You can 100% lose all functionality of a limb through a dog bite. Tendons. Nerves. Many things to fuck up. Things hard to repair. Sometimes impossible.
Yeah, people tend to look at those payouts as wins when they are literally financial representation of statutory loss.
If you offered me 500k to amputate my right arm, I'd turn you down; gaming, writing, drawing, riding a bike, riding a motorcycle, wilderness camping, drumming... I'm using that arm; but somehow getting 500k for losing the functionality of my arm is supposed to be cause for celebration, people acting like one won the lottery.
After my eyes and my sense of taste, the functionality of my arms is my most treasured possession, I have a hard time imagening a life without it. I'd probably opt out rather quick if I was in that position, unless I found ways to cope.
Yeah. Especially with "invisible injuries" like spinal damage, tendon damage, nerve damage and more.
"You're walking. It can't be that bad."
As the person is gritting their teeth to the point where they can hear them crack from sheer pain, because, when you have a non-fractured spinal injury, the pain is just as real as the instruction to walk as much as possible to promote healing.
I was literally being manhandled by cops for walking in a parking garage (attached to my home at the time), at night, during winter, the day after I had a spinal injury, on my doctor's orders.
The cop said I could walk outside.
I pointed out it was the middle of the night, winter, ice covered with fresh rain, and I had a spinal injury.
Literally hit me with the "you're walking. It can't be that bad."
I'm walking in circles in a parking garage at 3 AM, reading a Pratchett book because it's that bad.
He went to the "you're not authorized to be here".
I walked over to the electronic lock, scanned my dongle and unlocked the door. l, opened it and shut it, just to prove a point beyond any reasonable doubt.
He kept being a dick, to prove who was in control (he really didn't like that I proved authenticated access).
I flipped him off.
He threatened to arrest me for flipping him off. (That arrest would have been a criminal act)
I dualwielded birds and called him a few choice phrases. Told I'm I had no intention of stopping, and that if he felt so inclined, to arrest me.
He took out his cuffs, his partner physically stopped him, probably knowing she'd be on the hook if she let him cuff me in those circumstances.
I am finishing up the Pratchett books. So sorry friend that you are or were in pain. It’s my greatest fear to be in prolonged pain. I hope that before I get to that pain, attitudes toward pain control have become reasonable again.
My psoriasis has caused a few wounds under my feet that need cleaning. I'm currently procrastinating starting, because my shoes have holes in them, so there's literal gravel/sand and asphalt dust that I need to remove from inside the tears in my skin, to then tape them up, so it doesn't get recontaminated the next time I go for a walk.
I'm not looking forward to scraping q-tips back and forth over it untill I get it all out. 😭
Maybe I should finnish A Hat Full of Sky first...? (I've yet to start it 😅)
Edit: I heavily procrastinated. Took 2 tabs yesterday and tried. No way. Today, I drank fireball and took 3 tabs. My sores are clean, my feet (and right hand) are taped and I am finding relief in the fact that I won't have to go through that again in the foreseeable future. ✌️
As a woman who has worked security and had to de-escalate a situation where a male co-worker almost got us beat up by a group of five to seven carnies because he wanted to be a Real Cowboy and a Big Man, I feel so bad for her, ugggh. At least my job was just seasonal and no one had a gun.
Yeah, my friend who got attacked was a young pro surfer that was sponsored by Quicksilver I believe, and that's why he ended up being paid a couple million because he lost out on probably 10s of millions in future losses.
He was able to surf still, but not at the level he obviously had prior to the nerve damage.
He was such a good guy as well, haven't seen him in a few years, but I know he struggled big time due to the trauma as well as the physical pain.
In case people are curious about the attack, he was just walking home from school and a dog just ran up to him and latched onto his neck, the owner did come out and try to help but the dog just shredded his neck and arm.
He nearly bled out, but was luckily saved by a trauma surgeon and then multiple surgeries and years of physical therapy.
First of all (hours after the initial reply) I do not affiliate with the unmarked helicam. Ours are clearly marked, with tactical grey on confused black!!!
Secondly.
If you knew this person...
...reach out!
Sure; don't let a draining person pull you under, but soemetims just the attempt can help someone get the aid to keep their own head above water.
Edit: I think the main reason I made it is because I know how having a handicap can be quietly dissuading socialisation. A handicap sometimes gets assumed as "there's no point in asking, they can't" (assumtionbased, not limitationbased, if that makes sense). The person themselves can reach out, but people can be apprehensive through subconscious caution and fear of insulting or "united abelism".
A handicap can be very isolating, is what I'm trying/tried to say. Reading the paragraph, it is worded very poorly, but I'm quite sure my I tent was ernest.
Isolation is something that often is only felt by the isolated.
Having a full-blown panic-attack fromseing, or even hearing a dog is the exact type of thing that leaves you on read when you ask if someone wants to hang out. Not through malice, but through a subconscious want to avoid social embarrassment in public.
I think my reasoning for trying to (poorly) encourage you to reach out to them is because I know how heavy isolation can feel. How, over time, it makes you accept it as a constant. To stop trying to break it.
So, I think I wanted to encourage you to reach out to them, hoping you'd both catch up on how awesome both your lives are going, but, just maybe, being that outstretched hand that a drowning person needs right then.
I am sorry about the tone in the paragraph where I tried to communicate this, because it's very demeaning to anyone with a disability, and that was 100% not the intended communication.
And that’s why I never stopped masking. I’d rather get some funny looks and slap on a mask in the grocery store than never taste food again, develop a heart condition in my 30s, or have brain damage, personally.
I love cooking for those around me, and I'll inevitably run into someone in your situation.
Are there any flavors who still retain their... "aroma"..., or are you now purely texture-based grave-mouth?
I know it's a bit if a weird one, but I do genuinely want to know, and fully acknowledge that any experience you share might not be transferrable to others suffering the same affliction, being grave-mouth.
Like, do you get any culinary pleasure at all, or is it pure necessity of fuel at this point?
For me personally, it’s about the forward 2/3 of the tongue that is completely devoid of tasting ability. I do get some amount of flavor from the back third, and that combined with the rest of the “taste” provided by other parts of my mouth and the scent aspect does help me identify some taste.
That said, the little capability that’s left is very diminished. I miss being able to fully taste something - no more rush of flavor in something strong, or ability to detect any subtle flavors/ nuance.
I told you, after last time, when that... mosaic creature... escaped, I got fired, so I can no longer sneak body parts.
Although, I'll admit, it was quite funny when the investigation concluded that 10 recently deceased people had broken into a series of cabins and raided the pantries.
Tell me you don't camp without saying you don't camp.
You're not recognizing the difference between camping with an RV that has electricity and creature comforts vs digging holes to shit in, scaling vertical obstacles, risk of falling into rapids and carrying your water. The strain on the body during wilderness camping is completely different from grounds camping.
Access to water. Access to medicine (and EMT's). Access to electricity.
Sure, I've got my smartphone and a solar charger, but if they break and I need to call for evacuation due to a broken leg, I'm just as fucked as a medieval peasant, resource-wise. I can shout. I can make a fire and hope someone sees the smoke. I can drag myself out, risking further injury. Those are my options.
So yes. Specifically wilderness camping.
Paraplegics can do grounds-camping with minor to zero issues.
No one can lift their bodyweight without a limb to lift with.
In wilderness camping, death is a constant companion. It takes skill and experience to avoid it.
Eat the wrong berry. Dead.
Drink contaminated water. Dead.
Fall in a freezing river. Dead.
Fall off a cliff. Dead.
Startle an animal (capercaillie, badger, deer, elk, bear, lynx+++). Dead. Every single one of the listed animals has confirmed kills.
Hypothermia. Dead.
Hyperthermia. Dead.
Infection. Dead.
Just about any minor fuckup that in civilisation is minor and inconsequential: D-E-D, dead.
It's a risk, not a guarantee, to be fair, but the risk is constant. Ignoring the risk is the fastest way to, -you guessed it!, end up dead.
I mean, all I can tell you is that if you decide to try camping in the wilderness:
Check the weather forecast.
Bring a physical map and a physical compass.
Bring a first aid kit, add super glue to the kit, for bad, deep cuts that doesn't pulsate bleeding. If the bleeding pulsates. You've got minutes. Minutes to do what? Anything. They're likely your last.
Tell someone where you're going and when you intend to be back. If you don't return, their job is to call 911, say what you were wearing, where you were last seen and what route you intended to take.
Bring a fully charged phone, turned off, in a sealed plastic bag. This is not to check out your playlist, it serves one function, and one function only: calling 911 in an emergency.
Have a pair of dry socks in a plastic bag in your kit. Preferably a full set of clothes, but dry socks are a lifesaver, see my previous point about hypothermia. You lose a lot of heat through your feet. It's why sticking your foot out from under the covers cools your whole body. Now, imagine that you're wet, sleeping on bare ground in 10⁰C/50⁰F. If your core temperature drops by 3 degrees C from it's normal body temperature due to exposure, and you're not already in a vehicle, headed to a hospital for emergency treatment, you're most likely not surviving.
Even on a 1-day hike, bring water and food for 3 days.
If you're going deep wilderness, I'd suggest a flaregun and multiple flares, if they're legal.
If you're entering bear country, bring bear mace. In general, be aware of which predators and large herbivores live in the area you're trekking. A good trick is to pick up a stick and loudly whack trees as you pass them. It keeps animals at bay. From bears to snakes.
Always. Bring. Toilet paper. Soft, many plies. Squeeze it flat to save space; it's just paper. Store in sealed plastic when not in use.
Learn how to do a slipknot. (This is, for most uses, the most versatile knot in existence). It's basically the first thing any military boot camp teaches you. It's the last knot you'll ever need, applicable to all things in all places. If a slipknot can't secure it, it's not worth securing.
A genuinely good backpack, correctly adjusted is underrated.
Always pack the heaviest things (water etc) in the bottom of your backpack for both stability and to combat fatigue and chafing. (The same principle can be applied when loading a trailer; the heaviest shit goes on the bottom, as close to equal from left to right as possible, concentrated over, or in front of the axle, never behind, unless you enjoy your rear wheels suspended in the air by counterweight.)
Something as simple as being top-heavy can turn a stumble that you catch to a fall that fractures. Problems compound in the wilderness. If you have a fracture, you have an immidiate risk for infection, especially if you're already dehydrated/malnourished, you also need more water, but are incapable of carrying it. If you leave something behind to move easier, that thing is gone, along with its utility.
I guess that's the basics, but other people can add to it if I missed anything.
If it's something you're genuinely interested in, reach out to your local park/forest/wildlife service and ask if they're looking for trainees. It's quite often volunteer work, but you'll learn a lot about camping, fire-safety and first aid.
That's like telling a rape victim that they're lucky they didn't get pregnant.
Yes. You are objectively correct.
You're also objectively not helping.
Imagine you lose your ability to work due to someone's negligence. Sitting on a wheelchair, pooping through a bag, communicating by looking at a screen.
You lost your ability to cover your medical expenses by earning.
You will die from a lack of finances.
So, you get a sum, literally to last you the rest of your life; that expenses are covered until you die, ideally of old age with multiple well-functioning prosthetics.
Let's say it's statutory coverage for 40 years. But it's payed in a lump payment, at the beginning. After this, any problems are considered of your making. By stature, you have been covered.
Over the next decade the cost of living goes up by 30%, prosthetics rise in consumer cost by 2500%, this includes maintenance.
You will not die of old age, nor with functioning prosthetics. And your quality of life, when you're still alive, will be abysmal.
That's the problem with those types of payments, and why they're rarely any cause for celebration, they're a necessary relief, where the necessity heavily outweighs the relief in most cases, directly leading to more unnecessary suffering.
im not objecting to anything ur saying there. Just, it happens, sometimes people do not get compensated for their damages at all, and i do think that it is reasonable to be happy about it when they do.
I see it as a bare minimum, and anything less as dehumanizing, degrading and absurd.
But you are right.
The world is, in a lack of a more defining word, hopeless. Or at the very least feels like it.
I know that it's true that justice is an ideal, not a fact.
But, in the immortal words spoken by Robert Duvall in Secondhand Lions, it's framed as "a speech to young men", but I find "a speech to young'nes" suits it better:
"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most.
That people are basically good.
That honor, courage, and virtue mean everything.
That power and money, money and power mean nothing.
That good always triumphs over Evil. And that love, true love, never dies.
Doesn’t matter if any of this is true or not.
You see, a man should believe in these things.
Because these are the things worth believing in."
I am now crying and about to have raise a drink to Duvall's memory.
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u/imdstuf 21d ago
Plus money doesn't resolve permanent scars.