This story is long, but it should be.

Last year I came across equipped.org and became a survival-kit addict. I bought a limited-edition Doug Ritter mini survival knife, two Ritter PSPs, a Leatherman, and dozens of miscellaneous items. I put together two first-aid kits. I even have orange Paracord. My wife tolerated my new hobby, my family raised their eyebrows to each other behind my back, and my friends asked, "Why?" as if I had announced I was cutting off my own foot.

I also decided that I would never, ever, regardless of the inconvenience, be without my five most essential items, even in my own home:

1. Doug's mini-whistle, on a lanyard around my neck
2. An LED flashlight
3. Doug's mini-RSK
4. A lighter
5. My cell phone

On February 25th, my wife left for a five-day business trip 400 miles away. I was planning to surprise her by painting the living room during her absence. So late that night, I fell off the ladder and destroyed my knee. I laid there for quite a while, screaming like a little girl while my leg muscles cramped so hard around my mangled knee that I wanted to die. I couldn't move a muscle without causing worse cramping. Finally, once I could breathe again, and the cramps released a little, I slowly and carefully worked my cell phone out of my pocket, pausing every few seconds to scream from the new cramps I had caused. I dropped the phone on the floor by my face so that I could talk into it, and dialed 911.

This was when I found out that we don't have 911 service in my town. Fortunately, it did connect me to someone who gave me the phone number for my local police dispatcher. I somehow memorized it and called the police.

It took about 3 years for the ambulance to arrive, and while I waited (did I mention the screaming?) I called my wife to tell her what had happened. However, my cell-phone battery was dying, giving me about 15 seconds to talk to her, and so she spent the rest of the night in a panic, wondering if she should jump in the car and drive back and what was it that was wrong with my leg, since I only had time to say, "I-hurt-my-knee-and-I'm-waiting-for-the-ambulance." For some reason, she keeps telling people about that part of the story as if it were my fault somehow.

I've been in a wheelchair for 3 months, and can't walk yet. I've had major surgery, and look forward to 9-12 more months of physical therapy, though I should make a complete recovery. And this all happened in my own living room, the last place anyone would think they'd need a survival kit.

Thanks to equipped.org, I had my mini-kit on me and was able to call for help. No one knew that I was working on a ladder. No one would have checked on me until late the next day, if then. The only landline phone in the house was cordless, and sitting on top of an upright piano, twenty feet away & five feet off the floor. I could not possibly have stood up to get it. I couldn't even begin to move without causing screaming cramps. And if I had managed to make it to the phone, the batteries in it turned out to be dead, because we rarely use it.

Things I did wrong, or notes for future reference:

1. It's hard to remember phone numbers when you're screaming. Check to see if you have 911 service (I just assumed we did), and if you don't, program the panic button on your phone (usually 9) with the proper number. Write down your emergency numbers and keep at least 2 copies, one by your corded landline phone, and one in your kit.

2. Keep your cell phone charged! It would have saved my wife a lot of worrying if I could have stayed on the line longer. Not to mention if it took me longer to get an ambulance I would have been in trouble. My backup plan was to blow my whistle all the next day in hopes that the mailman would hear it.

3. Keep a sturdy, corded phone in your house where it can be reached from the floor. Even if you can't reach it, the cord will let you pull it off a table, and it won't have any batteries to go dead.

4. Yes, you can be stranded and helpless in your own living room!

5. I saved two of my pain pills from the emergency room to keep in my kit. If I find myself in a similar situation with no rescue, I want relief from pain while I wait.

6. Ladders are for the suicidal!

Though I was in no risk of dying and so this may not count as a real survival story, it was plenty miserable, and though I only used my cell phone, and not real survival items, the only reason it was in my pocket was because of you guys. Thanks for convincing me to carry a mini-kit at all times. I was equipped enough to help myself. Next time, I'll do even better.

P.S. How on earth do people manage to crawl down mountains with broken legs?

Good story. Glad it worked out and hope you get back up on your feet soon. Glad you had enough cell battery to get help.

As far as your closing question.... ....well I hope I am never able to answer that one. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hope your feeling better. It sounds like it was an unavoidable incident. It does seem to highlight the fact that working comms. are your best friend. Something the military folks have known since the beginning of time. Anyways, I would be interested to hear what your friends and family think of your EDC now. I will be taking your suggestions as gospel. (I learn from other's mistakes) Please keep us updated as you get better!

<<3. Keep a sturdy, corded phone in your house where it can be reached from the floor. Even if you can't reach it, the cord will let you pull it off a table, and it won't have any batteries to go dead.>>

Plus, land-lines work even if the power goes out, unlike a cordless land-line phone.

Thanks for the story, Very sobering reading.

Regards, Vince

You were in no immediate risk of dieing, but let's change a few variables.

Let's say you are fairly rural, with 400 meters line of sight to the nearest neighbor. No cell coverage, and it is unlikely that you can scream loud enough to be heard that far. The whistle could be heard that far, though.

Or, rather than a ladder incident, you went down a bank and did this in the fall. Not super cold, but not really warm either. (I did that once, and had to wait for my buddies to find me and give me a hand splinting it.) You had the means to keep warm and signal.

So it might not have been an "emergency"; think of it a drill with live ammo. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I hope you get well soon. It´s good that you had the kit when you needed it though it was not so good that needed it.
The prepapration failed on a earlier point. People know that there are intrisic dangers when you work on a ladder. Someone should hold the ladder to prevent tha fall in the first place. This is why accident prevention regulations say so. I kept my dad from a fall by insiting on this. After that he didn´t find it ridiculous any more.

A. Where do you live that you don't have 911?

B. I suppose this story means that the living room didn't get painted? <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Sue

As for point B... Huh... only from a woman!?!

I live in a town of 12,000 in Mississippi. (I can hear everyone saying, "Ohhh, Mississippi, no wonder...I didn't know they even had phones...")

I was particularly careful with the ladder. I tightened all of the bolts with a wrench and took great care while at the top. Problem was, I was less careful down on the bottom rung, which is where I fell off (even the Mississippians are laughing at me now).

The living room is painted. I ended up paying $350 (plus, oh, $25,000 in medical bills) to have it painted for me.

There were areas in SW NY state that didn't have 911 service until last month. It's not uncommon for no 911 service in economically depressed counties...

M

thats why its also important to be friendly with atleast one neighbor, never know when you might need to call them to help you out.

Man, I feel for you! Once when my wife was out of town I crawled under the house to investigate what I thought was a vent or damper flapping, and crawled into a raccoon. In the process of trying to either back up at 90 mph, or beat him to death with my forehead, I dislocated my shoulder.

It took me a long, long, long time to get out and to get help.

You're experience just seals it for me: it makes much more sense for me to hold the ladder for my wife.. to keep her covered if SHE wants to crawl under the house or in the attic, to spot for her if SHE wants to tack down that loose shingle, etc. She's tiny. I could (probably) catch her if she did a Mississippi off of a ladder.

By the way, here in Tennessee you would have had to have a beer in one hand and a paintbrush in the other to qualify for the Darwin award.

I have to agree. My wife and my cell phones are currently our only phones and I must say it makes me feel a bit naked at home. Not only do you have to provide more information to 911 (and the pizza delivery guy) but the reliability of our phones (especially my Blackberry) is less than acceptable.

IStormy,

Call your County Emergency Management Agency and find out who is your county's 911 coordinator and find out why they did not re-route your call to at least the local police or fire department. Someone is not doing their job(s). Several years ago, Mississippi's legislature enacted 911 laws. Every address is now a "911 address" meaning that you have to have a street name and number (as opposed to rural route and box number). There is a 911 surcharge on every phone number in the state to pay for the 911 system, too.

While I'm on my box, what really gets ticked off is that Hinds county (where I currently live) is siphoning off money from the 911 funds to pay for non-911 related projects. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

By the way, I do hope the rest of your healing process goes well.


~Survival like charity, begins at home~

JimJr

You find that you can in fact do what is necessary to survive and get home in many cases if you set your mind to it. I had to walk home after an injury one time and you just do what is needed. I knew enough to lie down and wait a while to keep from going into shock but after that you just find which parts of your body still work and go to it. I made it about half way home before a neighbor picked me up. I know I could have kept going to get home, it would have taken a while but I would have made it. Since this happened to me in Lamar County I have no illusions about MS or its medicine. It was not a guy with a bone through his nose that fixed me up but rather a regular Dr. who specialized in my type of injuries.
Hope your recovery goes smoothly the PT guys can help a lot even if you think they might be retired interrogation experts masquerading as PT specialists. A PT that works with Thera-Band and Pilates will add to your vocabulary of pain but will make you strong again! Good luck with it!!
<img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Ah, but those of us with TV cables phones are SOL when the power is off. Modems don't work, lol