Probably when a stallion we had lunged at me and bit me just above my right breast. He was mad at another horse over the fence, and I should have been paying attention...but he had never been bad before. My breast turned as black as an eggplant and ice cold. Had nerve damage, a hematoma and it took about 3 months to heal up. If I had insurance, probably wouldn't have taken so long, but the doctors just had me wait it out. Otherwise, I think they would have cut it open and removed the hematoma and the dead tissue that resulted. It was pretty bad.

Hmmm, One that I remember quite well was when I was around 7 years old and living in Puerto Rico. My dad was cooking plantains (fat bananas) in a frying pan. The oil in the pan caught fire, so my dad decided to bring it outside. I ran out the back door to hold it open and the pan of oil ended up on the ground by my feet.
The hot oil burned around my toes and the top of my feet. Long story short, my feet ended up wrapped in gauze, requiring the cute doctor to carry me out to our car. (it felt better for a few mins :) I had a couple scars on my feet for about 25 years. I can believe burns are about the worst pain ever. I really feel for burn victims.

As a child, playing with friends...flyinh those balsa wood planes you put together. Planes had a metal tip on the nose.
One of the planes hit me in the face, metal tip imbedded itself in my eyebrow.
I can still remember the look on my mother's face when she say a toy plane hanging from, what looked to her, like my eye.

I still have the scar...cover it up with eyebrow pencil.

One I don't remember. I was under 4 and my parents had a dun-buggy. The muffler was a bright shiny copper color. Before my mom could reach me, I grabbed a hold of the muffler and apparently burnt my hand pretty good. No scars and no memory so it must not have been too bad.

One I do remember. I was 17 and a senior in high school. Was working at Baskin Robbins in the local mall. The owners decided to take the cheap way out and the husband "patched" the leaky water pipe. To make a long story short, I ended up with a concussion and a broken jaw. Missed a week or work and went back with my mouth wired shut because I was going stir crazy at the house. Never did get my teachers to understand that having my mouth wired shut was painful- they would still call on me in class and act mad when I couldn't speak clearly! The fall/break also aggravated my wisdom teeth so I had all 4 surgically removed the day of high school graduation rehearsal.

1991 was a bad year. Until that time the sickest I had ever been was strep throat when I was a preschooler. That year, I broke my jaw, had my wisdom teeth removed, was diagnosed with irritable bowl, sprained my ankle, and had ankle surgery. I was never so happy as to see the New Year arrive!

I was 4 years old in 1954 and my Mom was in the hospital having my brother. I was helping my Grandmother launder the clothes. We had a wringer washer and I put something into the wringer but didn't let go quickly enough and my hand started to go throught the wringer. Thankfully my thumb wasn't sticking up or it would have been demolished. I was fortunate that my Grandmother turned the reverse handle before my elbow was shattered. She could have turned the release handle and my arm would have been immediately released but she didn't think of that. I still remember standing there watching my hand come out of the wringer. No lasting injury but terribly swollen.

Probably when I was about 14 and ran into a guidewire in the dark. It hit me right at the bottom of my neck and as I fell it scrapped the skin off my neck all the way up to my chin. I hit the ground so hard that it knocked me out. My parents kept saying I was going to have a huge scar covering my neck ( the kids at school kept saying it was a huge hickey). Thankfully it healed up nicely.

Two things back to back. This was many years ago and we were getting to go camping (tent), in the 60's I was making crushed ice, packing the car, and trying to make 3 kids do what I thought they should do. Put the ice cubes into a blender and of course they got stuck--so I unplugged the blender and stuck my fingers in to break the jam and almost lost my finger. To ER, stitches, wrapped up went home and packed. That night at the campfire,dumb dumb me, decided to make the fire better, and poured a bit of white gasoline and of course the fire traveled up and (same hand) and I immediately sat down and put the hand/fire etc in the dirt to put it out. My DH just shook his head. No scars, no infection--just plain luck.

I was about 10 I think, riding my bike at the school, going down a big black topped hill, across the playground, looked bak at my cousin, turned back around then WHAM!! right into the middle horizontal bar of those monkey bar things right across the bridge of my nose. It immediately knocked me off my bike, and the bike kept going. Ended up with a bloody nose and 2 black eyes

Think I was about 6 and watching my older brother work on his bike and he kept telling me to 'go away' and naturally I didn't. He got mad and threw a wrench at me and hit me in the middle of the head about 2 inches above the hairline. I bled profusely and scared him to death, he thought I was going to die. Left a dime sized scar smack dab in the middle and never could part my hair in the middle.

Got my hand caught in the wringer of the old washing machine once when about 6 or so.

Around age of 11 went with my cousin to the circus, next day was in the yard at my grandparents and there was an old wagon bed with about 2-1/2 ft. sideboards on it sitting on the ground. I just knew I could practice some tight rope walking on those sideboards, which were less than an inch in width, a few steps, fell right onto the head of a big old rusty nail on the floor. Went in just below my left knee cap. Still have a very faint scar.

Had car door slammed on my fingers. Broke my left wrist roller skating, was 35 years old at the time.

Must have been around 19 or 20 and was waitressing. Arrived at a table with a tray full of food, and suddenly my ankle turned. I didn't trip or anything. It just turned over and down I went with the tray full of food and drinks crashing all over the place, including the customers at the table. One lady was really angry and made my boss angry with her. He saw the whole incident and told her it was an accident. I think he was angry because it wasn't as though I was being careless or anything. I couldn't walk and had to be carried out of there. Never did figure out how my ankle just turned over like that. It was funny the next day but not while I was soaking my foot in ice water.

Casey's darning needle story reminded me of this little fiasco...One night,when my kids were small, we were having a thunderstorm. My DH was a lineman for the power company and he was called out because of the storm. Our power was out, also, and I came walking across the carpet barefoot. I stepped on a round, wooden toothpick and stuck it in the skin between my big toe and the next one. It went all the way through my foot and there was the top part sticking up and the bottom part sticking out of the bottom of my foot.

There I was, in the dark, crying and trying to get it out by wiggling it up and down. Had two crying kids (scared to death because I was crying!) and was trying to get it out by the light of a kerosene lamp.

Finally got it out and it was sore for several days. We started buying the flat toothpicks, after that! LOL

I don't remember how old I was but I am thinking 10 or 11 and I was using my mom's electric mixer. While it was plugged in I put the beaters in and the fingers on my left hand got caught between the beaters. I was alone in the house, everyone was outside with the plumber working on a plumbing problem. Finally my mom heard me screaming and came in and saw what had happened and yelled outside. The plumber came in and unplugged the mixer and bent the beaters apart to release my fingers. I told my parents that one of my fingers was broken but they didn't believe me. To this day that finger is crooked at the first joint. In those days, 1952 or so we didn't go to the emergency room for anything.

Strangest would be when we were newlyweds and childless. We were *ahem* horsing around on the living room carpet and I was just a bitty little thing at the time. I had rug burns on every area of my back where a boney area jutted out. DH had to drive me to the ER and I had to sleep with some special wet compresses covering my back for a couple of nights.

Second would be when I was cleaning my pocketknife,and mumbly pegged it right into my shin. So once again poor DH had to drive me to the hospital for stitches and I had to explain how I stabbed myself with my own knife.

I seem to have Big Toe Syndrome.

When I was 5 years old, I opened the gate to the goat pen, which pulled towards me. It lifted my big toe nail up, totally. Had to have it removed, very painful.

When I was sixteen I was primarily a Jazz & Tap Dancer. My Dance Instructor decided I needed to do a Jazz number on "Point" (as in ballerina Toe Shoes) to the song "Tequila". At the end I was to jump and land on point. Jammed my toe nails (they actually turned black)and had to have them removed. Very painful.

When I sang & Danced in a Choral Line at age 35, we had practice 5 hours twice weekly. Lots of standing & Dancing in High Heels. I got two ingrown toenails and had to have them removed. The most painful experience. My 3 year old Son loved to run and jump into my arms after springing from my healing toes. LOL!

So, now I wear open toed shoes most of the time, even when I dance. I've finally given up on dance after having my toes stepped on one time to many.

I can't tell you how many times I've stumped my toes while making a bed. Gads!

I'm Jinxed!

Gayle

Casey that exact same thing happened to my Dd except it was her brother who left a needle on the carpet from sewing a GI Joe outfit.
Week later surgery.....Big brothers are a menace sometimes!

When I was nine years old, my neighbor and I were playing with sleds on an icy driveway. The sled I was using had belonged to my father when he was a boy, and dated from the 1920's. Back then, child safety was not a big issue, so the ends of the sled runners were just metal points, not rounded metal like they were made later.

My neighbor pushed the sled toward me and the pointy runner ran into my foot. I didn't even pay attention to the injury until I got home and took off my boot, and realized both the boot and by foot had been pierced, and my boot was full of blood.

I required a lot of stitches, but the stitches were removed before the wound healed on account of infection. It finally healed, leaving a huge scar, which I still have over fifty years later!

(I also still have the sled, but no one is allowed to play with it.)

Well I've been hit by a baseball bat. I wandered too close to the batter, he swung and hit me in the forehead. Knocked me out. I still have a scar. That was when I was 5 or 6.

I slid across a picnic bench I was using to sit on while sewing...it hurt when I slid....I had caught a piece of wood. It was about as big as a pencil getting bigger as it went in and broke off. Denny wanted me to go to ER to take it out...I made him dig it out. Believe me it was much harder on him than it was me...LOL...I have a high pain tollerance.

And another time trying to sew some real thick fabric (too many layers)Pushing it through I sewed my finger. The needle went in and out three times before needle broke off.

I could go on...I've done a lot of stupid things.

patti

I must have led a really sheltered life, cuz I've never really had a weird or bad injury. Yeegads Gayle, your post gave me the shivers just thinking about it. I can't imagine having even one toenail removed once, but multiple times...OUCH!!!

When I was five years old I was watching some neighbors build a room addition. As I walked around the construction site I stepped on a nail which pierced my flip flop shoe essentially nailing it onto my foot. It took a good effort by my mom to remove the nail and tend to the wound. It is now 50 years later and I can still remember this as vividly as if it happened yesterday.

Not sure this qualifies as an injury but ... when I was just a few months old, I scooted to the end of my crib, grabbed a dry cleaner bag my mom had drapped over the end and sucked it down my throat. Our boxer dog alerted my mother by running back and forth until she went to my room to check on me. She found me blue and lifeless and knew nothing about CPR but my father, a Seattle sheriff at the time, had just walked in the front door for lunch, heard my mom's screams, ran into my room and performed CPR bringing me back from the brink.

Jodi-

When I was 15, my friend and I went with my dad to Home Depot. We were in the garden area about to walk out. Dad beat us out the gate doors so we ran to catch up. I man walking out ahead of us pushed the gate open, looked back, saw us coming and slammed it shut ( jerk). My friend made it out before the door shut but I didn't. A long metal pole (the latch) sticking out from the gate caught me right under my right eye. Almost lost my eye. It pierced the soft skin underneath. It bled horribly and I had this huge cut. Get this- I hid it from my mom AND dad (who was with me). He was totally unaware that his daughter was in the back seat of the car bleeding profusely. My friend and I hid it from them for 2 days. Finally, they noticed a cut and black eye 2 days later. I explained what happened. They were so mad. I think they really were mad because THEY didn't notice it, which means no one really looked at me for 2 days! Thank God, no infection- nothing. The cut mended by itself. I did clean it real well when we got home and got rid of the bloody shirt. I have a funny scar under my right but you can barely see it anymore. Here's what gets me: why the idiot slammed the door on us as we walked through, thought it was funny and how in the world my mom and dad missed my injury! I also don't know why I hid it from them. I think I thought I was going to need some major work on it. I know I needed stitches and a tetanus booster but didn't get either! The stuff we do as kids! This injury could've cost me my eye and I hid it from my parents!

Most of these stories made me shudder.

I was sewing some curtains and somehow, to this day, can't figure out how, ran over my thumb with the needle. When it happened, I jerked my hand back, which broke the needle off. Straight down the middle of my thumb nail and out the other side. I had gotten up early, drank some coffee, started sewing and did this. I woke DH and asked him to pull it out with pliers. He wanted no part of that. He took me to the ER. They thought I needed it numbed to remove it. The shot for that hurt much worse. I looked a sight...bed head...sloppy shirt with a coffee stain on it...no bra...and sitting in the ER and then in the x-ray place with my hand above my head. Nice! LOL

When I was in kindergarten, I stuck my tongue on the metal tetherball pole. I have a scar down the center of my bottom lip from that.

I was pretty young when I got my arm pulled into the wringer on the washer.

I was very dumb when I stuck the hanger (hooked part) up my nose and then turned it. (I know...why???)

When I was in grade school, I got an ingrown toe nail. My step dad kept telling me that I was going to have to have my toe cut off. That scared me to death and I just let it get worse and worse. I could barely walk on it. When I was around him, I would walk as normal as possible. The pain was excruciating. It was very infected. One day, I was sitting on the porch, contemplating which was going to be worse...the pain from the infected ingrown toe nail, or having it cut off. My Mom came home from work and saw me sitting there. She also saw the red line going up my foot and about half way to my knee. I had blood poisoning (?). Off to the ER with me. I never trusted anything my step dad told me after that.

Not an injury, but the strangest mess I ever made. I poured myself a glass of grape juice, walked across the room with it in my hand. I tripped over the dog, the glass jerked upwards and I got grape juice on the ceiling! At least I didn't break the glass!

We had just bought this house, and had my brother and his wife over for a BBQ. We decided to take the dogs for a walk. I got the leashes and was standing on the bottom step. My golden was so excited he bumped me behind the knees, and I fell into a depression in the yard.
I broke my ankle so bad that the foot was facing backwards. We called the ambulance, and with everyone watching, the paramedic dropped his bag on me and broke my fibula. Off to the hospital, lots of apologies and by the way they never billed me for that ride!
I now have screws in the ankle on the inner side of my foot, and a metal plate running up the outside of my leg with pins.
I tell people the dog and paramedic did it, and they all just give me "the look"..Kathy

A Senegal parrot hanging from my lip. Instantly went numb like pliers, until he let go...lips bleed a lot. It swelled up huge and pierced in and out.

I keep getting tetanus shots for animal bites.

Way back in 1950, I was just shy of 13 and fell off a load of hay and broke my femur...Ended up in the hospital and met my DH, who was a patient in the next room..After surgery, I was in a body cast for months and he was a regular visitor, at the hospital and then at home...Here we are, 53 years later and he's still taking care of me...That is what I call a very lucky break!

Mine isn't very exciting, not like some of these. When I was about 5, my brother pushed me down a flight of stairs and cracked my head open. It was a Sunday and the doctor had to meet us at the clinic to stitch my head closed. My mother only just recently learned that it was not an accident. lol

And the time I was pulling a nail with pliers and was bending over the nail. I got it loose! And jammed the 2 handles of the pliers up into my forehead, leaving my forehead with twin black and blue bruises for over a week.

And the time I had to grab our fawn as she was making a run for the great outdoors before she was weaned- she kicked the ever-lovin' snot out of me and I looked like an abused woman for weeks. My arms and torso were all torn up. It was hot out and I couldn't go anywhere without long sleeves for about a month.

Kim, ya' gotta quit kissing the birds! That sounds painful. I've been bitten on the lip by an over active Puppy before.

Gayle

Man, I almost forgot about my monkey bite! ... Kim's story reminded me.

In 1983 I was in southern Japan, at a park called Monkey Mountain. 1,200 or so monkey ran wild around the park.

While sitting down to rest, some baby monkey's came up to me to visit. A large male was basking in the sun just an arm's length behind me.

The babies began to squabble and I knew instinctively I was going to be attacked. I glanced behind me just in time to see the male push himself up. I immediately threw my left arm up to protect my neck and an instant later he hit.

The monkey's grip on my arm was so tight that I started to lose feeling in my hand immediately. I stood up and ended up with about 40 pounds of monkey hanging off my arm.

At this point a small crowd was forming and I started yelling. A park employee with a stick came and whacked the monkey on the head and he let go, slowly wandering off to find somewhere else to sun himself.

All this time my husband was backing up to take pictures of me with the monkeys and didn't really realize what was happening until I began to yell.

I have photos of a minute before the attack and one the next day of the injury. I'll post those later when I have more time.

Jodi-

I have been pretty lucky...not too many things have happened.

I was probably 4-5, my dad always had a can of peanuts in the evening. Back then they had the metal pull lid. I came out of the bathroom after my bath running to stand by the floor furnace...yep, found the tin lid with my foot. I don't think I have any scars tho.

I was 15 and was living the summer with my sister out in CA. I had 'boyfriend' and we both lived in the mobile home park. We spent ALOT of time at the pool. We were on our way home because I had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad! He started twisting his towel and snapping me with it. I ran up up the stairs, opened the door really fast to get away from being snapped and shut the metal door...with my foot inside it!! My BIL was sitting on a chair close by, yelled for my sis to get towels FAST, told me to NOT LOOK DOWN, only at him....I did too! She came with the towels and wrapped it and they were ready to go to the ER. I said I had to pee before I could go ANYWHERE! Tom (BF) felt so bad...he would come and take care of me if no one was going to be home. He was really sweet. Had to come home on the plane from CA to MN on crutches!

I have had a few close calls with knives and cutters, but nothing worth stitches or anything.

When my uncle remarried he had an instant family of 4 daughters so I would spend summers on Cape Cod with the family. I was 11-13. The first year I fell of a bike and right side was all road rash. The second year I got stung by a jelly fish. The third year I cut my right leg just aboce my knee with a conch shell and thankfully the last year I came home unscathed!

Right after my Mom died I went to live with her parents. Well I got into Gram's pills (which she kept on the second shelf of the kitchen cabinet)I managed to take digitalis and something else. They pumped my stomach ( I bit the Dr) and rushed me to the Children's Hospital in Boston. They didn't know for three days whether I would make it.

My strangest injury was probably when I was about 12. Someone had left a small, sharp pair of scissors on the couch and they fell between the cushions pointing sharp end up, but were completely hidden by the fluffy cushion. I ran into the room and plopped down on the couch really hard and felt the most excruciating, sharp pain in my rear. The scissors went right into my butt cheek! It could have gone much, much worse, LOL, but it still hurt!

marilyn_c,
And I thought I was the only one...

My old stallion once bit me on the right breast. Same as yours, there was a horse off to my left and I was not paying attention to the stallion I was holding.

He crushed the entire outer half of the breast and I went into shock from the pain. It could have been worse, though since the bra I was wearing was very slippery and the shirt slid off the side. the skin sloughed off that side of the breast and I could not wear a bra for at least a month.

I have extensive scar tissue in that breast and have to get regular mammograms since there is no way I'd feel another lump in that area. One of the times I was getting a physical the new nurse practitioner did not know about the scar tissue when she palpated the breast. She turned white as a sheet and rushed out to make an emergency appointment for a mammogram. I tried to reassure her, but she was convinced that I had cancer run amuck in that side.

To this day it hurts to wear a bra for very long - the side seam presses on the scar tissue in the muscle under my arm. I embarrass a lot of delivery and work men since I pretty much do not wear a bra at home. It just is far too painful.