Yea sure. Hope you like reading! If anyone's got any specific questions about whatever, just send me a PM. So in Feb last year, I finished my GED. This meant it was too late to apply for any sort of studies that I thought I might be interested in or whatever(didn't have a clue really anyway...). But I was still a year ahead basically so what the hell. Decided to go farm in the US as a gap year/fundraiser towards studies. Arrived in May and so the 14-hour farm days began... It was good fun too don't get me wrong. We were a week into harvest, which meant 15/16h days, as well as a general rush on everything being done(just an upped tempo). My job was running an airsep, which separates potatoes from rocks, vines and dirt clumps. It was on a trans-load site next to a field. The potatoes would come directly out the field, through the airsep and onto semis to the french-fry-plant. The airsep broke down, so we had to send the trucks coming from the field to our second line at the warehouses. We got her fixed, so I decided to fire the transload line up and just go through everything to make sure it works 100%. I went through the line and the last thing left is the cleaning table on the airsep. That's when I noticed a rock right in the corner of the cleaning table chafing away at the side panel. The rock was about fist-sized so it looked 'safe' enough to grab it without putting my fingers around the rock. In the heat of the moment I grabbed the rock, and....... My hand and arm got pulled in between one of the steel and rubber rollers as shown in the pictures. Not sure if it was my sleeve or fingers that got caught, but anyway... I cried out to my Lord, and in that moment He gave me the clarity to grab my phone - which was on a clip on my belt - and call for help. The machine ran for about 7 minutes thereafter and then then the help arrived and shut the machine off. We(the help...) called 911 and about 20min later the ambulance arrived. It then took them about 1.5 more hours to get me out, which they finally managed with a torch, after the Jaws, prybars and airbags had failed. I was then rushed to the nearest bigger hospital which was in Bismarck, about 50min away... At first everything looked pretty good apart from the relatively small patch on my upper-arm that was eaten away by the rollers. Day after day when the doctors would clean the dead tissue it became worse though, and after 3 debridement surgeries, the doctor said It was either get a transfer to a willing facility/doctor, or amputation. Off I went for 7 hours in the back of an ambulance to St Paul(no heli available at the time)... The doctor in St Paul tried to save the arm for another two weeks, but with each surgery there was just less and less healthy tissue left. The morning of the fateful surgery one of the residents brought me my papers to sign and I noticed it said "possible amputation". Whoa. We decided that we would just do a debridement like usual, but if it has to go it has to go. Also we wanted a second opinion from Mayo still, which was about an hour away. Little did we know the doctor was in contact with the team at Mayo in any case... When I awoke from the 8-hour surgery the first thing I noticed was that my armrest used to elevate my left arm, and therefore my arm, was gone... The elbow had gotten infected to the point where it was either going, or I was. With the next two surgeries the doctor did a latissimus flap reconstruction, skin transplant and TMR. Thanks to an amazing prosthetist the doctor had the notes and guidance to do my TMR surgery. The prosthetist, without our knowledge, talked to the doctor and put him in touch with the person at Mayo who does their TMR surgeries. This meant I had TMR done as part of my amputation from the start. TMR(google it) simply and in short means 1.) Muuuuuuuuch less issues with phantom pain(not for everyone) and 2.) More freedom with possible myoelectric prosthesis in the future. Also zero hassle with insurance approval. Talk about favour! I guess that's basically the story. A few other details I didn't mention is all the amazing people that visited me in the hospital. There almost wasn't a day when I didn't have visitors. All but 2 of whom were complete strangers to me. I got Biltong and Smarties in the hospital! Met a ton of ex-saffers as well as a few amazing 'Muricans. The nurses weren't half-bad either.... After getting out the hospital people took us(me+parents) all around St Paul/Minneapolis to sightsee and be tourists. Really had an awesome time. Not without its pains(phantom pain is excruciating, at least at first), but super amazing nonetheless. Right. Back to the farm in ND for a bit to visit everyone there for a couple of weeks until approval for the prosthesis comes through. The approval comes through in record-time, and back to St Paul I go, where I stay with some of the newly-made friends. The fitting process ended on a Wednesday afternoon, about three hours before I was scheduled to fly out of Minneapolis back to Bismarck, where I would get a flight back to SA that Sunday. I guess that's pretty much it. Upwards and onwards! It feels kind of cliché to say that, "was I to have that moment over again, I would of made the same decision". I don't know. My accident was 100% my fault, and I've forgiven myself for that. In retrospect I could see myself making the same decision, even though it was really stupid grabbing that rock out a running machine. Stress and lack of sleep doesn't go great together. Looking back though, all in all, life really ain't bad. Yea I lost and arm; yea I went through a bit of trauma; but I'm still me, and I'm still alive, doing what I love. The growth process that I have been through, the people I've met, the things I've seen, I wouldn't trade that for anything.
