Tuesday, September 9, 2008

That's gonna leave a mark

I guess it’s good to get the worst out of the way right up front, then things can only get better, right? My biggest apprehension about moving to Cokeville has always been the lack of medical facilities. (What? You didn't know we moved? Click here and get in the know.) There is a little clinic in town with a nurse practitioner that is open only on Mondays and Thursdays. It's fine for minor things, like a sinus infection, but certainly no trauma care. There’s 3 small hospitals within an hour’s drive, but they’re all pretty mediocre and everyone has a horror story to tell you from any one of those hospitals. To get decent medical care, you have to drive to Logan (1 ½ hours) or Salt Lake (2 ½ hours). For everyone in Cokeville, this is a part of life and something you just live with, but for a city girl like me, who’s never really lived far from a hospital, this is terrifying. My biggest fear was that someone in our family would have an accident or a medical emergency and the good hospitals are too far away.

Turns out Dan is the one who got to put my concerns to the test.

Winter is approaching and our little house is set up with propane heat. 5 years ago it was a pretty economical fuel source, but this winter they’re predicting that it will top $4.00/gallon. The propane tank holds 500 gallons and needs to be filled about every 6-8 weeks. I’ll let you do the math, but it falls squarely into the "holy crap" category. So we decided to buy a wood burning stove since the house is already outfitted with a chimney and pipe; that’s how they heated the house in the old days.

Everyone in town has been up the canyon cutting down trees for their wood burning stoves. It’s truly "Little House on the Prairie"ish, except with chainsaws instead of axes. It’s generally a good community effort with plenty of sweat and male bonding. Dan missed the first trip of cutting wood, as he was driving home from working in Salt Lake. He arrived in the late morning on Thursday (Sept. 4th) and helped Brian and his brother Kevin unload wood.

Brian is such a show-off! That's Becca next to Dan.

Amelia's favorite outfit is a princess nightgown handed down from her cousin Faith. I've stopped dressing her in it at night because it's too cold, but whenever she finds it in her drawer she insists on wearing her "Rella Dress." It's quite the little get-up.

She was not pleased that we wouldn't let her climb on the wood pile.

Later in the afternoon, the crew headed up the canyon to cut more wood. I was organizing and mopping the kitchen and I get a call from Becca at 4:55pm. She says they’ve "hit a little snag". THE understatement of the year! She tells me that Dan has cut his leg with the chainsaw and all I could say was "Oh, shit." (‘Scuse my french, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get a pass on that one.)

Here’s what happened, as best as Dan can recollect. He and Brian had cut down a tree and they were working at opposite ends, with Brian cutting the trunk into smaller sections and Dan trimming off all the limbs. The tree trunk was about waist high and Dan was cutting the limbs horizontally. Some of the limbs were kind of snarled so he had to cut into them at an angle from each side instead of just slicing it straight across. As he was cutting into a limb, the chainsaw caught on the trunk and ricocheted straight back towards his leg. It went straight into his left quadricep, about 3 or 4 inches above his knee.

He had no idea how deep it was, if he’d hit an artery or bone. Dan got Brian’s attention and as soon as Brian looked at the wound, he went running for the truck. Dan had the presence of mind to whip his belt right off and use it as a tourniquet. He pulled it as hard as he could for about a minute straight, until he could feel his pulse stopping, then he loosened it a tiny bit at a time. When blood didn’t spurt out at him, he knew he was going to live, and he said that made all the difference in the world.

Becca was at the truck and she and Brian loaded Dan in and sped down the canyon. They stopped at the first ranch house they came to and called ahead to the ambulance (Cokeville has about 30 volunteer EMT’s) so that by the time they got to the mouth of the canyon 30 minutes later, the ambulance was there to meet them. They took Dan to Kemmerer, about 50 minutes away. Of course, they were replacing all the bridges between here and there, so the road was super bumpy and for some reason, the EMT’s had only given Dan a small sniff of morphine for the pain, just 10 minutes shy of the hospital. Get that man some drugs!!!

Fortunately, as soon as the doc in Kemmerer got a good look at the wound, he knew it was way out of his league. He had actually called ahead to alert the life flight team in Salt Lake, so they were ready to take off when he called after looking at Dan. I was a little tickled when I got to the hospital in Kemmerer and this fellow in a flannel shirt, oilskin vest, John Deere cap, and scruffy hair started giving me the medical report. (I think he had been out hunting when he got the call.) You know you’re in Wyoming when your doctor looks like this:

Dan was already bandaged up, but, bless their hearts, the EMT’s had taken pictures and one of the medical staff had a little digital printer. I got to see how deep the wound really was. I’ll save the gory pictures until the end of this post and give you plenty of warning when they’re coming, as I know some of you got squirrely even with Lily’s pulled tooth pictures. The medical staff, both from Cokeville and Kemmerer, rarely get to see serious injuries like that, so several asked to take pictures and Dan said it seemed like everyone in the hospital came by to take a look. They asked his permission to take pictures and he told them, "as long as you promise to give my wife a copy for her blog." Good man, good man.

Dan severed about 3/4 of his left quadriceps muscle, across the front and partially around the outside. Fortunately, most of the blood supply in your thigh is on the back side, so he really didn’t bleed too bad, and the wound stopped just barely shy of his femur. A miracle. I am just amazed that something as powerful as a chainsaw could go into Dan’s leg and somehow he had the strength and the reaction time to pull the sucker out before it cut his whole leg off. Adreneline is an amazing thing.

After I arrived in the Kemmerer ER, the AirMed flight crew from Salt Lake showed up within about 30 minutes.

They loaded Dan into an ambulance and transported him to the small airport where a fixed wing plane awaited.

Fortunately, I was able to go with Dan on the flight. I was relieved to be with him, but in my sick twisted way, I was also glad I could go along and get lots of pictures. (When my brother David fell into a lake in Maryland and fractured his tibia and fibula, was I trying to help him out of the water? No, I was snapping pictures while we waited for the trained professionals to arrive. I think that type of behavior may require some sort of psychological evaluation.)

And even more twisted, I was pleased to see a beautiful sunset on the horizon. Hey, if you’ve got to life flight your husband because he almost cut his leg off, at least you can get some pretty pictures.

Dan was pretty doped up on morphine and several other things they gave him in Kemmerer. He slept most of the flight while I snapped lots of pictures. When we landed, one of the AirMed guys commented that I was really documenting this event well. I explained that I was a professional photographer and obnoxious in addition, and he nodded and smiled at me with an "Oh, I see" look on his face.

When we walked into the University of Utah ER, I felt this overwhelming sense of relief. I knew there were excellent physicians there and that Dan was at the best possible place for his care. There were all kinds of doctors and medical personnel milling around and I said to myself, "that is a beautiful sight." After a couple more hours of poking and prodding and evaluation from several doctors, they took Dan up for surgery (7 hours after the injury occurred). The trouble with a chainsaw injury is that it not only cuts you, but it removes tissue in the process. So there was not a nice clean-cut wound to just stitch up nice and neat. They had to flush out the wound, remove debris and some tissue, and stretch the muscle to reattach it. Going into the surgery, the surgeon told me that typically these types of wounds don’t hold sutures well and they tend to form a lot of scar tissue which shortens the muscle and decreases its function in the future. With Dan being an avid bicyclist, this was a big concern for him. So when the surgeon reported to me after the surgery and told me that they had been able to get three layers of stitches in, that was great news.

Dan got out of surgery at about 1:30am and they admitted him upstairs to recover. After seeing the orthopedic surgical resident on call and the physical therapist in the morning, they released him at 2:30pm. It’s freakin’ amazing that you can cut yourself with a chainsaw at 4:30 in the afternoon and be headed home less than 24 hours later. My Mom drove us to Evanston where Brian met us and drove us the rest of the way home to Cokeville.

Dan’s recovery is going OK. As you can imagine, it’s pretty painful. His wound is bandaged at the surgical site and he has an ace bandage wrapped around his whole leg with a knee immobilizer on the outside. At discharge he was instructed (not by his surgeon, but some resident) not to remove any of the bandages or the knee immobilizer until we go for his two week follow-up visit. Because the wound was so dirty and tricky to sew up, it’s more prone to infection and it’s more likely that the sutures will come loose with movement. But Dan called the surgeon this morning and she said he could take off the ace bandage, keep the knee immobilizer on during the day and remove it during the night. He shouldn't soak the wound but it's OK if it gets a little wet, so I think we'll try wrapping it up in plastic so he can have a shower. (Reminds me of all those times my mom wrapped a trash bag around my brother Don's arm or leg so he could take a shower. How many casts did you have growing up, Don?)

While Dan is in a lot of pain and starting to get weary of how stoned he feels all the time, his spirits are amazingly high. We were talking last night and he said maybe in a couple of weeks he’ll get all depressed about how the injury will affect his ability to cycle or that he might have a little hitch in his get-a-long for the rest of his life, but for now, he was feeling pretty relieved and thankful for how things turned out. He said it’s amazing how much your perspective changes when you have faced the reality of dying. For the first 3 minutes after he got hurt, he sat there thinking, "I may die, right here in this forest" and when he realized that the worst that could happen was that he’d be permanently disabled, he was pretty happy to take that alternative. He said the reality of dying was so much more potent than the reality of being disabled, that it wasn’t even a comparison. So for now, his attitude is "hey, it’s just pain" and he’s looking forward to a good recovery. And he said that for all the crazy and dangerous things he's done in his life, it's amazing that he made it this long without paying the price.

Dan went for a few short walks yesterday (he can bear weight as tolerated) and is weaning down on the pain meds because they give him bad headaches and he's tired of being zoned out.

Dan was talking to his friend Elden yesterday and he asked how I was doing. Dan said, "well, about 7:30 at night she starts crying and by 10:30 at night she's completely hysterical." I laughed because it was about accurate, at least for the first 2 nights at home. I remained pretty calm through the whole ordeal until the night we got home and it all just hit me. I bawled like a baby. Not only did the gravity of the situation finally sink in, I was tired, and anyone who knows me well knows that I turn into a basket case when I’m tired. I was worried about the wound getting infected, worried about all the pain Dan was in, trying to balance meeting the girls' needs and taking care of Dan, exhausted from being pregnant and getting up several times a night, and feeling selfish for even bawling. I mean, I wasn't the one who'd almost cut my leg off! Dan and I had a good talk about it and he came to the rescue by calling the Relief Society and asking if a few of the women in the ward could watch the girls in the afternoon for a couple of days. That has made a big difference because I can get a nap and still get things done around the house. There's still lots of unpacking to do.

On Saturday morning Dan said, "Guess what I was supposed to do this morning? Today is the charity wood cutting day." One Saturday every fall all the menfolk (and some womenfolk) head up the canyon to cut wood for those in the community who can't get their own. I told Dan, "I guess we'll be on the receiving end of that this year." You gotta love Cokeville!

OK, are you ready to see the gruesome pictures?









Cami, stop looking and keep scrolling.










For all the interested nursey types or other weirdos that like to look at stuff like this, here it comes:










Pretty gnarly, huh? The pictures don't really do it justice because most of what you see is congealed blood and you can't really see how deep the wound is. Later, at the U of U ER after the bleeding had stopped, you could really see how mangled things were. I can't believe I didn't get a picture. What a slacker.
I will now insert some cute pictures of Amelia to act as a buffer between the gross pictures and the link for the comments section. She loves to go out to the corral and say hi to the horses and yesterday there was a special treat: 3 new colts that had just come from a horse sale.

As a last word, I think Mom said it best. "A cord of wood is pretty cheap in Cokeville - unless you add the hospital bill."

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoa! That is ouch, awful, terrible, gross and plain scary. I am sorry to hear that happened to Dan, but grateful he is okay and doing as well as can be expected. Our prayers are with you guys. We miss you here in American Fork!

Anonymous said...

Brutal. I don't think I'll be eating for several hours. Not good.

We sure miss having you guys in the neighborhood, and I hate to see such a devastating injury happen to such a promising little-league soccer assistant coach. Who is going to lead the sharks and minnows drill now?

Here's to a speedy and complete recovery.

Anonymous said...

Wow! all i can say is WOW!

um. take care? at least it's almost two months till fall moab, and fall moab is as much about the camping and goofing as it is about the riding, so i hope dan's still planning on coming.

he is, right?

Jenn said...

Oh.my.gosh. Poor Dan. Poor Sue! (Cool pictures from the plane though!).

To quote my husband who called me and told me I had to check out your blog,"After all of those years in school, Dan forgot to take chainsaw 101." Just kidding Dan!

I'm glad that you are all doing better now, and hope he recovers well. And happy late birthday to sweet, little Amelia!

Becky in Wyo said...

Holy Monkeys! That was awesomely narly!! Sweet! Not fun to go through (understatement of the year), but he's lucky the damage wasn't worse. Reminds me of a CSI espisode where two guys wind up dead when one of them tries to cut up some old furniture with a chainsaw. Looked like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yikes! Remind me never to touch a chainsaw. I've got the heebee jeebies now. Note about bawling - just let it all out sister, just let it all out. It allows you to function.

Sara said...

Hey Sue,

That is nasty! I hope you are doing well. Those pictures ROCK!! We will keep you in our prayers.

Sara Bird

The Donnells said...

I am surprised how not sick I was to set the damage. Too much CSI and TLC for me I think. I hope you all are doing well. And just so you know it has always been my dream to be a Life Flight nurse. How cool was it to ride in the plane? You are so lucky. Sucks to be Dan though. If it had been a little higher it would have taken care of your birth control.

Kris said...

Hi Sue,

I'm so sorry that happened! But I'm glad Dan is going to be OK. I hope he has a speedy & complete recovery. That is so scary.

Hang in there, pregnant lady/mom/nurse/wife/ etc... no offense to Dan, but in some ways it might actually be harder for you than him right now? I'm glad you have some help from the RS ladies... hang in there!

Get well soon Dan!

Anderson Zoo Keepers said...

Yeah, french is totally allowed. I'm shocked. That's unbelievable. And yeah, you are allowed to cry. A LOT.
Get well soon Dan!

Shawn said...

That was pretty gnarly. I can almost guarantee Em won't be looking at those. It's probably a good thing he's got such good biking legs --> more padding to keep the chainsaw off the bone. And this, the week Lance decides to un-retire. Maybe there's hope for Dan to get back to it!

Lori Gerten said...

That was Nasty!!!! I can't believe you lasted as long as you did before you cried. I would have cried right away when I heard about the cut.

So what was I thinking about when I looked at those pictures? Oh, his poor jeans!!! It's too bad they have to cut them off!

Yeah, sorry. I know I should have been thinking of something else.


Dan is so freakin strong. If it happened to anybody I'm glad it's him. He's equipped mentally for those things. Your Dan is a strong man!!

I'm glad everything turned out ok and thanks for the gory yet glory post!!

Lori Gerten said...

Um. . . I'm actually not happy that it happened to him but he's so strong!!! I meant that as a compliment!

Lori Gerten said...

OH yeah, and the French thing?? Totally barking up the right tree!!!

Anonymous said...

2 Words.... HOLY, wow... there are no words !
Dan.... you are the man, i can not believe that happened. But, I must say that Sue is one great storyteller!!! LOVE the pictures! hope ya feel better!!

The Dragonfly said...

We are just SO relieved that Dan is okay and your family remains relatively intact! We'll be praying for a full recovery and increased calm for the soon to be momma of three. Love you Sue.

Dustan and Micayla said...

OH MY GOSH!!! That is nasty!! I hope that Dan is feeling a little better and thank goodness that he is okay!! WOW--hope you are doing a little better too...sometimes a good cry, or two makes you feel a little better.

Seth Wynn said...

Hi!Wow! that is one nasty cut! You are lucky to still have your leg. I have no doubt, Dan the biker will get that leg back in shape with time. Sue, hang in there, you are now officially initiated into prarie life. We miss you, Liesel says 'hi' to Liliy & Amelia and can't wait to visit sometime. Bye

Mom2BJM(Amy) said...

Oh.my.goodness. I should have stopped at the top when you said the pics were posted later. Blech.
Glad to hear he is alright.

I came to your blog from Elden's. I actually went to Evanston HS, so I was interested that you lived in Cokeville. I'm sure I went thru there on a band or choir trip at one time.

Hang in there Dan!

Anonymous said...

Just visiting from FC....hope Dan is feeling better. He really "Botched" that one. Good Luck!!!

Mike Roadie

Anonymous said...

Botched, since I know you more as that than Dan, I hope you make a safe and speedy recovery. Best of luck to you!!
I hope to see you on the bike again sometime.

P.S. That's a serious roadrash!

Melissa said...

Bothched! Man, that's an awful! I'm still cringing and I even scrolled quickly past the pictures! Aaacck! *shudders and thanks the heavens for those darling Amelia pictures*

BTW, Botched's wife, I also would have stood there taking pictures. You're a girl after my own heart. :)

BTW, my grandma (Marge) is from Cokeville. Say hello to any Bennions you run into. :)

Melissa said...

Hmmm, now that I think of it, I think they are mostly Sparks now.

Jenni said...

++++++++++++++++++Positive vibes comin' your way for a speedy recovery!! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
P.S. I too would've taken pics.

Anonymous said...

OK, I didn't actually read the entire post, and I skipped the gross pictures entirely, so I'm not sure I got everything. I just wish Dan the best for a speedy recovery and minimal long-term effects.

I'm going to go throw up now.

Terribly sorry this had to happen.

Shirls said...

I just came on over here from Fatty's page.. anyway when I read chainsaw and accident I couldn't help but come over. When I was 14 my Dad attempted to cut off all the fingers on his left hand with a chainsaw while just the two of us were getting wood. I just wanted to let you know all these years later Dad is great, and only minus 1/2 finger. As Dan reflected Pain vs. Death is a very serious thing, I was thrilled at the end of it to see those pictures of your family still whole and happy, that is what truly matters. Good luck to you and your family during this recovery phase :0)

Bob said...

Great story! Dan, don't let your flesh wound get in the way of Fall Moab 2009 (fiscal year).

KanyonKris said...

Yowza, that's a nasty cut! Maybe there is such a thing as too much info, but seriously it was a good post. I hope you heal well, Dan!

29er said...

Glad to hear things are as well as can be expected. I braced myself for the photos but the reality was way worse than what I had imagined. I worked part time in an ER for 4 years and never saw anything quite like that!
Hope the recovery goes well.

KK's wife

Mike said...

Dang!

Hey, at least it gives some insight as to just how big and hulky your quads are, Dan.

Drop me a line some time.

- Caloi

Anonymous said...

Yeesh, that really is one botched experiment!

We have to look out for many things in Brooklyn, but wayward chainsaws aren't on the list.

Get well soon!

Lizzy Lou said...

Greetings from one of the Nursey types.....that is so cool!

Anonymous said...

Oh Daniel... First I try to slice off your finger, and then you try your leg. Sooner or later, we will get it right!!

I'm so sorry this happened and I hate it that we can't be there for you and Sue. It's killing Mom not to be able to help.

Thank you Sue for the wonderful (and gory) story/pictures. This blog is a life-line at times.

We love you both and will continue to pray. Dan, slow down and take care of yourself. Sue, I know you wanted a boy....but are you sure you want a little Dan?

Hugs and Kisses to everyone!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Woah!

That's a fair chunk... as a fellow cyclist I know as soon as he's able he'll want to ride. So please stop him! hehe, at least till the doctor says its ok. And if he doesn't have a trainer, it might make a good present to help him get rehabilitated.

Hope he gets better soon!

Big Mike said...

That was a beautiful sunset. And the lights flying in over the city must have been spectacular in real life.

Now let's fix the wood chopping problem. Move to a temperate zone. Like Queensland.

As for your clumsy husband... Just strap that bad leg up out of the way and put him on a plane to Beijing. The Paralympic cycling starts on Sunday.

Obviously his PhD specialty wasn't in chainsaw juggling.

Big Mike in Oz.

kerbouchaud said...

Ok, that's just about one of the nastiest non-life threatening injuries that I've ever seen.
I'm glad to hear that things are healing up well and we're hoping for a full recovery.

Brad said...

At least the tree didn't fall on your leg and YOU had to cut your own leg off!

Hope you have a speedy recovery Dan. If you really do have two different leg lengths now, maybe you should look into getting a 160mm crank arm for the shorter leg...
Ok, sorry you're right, that was in poor taste.

--Willie Nelson

Rick Sunderlage said...

Dan- Get better man. You'll be missed at Fall Moab but somehow I have a feeling your picture will make it's way on to the poster.

Sue said...

It's been so fun reading all of your comments, you regulars as well as all the visitors from Fatty's blog. (www.fatcyclist.com) Apparently Dan is WAY more popular than I am!

Several of the internet bike cronies commented on Fatty's blog; I thought I would share some of the funny ones here.

Good work Botched! Take it easy, trust your Doctors (even if they do look like Elmer Fudd) and you’ll be feeling fine in next to no time. Remember kids: Safety first - always have a photographer around to catalog any gruesome injuries. You get no bragging rights if there’s no photos! -Hamish A

botched - inspired by that legless runner at the para-olympics? - get better! -axel

oh my God, i looked, i looked. dangit botched, i know i was warned, in the words of robert deniro in ronin…” i think i’ll pass out now” -bikemike

Bike Mike put it exactly how I would if I could stop barfing……. -Clydesdale

Botched, that’s crazy….Every time we head up to cut wood I put on those silly chaps and think, why am I doing this…..now I know….
Heal up soon…. -rich

It’s paradoxic that I’d never ride my bike without a helmet, and when I’m in the skate park, I wear knee and elbow pads, but while using a chainsaw (which is 1000x more dangerous than a bike) I wear nothing. Well, not nothing, just no protective equipment.

I guess I’m going to have to start wearing some protection in the future, ’cause I’m not going to have enough leg left to make another mistake! -BotchedExperiment (that's Dan)

Botched - I think you should change the tooth angle at which you are sharpening your chainsaw - the current one takes a little too large of a kerf. That just wastes gas to remove that large of a kerf, man. And gas is really expensive these days. Like propane, which is why you were cutting wood in the first… well never mind. Seriously - bleh! Get well soon. -Clydesteve

Botched, I am too chicken to look at your wife’s blog, but want to wish you a speedy recovery. -Lifesgreat

I’m a little peeved to see that Botched screwed up his leg - way to blow that rep about Wyomingites being evil geniuses there, dillweed. I worked long and hard to put the evil genius reputation of Wyoming on the map, and you go and try to shave your legs for the bike race using your old Homelite. Back to the drawing board, I guess. As for you Botched, I’ve got a set of chaps I’ll loan you. Lynn thinks I look great walking around the house in them, but they’re a little to Brokeback for me, if you know what I mean; they’d probably work for you though. -Al Maviva (pretending to be Dick Cheney in disguise)

I guess I know now how to make realistic looking chainsaw wounds for halloween. Ugh. I’m glad he’s mostly ok. -Miles Archer

oh lordy, Botched! I haven’t been able to push food entirely down the esophagus all morning! I am perpetualy on the brink of hurl! heal up, ride soon! -Eber

Bluenoser said...

Hey jumped over here from fatty's place. Sorry to hear about the whack in the leg. I used to work in the woods for a bit and smacked my leg once through a set of chainsaw pads.

Not as bad as Dan but bad enough. Lots to be said for safety gear and training I guess. Quick thinking on his part with the belt.

I feel for the two of you and hope all works out well. That was about 25 years ago for me and now the scar isn't as bad as it was at one time.

-B

Anonymous said...

Wow! I was afraid to look but I just HAD to look. Its like a train wreck, you fear looking at the carnage but you do anyway!!! I hope Dan has a full recovery and can ride his bike without pain!!

Hang in there!!

The Queen Vee said...

Sue, have been in Nashville this past week and could have read this blog entry but didn't. I'm chickken and had to screw up my courage. I'm just grateful so grateful, as I know you are too, that Dan still has his leg. I hope that it is mending without problems.....now about the Doc/hospital bills, how can we help?

nollij said...

Followed the link from the Fat Cyclist entry.. wow, I can't decide if Dan beat me in the injury department. I had a nasty accident of my own which will keep me off the bicycle for at least 2.5 months... and my body (foot) may not work that well for cycling later. I can only hope. I know what you're going through, as my wife is struggling to keep up with her increased work load. My own story is here at: http://nollij.blogspot.com/2008/09/just-call-me-crash.html

Though we've never met, Please give my best to Dan (botched) and let him know I'm commiserating with him. I'm jealous that he gets to use crutches.. I'm stuck in a wheelchair until I'm healed more.

Sara said...

YIKES! Poor Dan! Glad he is going to be okay!

(And my fsvorite part of the whole story is when Dan tells the EMT's and hospital personnel that "Yes", they CAN take photos, "Just as long as they give his wife a copy for her blog!" HOW HILARIOUS is that!? Hee hee!

Anonymous said...

Folks, please wear chaps if you are cutting wood, especially in complex settings like Dan.

Per the excellent commentary, Dan is very lucky to be alive. He could easily bled tomdeath.

A $100 pair of chaps will save you 100 stitches, possibly your life.

God bless and stay safe.

http://www.stihlusa.com/apparel/chain-saw-protective-wrap-around-chaps.html

Unknown said...

Bad injury! I have been a witness of a similar accident. I wrote a blog about my story where a man lost his leg.

http://chainsawinjury.blogspot.ca/

Unknown said...

I just cut my left calf with a chainsaw. A big ouch and a lot of stitches, it's been 8 days since the accident and I'm going crazy it's soon fishing season here in pa and I'm a baseball player I'm 25 and have 2 beautiful daughters and a wife but hate. To let them see me injured what would you say the estimated length of recovery is? God bless

Unknown said...

I just cut my left calf with a chainsaw. A big ouch and a lot of stitches, it's been 8 days since the accident and I'm going crazy it's soon fishing season here in pa and I'm a baseball player I'm 25 and have 2 beautiful daughters and a wife but hate. To let them see me injured what would you say the estimated length of recovery is? God bless