full report for friends asking: Freak accident last night, slipped and fell at a BBQ, and a fillet knife sliced my peroneal nerve and a major artery, all the way into my shin bone. I didn’t feel anything, but I looked down and saw my bone and the wound pouring. I was bleeding out fast. I applied pressure with my hand directly on the exposed artery and bone and hopped over to my friends. My friends and I tied a tank top around the wound, jammed in a pen for a makeshift tourniquet, wound it up tight to stop the bloodflow, then made two more above and below the wound with our shirts. That quick response bought me enough time for my friend to get me to the ER. We waited in the ER for about an hour before getting seen by a nurse. She opened the tourniquet, took pressure off, and she got sprayed, shin exposed, artery wide open. She tried to clean it a bit the we out the pressure back on. Then we sat in the hallway to wait for a doctor. The ER doc said they weren’t equipped to stop the bleeding. At this point I’m getting dizzy and shaky cause the shock was wearing off. Very nervous. They said they weren’t outfitted to handle that kind of bleeding, so they didn’t want to dress it. They spent some time debating whether to gamble and try to close it themselves, or spend hours transferring me to a severe trauma surgeon in another hospital. Finally, one doctor made the call. He joked I was holding up the patient line. He opened the tourniquet, cleaned the wound, and stitched the artery, deep tissue, fascia, and everything back together, inside and out. Two hours and several injections of antibiotics and pain killers later, I was stitched up and stable. I’m home now. Stuck in bed, leg elevated. Can’t walk or move much. The pain didn’t hit until this morning and it’s unbearable to be honest. Never had anything like it. The doctors said I’m incredibly lucky. Still waiting to see if I’ll need surgery, depending in how the nerves and tissues heal, and how bad the nerve damage is. Had a nice house call today to reassess and clean and get more pain killers and antibiotic injections. They said fortunately it was a very sharp knife, so the nerves may reconnect smooth. There’s a lot of parts of my leg that numb out randomly, and some drop foot when I try to move, but I’m optimistic it will heal well. Not too much bleeding so the artery seems good. Just monitoring for infection and trying to manage pain and inflammation now. No swimming, no jiu-jitsu, no walking for a while. But I’m really grateful for the helpful visitors, my neighbors, the support, and especially the friends who stayed calm under pressure and saved my life. Anyway, accidents happen. Going as well as can be. I’m definitely going to invest some more time into emergency prep, and I think it's worthwhile for everyone to consider learning some basics too. If you have any suggested material on this please send it 🤙

Replies (77)

Lucid's avatar
Lucid 6 months ago
I don't even believe that.
Wow, I'm glad you're okay! Good thing you knew how to make a TQ!
Joshua's avatar
Joshua 6 months ago
Glad you made it out ok! Kudos to your ability to remain calm and to your friends too!
Phil's avatar
Phil 6 months ago
Damn dude! Glad you’re okay! 💜
Anarko 's avatar
Anarko 6 months ago
A battle scar and a great story. Rest up and get well soon man. Love the positive attitude 🧡
WOW!! I’m hoping for a good recovery!! I think it would be in your best interest to be referred to a nerve specialist/surgeon to triple check the work done through specialized imaging. Numbness is not something to fool around with.
CTarian's avatar
CTarian 6 months ago
From one second to the next, you just never know what's in store. Good luck to you, and don't be testing things when you start to feel a bit better.. give it plenty of time.
karo's avatar
karo 6 months ago
wtf, the nurse opened the tourniquet and then was like, whoops sorry we can't actually do anything to stop this bleeding. Wild. Glad you're okay. what a freak accident. get well soon!
karo's avatar
karo 6 months ago
THIS is why Trauma First Aid is important! Regardless of what your politics are about guns, knowing what to do in a major bleed incident is very helpful because there are lots of things in our physical world other than guns that can cause major bleeds!
mcshane's avatar mcshane
full report for friends asking: Freak accident last night, slipped and fell at a BBQ, and a fillet knife sliced my peroneal nerve and a major artery, all the way into my shin bone. I didn’t feel anything, but I looked down and saw my bone and the wound pouring. I was bleeding out fast. I applied pressure with my hand directly on the exposed artery and bone and hopped over to my friends. My friends and I tied a tank top around the wound, jammed in a pen for a makeshift tourniquet, wound it up tight to stop the bloodflow, then made two more above and below the wound with our shirts. That quick response bought me enough time for my friend to get me to the ER. We waited in the ER for about an hour before getting seen by a nurse. She opened the tourniquet, took pressure off, and she got sprayed, shin exposed, artery wide open. She tried to clean it a bit the we out the pressure back on. Then we sat in the hallway to wait for a doctor. The ER doc said they weren’t equipped to stop the bleeding. At this point I’m getting dizzy and shaky cause the shock was wearing off. Very nervous. They said they weren’t outfitted to handle that kind of bleeding, so they didn’t want to dress it. They spent some time debating whether to gamble and try to close it themselves, or spend hours transferring me to a severe trauma surgeon in another hospital. Finally, one doctor made the call. He joked I was holding up the patient line. He opened the tourniquet, cleaned the wound, and stitched the artery, deep tissue, fascia, and everything back together, inside and out. Two hours and several injections of antibiotics and pain killers later, I was stitched up and stable. I’m home now. Stuck in bed, leg elevated. Can’t walk or move much. The pain didn’t hit until this morning and it’s unbearable to be honest. Never had anything like it. The doctors said I’m incredibly lucky. Still waiting to see if I’ll need surgery, depending in how the nerves and tissues heal, and how bad the nerve damage is. Had a nice house call today to reassess and clean and get more pain killers and antibiotic injections. They said fortunately it was a very sharp knife, so the nerves may reconnect smooth. There’s a lot of parts of my leg that numb out randomly, and some drop foot when I try to move, but I’m optimistic it will heal well. Not too much bleeding so the artery seems good. Just monitoring for infection and trying to manage pain and inflammation now. No swimming, no jiu-jitsu, no walking for a while. But I’m really grateful for the helpful visitors, my neighbors, the support, and especially the friends who stayed calm under pressure and saved my life. Anyway, accidents happen. Going as well as can be. I’m definitely going to invest some more time into emergency prep, and I think it's worthwhile for everyone to consider learning some basics too. If you have any suggested material on this please send it 🤙
View quoted note →
Wishing you a full and quick recovery. 🙏 The magic of the human brain is that the memory of the physical pain will fade quickly post recovery.
Yeyenn's avatar
Yeyenn 6 months ago
Prayers for the least painful and quickest recovery! 🙏
Is it true that ambulances are so expensive in the US? You should have called 911 tbh 😬 They have professional tourinquets and in case you can't stop the bleeding you really need those guys. Still. Well done 💪
I believe there are no coincidences man. That's just an insane story. Maybe properly apologize for squirting that nurse in the face with your DNA?
The sharks didn't get you. The filet knife did. Speedy recovery! Looking forward to see spear fishing photos soon. 🙏
dustygrooves's avatar
dustygrooves 6 months ago
Damn. Get well Soon. I think I would have passed out.
Holy shit. INTENSE. Glad to hear recovering. Good luck. Set yourself a topic to deeply research whislt laid up, maybe something will come of it! Our darkest hours are often the springboard for our best days
kate's avatar
kate 6 months ago
Ugh. I’m sorry. Be very careful to avoid infection. Are you on an antibiotic?
Faroaldo's avatar
Faroaldo 6 months ago
Yep, accidents do happen. Actually the word "accident" is Latin and means "happening". Not joking.
R's avatar
R 6 months ago
You can bleed to death from simple accidents around the house. Buy some CAT tourniquets from North American Rescue (they have an Amazon store, anyone else on Amazon should be avoided since they are likely knock offs). Have them along with some wound packing gauze around the house/car and learn how to use them. Find a stop the bleed class and go with some friends. Glad you’re still with us @mcshane !!! Prayers for a solid recovery and getting back to your adventures. View quoted note →
R's avatar
R 6 months ago
The Independence Training guys in AZ are great. Look into their dirt medicine classes. They have a podcast called The Arms Room. Look through the history and you’ll find an IFAK (Individual 1st Aid Kit) series. Worth a listen.
zoé's avatar
zoé 6 months ago
blessings towards your recovery 🙏🏽 "healing is progress" <- remember that when you get itchy for missing some activity haha
Default avatar
SunlitSoul 6 months ago
I am so glad your friends were there to support and help. And I’m so glad everything is going well. Praying for all to continue healing well 🙏🏽
Diyana's avatar
Diyana 6 months ago
OMG 😱 that seems so scary. That is crazy. I was literally telling my friend a week ago that I am trying to figure out what's been with the past week, where I literally got knife and fscars injuries 3 times in just a few days. I don't remember the last time prior to that I had a cut.
JackTheMimic's avatar
JackTheMimic 6 months ago
I missed this when it happened. Crazy, and I am glad you had friends nearby that rose to the occasion. Heal well brother.
Wow, that is a wild story. The human body is amazing, though. Give yours plenty of benfotiamine and DHA to help regenerate that nerve. Wishing you a full and speedy recovery.
I was a fire fighter did 9 months of preparation, a lot of emergency prep and also did internship and 2 years of voluntary work at the station, definitely the kids should have emergency preparation at early days, where I'm from there is formation for kids and voluntary firefighters are strong