Top of a pine blown off by last night's storm and tossed across our drive. No big deal. Tree work has been going on steadily for several weeks, I can take care of this in no time. It's such a simple job I won't bother to put on my boots. Run get the tractor w fork lift, powersaw, and woodsman bag and get to it.
Well, after sawing up the trunk and limbs into length I was loading the last round and noticed I had missed sawing off one limb from the trunk. So I jumped off the tractor, grabbed my ax, with heavy gloves still on, and started to lop off the limb. Something slipped in the forks and a pine branch jumped out and bit my arm. Now I'm pissed off at the tree. So I took an ill-advised swing at the limb.
Recap: (1) no boots, (2) heavy (awkward) gloves plus sweat, (3) poor concentration on fundamentals. That is three strikes. Bam:
It doesn't take much with an ax. A modest swing carries a lot of momentum, and of course I like to keep tools sharp. The only, ONLY, defense is to keep body parts (your and other's) up-vector from the direction of force of the ax. In my haste and loss of cool (temperature and temperament) I did not follow that rule.
Literally, after 70 years of axmanship initiated by my father, my first ax injury. Sorry Dad, I knew better. I'm still a work in progress.
This photo was taken in the front yard. That's Michelle's arm (a friend) holding the leg up while I'm pulling on a make-shift tourniquet (old belt). Kathy was on the phone guiding the EMTs in. They estimated I spewed out more than a liter of blood. (They said one and a half, but I was still conscious, so maybe a little less.)The EMTs arrive and took over - cut off what's left of the sneaker, took one look, and applied their real tourniquet. (It was a CAT Tourniquet, the kind I've been meaning to acquire ...). That's an EMT holding up my leg, the red tag on the CAT is barely visible on my thigh.
The rest is straightforward - trip to the ER with #trauma, immediate service, got some blood and other fluids, stitches, etc., home before noon.
No tendons, ligaments, or major arteries cut - most of the bleeding was from veins, maybe a small spurter.
Lessons to re-learn:
1. If you work with woodsman/woodswoman tools, you should always wear safety equipment and have at least two IFAK items handy at all times: A tourniquet and a quick-clot bandage.
2. You are never too experienced to have an accident.
3. If you have an accident involving heavy bleeding, it is an emergency that you will not survive without immediate first aid. Carry, and learn to use, your tourniquet.
My heart and condolences go out once again to the family of the woodsman from North Carolina who cut himself in the top of a tree here in Tallahassee while helping the locals recover from Hurricane Michael. He severed an artery in his leg and could not get out of the tree before bleeding to death. My understanding is that he did not have a tourniquet in the tree with him.
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