart wasn't able to provide enough blood flow to perfuse your brain or body.
Excellent point about driving yourself. EMS Crews really can provide lifesaving treatment, can prepare hospital staff, and many times save you time. Sometimes it's hard to depend on others, but just ignoring issues won't make them go away.
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
In 04 I had an HA, it was caused by artery blockage in two veins in combination with over exerting myself by trying to pull out a sticking mainline cable on the 540a cable skidder.
I denied the whole thing until 20hrs later.
Now I have two stents. They told me I would never pick up a saw again, but since then Ive cut a 1000 cords and around 250,000 ft. And umpteen thousand other physical feats. Lol. There's a thread somewhere here about that.
John
I denied the whole thing until 20hrs later.
Now I have two stents. They told me I would never pick up a saw again, but since then Ive cut a 1000 cords and around 250,000 ft. And umpteen thousand other physical feats. Lol. There's a thread somewhere here about that.
John
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Good write up. November for some reason is a bad month for ha's for some reason. I had mine on nov 8.
After awhile you understand its yet another chapter in the book.
John
Fubar
treehugger
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having a HA myself in jan 2002 , i can speak from experience that they can happen anywhere anytime , you can feel fine one second and then, bam you don't , i didn't feel any pain till after i woke up from passing out , my cardiologist tells me that most people don't feel any pain right off , that most people just pass out and either wake up or they don't , so all you other guys listen up , take care of your ticker and get it checked out ever so often , you won't regret it .
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Its funny how life clings to some very improbable surfaces. Maybe only the good die young. No rest for the wicked. Lol
John
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Men of the North are We.
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
We just go on as though it was part and parcel of the job. Like hit me hard and I'll get right back up and ask no questions and tell no lies and thank the people that saw me thru. It's nice to go it alone, but no man is an island unto himself.
I'm just going to lounge back and listen to some music as I hear the trees growing.
I'm just going to lounge back and listen to some music as I hear the trees growing.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
I try not to be in the woods aline. Normally I have a crew.
If I am aline, even just to do some maintenance on equipment on the landing I let someone know.
Dunno about the lesser 48, but in AK once your in the woods it's like stepping back in time.
No people, no cell phone, nothing.
In 2010 I was doing a roof alone. Slipped and fell on the plywoodl, which resulted in me falling off and breaking my back.
I crawled my butt to the house about 200 ft away, was that or freeze! (Was maybe 5*)
If I am aline, even just to do some maintenance on equipment on the landing I let someone know.
Dunno about the lesser 48, but in AK once your in the woods it's like stepping back in time.
No people, no cell phone, nothing.
In 2010 I was doing a roof alone. Slipped and fell on the plywoodl, which resulted in me falling off and breaking my back.
I crawled my butt to the house about 200 ft away, was that or freeze! (Was maybe 5*)
Joe46
ArboristSite Guru
I did a lot a lot of single jacking. Wife knew where I was cutting. The couple times I did get hurt there was a crew around.
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
So true, if you're any godamn good you're working for yourself. The logging industry was built off the back of stupid wannabe loggers. If the shoe fits wear it. I've worn it more than once. Lol
If the tree your falling is worth more than your day wage your just getting used up. North America was settled by stupid loggers. So called loggers always let their ego get in the way, plus you can't find a bigger bunch of self deluded bull hitters. Lol
Also, real loggers don't make a career about ratting others out, but I understand why he does this, he's just trying to detract from the fact he never made it beyond packin a fallers wedges. Lol
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