That last step might kill you....

[dmccarty]

My area has had quite a few tractor deaths and injuries lately....

One was a guy who had is foot and hand taken off in a chipper.

The latest one and the strangest is http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/27/704921/rameses-owner-fights-for-his-life.html.

This farmer owns the Ram that is the mascot for UNC in Chapel Hill. He missed the last step getting off of his tractor a few weeks ago and bruised his hip. He is in CRITICAL condition and it does not sound good.

Hogan, 54, was working late one evening and was getting off the tractor when he missed the last step, landing hard on his left leg. It didn't seem that bad, his wife, Ann, wrote later on the online journal CaringBridge.
By the next morning, however, Hogan's leg was numb, and he couldn't move it. An ambulance took him to UNC Hospitals, where doctors have been treating him for rhabdomyolysis.


The condition is caused when the tissue around an injured muscle starts to die and releases toxins into the body that can damage the kidneys.
Chris Hogan, who lives nearby, was at Hogan's Magnolia View Farm all last week helping family, friends and neighbors get in the hay, milk the cows and feed the animals.
...

Since the fall, Rob Hogan has had several tests and surgeries, said Ann's sister-in-law, Regina Leonard. Doctors have removed part of his left hip and upper leg, and he's on dialysis. The damage has spread to his abdomen, too, forcing the removal of a large part of his colon and intestines. His kidneys are not functioning, Leonard said.


Late this week, Hogan opened his eyes slightly and squeezed the nurse's hand, Leonard said. By the weekend, he was breathing more on his own, with help from the respirator, although he remained unconscious. "We're very cautiously optimistic," Leonard said. "They are basically going to do surgery on him every day for the next week."
​

I will admit that I kinda jump off the tractor. The only time it has been a problem is when I landed on a rounded over itty bitty rock that I could not see and my boot twisted to the side when I landed. Kinda sprained the ankle a bit but not bad.

To think you could fall and be in the ICU.....

NEVER would have guessed that could happen.

Later,
Dan

 

[Thomas]

Dang..speedy recovery wishes to gent.

I really never gave it much thought jump or missing step over the years..just bumps/lumps from skinning flesh along w/some special words.

Heard of many jumping etc from equipment ending up w/hernia's.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I dread missing the step on the way up and hitting it with my shin instead. Going down I'd expect a sprained ankle...broken hip or arm at the worst...this fellow really had bad luck to get this unusual complication.
BOB

 

[J_J]

Yes, it is us older folks that do not spring back from falls, etc, like in our younger days.. Just simple falls, breaks and bruises will put us down. Those on coumadin should be careful about blood type injuries.

 

[MossRoad]

I also notice older folks reluctance to see a doctor for something they may think is not serious, while people my age and younger tend to see the doctor for every little ache and pain. I think older people are just plain tougher than my generation.

I remember my grandma calling my dad because she thought she MAY have to do to the doctor. My dad went over there and she was in screaming agony. Seems she fell down the stairs to their 2nd floor apartment, broke her hip, then scooted herself back up the steps and stayed in the house for a few days thinking it would get better! :shocked: She had to go to a rehab home for 6 weeks and hated it. About 5-6 years later, she had built a house next door to us. I was out in the yard and heard some whimpering. I looked over and she was scooting herself along the ground backwards towards her house. I ran over and it seems she fell off her porch and landed funny. She said she thought she broke her hip again and begged me not to tell my daddy because she would have to go to the rehab home again. I had to tell my dad, she had to go to rehab again. She was not happy. Tough old woman! I miss her a lot.

 

[dmccarty]

I looked up the cause of rhabdomyolysis. Some of the causes are traumatic injury which this farmer has but also heat stroke and severe exertion. It has been a very hot September. Last week we had three days in the mid 90s.

I wonder if the heat was a partial cause the seriousness of his injury.

This has to be the freakiest accident I have heard of with the exception of the guy that was killed while mowing when a piece of wire hit a post and entered the base of his skull.

Later,
Dan

 

[farmfun]

Yes, it is us older folks that do not spring back from falls, etc, like in our younger days.. Just simple falls, breaks and bruises will put us down. Those on coumadin should be careful about blood type injuries.

Hear, Hear (or Read, Read) whichever makes this memorable - sometimes it does't take much at all, just stumbing over a tree limb during chain sawing - can screw you up

 

[rswyan]

Yes, it is us older folks that do not spring back from falls, etc, like in our younger days.. Just simple falls, breaks and bruises will put us down. Those on coumadin should be careful about blood type injuries.

This is exactly what happen with my elderly mother, back a few years before she passed.

She was on Coumadin for some recent medical thing and was at home - house has a sunken living room (one step) and she missed the step and fell ..... ended up with a large bruise on her right knee ...... this eventually formed a large blood blister - about the size of a baseball or softball - which had to be surgically removed.

 

[Rickstir]

I have a knee replacement in my left knee. I am supposed to go "down steps" including the last step on the tractor with my replaced knee leg, using the good knee to control evferything. This is ingrained in my thinking after six years with the new knee. On the way down I have both feet on the last step, both hands on the handles, and ease my way down. Every single time I dismount. Can't be too careful.

 

[brin]

I can't stress enough how really dangerous it is getting off your tractor especially for those with larger tractors...You are usually tired and ready to call it a day and you can easily catch your foot on one of the bedals or levers or the steps themselves and take a header onto the ground or any equipment that happens to be around. Two times now I have come close to taking a tumble when getting off the tractor..and I am in good shape with real good knees..I just was in a hurry, tired and not paying attention. Be careful.