So, about 25 years ago, my dad was cutting lumber and the chainsaw bucked and hit him in the face. So, on his right side of his face he has a huge scar about 5 inches long from that incident.
Last year after he had some chest pains, we found out that he had a birth defect where one of his arteries don't connect to his aorta, but connects to another artery. Therefore, he wasn't able to have a regular procedure for chest pains, but instead he needed to have a double bypass.
Today my father was down at the fire station for a fundraiser and as he was about to leave he joked with one of the guys saying, "Well, I'll see you guys when I hurt myself with my chainsaw." Or something alone the lines of that. So, dad is out back playing lumberjack when the home phone rings. I never answer that stupid thing, so my sister got it. She seemed confused when she answered; she couldn't hear the caller very well, so she just ran the phone up to mom knowing that it was dad from the ID. Suddenly mom comes running downstairs and says, "Rick's hurt." So, I leap out of my chair, throw on my sneakers and run out the back door. Now, I'm not the athletic type so running is an accomplishment. I got out behind our barn and saw my dad walking out of the woods. He looked like something from a horror movie. He was holding his shirt up to attempt to clot the blood, but his shirt was covered in blood. When I got to him my mother had caught up to me and had called for the ambulance. Dad quickly rerouted me to the garage to get our jump kit which is home to some quick medical supplies such as gauze, sterile water, stethoscope, etc. So, I ran from the barn back down to the house then ran back up to the barn. Yes, I'm quite proud of myself. Then I got to see the damage. His lip was split all the way open along the cleft up to his septum. So, the very center of his top lip was split completely. The ambulance arrived pretty quickly, which was good. They were all panic-y and fretting over dad, but dad just hopped in and treated himself. He used to be an EMT, so he basically just needed the rapid transport. My neighbor is a senior in high school and he paddled down the road when he heard sirens here, and then the chief of the department drove up as well. Whenever we call 911 for an emergency, we get an emergency AND a full driveway. It's great.
What actually happened was that dad was cutting a limb that he wasn't aware that it was under pressure. When he cut through the limb, that potential energy became kinetic energy, snapped back and took him in the face. It was about 3inches in diameter and also hit the side of his face. After 7 hours in the trauma center, 12 stitches to muscle and skin, a CAT scan and some pain killers, we also found out that he fractured some bones in his nasal sinus area. I don't know the skull very well, but it's basically the bone behind the sinuses. He has two black eyes and a very puffed up face. Poor guy.
