My dad lost his arm in the late 90s in a work related accident. He described it as painful but was surprised at how it didn’t feel worse right there and then. Probably due to shock.
He was working alone in the middle of the night with his tractor when it happened, so he picked up what remains of his left arm he could find into a bucket and drove to the local nursery home because he knew there were people awake there 24/7. I guess that’s one definition of grace under pressure.
Upon arrival he got the emergency help he needed there and then and a while later he told us that while waiting for the medevac helicopter to be summoned, he was annoyed again about the pain, thinking “Isn’t this where I’m supposed to faint?”.
Later he had the occasional phantom pain. He didn’t struggle with it that much, and it usually passed after a few moments, but he told me that the worst parts was when he had an itch, or a finger was Ina weird position, he could do nothing about it since the limb simply wasn’t there anymore.
His arm was severed by a tractor-operated snowblower right below the elbow.
Fun fact: When the thaw of spring arrived he was happy to learn that someone had found his wristwatch in the retreating ice. Still working just fine. A little later someone found a wedding ring and correctly guessed that it belonged to the guy who got maimed there a few months earlier.
Yeah. I don’t struggle with the pain so much: I have it, but it’s mostly like electric shocks, and somehow it feels like a TENS machine. So as long as it’s not too intense or too long, I’m okay.
But I really struggle with itching.
I just lumped itching with phantom pain because it’s easier to explain to people who don’t know.
Amputation pain is right up there, followed closely in the long term by phantom pain.
Then nausea.
Then tinnitus.
A large part of why they’re the worst for me is that you can’t do anything about them.
My dad lost his arm in the late 90s in a work related accident. He described it as painful but was surprised at how it didn’t feel worse right there and then. Probably due to shock.
He was working alone in the middle of the night with his tractor when it happened, so he picked up what remains of his left arm he could find into a bucket and drove to the local nursery home because he knew there were people awake there 24/7. I guess that’s one definition of grace under pressure.
Upon arrival he got the emergency help he needed there and then and a while later he told us that while waiting for the medevac helicopter to be summoned, he was annoyed again about the pain, thinking “Isn’t this where I’m supposed to faint?”.
Later he had the occasional phantom pain. He didn’t struggle with it that much, and it usually passed after a few moments, but he told me that the worst parts was when he had an itch, or a finger was Ina weird position, he could do nothing about it since the limb simply wasn’t there anymore.
His arm was severed by a tractor-operated snowblower right below the elbow.
Fun fact: When the thaw of spring arrived he was happy to learn that someone had found his wristwatch in the retreating ice. Still working just fine. A little later someone found a wedding ring and correctly guessed that it belonged to the guy who got maimed there a few months earlier.
Yeah. I don’t struggle with the pain so much: I have it, but it’s mostly like electric shocks, and somehow it feels like a TENS machine. So as long as it’s not too intense or too long, I’m okay.
But I really struggle with itching.
I just lumped itching with phantom pain because it’s easier to explain to people who don’t know.