War_in_D
Well-known member
So yeah, I might have a (or some) broken ribs and it's all because of getting back into archery.. 
I say possibly because when I went to the ER, but they didn't take any x-rays because they didn't think that I hit in an area where my ribs actually are (more in the cartilage area by the solar plexus), so the jury is still out on any actual breaks. They did ultrasound me to see if I had any internal bleeding, and found none, but I'd bet money there is a least some fractures if not outright breaks judging by where the bruises are today and the amount of pain that I'm in. When I was in the ER, it really didn't hurt that bad, but I'm guess the adrenalin was still going through me.
Since getting back into the sport after a 10 year hiatus, I have set up a little range in the basement. I had to rearrange a bunch of stuff in the basement to make this happen, and in doing so I had to move my cut-off saw rig to a new wall, and put my bag target on one of the tables. When I did this, the saw ended up right square in front of the one of the windows, so I put a piece of 3/4" plywood there to kind of keep any sawdust from just coating the window. Also, it covered about 90% of the window right next to the target, so in the off chance that I sent one flyin' somewhere it shouldn't go.. it wouldn't go through the window. Never really thought I would need it, but I'm glad I did this as it turns out.. maybe.
Fast forward to Wednesday night.. Wife and I just got back from dinner, and she wanted to watch some HGTV. So I retired to the basement to shoot a few arrows. I backed up to the full length of the basement and had shot about 15 arrows. When my next shot went off, and I hear the unmistakable sound of an arrow hitting wood! So, I walk down to the target and the arrow is sitting about three feet to the left of where I was aiming, sticking out of the plywood about an inch from the edge of it. Two more inches over, and I'd have been looking in the yard for that arrow! So, I'm conflicted at this point because it could have just been a case of replacing a window instead of inflicting bodily harm on myself. I'm still trying to figure out what happened that I missed so badly, but the most likely culprits are that either my arrow came off the rest and I didn't see it, or the arrow had a split in it that I didn't know about and I'm just lucky that it didn't explode on the bow and probably go through some soft part of me that weren't meant to be gone through. Inspection of the arrow after the fact showed that it was broken, but I don't know if it happened when it hit the plywood or it was already that way before I shot it. I'll probably never know for sure.
What does this have to do with broken ribs, you ask?? My cut off saw table is pretty deep, and I was only able to pull the arrow back through the plywood until it got to the tip, then it hung up. I was shooting target arrows with glue in tips, and they "bulge" just bit wider then the arrow shaft. I wasn't really able to get much leverage on the arrow, because I was having to reach so far over the cut off saw table. So, I grabbed a little two step folding ladder/step stool to raise me up where I could get a better grip on the arrow and REALLY give it a tug!! Which I did a few times, and on the last mighty heave the arrow popped out, which then immediately put me off balance and falling backwards. Then, my feet got hung up in the step stool. There I was doing my best "wavy armed, Scooby-Doo hangin' out over empty space" impression, trying to figure out how I'm going to get out of this one without getting hurt really badly. In all this mayhem, I somehow manage to get turned around where I was facing my impending doom instead of falling backwards into it.. and this is where the broken ribs come into play. Now, I'm about 6'2" and weigh about 330 lbs. And no, these aren't "pretty" pounds. I'm what would be considered a "hoss" in my neck of the woods. So, here I am standing another foot or so off the ground on this ever-lovin' stool and I know at this point that I'm going down, there's no way out of it. I'm trying to figure out the best way to "gracefully fall" to hopefully avoid as much bodily harm as I can and what do I see right where I'm about to land? Shop Vac... So yeah, I land right on that SOB with the right side of my rib cage. Honestly, I feel like landing on the shop vac was probably the best possible scenario as if I had gone direct to ground from the top of that stool, I probably would have broken one, if not both of my arms trying to catch myself. The shop vac (and ribs) kind of acted like a buffer between my outstretched arms the concrete floor.
So, that's how I ended up in the ER with potentially broken ribs. Of course yesterday was the 4th, so my primary care physician's office was closed but they called me this morning to check on me. They wanted to set up a follow up visit especially since the ER didn't do any x-rays, and I can't get in there until Wednesday of next week to confirm what actual damage may have been done.
TL;DR: My clumsy ass fell off a stool, trying to pull an arrow out of some plywood, landed on a Shop Vac and might have broken some ribs.
I say possibly because when I went to the ER, but they didn't take any x-rays because they didn't think that I hit in an area where my ribs actually are (more in the cartilage area by the solar plexus), so the jury is still out on any actual breaks. They did ultrasound me to see if I had any internal bleeding, and found none, but I'd bet money there is a least some fractures if not outright breaks judging by where the bruises are today and the amount of pain that I'm in. When I was in the ER, it really didn't hurt that bad, but I'm guess the adrenalin was still going through me.Since getting back into the sport after a 10 year hiatus, I have set up a little range in the basement. I had to rearrange a bunch of stuff in the basement to make this happen, and in doing so I had to move my cut-off saw rig to a new wall, and put my bag target on one of the tables. When I did this, the saw ended up right square in front of the one of the windows, so I put a piece of 3/4" plywood there to kind of keep any sawdust from just coating the window. Also, it covered about 90% of the window right next to the target, so in the off chance that I sent one flyin' somewhere it shouldn't go.. it wouldn't go through the window. Never really thought I would need it, but I'm glad I did this as it turns out.. maybe.
Fast forward to Wednesday night.. Wife and I just got back from dinner, and she wanted to watch some HGTV. So I retired to the basement to shoot a few arrows. I backed up to the full length of the basement and had shot about 15 arrows. When my next shot went off, and I hear the unmistakable sound of an arrow hitting wood! So, I walk down to the target and the arrow is sitting about three feet to the left of where I was aiming, sticking out of the plywood about an inch from the edge of it. Two more inches over, and I'd have been looking in the yard for that arrow! So, I'm conflicted at this point because it could have just been a case of replacing a window instead of inflicting bodily harm on myself. I'm still trying to figure out what happened that I missed so badly, but the most likely culprits are that either my arrow came off the rest and I didn't see it, or the arrow had a split in it that I didn't know about and I'm just lucky that it didn't explode on the bow and probably go through some soft part of me that weren't meant to be gone through. Inspection of the arrow after the fact showed that it was broken, but I don't know if it happened when it hit the plywood or it was already that way before I shot it. I'll probably never know for sure.
What does this have to do with broken ribs, you ask?? My cut off saw table is pretty deep, and I was only able to pull the arrow back through the plywood until it got to the tip, then it hung up. I was shooting target arrows with glue in tips, and they "bulge" just bit wider then the arrow shaft. I wasn't really able to get much leverage on the arrow, because I was having to reach so far over the cut off saw table. So, I grabbed a little two step folding ladder/step stool to raise me up where I could get a better grip on the arrow and REALLY give it a tug!! Which I did a few times, and on the last mighty heave the arrow popped out, which then immediately put me off balance and falling backwards. Then, my feet got hung up in the step stool. There I was doing my best "wavy armed, Scooby-Doo hangin' out over empty space" impression, trying to figure out how I'm going to get out of this one without getting hurt really badly. In all this mayhem, I somehow manage to get turned around where I was facing my impending doom instead of falling backwards into it.. and this is where the broken ribs come into play. Now, I'm about 6'2" and weigh about 330 lbs. And no, these aren't "pretty" pounds. I'm what would be considered a "hoss" in my neck of the woods. So, here I am standing another foot or so off the ground on this ever-lovin' stool and I know at this point that I'm going down, there's no way out of it. I'm trying to figure out the best way to "gracefully fall" to hopefully avoid as much bodily harm as I can and what do I see right where I'm about to land? Shop Vac... So yeah, I land right on that SOB with the right side of my rib cage. Honestly, I feel like landing on the shop vac was probably the best possible scenario as if I had gone direct to ground from the top of that stool, I probably would have broken one, if not both of my arms trying to catch myself. The shop vac (and ribs) kind of acted like a buffer between my outstretched arms the concrete floor.
So, that's how I ended up in the ER with potentially broken ribs. Of course yesterday was the 4th, so my primary care physician's office was closed but they called me this morning to check on me. They wanted to set up a follow up visit especially since the ER didn't do any x-rays, and I can't get in there until Wednesday of next week to confirm what actual damage may have been done.
TL;DR: My clumsy ass fell off a stool, trying to pull an arrow out of some plywood, landed on a Shop Vac and might have broken some ribs.
