Well, never a dull moment around us. Stu was fighting a headache and laid down for a late afternoon nap. A little after five our neighbor knocks on our door in a panic, asking for help. Someone is trapped under something across the street. I wake Stu up and he heads out as I grab our jackets and flashlight.
It wasn’t our neighbor trapped under something (which was my first assumption since he works on cars a lot like Stu) but someone trapped under an ATV. Stu assessed the situation and got his 2-ton jack to get the vehicle off the man trapped. Then he and our neighborhood shored it up on wooden blocks. 9-1-1 had been called but we are a bit out of the way and all the fire and rescue folks are volunteers.
The first volunteer arrived and called in another report, stressing the urgency. The man was unresponsive and his breathing was labored. He was face down and bloody. I brought out some towels and blankets to keep him warm while we waited.
They managed to get the vehicle raised enough to ensure he could be pulled out which, once all the FD and rescue folks arrived, they eventually did. He as taken off to a spot where a lifeflight helicopter could pick him and transport him to a trauma center in Nashville. We heard the next day he was stable with broken and bruised ribs.
While response was slower than we would have liked and there were a few other issues (FD response had medic gear on board but no authorization to use it since no one was trained as well as three vehicles arriving before anyone used a flashlight other than ours), we were impressed with how they cleaned up the scene afterwards. The street in front of our house was littered with items strewn from the ATV as well as parts/pieces of it. After righting the vehicle, they proceeded to clear the street of all the debris.
We ended up with a State Trooper, the Sheriff’s Department, the Rescue Squad, a Fire Department truck (could have been two…there were a lot of lights), as well as a couple of personal vehicles. I took a few photos from our front porch.
On a separate note, I saw my newest doctor in Knoxville on Tuesday. He is a urogynecologist and the Director, Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery Division at the University of Tennessee. I had a good visit and I really like him.
I have more testing to be done to determine what all needs to be repaired/tacked in place (oh the joys of aging). His surgical schedule is booked to the end of January so, if I end up with surgery, it won’t be until after our cruise in February. In the meantime, the needed tests are booked and will continue to not lift anything heavy or strain doing things.
The weather has turned cooler here and I’m still sharing leggings pics on Facebook…LOL! Stu will continue to winterize the vehicles (lawn mower, lawn tractor, zero-turn, pickup, Freightliner, and the RV). He also has to look at the Jeep to see where a new noise is coming from – could be bearings or CV joints. Good thing he’s mechanically talented AND enjoys doing things like this.
Today is cold and rainy so we put soup in the crockpot and are heading out for a 4pm movie. We’re going to see the new Zombieland movie.
That about wraps it up for today! How are things in your corner of the world?
