Murrah Building, Oklahoma City - no contest with any other scene I've worked in 30+ years as a paramedic. The worst part was being helpless to assist any of the injured, who had been cleared before we arrived from Tulsa, and merely being a witness to removal of the dead, or pieces of the dead. We did treat some minor injuries for firefighters, which helped some.
1982. High pressure dry steam burn. Man was hit in the chest with 2600 PSI dry steam. I was 100' away when it happen. Myself and my supervisor pulled him from the steam. He passed 1 week later in South Alabama Burn Center.
Exactly 2 weeks later, was 1st on scene when man fell 4 floors in an enclosed ladder. He survived, but ended up on LTD. It litterly torn his left foot off and totally dislocated both shoulders, left hip, broke 6 ribs, both arms and fractured his skull. One tough sob.
And in June of '05 had to deal with a fatality on my lines, in the town I was the electric utility manager in. 7200 volts leaves few survivors.
Jimmy
I was almost 5 years old. My mother was married to a jerkoff of the biggest proportions, no he wasnt my maker. She left him, he didnt like. Her and I were walking into our little apartment down in Miami Fl one evening shortly after she left him. We opened the door to a scene of complete destruction. He snuck in and ruined all we had. As we stood there, me holding her hand, he crept behind my mother and cut her throat from ear to ear. At less than 5 years old i only stood there, holding her hands and watched it happen.
She survived the ordeal as she was taken to the hospital quickly and had sevearl quarts of blood put thru her. 152 stitches later she was recovering. Sadly back then blood was not checked for HIV, which she contracted...so ultimately it killed her almost 20 years later. I stood at the foot of her bed an watched her take her last breath, it was the only easy i had watched her take in many months.
What did i learn? I learned to never let any asshat hurt someone i love ever again. I learned to go out get the knowledge i need to keep this from happening...and i did.
Damn, Dropy, that is truly sad to hear, and I for one am sorry for your loss.
When I was about 13, I was pitching ball with a neighbor kid, at dusk, when I missed one, which caught me almost exactly between the eyes. I'd worn glasses since 7. They were broken and, since the hit was just left of center, the left side was driven into my eye socket. My left eyeball filled with blood, and there was concern of my retina detaching.
I got shot in an ND when I was 19, right through the left knee, from one side through the other. It was a 9mm fmj round. It happened at home, in the front yard. I went in and upstairs to tell my sister to call 911, as she was the only other one there. I still suffer from that.
I got a real bad case of food poisoning about 4-5 yrs ago, so bad that after a week of blasting out both ends at once (yes, at exactly the same time), my fist night back at work gave me a hernia. I awoke the next morning with a real bad urge to vomit, only to have diarrhea come up. I had a hernia with an intestinal blockage.
Just over 2yrs ago, I had an endoscopy (every 2yrs, due to Barretts disease) wherein a vein down at the bottom of my esophagus was nicked taking a biopsy. Later that afternoon, when I was vomiting blood and crapping blood, I was taken to the hospital. I lost between 2-3 liters of blood that day, and was rather close to death. My wife was at work, and actually got to the hospital before me, as we had to wait for the bus to get there. She said when I was wheeled in, everything but my chest and head was corpse gray.
Other than those, just a bunch of cuts, many requiring stitches, some smashes, during 20 or so yrs of working in a machine shop.
Driving with Pop taking my mother to hospital, doing CPR on her, day she died due to asthma complications. Did the Heimlich on a friend choking on some beef at a convention dinner while every one at the table was sitting frozen.
My worst call was my first call.
Worker cutting down water tower with an oxygen acetylene torch had his harness hooked above and below. The worker cut a 500lb I beam while hooked to it.
The torch burned into the worker for approx 5-10 before the boss spotted it and shut off the torch and called 911.
All I remember was LT looking back and smiling at me when we rolled up on scene. Alright rookie get up there.
Very memorable call and the patient lived!
That is probably the worse thing I could imagine. As an adult we can learn to adapt better I think. As a child those scars and loss of innocense, trust, security and all things sacred can never fully heal. I am so sorry that you had to go through such a horrible thing.Originally Posted by Dropy
I apologize for nothing...
Needless to say it is a big reason why i am so messed up now. But i am getting better.
YEah, that was the worse thing to ever hit me.... Then there are the times a few years later when i saw my mother arrested...that was no fun, she served a few months. Then the times as a child i saw her beaten by a couple times by various "boyfriends". And still i was too young and small to stop any of them.
But that all lead to me to wanting to go into the army. SF was my destination..airborne. Spent my entire childhood learning EVERY thing i could about weapons of all sorts. By the age of 14 i could name every weapon used by every major military power in the world, to include the exact ammo types and full ballistics rundowns. This also included vehicles on the gorund and in the air (for some reason things that floated in water didnt interest me).
Instead of watching cartoons i turned on the channels that showed surgeries taking place. To learn how to do them? No. But i did learn some medical stuff. No i didnt want to learn how to do the medical stuff, i wanted to learn how the human body worked....so i would be better, faster and more efficient at making other peoples bodies stop working.
Some of the men i grew up around were NAM vets, they were very generous in there teachings, i soaked it up like a sponge. Then there was the boyscouts. Spent many years here to learn woodscraft, and i did learn some.
Passed up on football in school so i would not hurt myself and risk a my military career. To bad we found out, just a few months before i was to sign my contract to go in, that i was born with only 1 kidney. So there blew out my dream of my entire childhood. A few months later my mother died.
Probably the worst would have to be a massive soft tissue trauma to the exterior groin resulting in torsion testicle. Size13 EE Steel toed boots to the nutsack will put a man down instantaneously. Ask me how I know.
Other than that, shrapnel wounds to body, bullet wounds, amputations, one decapitation, have all somehow become mundane in the life experiences. Sad fact of life, but true.
RELIGION IS LIKE A PENIS
Its fine to have one,
Its fine to be proud of it,
But please dont whip it out in public and start waving it around,
And PLEASE dont try to force it down my children's throats.
An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
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