I needed this like a hole in the head....

[MrTom]

....and still got a hole in the head. A buddy and I were trimming my birch tree this morning. We clipped a high, long thin branch about mid-way to clear a power line and then took the remaining 8 feet. We cut it at the trunk slowly so that the limb eased down and I just had gotten a hold of the end when the cut sheared at the truck and the limb fell. It hooked a side of the ladder and bent and loaded, then it snapped straight, ripping it out of my hands and somehow recoiled again and smacked me in the top of the head with one of the cut ends. I take Xaralto, a blood thinner, so of course I looked like someone tried to scalp me, blood running all over the place. I came in to get a washcloth to clean it up some and Ma just about went into hysterics so I had to mop blood and calm her down at the same time. The blood came so fast that we actually had some people stop as they were driving by. All cleaned off now and the bleeding stopped its just a large scrape, but man did it bleed and need it or not I got the hole in the head..

 

[MTY]

You need to be careful. I spend more time thinking about how I am going to do a small job without killing myself than I spent considering such things in the previous several decades.

 

[flounder]

Glad it wasn't any worse Tom. Sounds like you handled it calmly.

 

[flounder]

I gotca stihl pole saw recently. I've been watching some videos so I dont kill myself.

 

[fishdfly]

Some times wonder which is better/worse, taking blood thinners or not.

At times I look at a job and decide whether to do it based on what does it cost to pay someone to do it or what will it cost for me to go to the Emergency Room.

 

[MTY]

flounder, I think you will like the saw. I use mine to keep the lower branches trimmed off the bull pines around the house.
I am finishing up a small barn for chickens and goats. I roofed it Sunday and Monday. Most of my time was spent telling myself not to fall off the ladder or roof.
Mr. Tom, can you bleed that badly and not need stiches?

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Scalp wounds bleed the most! Every time i cut my head it looks like an axe murder scene

 

[deermanok]

Oh man, that sucks. I dislike anything about cutting trees. I'll climb em with the treestand, maybe trim a little branch or two on the way up but that's about it.
I take blood pressure meds and a few others, my skin is like paper.
I bleed if I just scrape against something, so I know what it's like for you. Heal up quick.

 

[toytruck]

Glad your OK Tom! Like michiganmuzzy said scalp wounds bleed a lot without any help. I used to take 80mg of aspirin, every time I got stabbed by a rose thorn or once got hit in the head by a falling branch in the woods squirrel hunting, its bad. I even managed to hit my head on a hood latch while changing my old truck oil, had to get stitches for that one.
I don't have BP problems, so far, so the latest recommendation is not to take aspirin. Which I did couple years ago. I also bought a camo hard hat for windy days in the woods, but if it's very windy I don't go under a tree any longer!

 

[MrTom]

I suffer from A-Fib and the blood thinner is to help prevent strokes. I've already had one stroke related to A-Fib so the Xaralto is welcomed. I can say from experience that NOBODY needs or wants a stroke no matter how mild. I was on coumadin for a while but felt sick all the time so I switched to the more aggressive Xaralto and have no qualms about taking it.

This was a pure fluke event. Everything was controlled until the limb let loose of the tree unexpectedly. My concern was to control the limb so it didn't knock my buddy off the ladder. In the end the end of the limb caught just inside the foot of the ladder then sprung back out with a little load on it and recoiled right at my face. At that point I'd let go and was ducking but the butt end corked me in the bean. We were using a pole saw....a Stihl in fact. WE took two limbs, both in the way of power lines. We used the ladder for the higher of the two and my buddy just went from one limb to the lower one that we really didn't need the ladder for. Funny how that works. I have some limbs on a white pine too close to the roof but I'm waiting on those for a while.

 

[flounder]

Sure glad it wasn't any worse Tom.

 

[MrTom]

Thanks guys. The head is hard but I'm glad it didn't hit an eye. My eyes are the only things that work without pills or some sort of appliance.

 

[Fat Cat]

I'm on blood thinners as well .Any small scratch and it looks like I'll bleed out. Here's a product I keep handy in the house and in my bug out bag. Cheap and available at wallyland . Be careful out there.

 

[phalanx]

Thankfully it wasn't worse. Whew, you dodged that one! Glad you are okay.

 

[MrTom]

I'm on blood thinners as well .Any small scratch and it looks like I'll bleed out. Here's a product I keep handy in the house and in my bug out bag. Cheap and available at wallyland . Be careful out there.

Thanks Fatcat. I have this on the shopping list now. I knew there were products like this but just never thought about getting something. I think something like this is prudent for myself and any others on blood thinners. I'm getting two, one for home and the other is going in the glove box.

 

[GregK]

I’m glad you’re OK, but I say this from experience. You’re never too old for another hole in your head!

Greg

 

[gman57]

Glad your ok and can fully sympathize about 12 yrs ago did the same thing cutting a branch I had tied off had the chain saw safely tied off. I was about 12’ off the ground same kind of fluke the branch some how clipped the ladder throwing me off. I came down head first into the aluminum ladder unconscious. Luckily my daughter heard the ruckus and found me in pool of blood. I went into shock in ER from blood loss, almost bought the bullet. God was with me and you. Get well and stay safe.

 

[Waxxy]

That is how my father died at 73 years old. I am glad you are OK. I wish he had got a price from someone rather than being so independent..... At least he died on a beautiful autumn day, working, which he liked and never had to go to a nursing home.