One cold winter day in 1957, I decided to go out where Wayne was cutting rings around the bark of some large cottonwood trees to kill them. I put on Wayne's heavy galoshes and a coat to keep warm because there was still some remaining patches of snow on the ground from a recent snow. I watched Wayne for a while and soon got cold so I squatted down and placed my head between my knees for extra warmth. (I could do that back then) Wayne was swinging the axe above his head to cut the bark, when the axe head flew off the handle. It flew across the fence and hit me with such a force on my shin that I reeled backwards and fell to the ground. For a few moments I did not realize what had happened. I felt like I had been hit on my shin with a ball bat.
I looked up sort of dazed and saw Wayne jump the fence like a deer He was beside me in seconds. The axe struck just within inches of my face. I had no idea I was bleeding because the wound was under the high top galoshes. Wayne maneuvered me onto his back to carry me to the house. I was between being awake and unconscious after the pain finally hit me. I was as limp as a rag and kept telling him I was going to pass out from the pain from the weight of my dangling foot and galoshes. He kept telling me I just had to stay awake so I would not be dead weight.
We had to go about 1/4 mile to the house. By then, the boot was full of blood. April took charge of the children at home while Wayne rushed me to the emergency room at the Cherokee Hospital. Doctor Blender found that the axe blade had made a full width cut with one deeper end where it cut into the bone. He was prepared to go to surgery, because he was certain my leg was broken. When he came from X-ray He was chuckling. He said the cut looked just like a chop in a tree trunk. He called it a “Green Stick” wound.
The wound healed quickly. Dr. Blender said it was because the axe was disinfected from the alcohol in the tree and I had just taken a shower and shaved my legs. He said the wound was surgically clean. The pain was excruciating when I tried to walk because the leg muscles had been severed in the accident. The accident was difficult to explain to those who asked about my wound. Today, I still have a great weather barometer.
|
