Saved by falling out of a tree stand

[Oldtimer]

My wife and I were out for our after-dinner walk last night and ran into a man in the area, who we had not seen for a while.  During hunting season, he fell out of his tree stand and broke some ribs, one wrist, and lost a number of teeth.  As it turned out, the fall saved his life.  He had rushed to get into his stand, as he only had about 40 minutes of shooting time left, and the stand was uphill.  He was tired when he got there, and considered just staying on the ground.  As it happened, he would have died had he done so.  He got into the stand and reached up to pull the safety bar into place.  He recalls that his arms were too weak to touch it.  The next thing he knew, he was on the ground.  In the hospital, it was found that he had 95% blockage in three of four cardiac arteries, and 30% in the fourth.  His doctor told Charles that he had gone into cardiac arrest, and that caused his fall.  Cardiac arrest means that his heart stopped, so, clinically, he was dead.  Hitting the ground appears to have restarted his heart.

When I was an EMT, we used to teach precordial thumps, in which a sharp blow to the breastbone might restart the heart.  One of the risks was that it might break ribs.  I saw a partner use it one time when it would have taken some time to get a defibrillator to the victim.  All Charles can say about this is that God isn't done with him yet.

[powderman]

A blessing in disguise. Most folks don't recognize blessings at all. A leaky roof means you have been blessed with a home. A flat tire means that God has blessed you with transportation. Even a house fire, good friends, and living to tell about is a blessing that some can't see. Thanks for sharing that story. POWDERMAN. 

[TribReady]

What an amazing story!!

I'm sure his life will be much different from now on.  Not only health wise I'm sure, but also spiritually.

[magooch]

That fella ought to consider buying a lotto ticket.

[Oldtimer]

Charles is doing things that he put off.  He promised to take his daughter to the Kentucky Derby someday.  Someday never comes, so he got tickets and went this year.  He was fascinated by how elegant all the women looked in their hats and dresses.  Eight Belles went down in front of the section where they were sitting, so he witnessed that tragedy.  He tried his first and last mint julep:  his judgment, it was a $9 glass of ice water.  His other promise to his daughter was that he would get her tickets to a Duke-Carolina basketball game.  Tickets to that game are not impossible to get, if you don't mind a 4 figure price.  He has the tickets lined up.  This is all big stuff for an old country boy who drove a propane truck.

Healthwise, Charles has given up everything that tastes good (his words).  He eats very little meat, and tries to get as many vegetables as he can.  He is walking every day.  He used to smoke heavily, but that is gone, too.  He was getting a bit of a pot belly, and that is gone, too.

As for spiritual matters, an event like this makes you realize how precious your life is to God, and how totally dependent you are on Him for your existence.  Powderman, I am going to use what you said about blessings.  It does show us that God is always with us, even though it may appear that He is far from us at the time.

[rockbilly]

Miracles come in the strangest of ways.  I can identify with this gentleman to some extent.  Two years ago I had a bad pain in the lower part of my stomach, I thought it was from something I ate and prettying much ignored it.  I finally broke down and went to the doctor, he couldn't find anything to cause the pain and sent me for an MRI.  About 7:30 the morning after the MRI I received a call from the doctor instructing me to come in as quickly as possible, that scared the heck out of me, but I got dressed and went in.  When I arrived the nurse rushed me back to one of the examining rooms and checked me out, after a few minutes the doctor came in  and said, "I have good news, and I have bad news."  The good news, the pain was caused by a bacterial infection in my lower intestine, the bad news, I had an aneurysm the size of a tennis ball on my aorta, I needed immediate surgery to correct the problem.  I went to my cardiovascular surgeon, he took a look at the MRI, and agreed I need the surgery immediately but he couldn't operate until the infection was cleared up.  I set on pins and needles for two weeks while the antibiotics done their work then went in for the surgery.

This experience was much more painful and restricting than my by-pass surgery, and caused me to have an even greater respect for my surgeon.  Several days after the operation when I was coherent and could speak he came in and I ask about the surgery.  His knew I was a hunter, and said, "Well Bill, what I done was field dress you.  I did basically the same thing you do to a deer, but after taking it out, I put it back."  He remover all the intestines, the stomach, kidneys, liver, etc. and placed them in a pan while he went in and repaired the aneurysm, then put it all back. He said, "Now if everything works you will be OK."  I couldn't eat for five days, or until my stomach woke up.  I got a charge out of that, the nurses came by often asking if I has passed gas yet, there was one feisty little gal that bounced down the hall every ten-fifteen minutes and shouted into my room, "Can you give me a big ole nasty fart?"  "If you will, I will get you some food."  

That was the only time in my life that I needed to and couldn't pass gas.  (It's just an old man thing. passing gas!)

As I said, mine was a near death experience too, I hope he is doing well now.

[clodbuster]

rockbilly Hadn't been by here in a few days and in catching up I got to your post and must say it lightened my day.  My 90 year old father-in-law was struck by an undoc worker and had sleeping stomach for a week.  After that he gave us "the daily bowel report".  Guess what, after being released from jail the mexican has disappeared for good.  No trial no suit, just left thousands in medical bills behind and his wife dead.  The local police knew what would happen and the judge couldn't keep her in jail.