Blast injuries and schrapnel.

[dalewick]

Blast injuries from either explosives or wind storm events (tornados, hurricanes, etc.) are a major concern and need close inspection to determine if you have objects imbedded in your body, cuts, punctures or bruising severe enough to form edemas. If it happens to you, get medical help if possible after applying first aid to all injuries. If medical help is not available have a trusted friend, etc. inspect you body when safe to do so for wounds. If you can, learn trauma first aid.

I recently found out that even medical professionals can miss items embedded deep from blast injuries and x-rays will not detect wood in the human body. My Veterans Administration surgeon recently performed surgery to remove a ganglion cyst from my left elbow area. After the surgery I found out there was no cyst but Doc had removed a inch and a half long by 1/4 inch thick piece of wood from deep in my arm that I had been carrying around for 35 years without even knowing it. The human body is amazingly adaptable and can cope with many things.

Dale

[CountryGuy]

WOW!! that is crazy. Hope you're healing up ok. Was it bothering you that the Doc looked at it? The splinter might be safer than some of those VA Docs...

Your right about the human body being amazing. One time I got what I thought was a bug bite on my hand and a few days later it started to look like a zit. Spider bite? I kept messing with it and it got sore but my dumb ass wouldn't leave it alone. Finally after about 2 weeks it popped and out came some gross puss along with a small sliver of metal. I had no idea how it got there or how long it'd been there but I know it was more than a couple years. After it popped it healed up fine. Not sure why after all that time it decided to work it's way out or why it hadn't done so years before.

BTW, great to have you back around.

[dalewick]

WOW!! that is crazy. Hope you're healing up ok. Was it bothering you that the Doc looked at it? The splinter might be safer than some of those VA Docs...

Your right about the human body being amazing. One time I got what I thought was a bug bite on my hand and a few days later it started to look like a zit. Spider bite? I kept messing with it and it got sore but my dumb ass wouldn't leave it alone. Finally after about 2 weeks it popped and out came some gross puss along with a small sliver of metal. I had no idea how it got there or how long it'd been there but I know it was more than a couple years. After it popped it healed up fine. Not sure why after all that time it decided to work it's way out or why it hadn't done so years before.

BTW, great to have you back around.

Hi Country, Good to be back. Yea, it had moved and started causing me some pain and messed with my being able to hold things without pain. It poked the skin out about a half an inch just down from my elbow. The Doc said it had blown deep in the muscle (about 3 to 4 inches), when it happened. I remembered the night I got it and it stayed infected for about 2 weeks (weeped puss) but besides put the butterfly sutures on it to close it up, not much to do but keep going where we were. It healed up much faster this time around than it did when I got it. Guess I'm lucky the Army doesn't charge me a holding fee. LOL! My VA Doc is a GOOD one. He's actually an active duty Colonel in the Army and has worked the special ops community in the past. He's good people. This was actually the second surgery he's performed for me. That brings my tally to 1-bullet, 20+ pieces of shrapnel, 3-rocks, 1 piece of plastic, 2 pieces glass and one piece of wood that I have had removed from my body. I'm getting to old for this shit.

Dale

[TheInkeeper]

dalewick glad they found it. Always good to get a reminder that as good as modern medicine it, it can still miss stuff. Somewhere in the back of my brain them not being able to pick up wood a scan was filed but I forgot it until I read your post

[CountryGuy]

That brings my tally to 1-bullet, 20+ pieces of shrapnel, 3-rocks, 1 piece of plastic, 2 pieces glass and one piece of wood that I have had removed from my body. I'm getting to old for this shit.Dale

That is one heck of a collection you've got going but I think you might want to start collecting something a little safer like nick knacks...

[dalewick]

That is one heck of a collection you've got going but I think you might want to start collecting something a little safer like nick knacks...

ROFLOL! Retirement has been a lot safer than my previous occupations. Besides, scars are like tattoos, but with much better stories. LOL! So many stories.

Dale

[dalewick]

dalewick glad they found it. Always good to get a reminder that as good as modern medicine it, it can still miss stuff. Somewhere in the back of my brain them not being able to pick up wood a scan was filed but I forgot it until I read your post

Yea, X-rays showed nothing but me in the arm. Doc had no idea it was anything other than a ganglion cyst he was cutting out. Surprise on him! LOL! and me. Makes me wonder if anything else is under one of these scars. I know glass doesn't show up on x-rays either. Not sure about plastics. Rock shows up pretty well and metal glows. Metal makes it hard to get MRI's though. I found it funny that the scar to cut it out is bigger than the scar where it went in.

Dale

[Morgan101]

That is a crazy story, but you are 100% correct. The Human body is incredibly adaptable. I had a classmate that was in a serious car accident in college. He only had minor injuries, but the windshield shattered in his face. Very lucky he wasn't blinded, but he was picking glass out of his head for months afterward. Incredibly lucky it didn't harm his vision, but there were times a piece of glass would come out of his eye socket.

Dalewick: That is an amazing inventory of internal items that God didn't put there. Glad it all worked out, and good to have you posting again.

[CountryGuy]

Speaking or MRI or even a CT scan, I'd think they might pick up foreign objects. I know with CT scan technology we can use it to take a 3D image of say plastic assembly and see everything exactly how it is internally.

Morg, when you mentioned that it reminded me that somewhere in my past I have heard of that glsss thing happening where it pushes out of the skin months or years later.

Maybe the scarier part is the ones that push into the body rather than out of it... eekkkk

[dalewick]

That is a crazy story, but you are 100% correct. The Human body is incredibly adaptable. I had a classmate that was in a serious car accident in college. He only had minor injuries, but the windshield shattered in his face. Very lucky he wasn't blinded, but he was picking glass out of his head for months afterward. Incredibly lucky it didn't harm his vision, but there were times a piece of glass would come out of his eye socket.

Dalewick: That is an amazing inventory of internal items that God didn't put there. Glad it all worked out, and good to have you posting again.

Morgan, I would NEVER blame or even say that God put any of that stuff in me. Just not volunteering or saying "I'll go" would have prevented most of it, I try to never complain about my pain or injuries that I received in the military. In my view, I volunteered for it all, so I don't have the right to complain. At least I came home.

Dale

[Morgan101]

Sorry Dalewick. Please don't take any offense. My intent was just to make an analogy. We all come with a fixed number of parts. You have quite a few more inside of you than the rest of us do. It was not meant to be disparaging in any way. I was in no way blaming God for anything that happened. Maybe just a poor attempt at humor.

[dalewick]

Sorry Dalewick. Please don't take any offense. My intent was just to make an analogy. We all come with a fixed number of parts. You have quite a few more inside of you than the rest of us do. It was not meant to be disparaging in a.no way. I was in no way blaming God for anything that happened. Maybe just a poor attempt at humor.

Morgan, Bro, I am not that easily offended. Were Good! I got your humor. I was just taking claim of my own stupidity. LOL! I lived hard in a profession that takes a tole on body and soul and I didn't think about getting old. My kids joke about that I couldn't be a cat, as I would have been dead from a lack of lives, several lives ago. LOL!


BTW - Good to know your still here!

Dale

[Morgan101]

You are 1000% correct on getting old. I don't ever remember signing up for this. A friend has a great T Shirt. Inside Every Old Person is a Young Person Wondering what the Hell Happened. It used to be when I ran they timed me with a watch. Then they had to time me with a calendar. Now I don't run; I just waddle quickly.

Glad to know all is well, and good to have you back. I hope Diesel can keep the site going.