Mike, please accept my heartfelt condolences. It must be extremely difficult to say farewell to both parents in a few short weeks. I hope & pray your grieving heart will find peace in the coming days..... please take gentle care of yourself.
Cat
(Jim just reads the forum once in a while)
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some sort of battle.... Live simply, love wholly, give generously, care deeply, speak kindly.
It was a very warm day in Bakersfield, 110 degrees to be exact. I was in a fenced off area of our yard pulling dead grass out of the swimming pool pumps. I had been killing weeds by spraying diesel. There was a large explosion, pop, that shook the windows of the house. I was surrounded by fire. I looked to see if I was on fire. I could see the skin burning off my legs like pages of a newspaper.
It was very peaceful and quiet. I looked for an exit and decided my best way out was to go through 20 feet of fire to the gate, that was the only one not locked. The day was about to get worse but for a change I had made a good decision. I tried to jump through the fire with as much altitude as I could get and fell on my left side. I got up and headed for the swimming pool about 100' away.
My wife was in the kitchen and I yelled to her to call the FD and an ambulance we had a fire and I was badly burned. I attempted to dive in the pool but it felt like my head was not attached so I walked in. I tried to wade in deep but the pain in my waist was unbearable and it felt like something was really wrong. I left the pool for the shade on the deck and turned the hose on over my towel on my legs and propped my back against a post and waited and kept an eye on the fence fire which was approaching the house.
The FD arrived and took forever to get to me or so it seemed, they knew I had been burned. They took over hose duties and wanted to take off my cooked sneakers but i did not want them touching my legs so I did. Within minutes the ambulance arrived and when they removed the towel they almost fainted. I had been scheduled to go to the burn center in LA after stabilization at the local hospital by helopcopter but...
The ER doctor missed diagnosed the burns and percentage and dismissed the helo. I had sustained 36% percent burns, half of which were severe 3rd. degree, the rest 2nd degree and the rest of the body was singed - first degree.
In the ambulance it felt like my legs were not attached.
I found out much later that I had ruptured 3 disks in my neck and 3 in my lumbar sacral spine.
It took two years for the last burn wound to heal. I was debreided 22 times without the benefit of anesthesia, each day was worse than the first, and hospitalized for a month when I was released for a holiday weekend and I never returned not even for skin grafts. I was later hospitalized for two months for complications and then 3 spine surgeries and a neurosurgery.
All because I did something incredibly stupid and then smart - I thought of a good exit strategy and of the pool. I made all three networks that night.
The aftermath of the burn resulted in the county passing a new code for burn victims. They trained two firemen to go to the hospital the patient was sent to for stabilization. These firemen would determine the necessity for the patient to go to a burn center based on a checklist. The decision could not be overtruned by the hospital staff. More than 10% being 3rd degree, count 1st degree as part of total burn, any circumvention 3rd degree burns, burns of hands or feet of 2nd degree or worse, genitals, lungs etc.
The hospital was placed on probation and had to redo their burn treatment stuff and most involved were released.
With the new law I would have been sent to a burn center on almost every item. I wasn't.
I will never, ever be treated again for a burn.
It occurred in '88 and upon reflection I am often asked what would I do now if I could either reverse it or avoid it. I wouldn't change anything that has happened to me. I, my family and others have learned much from it and others may have been saved by it. There is so much worse, as we have seen above, that can happen I will take what did happen. I am fine and well and my family has prospered and is well. My granddaughter, inseminated and born out of the chaos will be going to college next year. So many of my friends have passed due to heath disasters or accidents, such wonderful people that are no more.
Where we are now is fine, the past is over and I have healed. I just choose never to go through it again and yes I did something extremely stupid and knowing that has allowed me to heal, all of us to heal.
Forest I don't even know what to say... other than your story of triumph over such a horrific accident is inspiring. Yet, it is painful to read even though I can only try to imagine how awful it truly was.....I am humbled by your strength & courage. You have overcome so much, good for you!
ozman wrote: Getting the news of my brothers death at the age of 41 due to a drug overdose.Feeling like I could have done more for him,he worked for me off and on and while I know I did my best I still wonder.
Ozman,
Family members do things in life whether or not we try to help them. Sometimes it is out of our hands. Speaking from experience, an individual has to be ready to receive help from a loved one. I feel your pain. Truly.
p.s. My worst day was Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2002. A loved one never made it home to us.
Livin Lite Quicksilver 8.0 (Folding Tent Camper) only 900 lbs!
The first one is when my dad passed away. DH and I found him and did CPR until the first responders got there. I layed at his head, flat on my belly holding him and kissing him, talking to him. I was in the ER with him while they did the code blue, still holding him and talking to him. I was the one that called off the code. I layed beside him as they removed every thing. Then, got to go to the waiting room and tell Mom and the rest of the family.
Oh and we found him in the barn yard, so you can imagine what I was covered with. The EMT'S, stretcher, Daddy, me and DH was tracking this barn yard stuff all over the hospital. I had to laugh and told his doctor that he would have loved that, he was quiet the jokester.
Second hardest day was not long ago when DH called me from the hospital and told me the test results were in and that he had cancer. I felt bad, that I had went to the motel to rest, but it is a good thing I wasn't at the hospital. My breakdown was not pretty.
We are fighting this with all of our strength, when we think we can't go on, God lifts us back up and we fight some more.
For all of the post above, this thread is a eyes watering thread. I will keep you all in my prayers.
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