Injured left Foot

[ColdHouse]

On Tuesday I was working on my property. One French drain I am preparing is about 400 feet long and exits at the edge of my property. The area had a steep slope and I had excavated a small area by taking material from upslope and putting on the down side. This was so I could dig the drain. I did that several weeks ago and on Tuesday we were preparing the drain to be finished. There was lots of earth removed where the drain is going so we were piling it in the area I had flattened. The problem arose where there were two big trees right in the middle of this flattened area. I decided these trees had to go so I proceeded to cut them down. One was top heavy and leaning a certain way and if it fell there it would end up in the Y of two big trees down bank. I was hoping to drop it to the right of those down bank trees. So I cut my notch and cautiously was cutting the backside. I had concern of which way the tree was going to fall. I figured that even though I cut it the way I wanted it to fall it was still going to go where I didn't want it to go. I was also concerned that I am on this makeshift flattened area and the base end of the tree was going to kick out in an unknown direction. I proceeded cutting with caution and figured that it would be wise to jump into deep french drain trench once the tree started to show signs of going. Well that is what I did. The problem is that when I landed in the trench I injured my foot/ankle. I hobbled around for couple hours and my neighbor helped me finish that tree and the second while I operated the excavator. That evening was in pretty serious pain and could barely stand. Foot/ankle hurt even when iced and elevated. Picture is from next morning/yesterday. Pretty much stayed off it all day yesterday and kept elevated. The pain when not weight bearing has dissipated.

My experience with these types of injuries is that a trip to the ER is a waste of time and money. It seems like the ER takes hours and hours to only leave there with an Xray and referral to an orthopedic doctor and of course some plastic splint that the hospital charges about $700 for. Then couple of days later after swelling subsides and pain is gone you are probably back to 75%. Years ago I had been there and done that. ER bill was over $2,000. I remember my son fell off a swing when he was young and that is all they did. He had a broken arm and ended up going days later to an orthopedic surgeon that set the arm and put in a cast. When I was a kid, the ER would set a broken arm and apply the cast. It seems like a waste to go to ER especially when orthopedic wants to take and use their own Xrays.

Time will tell. Taking it easy for now.

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[tsb]

You no die from that. Old saying, still true.

[gaw]

Any doc in a box could take an x-ray if you think it is broken. ERs suck and are expensive if not necessary. My insurance has a rather large copay for ER visits but it is waved if you get admitted, this is to discourage going to the ER for trivial things. If the pain and swelling persists get an x-ray and that reminds me that I heard fractures may be hard to see on x-rays taken soon after the injury because of the swelling ore something like that. Good luck.

[mntbugy]

Put Vicks Vapor rub all over where it hurts. Cover with old t-shirt or rag.

Pain free by morning.

[nut]

Tree cutting scares the shitt out of me. Even the experts get caught.

[Benny]

Hopefully it heals on its own Cold, with out help from the professional’s!

[Sunny Boy]

A 62 year old close female relative fell in her garage back in July. Glancing hit in the middle of her forearm on a wooden rake handle on the way down. Pain and swelling increased overnight, so next day off to the ER. X-ray showed two cracks in a V-shaped break (doc called it a "classic butterfly break"). They put a temp cast on and scheduled an ortho visit.

Ortho doc x-rayed and put a permanent cast on. 6 weeks later checkup still a lot of pain and x-ray showed break was not healing as it should. Not uncommon for older folks. So, then it needed surgery. Now with an 8 inch scar along the underside of the forearm and 6-inch plate with 6 screws, the post-op cast is off, and it is finally healing.

Health insurance covered it.

Lesson learned - older folks broken bones don't heal like when they were kids.

Paul

[SMITTY]

I just took an ambulance to the ER for severe stomach pain and vomiting, for no reason that I could see. Must’ve been some type of temporary blockage. They took me from the ambulance and wheeled me right into the waiting room! 3 1/2 hours later I got a bed in a hallway. The minute my gut started feeling better, I walked out of there, fuming mad. What an f’ing waste of time & money!! Told my wife I’m never setting foot in an ER again unless I’m unconscious or bleeding out!

I just broke the first bone in my life back in 2021. I tried launching my paramotor with the wing completely out of control. Little bit of a learning experience there. I got six self- tappers and a plate on my fourth metacarpal. Still hurts today!

I had the cameras rolling that day, but they didn’t capture too much. The audio is the only thing of value there.

[theo]

Wishing you the best to heal up quickly ColdHouse

[ColdHouse]

Almost every person that I know that went to the hospital for an elective procedure came out with a difficult to cure infection. If you want to get sick, go to the hospital.

Years ago I cut off most of the tip of my left thumb. It seemed pretty simple procedure to me. Pull off the nail and stitch it back on, put the nail back in place to guide the growth of the new nail. The thumb got infected and I was 6 weeks trying to get healed.

I have gotten major lacerations while working outside in dirty conditions. Rinsed the area with a little soap and water and kept working. Always healed with no infections. IMHO the hospital is a breeding infectious place for open wounds. Stay away from them at all costs.

I had cornea replacement a few months ago. It is a pretty complicated procedure. It was done at a facility designed for out patient surgeries. Cleanest place I have ever been in. Probably only kind of place I would recommend. The ER and hospital is just waiting to give you your next superbug.

[Sunny Boy]

Yup, Hospitals are not a hospitable environment anymore.

The same relative that had the broken arm, had ruptured appendix surgery a few years ago and contracted VRE during three botched attempts to clear out infection from the ruptured appendix. Since I was helping care for her, I also had to go into quarantine for a few days while they got the VRE under control.

During a discussion with the surgeon that finally fixed the first surgeon's screw-ups, he said infections like that are common and he guessed that 75 % of the hospital staff would test positive for VRE.

Paul

[Richard S.]

end of the tree was going to kick out in an unknown direction.

Generally speaking the bottom angle of the notch should be horizontal with the ground or slight angle towards the ground. If it has significant angle what can happen is it will slide off the notch the opposite direction from the backcut.

An angle on the bottom notch is useful when you are trying to hinge it typically when you have concerns about which way the trunk is going after the tree hits the ground, if for example it's near a house. If you are really good you can get it to stop dead with the hinge still intact. I'm not that good but my Brother was.

[Richard S.]

Tree cutting scares the shitt out of me. Even the experts get caught.

Yep, it only takes one mistake and it's usually something you don't realize will happen. The guy across the street had a huge tree that got uprooted. He's cutting the stump off and his buddy is standing in the hole..........<sigh> Lucky for him I went over and told him to get out of the hole because he was about to get turned into pancake. Whatever roots are left are under tension and the stump can instantly flip right back into the hole once it's cut off the tree.

There was tree at my parents house that got knocked down. It was difficult to see but what would appear to be the obvious first cut was under tension and would of turned a human into a baseball. As soon as I saw it my first thought was that is how people die.

[ColdHouse]

Generally speaking the bottom angle of the notch should be horizontal with the ground or slight angle towards the ground. If it has significant angle what can happen is it will slide off the notch the opposite direction from the backcut.

An angle on the bottom notch is useful when you are trying to hinge it typically when you have concerns about which way the trunk is going after the tree hits the ground, if for example it's near a house. If you are really good you can get it to stop dead with the hinge still intact. I'm not that good but my Brother was.

I watched a video of a guy that dropped a huge tree in the opposite direction it was leaning all alone using his saw and wedges. He had madd skills. The tree I was cutting was kind of just a cut it and let it drop scenario. I didn't even care if it fell the wrong way but was concerned about if it kicked out thus the idea of jumping into the ditch. Good idea but probably should have made sure it was decent ground with no rocks beforehand,

[Richard S.]

I watched a video of a guy that dropped a huge tree in the opposite direction it was leaning all alone using his saw and wedges. He had madd skills.

There is some people with some pretty impressive skills with trees. There is also a lot of people with some pretty impressive skills in wheelchairs.

It's an extremely dangerous job, I see these videos with people on ladders and I can't even watch the ending. The only time you would a see a ladder on one of my Brothers jobs was if he was using it to get into the tree and even then only because he was trimming it and didn't want to spike the lower trunk. He didn't like doing it because the transition from the ladder to the tree was difficult.

I almost got it once, he was in the tree and his pole clip somehow came undone as he was moving up. It impaled itself in the ground right in front of me. Oooops.