Tripped on my Tractor

[wawajake]

Looks like this is the forum where we admit our stupidity, in the hopes of helping others avoid our stupid moves.
Well I park my tractor (with snowblower on rear ) backed into my 24 x 24 garage and also in that garage is my ATV and a few workbenches depending what woodwork project I am doing. So tight fit at times.
My tractor was backed in facing the garage door and the bucket had my toothbar on it. The kind where half inch bolts x 3inch long come out the side of bucket to hold it on . Well I was quickly moving around the garage and my jean pant leg with a frayed cuff seam caught on the toothbar bucket bolt sticking out and I went head first into the Garage door track. .......as I am falling I am thinking...this is going to hurt! I split my skull skin open about 4 or 5 inches, although I did not know it yet. I rushed outside to put clean snow on my head to stop what I though would just be a bump.....but actually was all blood gushing out. Now I live almost an hour from the hospital and no one was home but me and the dog. So I grabbed some shop towels and did the compress to stop bleed thing , to get in the house , where I replaced the paper towels with a bath towel and lied down to figure out my next options .
So Option 1 I could attempt to drive to hospital holding my head for the forty minute drive into city deal with emergency ward and shaving my head maybe to put stiches in, OR Option 2 I could call 911 and wait for ambulance for forty minutes and pay for it, OR Option 3 I could go to neighbor for them to do the same two things already listed.
So I did what any stubborn 58 year old would do, Option 4 I laid on the bed with towel compression for three hours until bleeding stopped enough for me to see outcome. I waited till next morning before my wife came back from out of town to clean up what looked like a murder scene outside my garage, and then confessed to my stubborn ways.
She did have to admit this week that it healed **** good, no infection, but boy it takes a long time to get all that dried blood out of ones hair the first week of recovery. ...lesson learned don't have garage so full, don't have frayed jean cuffs , and teach the dog how to administer First aid!

 

[JRobyn]

Ow! Prayers for a full and quick heal.

 

[ovrszd]

And have you ever saw anything bleed as profusely as a head cut????

I call things like this "Stupid Human Tricks". I do 2 or 3 a year. Glad it wasn't worse.

 

[Deere Dude]

Wow, hope it gets healed quick.

That is why I get a little nervous doing stuff under the tractor or truck or even even chainsawing in the woods with nobody around.

 

[jerrybob]

Wow.....quite a story.....glad you are doing OK.......I am going to go clean up my shop.

 

[EddieWalker]

Good to hear that you survived it, but I would still make an appointment with my doctor and at least get a tetanus shot in case there was any rust or dirt on the metal that cut you open. Also good to have a pro look at things the rest of us know nothing about.

My wife is a nurse, so we go to the doctor way too often. Of course, she has the stories of what happens to those who don't, and they are scary enough that i usually end up following her advice.

 

[s219]

Welcome to the stupid club -- I'd offer you the complimentary hat, but it might interfere with your injury .

I too have a tightly packed barn and more than once pants or pants pockets (cargo pockets on the side) have hung me up and almost caused a spill. Once it was climbing off my tractor, and in the process my boot got hooked under one of the pedals. That would have really hurt if I fell all the way down off the tractor.

I have to give you a little grief for waiting so long though. When I smashed my finger in a log splitter a few weeks back (to cement my status as a member of the executive board in the stupid club), I knew right away this was an issue for the ER. The doc gave me a 50/50 chance of keeping/losing the finger, with infection being the immediate risk for the first 48-96 hours and vascular function being the next risk in the medium term. She said it was good that I came into the ER right away. She said a lot of people like me (I was dressed in work clothes and boots with a John Deere hat) will try to wrap/bandage the injury at home, and then it will get infected or not heal right and lead to sure amputation or worse problems (like losing the whole hand). So if in doubt now, if something is more than a scratch, I will be more inclined to get help.

I have no idea what complications can arise from a head laceration (amputation? :laughing but just keep in mind something like this can turn from bad to worse very easily. Serious wounds need to be cleansed, stitched, and then protected for all the possible sources of infection to be minimized, and even then it's still no guarantee.

 

[wawajake]

Yes I hear you about infection but I had 8 (amoxilan(penicillin) pills left over from impacted tooth a few months ago so I self administered them over the three days after.......smile .....my "lives far away" daughter , being a nurse, was not impressed ........hey I don't throw anything away that's why the garage is so full! ...........it was 19 days ago so I think the risk of head amputation (smile) is over..

 

[jmc]

My neighbor goes to the local fire station for major first aid. They've usually got time on their hands and don't mind practicing on him. And it's free.

 

[Qapla]

I, too, am glad you are OK .... but, most of all, I am glad it wasn't ME!