Jim Hrisoulas

[Guest mod07]

a forward from Dr Jim,


Hello All:

Well the Little Old Chinese Man's wishes for me to live "a long and interesting life" has once again popped up..

I will be down for a while, seems that I need some serious down time to recover from a rather nasty auto accident.

I will me monitoring the list as best as I can....I was the only one injured (well I guess there is some comfort in that) and will be needing a lot of physical therapy and recovery time..

JPH

[keykeeper]

Get well soon Dr. Jim. All of us "wannabes" need your input here on IFI when we have one of those "Just gotta ask it" questions about blades. And your on the list for prayer for a speedy and full recovery.

-aaron c.

[brucegodlesky]

kneemail sent

[Glenn]

Your on the list Jim.

[Thomas Dean]

I'm not a bladesmith, haven't even made a KSO yet, but one day.... I have admired you and your work for some time tho. Do what the medical DR.s tell ya and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers for a complete recovery. And Praise GOD no one else was hurt.

[jimmy seale]

shonuff dr. jim, the good lord watches out for us!!!, you get better,and do what the doc, er medical doc. says,we wish you well,and a quick and complete recovery. prayers sent on your behalf, god bless. jimmy & mary seale

[Quenchcrack]

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery, Jim. While you're down, use Google Earth with the street view feature and 3D buildings to view the Colorado School of Mines Campus. Lots of changes since we were there.

[Finnr]

On the list here too.
Finnr

[ThomasPowers]

Jim; stop *doing* things like that! We want you around and working for that long life! I still remember the lawmower incident and the blood issues, (one of the Mediterrannian mutations to help resist malaria as I recall).

Does this mean you will have time to work on another book?

Thomas Powers

Edited November 20, 2008 by ThomasPowers

[Woody]

Get well soon Jim my prayers are with you

[Frosty]

You're on the list in the far frozen north too.

Frosty

[Steve Sells]

Thank you all for the well wishes, they are appreciated..

OK here's what happened: Fact:

We were stopped dead in the dedicated right turn only lane, the 5th vehicle back from the light. We were approx. 10 feet from the vehicle in front of us. We were in my wife's New (only had it four months) Kia van

Fact:

We were hit from behind. My wife who was driving was looking in her rear view mirror at the time when she saw the other vehicle coming. She said she could see the driver looking down into his lap, and not looking where he was going. The driver never made any attempt to brake.

Fact:

The first impact propelled us into the car in front of us, we rebounded and was stuck again by the same vehicle from the rear, three separate impacts. Sue was NOT injured, the vehicle in front of us lost some paint.

My seat broke...my head broke the head rest. Henderson PD and CCFD Paramedics arrived at the scene . Now I was heeled at the time and under NRS I had to advise the local law dogs of this fact. A very young (Just out of the POST Academy I found out later...) freaked out and almost had a melt down when he saw my weapon.. That was the "funny" part of the day.. Hell's Bells..the paramedics didn't mind..all they said was "cool..another good guy".. But they were more interested in getting a cervical collar on me, extracting me from the vehicle and getting me on a back board and all the while trying to keep me from killing the little #%^$#$er that hit us..

Fact:

The driver of the vehicle is 16, has had his DL for less than 3 months. He never broke traction he just plowed right into us. He was driving a Toyota Sienna van. His front grill pieces were midway under his vehicle.. this would establish the POI, from this it was figured that at the time of impact he was going between 30 and 35 MPH.

Fact:

He was cited for following too closely and not paying proper attention.

Fact:

I am FUBAR for the moment. As it is I have NO neural involvement other than that caused by the muscle swelling and spasms. That is the "good news"

Now the rest of the news is not too good. I do have a pretty decent concussion. I have severe muscle sprain on the neck, between the atlas and the axis (that is NOT where you want this sort of injury) vertebrae.

I have trapezius and deltoid muscle sprains along with some muscle tearing. Still feeling the tingles in my fingers but that will subside.

Lower back, L 3,4, and 5 are also sprained with the appropriate muscle sprains and tears.

Fact:

My insurance coverage is excellent.. His I do not yet know as yet. When we spoke to our Insurance Agent at State Farm we were advised to "Lawyer UP" and go after the guy who hit us since I am self employed and all that and that they (State Farm) will enjoin in the suit to recover what they have to pay out. We did as advised.

I am out of work for a "good while" as the Dr put it. I am seeing a neck/spine specialist. I was told that my body mass prevented me from breaking my neck (For you NASCAR fans this is what killed Dale Earnhart Sr.) but it also is the reason why I sustained the extent of injury that I did.. Sir Issac will not be denied ....As the good Dr said it got injured while trying to keep itself from becoming torn apart...Oh well...

So that's the scoop. We drop off Sue's van Monday for repairs (that KIA is built like a little tank, it sustained moderate damage to the bumpers, back hatch door, needs a new seat and some grill and hood damage..nothing all that bad..still very drive-able) and I am going to daily PT and taking all sorts of stuff to keep thing "running smoothly as possible" as far as the soft tissue damage goes...

I have been trying to work on book 4 but what I am writing is sometimes not making much sense so until this concussion clears I am pretty much dead in the water.

So we will see what we will see...I find it rather funny that a 16 year old crybaby (that's all he did throughout the whole incident is sit in his vehicle and cry his eyes out) almost did what the entire NVA/VC, the Iraqis and the Afghanis as well as 32 years in law enforcement couldn't do and that is end my life... Sheesh..

Well look at Geo. Patton..he got taken out by a Deuce and a half...

Anyway...that's what happened...

JPH

[keykeeper]

JPH,

I just said another prayer for you when I read the part about 32 years in LE. That's the magic number of years of service I'll have to reach to collect my retirement in the LE job I have. Get well soon, and know that a brother officer is pulling for you. Would have loved to see the expression on that officers face when he saw you were "packin' heat".

-aaron c.

[jimmy seale]

ss thanks for the info!!! dr. jim-i survived a broken neck- got more screws than a hardware store but life goes on-lil o wreck can't take a good man down!best wishs and still talkin to the big man,on your behalf. jimmy seale

[Ten Hammers]

Dr Jim, down time is just that. I have had my share as well. The PT folks *@!# you off but thats ok too. I would never have swung a hammer again had it not been for PT. Other peoples stupidity while operating vehicle. Most don't think that fat men fly. In fact it ended my EMS career ( although bad hearing was a close second reason ). Thank you for your service. You need somebody to cuss for you, just holler.

[John Martin]

You're on my list, but may I ask, what do you mean by weapon? A gun or one of your knives with you?

[rjbrash]

Get well Jim. Do what the PT folks tell you. Eagerly awaiting book 4.

[ThomasPowers]

Good luck getting the brains sorted out; my kids tell me that I probably could use a duece hitting me to get mine in any sort of order...

All of my kids did not get their DL's as soon as they were able; a couple waited several years; more work for their parents but I was happy that they could mature a bit more before getting out on the road. (You would have enjoyed hearing what my eldest said the first time she ran into glare ice... no damage but sheet metal luckily.)

Take the pain meds---you will heal faster without the pain stress on the body. (had several Doc's wrastle me down and tell me this over the years cause I didn't want to be out of things.)

[Frosty]

(You would have enjoyed hearing what my eldest said the first time she ran into glare ice... no damage but sheet metal luckily.)

In the early 80's I talked my sister into giving AK a try and helped her get established, including driving her factory hotrod Mustang up for her.

The first fall I offered to give her some pointers on preventing and controlling skids in a vacant parking lot after hours. Her reply was something on the order of, "if you want to go out and play go ahead, I don't need to."

The next morning we were going to the local mall, she driving, me riding shotgun. As she entered a left turn (at for me a reasonable speed) a little too fast, I bumped the emergency brake and released it. I'd made sure it was clear first and we were out of range of a curb, light pole and other obstacles, I didn't want any damage, just a little wakeup.

A couple seconds after we came to a locked brakes, death grip on the wheel, random stop, she asked me if I'd show her how to drive on ice that night.

I think anti skid driving skills should be mandatory to get a license here but things aren't run on my shift. Heck, if things were run on my shift there's probably about 20%+/- driving now that'd be taking public transit.

Oh well,

Frosty

[Ecart]

Man Doc, I'm just seeing this for the first time. I'm glad to hear that things are on the mend, but that's scary!
You're on our list. I explained to my 9 year old that the guy who wrote the black book that I have about knife and sword making was in an accident. As he went to bed, he prayed for you. We'll all be doing the same.