Best Logging Accident Ever

[BrokenTrack]

A year ago, I was in a major logging accident. I had just dropped a tree and was limbing it out when I woke up on the ground, my chainsaw nearby, my hardhat knocked off, and a pool of blood in the snow. I reached up to my face and the palm of my hand was covered with blood, and I was snorting it out of my nose in a spray. I took one look at the skidder and saw it had a twitch of wood behind it and was NOT coming out of the woods quickly, and so I started to run for the landing. It is about a half mile run, and half way, there is a stream, and I remember crossing that before I passed out again. I woke up with a pool of blood on the snow, and deduced if I did not get up and run, I might not make it out of the woods alive. So, I got up and ran again, making it to my truck, and then made a short drive to my house, where I called 911 and an ambulance.

What happened was, I had cut through spring-pole and the chainsaw had flung up by the sapling and thrown the chainsaw into my forehead right between my eyebrows. It went straight to the bone and took 20 stitches to close, I also spent 4 days in the hospital for the concussion.

In doing CAT Scans and MRI´s, they found I had tumors on my Pituitary Gland, as well as on my Thyroid. Months later they tested me for cancer, but while it came out benign, I still had my Thyroid taken out. In testing it again, it had cancer all through it. Had they found it the first time, they would have taken more of my throat out. Drat!

Now testing has shown I am showing signs of cancer in my Liver, so hopefully on Wednesday I can start treatment. I got (4) young daughters, a wife and am 43 years old, so it is concerning, but it is hard to believe that all this was discovered because of a logging accident. I never thought I would ever say, a logging accident was the best thing that ever happened to me.

In the first picture you can see where the spring-pole sapling was by the two red arrows. It had so much tension I could not put the two ends back together by strength. In the second picture you can see where the saw kicked upward. My wife got pictures of me being stitched up in the emergency room, but I'll spare the squeamish from that. She had to leave the room as she could not take it.

 

[Thomas]

If I remember correctly logging in the top 10 most dangerous jobs....glad your still making dust. :thumbsup:

 

[blackdog2086]

When I was a kid, my dad took a 3 story fall and shattered his left leg from the knee down. When he was being examined they discovered he had prostate cancer. Without the fall my dad never would've gone to the doctor so in the end it extended his life substantially.

God bless and good luck with your treatment.

 

[Jstpssng]

A year ago, I was in a major logging accident. I had just dropped a tree and was limbing it out when I woke up on the ground, my chainsaw nearby, my hardhat knocked off, and a pool of blood in the snow. I reached up to my face and the palm of my hand was covered with blood, and I was snorting it out of my nose in a spray. I took one look at the skidder and saw it had a twitch of wood behind it and was NOT coming out of the woods quickly, and so I started to run for the landing. It is about a half mile run, and half way, there is a stream, and I remember crossing that before I passed out again. I woke up with a pool of blood on the snow, and deduced if I did not get up and run, I might not make it out of the woods alive. So, I got up and ran again, making it to my truck, and then made a short drive to my house, where I called 911 and an ambulance.

What happened was, I had cut through spring-pole and the chainsaw had flung up by the sapling and thrown the chainsaw into my forehead right between my eyebrows. It went straight to the bone and took 20 stitches to close, I also spent 4 days in the hospital for the concussion.

In doing CAT Scans and MRI´s, they found I had tumors on my Pituitary Gland, as well as on my Thyroid. Months later they tested me for cancer, but while it came out benign, I still had my Thyroid taken out. In testing it again, it had cancer all through it. Had they found it the first time, they would have taken more of my throat out. Drat!

Now testing has shown I am showing signs of cancer in my Liver, so hopefully on Wednesday I can start treatment. I got (4) young daughters, a wife and am 43 years old, so it is concerning, but it is hard to believe that all this was discovered because of a logging accident. I never thought I would ever say, a logging accident was the best thing that ever happened to me.

In the first picture you can see where the spring-pole sapling was by the two red arrows. It had so much tension I could not put the two ends back together by strength. In the second picture you can see where the saw kicked upward. My wife got pictures of me being stitched up in the emergency room, but I'll spare the squeamish from that. She had to leave the room as she could not take it.

Hopefully all goes well, there aren't enough guys like you in the world. Doctors can do some pretty amazing things these days; plus you have a positive attitude which is a big plus.
Take care

 

[s219]

Those springpoles can be super dangerous. I have gotten good at nibbling away at the ones I see to neutralize them (series of shallow cuts to relieve the tension side), but it's the ones I don't know about that worry me. They are good at hiding.

So I'm curious, did the saw's chain brake activate when it got kicked up towards you? Do you think the helmet helped at all?

Somewhere I have a chin strap for my aluminum helmet, which I have never bothered with. But the number of times I've had that helmet knocked off makes me think a strap might be good.

My favorite was when I unchained a log that I was skidding, and I had to tug at the cable to help unhook the choker hook. I didn't think I had created that much tension, but when I let go of the cable it pulled the chain out from under the log, the log rolled a little, and the end of the chain whipped around and shot up right at my face. By then it was slack, so the chain just sort of shot up and squirted into my face like water from a hose. Thankfully it wasn't a hard blow, but getting an 8' chain piled onto my face against gravity was still a surprise. It knocked my helmet and glasses off like they were feathers and rung my bell pretty good. I told the story to a fellow on my road and he had a similar experience which he described as "taking a pile of chain to the kisser".

 

[BrokenTrack]

So I'm curious, did the saw's chain brake activate when it got kicked up towards you?

No, which was surprising. Because of the situation, I never ran over to the skidder and shut it off, so I had a friend go back and drive the skidder out of the woods. He grabbed my chainsaw and said when he tossed it up on the skidder, the chainbrake snapped on, so it was off when he picked it up.

Pretty scary, a Stihl 461 straight at the forehead at full throttle. No wonder it rung by bell for a bit.

Do you think the helmet helped at all?

I am not sure. It hit me between the eyebrows so I am not sure what role my helmet played into it. It was knocked off my head, but I am not sure how long it was between when I cut through the spring-pole, and when I came too either. Probably not long, but I am not sure. I have no idea if my saw hit it, and knocked it off, or if in the act of toppling over, it was dislodged.

 

[ovrszd]

The chain brake had to have activated or your 461 at full throttle would have split your skull/face before it stopped turning. Not sure how it unlocked, maybe during the fall as you dropped the saw.

I had a similar event but I was cutting the sprung sapling and the end flew up and hit me in the face. Knocked me out and broke my nose. Like you I woke up face down and wet, saw sitting a few inches away idling.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Best of luck!

 

[brown40]

Positive vibrations your way brother--chainsaws will always terrify me--incredible tool, but falls right through flesh. Lots of chainsaw scars around Maine--so glad they have brakes now. Best wishes.

 

[Wagtail]

I hear ya, Broken Track... I went to my doctor with a 'frequent' urination problem. So he sent me for an ultrasound.

Sure enough, I had a urinary blockage (retaining 350ml in the bladder). However, seeing as I was there the tech decided to have a look at the entire urinary system. The right kidney was fine... the left one: "Wait right there while I get a Doctor." (Yeah, like I was going to go somewhere with my shirt up and my trousers around my knees, covered in 'gel' :laughing It was twice the size of a normal kidney. No symptoms whatsoever.

Short story is that I had the cancerous Left kidney removed (+ related lymph nodes) the next week. Done & dusted. No chemo or follow-up required.

Oh, and the catheter cleared up the blockage! :laughing: