About 8 years ago I rolled my Farmall over. It was a cold day in February, which probably saved my life. I was hauling wood on a trailer which was positioned behind the tractor pointing straight downhill. As I approached the tractor to climb on something told me not to fire her up. I shrugged it off and slowly crept downhill. I must have hit some ice or slick spot because I felt a lurch and the brakes were not holding. the back end was coming up.
I tried to jump off and I remember seeing dirt instead of sky.
My feet had become entangled in the clutch pedals. I remember something hitting my eye. I had thought that I lost my contact lense. It was much worse.
Something had struck through my eye. Blood was pumping out like a Hollywood Horror movie. Worse, I knew the tractor and I were still entangled.
When I hit the ground face first, I waited for the tractor and trailor to finish me off. I was still consicous, bleeding like a stuck pig, trapped across my back, and my knees and ankles ready to pop ligaments.
All finally quieted down, logs rolled past me. So I started to scream for help. I was not getting out of there on my own. My neighboor was in his garage working his compressor and could not hear me. My wife was in the house and could not here me either. I timed my yells for help after the compressor blasts. A neighboor on horseback finally came to my rescue.
It took 4 rescue departments and air bags to get the
machinery off me. The only thing that kept me going was the immense pain of having both knees and ankle ligaments ready to pop. If you ever popped a ligament you know how hard it hurts just before they go.
A helicopter ride to the hospital and one years worth of surgery was next. I have a plastic eye now, and a healthy respect for life.
I must have spent about two to three hours sitting there waitng for them to get that thing off me. I have no complaints because it was an accident. I am alive and things could have been worse. I carried an imprint of a screw driver across my hip for six months, I'll never forget the sound the rescue guy made as he ask me what else was I laying on. He held my hand the whole time.
I hate being cold now.
My wife made me sell the tractor, we rebuilt it, but the comfort level just was never there.
Be safe. I always think twice about everything. Smile a lot.
Never carry a grudge more than a few minutes.
-Mike Z.
