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I saw this on a Jeep site. Alot of us do our own work and I've seen some idiots not use jack stands (not from here, just in general). Think it's a good reminder to stay safe and investing in a pair of $20 jack stands can save your life. Although nothing would have helped this guy.
(Warning! Graphic description ahead!)
In Jan of '95 I was working
underneath my buddy's '90 Honda Civic (on axle stands with blocks under the
wheels) when the Duvall quake hit. It was my first quake and I didn't know
what it was when I first heard it (it sounded like a big truck coming up the
driveway and I looked but didn't see anything). Then suddenly the car
(actually the floor) lurched and rocked on the axle stands. I was too far
under to get out in time (I think I tried but couldn't move because the
first lurch pinned my coveralls under the axlestands), so I grabbed what I
could to stop the car from rocking, but couldn't find anything in time.
The car dropped, bounced off the corner of the blocks (shooting them out)
and I saw the oilpan coming, so I turned my head. I saw stars for a sec, and
had that smothered claustrophobic feeling of being in a very hot (motor was
running), cramped area and I couldn't breath (apparently I screamed loud
enough the neighbors heard me), but I finally got ahold of something and
bench pressed the car and threw it back off me (there were indents of my
feet in the back wall), shattering the oak garage door with the car. At that
point my buddy (owner of the Honda) came running because he heard me scream.
He nearly puked when he saw me get up. I had blood trickling out of my left
ear and my right eye was hanging down on my cheek. I tried to drive myself
to the hospital, but couldn't see well enough, so Mo drove me there (without
a license because he was under suspension for too many points).
Stupid admitting nurse tried to get me to fill out paperwork, but I just
threw the clipboard down and walked into the ER and screamed for a doctor.
They called my doctor to come in, and by luck they had an eye specialist
just coming out of surgery. He scooped my eye up and sprayed some kind of
disinfectant or something in the socket and pushed it gently back into place
(to this day it still feels like I have a pocket of air trapped back there
and if I rub my eye, it squeaks, which drives my wife nuts!)
Next, they took me down for a CAT scan (not the most pleasant feeling to
go into right after a car fell on you!) and discovered I had a basal skull
fracture from the right eye socket across the top to my neck and right next
to my temple was a spot where the bone was shattered (the oil drain plug had
punctured it, but didn't break the skin) and the lining in my left ear was
torn all the way into my brain.
I was taken up to recovery to do the "wait and see" (I was awake through
everything) and I overheard the nurses say "Poor guy! He's not going to make
it". That scared the $#!t out of me (I wasn't all the scared till that
point) They kept checking on me every 15 minutes, then every 1/2 hour
through the night and each time I said "I'm still here!". Funny part was
that even though they didn't give me any pain meds (they kept asking) it
didn't really hurt much till about 3 days later (I got the worst migraine in
my life!) and they got worried because I asked for some aspirin! LOL!
I was in the hospital for 5 days (my mom knew a day or so later, but my
dad didn't because he was sick from having a heart attack and we didn't want
to worry him any more than necessary) and I finally let everyone know
besides my current wife, who was the first called (we were still dating at
that point). I got to break the news to my dad myself. I called from the
hospital and had my mom put him on the line. The conversation went something
like this: Dad "Hello?"; Me "Hey Dad! Thanks!"; him "For what?"; "For giving
me such a hard head!" and I explained what happened, then they came to visit
me. (My kids were real worried too. Even my ex-wife was nice, even when I
called her by her pet name "*****". Charlotte, my current wife was there and
was shocked, but Diana, the ex, turned to her and said "He's going to be
fine. He's already back to normal mentally!" ) I really wish that was all
true, but considering what I went through, even though I'm operating on what
feels like about 1/2 the brain I used to, I'm doing pretty well (now my body
has been going to hell on me the last few years. I went from 205lbs to
305lbs, and it's been a real struggle to even work out to get it down.
Dieting wasn't working because I was gaining weight on 1500 calories a day,
and had zero energy due to a low functioning thyroid) Now I'm down to 275
and I'd really love to get rid of the other 70 soon! (I joined 24 hour
fitness, but I can't park my '73 J4000 in the garage, so I need something
else running to go, which is why I'm annoyed at myself because I haven't got
the Commanche finished yet!)
It took almost a year to get rid of the double vision I had (I have to
wear glasses now) and a while longer to get back to work. (I have proof of
brain damage though! I got married for a second time 5 weeks after the car
fell on me! Valentine's day, 1995 and it was even televised on channel 7
here in Seattle) If I whine to someone about my head injury, my wife pipes
up "Yeah, he had the car fall on him and I got the brain damage because I
married him!". I've worked some small jobs here and there since, but the
most frustrating was the last 3 years I spent at Schucks. I started at a
bare living wage, and left at the same wage, even though I went from cashier
to where I was responsible for all the paperwork, cleaning, organizing and
stocking of 7 stores in rotation while the managers went to "meetings" they
got paid to attend.
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