The Sapling and the Bloody Chainsaw
This true story is not as gruesome as you might expect if, say, that title was about a movie. Or nearly as exciting!
We thought that title was cute. It's actually about a smallish accident with a good enough outcome.
An experienced and calm gentleman posted this online - and we asked his permission to post it here. ( he chose anonymity - and it is redacted a little)
It is a scenario that a lot of new chainsaw users should be aware of - where chainsaws will do the unexpected. It goes like this:
He and two sons were doing some work on their property and planning future projects and then in his words ....
This goes fine for a couple of hours until the boys (20 and 23) approach the truck where I'm sketching the property and trying to come up with layouts.
They knock on the window and tell me there was an incident and Son2 shows me his bloody and destroyed jeans. Doh. He tipped the chainsaw into a sapling he didn't see - it spun around and chewed hell out of his calf and ankle. Six or seven lacerations between 1"-4" long and had opened up to around a third of inch in width and depth. Well, then.
I hopped out and had him lay face down on the open tailgate of the truck. Yep, blood, and the pain is starting. I told Son1 where the blowout kit was and he brought it to me, then started providing support and comfort to Son2 who is a wee bit freaked out (understandably). The pant leg is ripped open from knee to floor so that was done. I used bottled water to flush out the wound, gave a glance to debris (none, remarkably), started laying on gauze. Four 4" large gauze pads is what it took to cover everything, and then I wrapped it in gauze.
[The remaining thing to do then was ] to suck up the pain and for us to drive home, three hours away because our local urgent care is open til 8p.
First gas stop, I grab him Tylenol and ice and make a couple of ice packs out of a spare pair of nitrile gloves from the blowout kit. Aside from that, he's got nothing for the pain until we get there. He goes into shock in the truck and kind of waves in and out while wearing a spare jacket and wrapped up in a car blanket. We get juice, gatorade, and trail mix into him - and that alleviates the shock, and dark humor helps with the pain and we keep driving.
A half a freaking hour from home, there's a blockage in the tunnel and we're stuck dead. I had Son1 google urgent care's nearby ... sure enough, there's an open one in the area we were in, and I rode the shoulder to the exit.
The doc takes one look and is NOT sure she can do this. Instead of making us pay, she brings us in to examine him, and says she will try. We spend an hour there getting him stitched up, 37 stitches in total, and go back out to a clear tunnel and open highways home.
Any day with ER in it is a bad day. I'm not happy to have used my preps. But I am happy that said prep, the blowout kit, had most of what I needed to get him sorted for transport, and the nurse taking off the dressing commented on how we'd really done it right. That helped, but still a terrible day.
LIKE WE SAID, not too gruesome. But these surprises happen and we post this as a reminder for caution and preparation.
And lastly : definition of a sapling: :)
A sapling is a young tree that is typically not over four inches (about 10 centimeters) in diameter at breast height. It represents the early growth stage of a tree before it matures into a full-sized tree.
Merriam-Webster