Feeling good and not so good but still good, sort of....

[Harpoon]

Well I got tested today... It came without warning, without a chance to prepare.

I was on my way out the door to get food for myself and my wife before heading back to the office to finish up the day's work and my fire department pager went off, two car accident on Rt 20 (Main Street in the village where I live, goes coast to coast across the U.S.)

So off I go.

I won't get into the details on the accident, "horiffic" about sums it up. One driver dead on the scene, the other flown to a trauma center by helicopter.


It was about 88? at that point, 6pm, very humid.
I spent much of that time in my turnout gear pants and boots (thankfully I had shorts on underneath) and some of that time, inside one of the smashed up vehicles, in full gear plus my helmet holding one of the victims.....

Lots of running around, getting gear, getting water for guys, manning a hose line at one point... Heavy work, and I did quite well.


Haven't had dinner yet though. Not really hungry at the moment.


It was a very rough evening, but my ticking heart never even came close to making me slow down and that's a pretty cool thing.


Have no idea what happened to cause the accident. It was part rescue, part recovery. Those who've been firefighters (or have an idea of what's what or other experience) will know what that means.


Rough, but I did my part and didn't have to hold back.


Heck, I didn't even have any of those pesky "heart coughs."

 

[geebee]

"Feeling good and not so good but still good, sort of...."

I know what you mean. I feel that way about my volunteer work at the hospital. I feel good about helping but I am there because people are sick. I like feeling good about helping but I don't like it that people are sick. I like being needed but if people weren't sick, I wouldn't be needed. Real Catch-22 situation.

BTW - congrats on making it through both physically and emotionally. Understand about the recovery part - can be very gruesome but, unfortunately, a part of the process. Hopefully the rescue part made it a little "easier", if that is possible. It sounds like it was a real test for you.

 

[Mike]

Where in WNY?

Where in WNY?

I'm glad you did so well especially since it was so hot in NYS yesterday. Where in WNY do you live? I live in CNY in Rome (just a bit east of Syracuse) but lived in Niagara Falls, NY, for years. I'm just short of six months post-op. I had MVR and AVR on Christmas Eve 2004. I wonder how many of us are in upstate NY.

Mike

 

[Harpoon]

I'm about an hour southwest of Buffalo, on the Thruway. We were just up in the Falls last week for my son's school field trip, they went to the NF Aquarium....



Tonight at work I got to type up a faxed report on the accident from the state police.

On driver, 79 years old, cross the centerline and plowed into an oncoming car containing the other driver, 29, who was "killed on impact"...

I also had the "pleasure" (loads of sarcasm there...) of scanning the deceased photo in since it will be appearing in tomorrow morning's obituaries...

They're still investigating the accident and the surviving driver is in a hospital in serious condition.

I thought I heard at some point someone saying the surviving driver had had a heart attack or some other medically related issue that lead to the crash, dunno for sure though.