[TowerTalk] Roswell Tower Accident

[Roger (K8RI)]

> Jim makes a perfectly valid point about risk acceptance, but it may be
> appropriate to remember that this community is, by and large, aging. 
> Aside
> from the rational decision not to take so many risks as your
> responsibilities grow, there are physical vagaries that can suddenly cause
> a dramatic increase in your vulnerability.
>
> A small personal example - a few days ago I woke up with what I
> self-diagnosed as minor bursitis in an elbow, and pretty much
> ignored.  Then, as I was picking up a step-ladder, I suddenly felt a
> "crunch" in the elbow (I'm not sure if I heard it or not), followed by two
> seconds of the sharpest pain I've ever experienced - like the bursitis
> raised to about the 10th power.  Immediately thereafter, I was fine, but I
> guarantee you, if I had been free-climbing a tower and relying on that
> hand, I would have fallen.
>
> As for telling me what good shape you're in, or how careful you are - the
> first time something like this happens to you could be the last, if it
> happens on a tower.

We think of strokes as being in the realm of the elderly. Taint so.

Nearly 7 months ago I had a stoke. No warning signs, nada. I had been 
talking on the phone, hung up, turned around and it was like stepping on 
jello with my left foot. We (my wife and I) recognized what it had to be and 
I was on Oxygen with in 5 to 6 minutes of the first symptoms. After having 
lost most of my left side and needing help to stand I now am back to touch 
typing over  60 WPM. The only sign of anything having happened is a slight 
limp. The prognosis is to get rid of that as well. IOW complete recovery. 
However a prognosis like life comes with no gurantee.  BTW my arteries were 
so clean the neurologist thought there was something wrong with the 
ultrasound and added the circulatory system to the MRI and did an internal 
ultrasound.

  According to research a couple percent of white males have a stroke before 
they reach adult hood with some minorities approaching 10%.  I'm not among 
the ranks of the elderly yet, unless you talk to a teenager, but then again 
I'm not young either.
Like Pete's example, had I been on the tower when it hit, I could most 
likely have gotten down, but it would not have been fast, at best it would 
have been very inconvenient,  and I certainly would not have recieved as 
prompt a treatment as I did. The prompt treatment is quite likely the reason 
I can talk, walk, reason, and not drool in my bib when watching television. 
All the PT, plus pain pills<:-)) is the reason I have my strength and 
coordination back

Climbing without being hooked up carries a lot of risk from things we think 
would never pertain to us as individuals.

Roger (K8RI)
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
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