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Old 01-23-2005, 13:49   #3
CPTAUSRET
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Iowa and New Mexico
Posts: 2,143
Quote:
Originally Posted by SP5IC
Oh yeah. I stepped on a toe popper (20MM shell filled with powder & a plunger to activate the primer). By far, the most serious injuries were (and still are) to my right heel. There were multiple soft tissue wounds to my left leg below the knee. One of the larger injuries required substantial wire sutures. Regarding skin grafts, I had a pedicle graft initiated from my left calf to my right heel. They were sewn together for a month. I enjoyed a private room for that time as I was in a body cast to keep the graft intact. Several of the donor sites became infected. The docs cut little windows in my cast and pulled the nasty dressings out. That sh*t hurt. Lesson learned...don't step on mines.
SP5IC:

Thanks for the response, those dressings were NASTY, and stunk like hell. I don't have much residual effect other than I have no feeling in my elbow area, and my right hand doesn't fully open.

All in all I feel pretty damn lucky, while in Saigon I had a surgeon tell me that I would probably lose my right arm below the elbow, or it would stiffen up and become useless, just waste away (atrophy). I told him "I wasn't going to lose my arm, no matter what the consequences", and that if I did "I would shoot his ass afterward", he must have believed me.

Sorry you are still experiencing heel problems.

Terry
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