I wasn't going to talk about my son getting shot............................
44pinshooter
Member Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭
Last time I posted was 6/26/22. I posted about our 35 anniversary. About an hour later, my younger son, was shot by his best friend, who has handled guns most of his adult life, got careless / stupid / negligent and was about to go out back of the shop and shoot some guns with my son. He had one of my S&W revolvers in .32, loaded with .32 Shorts, when for God only knows, he went and pulled the trigger to feel what the DA was like. The bullet hit my son low in the neck, collapsed the carotid artery, bounced off a vertebra, cracking it in his neck then slide across his collar bone.
The First Responders that came were the greatest I have ever know. He was taken to a trauma center in Milwaukee. He under went surgery to place a stent in the carotid artery, as the inner lining did not fully reopen. They left the bullet where it is, because of placing him in a neck brace. They are going to look to remove it later this month. You can see it just under the shin.
3 days in I.C.U. and then a regular room for a few days. We turned our living room into a bedroom, so he didn't have to deal with stairs.
He is doing very well. Out of the neck brace. Says his neck hurts some, but the bullet just under the skin is bugging him. He is back to work, light duty.
His best friend feels like a piece of s**t.
The officers went over everything, no charges or confiscation and I do not know just what the official report said, but the one officer I know said to me the next day, " That was your classic f**k up if there ever was one."
I wanted to come and ask you guys for prayers, but was thinking, "oh great, the gunsmith's kid gets shot with one of his own guns." I just didn't want to put this on the inter-net, but then little sister and a few friends did on FB. I knew you guys would pray, so I carried that thought.
Needless to say, we put our 35th. anniversary off. We'll do something later, just praising God we have our son.
Comments
Prayers for continued healing. Physical and mental.
i came very close to shooting my newest DIL with a revolver. i decided to let the hammer down by pulling the trigger. thank Goodness i had it pointed mostly at the ground. its amazing how easy it is to make a mistake sometimes. glad your situation seems to be turning out as well as possible.
Bad things can happen anywhere to anyone for a plethora of reasons. Folks here will always have your back and be supportive any way we/they can.
Our prayers are with your son for a speedy and complete recovery. Thank God he is still with you and he has an important story/lesson to tell others who may gain from it.
God is great.
Prayers lifted, good to have you back.
Prayers for your son.....and his friend which need them too.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
Prayers for your son and all your family, that all turns out well.
Unfortunately we can all become complacent. Prayers for your son & family.
It didn't sever the carotid artery, but collapsed it? Weird, because if it were severed it would be lights out.
Plus a fractured neck bone. Good God your son is so lucky to be alive. Sounds like he is getting great medical care.
What a close call! Hopes and prayers for his recovery sent. Bob
Best wishes for his complete recovery. I shot a hole in our ceiling/roof one evening with a 357. A moment of inattention, to be sure. Made me a LOT more careful since then.
A tragic mistake with terrible consequences, but your son had a guardian angel looking out for him.
He will come out of this serious situation with a greater appreciation for life, and the understanding of how a simple lapse can cause a terrible tragedy .
I wish him, you and your family the best with his full recovery, the most important outcome to this situation..
Quite a story indeed...Prayers for your son's recovery, you all as you walk this path with him and for his buddy too....
Dang 44! Glad he's still on the right side of the sod, sounds like it could have gone either way.
Good thing it wasn't a much more powerful round.
Prayers for full healing asked from here.
Scott-GD-Sh-t happens but this is close to home. Best for him and his friend and of course you.
Good gosh. So scary,so lucky. Prayers for all.
wow
prayers from here .
I hope they get him more pain free and all goes well for him
hindsight is always best but compliancy is too easy to fall into
I know of two stories one was my sister's and BIL , there best man a few days after the ceremony , was being show a shotgun by another buddy , in a room of a few more buddies the owner held out the shotgun for the guy to take it and look it over, but his finger was on the trigger and it was loaded and handed to the fellow barrel first he took hold and pulled the gun toward him and well , poor fellow DRT another unloaded gun took a life
a co worker when he was younger . with a group of buddies in one of there living rooms seen first hand one of the buddies in the room pull out a pistol to show off and pulled the trigger on a unloaded gun and killed one of the guy's could have easy been any one of them. it did not turn him away from guns but he was extremely careful . and distrusting of "unloaded guns"
Clearly his treatment is not over so I make a point of praying for docs, paramedics and nurses to perform their skills at 110%. The EMT's and Paramedics get first crack at a patient and often are better at emergency care and patient stabilization than the doctors.
I have had one accident myself with a pistol I accidentally dropped and it fired
accidents can happen so fast
to anyone
prayers for healing
It can and does happen. Sorry for your issues. Darn lucky in one sense. Best to all.
Thank you for having the courage to share something this powerful.
prayers for your family.
Prayers from SW Virginia. Back to work? Awesome!
Your son and family are in my prayers for a complete recovery.
My 3rd son was shot on his very first bird hunting trip with one of his friends and a large group out after one member took a shot at a bird flying in between hunters.
Hit in the face and neck with steel bird shot. He would have lost an eye if it weren't for his shotgun held upright at the time. The forend of his 20 gage took a good part of the hit. He still has some steel pellets in his neck that the doctor left because of the closeness to an artery. He still hunts but never in groups or with unknown trigger happy idiots!
Thank you. Thank all of you for your prayers.
We are so grateful to God for taking care of our son.
I know that the First Responders, this is what they do, have 2 friends that are EMT's, I have average or a little better first aid skills. Been there helping accident victims, a wad of Kleenex on a wound and pressure to control the bleeding, but when it is your son laying on the ground, is a whole another world. 911 then the first aid kit. It is kind of a blur the next few minutes. When they got there and took over, an officer took me aside and told me that I did good. I just remember STOP THE BLEEDING. and PRAYING.
Words can not say enough for those great hero's. God bless them !!!!!!!!!
The question about the carotid artery.................. The bullet passing by compressed the artery and when it sprang back the inner lining did not fully come back. The trauma surgeon said he had blood flow, but it was restricted, like fat clogging an artery, so that is why they went in and did a stent.
Also, thank you for the prayers for my sons friend. He is 30 years old, been my son's friend since grade school. He calls me "Pop-pa". As the EMT's were working on my son, he is holding me, sobbing, "Pop-pa, I'm sorry. Pop-pa, I'm sorry." The first night in ICU, he didn't want to leave the hospital. They said they have rules and he needs to go home. He said he'd sleep in the lobby. NO.......go home. We worry about him and have been keeping a close watch on him.
THANKS GUYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so so sorry for everything you are going through and so glad everything fell into place for so this wasn't much worse. I don't know how or why things happen like they do, but even the most careful, educated, people have accidents and I think its just plain luck working its magic if we can say nothing horrible has happened. Myself, I've been in the room with two accidental discharges...one a gun in the sales counter had a loaded mag put in it and a co-worker had a bad habit of working the action on everything she picked up (without actually checking the chamber) and shot a 380 round through her hand. The other was a Ruger 10-22 that had a round jammed in the rotary mag....eventually it worked its way up into the gun and someone fired a round off into the ceiling. Both times it seemed to pause the entire earth....not one sound, movement at all for a moment while everyone took in what had just happened....if anyone was hit. Its scary for sure....and I can only imagine how terrifying it would be to realize your child had been hit during that moment. His friend will probably never be the same. I know I wouldn't. Everyone says "its not if it will happen, but when it will happen" with accidental discharges and laying a motorcycle down.
I hope to hear he recovers with minimal long term issues and in record time. You have my deepest sympathy.
The bullet just missed the carotid artery, but it compressed it and damaged it. That is the closest call possible because a severed carotid artery = DRT. Your son is the Miracle Patient at that hospital.
Prayers for a healthy life going forward