Life changing event

[David Strieb]

I thought I'd post this in the hope that it will help prevent this from happening to someone else. Warning, It's not a pretty story!!! Today marked the one year anniversary of my left hand being crushed in a sheetmetal leaf brake This brake was made to bend 30 gauge to 16 gauge metal up to 10'6" in length, and is operated with a foot pedal. While holding some 22 gauge metal to the backgauge, somehow my hand slipped under the clamping beam as it closed. I was able to open it with the foot pedal, but the damage was done. at 60 yrs old, my 30 year career came to an end in a second!!! I lost parts of 3 fingers and fractured my knuckles. After the surgery, my hand was 3 times it's normal size and was held together with multiple pins. I had 7 months of specialized physical thearopy and conditioning. Today I can't open or close my hand, can only grip with my thumb and forefinger, and can't lift more than 20 lbs. 

 

An injury like this could easily happen while working in the garage. Before I worked sheetmetal, I was a logger and lost a coworker to a garage accident. he was changing a transmission by himself. The transmission ended up on his chest, I was told it took several hours before he passed away

 

If you're an employer, please provide a safe work place. If you are an employee, please demand a safe work place, and for yourself at work or play, please be safe because I can tell you it only takes a second for a life changing event to happen.

 

     David

                                                                                                              

[Don Coatney]

Thanks for sharing your story. It will keep me more aware of my surroundings.

[ggdad1951]

Sorry to hear your story.  At our work we have all the safety measures but in the last 15 years I've been there we've still had one guy get his hand in a press brake (he defeated the safeties) and one guy put the palm of his hand thru a 3 wheel tube bender....

[BigDaddyO]

Ouch.

Sorry for your loss.

My brother-in-law lost the tip of his index finger (to the first knuckle) that way.

I don't think you can ever be too careful.

It only takes an instant.

[Dodgeb4ya]

As I get older I'm trying to be more aware of the bad things that can happen if I were to take a careless short cut.

Thanks for your story to remind us to be careful of what we do.

 

Bob

[Niel Hoback]

  Thanks for the warning. It seems lately, as I get older, I need a stern warning every once in a while.  I will think of you for sure.

[David Strieb]

If this post prevents one injury from happening, my mission will be complete.

 

one of the worst things I'm dealing with is working on and driving my cars.. I had my '38 dodge rc at work that day, a coworker ended up driving it home for me. It, and my p10 sat outside for months before I could do anything.I could only drive my ot Dakota with auto trans and power steering. I can now use the p10 with the modern drivetrain (ot v8 / auto trans), but non power steering. I got the '38 running again, but the frt brakes were locked, so I'm doing a rebuild. Progress is slow as it takes lots more effort to do even the simple tasks, but I'll get there!!!  My '36 hasn't been driven since june 2013 as the driveway is blocked with the '38!!!

 

The other thing I miss the most is 40+ years of playing guitar I can restring it and try to play left handed, but I don't think I have the "grit" to relearn at this point.

 

I now carry a small pair of vicegrips in my back pocket. Even though I've lost my hand grip / strength, I still have some of my arm strength, the vice grips help to do things I otherwise couldn't.

 

  David

[T120]

David,Sorry to hear of your accident.A reminder to be careful around machinery and as mentioned avoiding careless short cuts...

[pflaming]

My fire and this accident are stark reminders that things happen very quickly. I wish you all the best, made my stomach flinch when I read your post.

Edited July 26, 2014 by pflaming

[Desotodav]

Sorry to hear of your injury David. It is good to see that you have the strength and determination to overcome your 'setback'. May you be an inspiration to many! 

[48Dodger]

It's good you're posting your story David. The number of things that can go wrong seems endless at times. I've been working in the  ER for 30 years as a Radiologic Technologist (X-rays) and have seen many a life changing events come through the back doors. More often than not, its after midnight and alcohol is involved. But to me its when a guy is just doing what he loves that its seems unfair when things go wrong. I'll spare eveyone the graphic details of the things I've seen, but the reality is that for every action there is that opposite reaction to deal with. I often say to kids who crash on thier bikes or boards, the older guys who spill thier 10 speeds or the slip on the walking path..."Well...it's better than sitting on the couch having a heart attack while watching someone else live their life". it helps sometimes.

         But hey David, you're still living your life, man...sharing your stories, and puttin emphasis on the cautionary tale. The sign of a good man, who looks out for his fellow man. And as a lifetime guitar player, I say its time to play with an open "D" tuning and get the slide out!! Sounds like you have quite a few songs to go yet.   

 

48D

 

[David Strieb]

Thanks for all the input and support!! I had a "can't do that" mentality for some time, now it's a "try it and find out" which brings more success than failure !!

 

Thanks again, David

[Grdpa's 50 Dodge]

No "DO-OVERS" allowed.When I turned 60 I was on a stepladder on highest step when it twisted and went out from under me while installing this small piece of siding on a house,

 

I grabbed for the roof but couldnt hold myself much,,,ladder fell over and my right leg came down thru the inside of it and snapped over  sideways when I hit the ground. Broke both bones above the ankle and drug the bones in the dirt and gravel of an old driveway.  Ortho doc put a plate on outside but nothing to screw to inside. ALL mush where used to have bone.  5 rods sticking out on an external fixator for 3 months AND $50,000 dollars later(no insurance).  Doc said I might not walk again or if I did not correctly,,,,presently working 6 to 16 hours  some days.  Docs assistant said he had never seen a bone that damaged and mushy before

 

I have bad feet anyway and the burn after long days on them is about equal in both.

 

In my case I think an old footpath stone only let 3 legs on the ground and didnt see it for such a quick little job.  Be careful out there,,,it happens quickly

Edited August 20, 2014 by Grdpa's 50 Dodge

[Lumpy]

Wow, the guitar thing I can really relate to, I play bass, and that has made me extra careful when working with my hands. I keep it in the front of my mind, and often say to myself, "if I do that this way, is it possible I'll smash/break/lose a finger? Kind of like measure twice, cut once.

But take heart. It's sometimes amazing how much one can recover, and adapt. January 26 I detached my ACL, and did all this other damage to my knee. I mean, it was BAD. I broke the golden rule of not locking up my leg/knee when kicking over an old motorcycle. It was cold, the oil was thick...so I gave the mightiest kick ever, with locked leg, and the kicker gears slipped. Then the bike almost fell over on me. Pretty sure I would have frozen to death out in the garage before anyone found me. Pretty sure it was telekinesis that kept the bike from going over, as it was falling to the right, and that was the knee I busted.

I had a lot of deep dark thoughts in those first few weeks. Figured it was a given that I'd not be kicking over antique bikes anymore, or my dirt bikes. I'd just spent an entire summer building a kicker bike, (my '37) and thought: "well that's the end of that". It was really hard work to remain positive. It was really humbling going to work on crutches, or going into a store.

But, I recovered. I learned to kick the bikes over with my left leg...I can even start my big single dirt bikes that way now. Before, I would have said: "NO WAY"!!! I can hunt and hike again. I can run...not that well, but I can...and that's just a recent development. I can't beat 95% of the high school students in a short sprint anymore, but I can run. But at the time, I thought all those things were done for.

Remain positive, give it time. I think you will find a way to play the guitar again...just give it time. And I don't mean re-tuning the guitar. Your injury will take a lot more time to recover from than mine, but be positive! Never surrender!

k.

[mattimuss]

Hey All,

 

I just got hit with a double-whammy reality check which started last Tuesday, 08/05.

 

Got a call from my friend [we'll call him Jim, 68 years old] while I was at work.  He went over to pick up my "adopted dad" [we'll call him Bob, 80 years old] for lunch.  Bob hadn't been feeling well for a few days.  When Jim got there he found Bob disoriented, confused, and walking around in only a sweatshirt.  Bob's wife suffers from advanced dementia and Bob takes care of her.  Jim called me in a panic and I told him to call 911 and get an ambulance.  I jumped in my car and met them at the ER.

 

Bob, who was concentrating on taking care of his wife, hand't been following his perscriptions and wasn't eating properly.  He has high blood pressure and it spiked to 216/126 while we were at the ER.  The ER staff were getting seriously concerned and started to break out the "last level" blood pressure medicine, I think it is called Nightgale, but don't remember the name.  Thankfully his blood pressure started going down and they got it under control.

 

The damage was done though.  I guess the best way I can describe it is he's just not the same man, mentally, that he was before this happened.  He's having a hard time remembering, doesn't remember people including me, and often times looks dazed and confused.  The ER placed him in a room late Tuesday night.

 

It gets "better"...

 

Thursday afternoon Jim calls me and asked if I'm going to visit Bob.  I told him yes, that I had planned to drive over after work; the hospital is a 10 minute drive from my job.  Jim then asked if I could pick him up to go along.  I gotta tell you guys I was a little upset at this request because it's a 20 minute drive to his house from my job, then a 20 minute drive back to the hospital.  I asked if he really wanted to go that badly and he said yes.  So I hauled my sorry butt over and picked him up and drove back to the hospital.  The hospital was packed [aren't they all!] so it took us about 15 minutes to find a parking spot, and it was a 5 minute walk to the front doors.  Once we got to the front he informed me that he wasn't going to visit Bob, he was going to the ER.  After picking my jaw up off the ground and regaining my composure, I asked him why.  He then informed me that he had been having pains in his left arm and chest for the last 2 hours!  Now mind you we drove all the way from his house talking the entire time...we talked the entire time while looking for a parking spot...and the entire walk up to the front doors.  And not once did he think it was important enough to tell me that he was having these pains.  I got him in the ER and they got him all hooked up.  They did blood work and decided to keep him over night to monitor him.  So I spent Thursday evening going back and forth between the ER and Bob's room keeping both eyes on both of my friends.

 

The next morning [Friday] they went in to have a look at Jim’s arteries and found that 4 of them we 70%+ blocked and that Angioplasty and stents we not going to work.  The blood work came back during the night and showed that he had had a heart attack sometime during this ordeal.

 

Saturday morning he had quadruple bypass surgery...

 

Talk about a double dose of reality served on a silver platter!  Both of my close friends having bad cardiac issues and in the hospital at the same time!

 

Bob is now at home recovering, Jim might get released tomorrow, and I need a vacation!

 

Man, I need to get younger friends!