Eastern VA. No such thing as too many Magnums. | Hey Fellas,
Thanks for all your well wishes after my lowboy accident back on Oct. 9. I got tangled up in one of the ramps by my own stupidity and now i'm paying for it. I'm going to elaborate a little bit about my experience so if you're not interested, stop reading now. The way it happened was pretty disappointing. The problem was that the resevoir line cracked. So the last time (before me) that the lowboy was used, the cylinders were emptied out. Unfortunately I didn't know that part. I knew we had a leak, so I fixed the resevoir and filled it up with oil. But I never cycled the cylinders. So when I unlocked the latches, the ramps were FREE to fall at gravity speed. ( but they didn't fall right away, unfortunately) When they're folded up they're about 12'6" at the tips, so they had some room to pick up speed. The trailer has its own battery to run the hyd. pump and it was dead. I walked around the back of the trailer to go in the shop and get a booster pack and wouldn't you know that gravity decided to let the ramps fall right then. I know I shouldn't have even been in that path, but no one has used it more than me and I just never saw it fall any faster than a snail could crawl. It was a serious oversite. I got home about 2 weeks ago and recovery is slow but steady. I'm going to be down for quite some time an have had plenty of time to think. Everyday I think about how much worse it could have been. One more step and it could have been lights out. If your loved ones don't know how much you love them, go tell them right away, because all I could think about for the first two weeks was "what if i had died?" I'm only 32 and I just got a lifetime lesson on being thankful and having patience. I just don't know how someone without family and faith in God could recover from a critical injury. Luckily I have a patient wife who is able to stay home with me. Both of our extended family have helped out tremedously. I have a capable father and employees who can get things done without me for a while. We had plenty of the right insurance. ( We'll probably hit a million dollars of medical before its over) Its a slow time of year. And I'm going to be alright. Be careful boys and girls, I found out it only takes ONE second to break 23 bones and put you down for 90 days (or kill you)
Thanks again for your posts, emails, and cards. With gratitude,
-Rafe Parker- (Virginia Veg.) |
Almost dead, but not quite.
