While You Were Cutting Your Arm Off- An Essay

[Dru]

you are just fucking bitter that the only camera crew that tracked you down was after you won the Chilliwack Dungeons and Dragons Marathon

 

dude, I TOLD YOU I came THIRD!!!

[catbirdseat]

So what would really make the essay interesting is how these experiences may have changed you. What did you learn from them? Besides losing your girlfriend, do you harbor other regrets? What would you have done differently?

[billcoe]

Ignore Dru - I don't see it as bragging at all, you shared your thoughts and feelings, which those things were a part of.

 

5 stars Mike. Glad ya got to keep ALL the appendiges!

 

Bill

[Squid]

Jesus Dru, you get dumped on the Holodeck again or something?

 

fucking brilliant

[chucK]

What would you have done differently?

 

Paid for the COBRA (medical insurance) so he wouldn't have been diverted to the shitty welfare hospital.

 

Oh, and BTW let me echo the, "FUCK OFF DRU!"

[hubris]

"and you are just fucking bitter that the only camera crew that tracked you down was after you won the Chilliwack Dungeons and Dragons Marathon"

 

Fucking Gold!!!

[Dru]

i don't think some people get the joke but i hooked you guys good

[Norman_Clyde]

What would you have done differently?

 

Paid for the COBRA (medical insurance) so he wouldn't have been diverted to the shitty welfare hospital.

Whatever hospital he went to tried to divert the ambulance, but without success. Diversion of incoming ambulances is a political issue. Insurance, or lack thereof, is often the unspoken subtext. The implications of the decision can be large, even when injuries are not life threatening, as Mike discovered. People have ended up with severe gaping wounds-- bedsores, basically-- from unremitting pressure of only a few hours' duration from a backboard on bony prominences. Five hours on a backboard is pretty inexcusable, because at that point the board has a very real potential to cause harm.

I've heard that Las Vegas sucks as a place to practice medicine, because the population is so sue-happy. This leads to the hospitals being short of docs, especially trauma docs. Understandably, anyplace with a shortage of trauma care docs is also a bad place to get hurt.

 

Dru: What they said.

[layton]

dru's just calling me out which is fine, that's what dru does.

 

yeah, i already wrote about both these events, but more as an on the spot "TR"

I wanted to write something good this time...which to some of you it was (thanks for all the nice PM's!!!) and some it wasn't (you go to hell, you go to hell and you die!)

 

and i see this thread is down to two stars now...

 

Edited February 7, 2005 by michael_layton

[jordop]

Hope yer celebratin your 28th with a nice bottle of Mad Dog 20/20

[layton]

i celebrated my b-day today by driving 10 hours and failing on an alpine climb!!!!!!!!! just like old times.

[Dru]

aren't there any alpine climbs closer to pdx you can fail on? maybe you can get tips from iain about the super secret unclimbed lines on hood

 

happy birthday sucka

[layton]

i went to Leavenworth...er worthLeaven

 

almost done studying, then I can have a Hams tall boy.

[Buckaroo]

Michael

 

8-9 as is, 9-10 with a little polish, reminds me of Twight with a touch of macabre thrown in. You should have played in "meat grinder of the Christ", I would have been yelling for help before crawling through a cactus gauntlet.

 

I've been through the masochistic nurses bit, they left me on an unpadded xray table for what seemed like hours right after I tried face skiing on asphalt from a 60mph motorcycle launch. I think they notice your a self abuser or are trying to play tough guy so they just pile on. You can't scream at them because you need their help at some point.

 

You learn from your mistakes or you wind up dead. I finally learned to identify and avoid the circumstances that lead to accidents, luckily before dying. In this case it would be not having the descent sussed before the climb and unplanned soloing on chossy rock. It's also good to tell your story, maybe some newbies can learn without the same drastic consequences.

 

Don't shorten your story, if anything make it longer. The mags are mostly a bunch of posers anyway, besides your published right here. Publicity and fame aren't worth it anyway and so many times lead to tragedy. I've seen so many people who've been published on a large scale and soon thereafter wind up dead. I can name at least a dozen climbers just from memory who died shortly after being widely publicized.

 

I know in my lifetime for a couple of different reasons I've been on the cusp of being widely publicized and some trick of luck or fate has always happened to stop it. I think it has to do with your identity being given out to far too many people for your guardian angel to keep track of. One way this happens is with a photo. The Native Americans in some places instinctively avoid photos especially ones that show their eyes, it's your identity.

 

It's also best to write things down right after they happen when they are freshest in your mind. In this case it would have been like a journal as your ordeal unfolded. A rough draft which you can then go back and polish at your leisure, but the facts are the most detailed and accurate this way.

 

With "at least you didn’t have to cut your arm off!" people were trying to say it could have been worse, I know you were thinking, hey this is ffing bad enough.

[specialed]

i don't think some people get the joke but i hooked you guys good

 

Dru - you've been waiting three years to get back at Mike for the comment he made in your Urquhart TR. That's funny. And kind of sad at the same time.

[Dru]

that was just the first good example i googled up (hint type "mike layton gay" into google and see what else comes up! )

[glassgowkiss]

mike- a couple pointers. first of all, yes editing. it takes a lot of work to write even a page of good text. if you want something published, first you have to earn your name recognition. so cutting this story to 500 words and getting it on paper might be a good idea. second- try less known publications- like nw papers. have a bunch of people read it and make notes, so print it out and give it to people, get it back.

the format of writing is important- so what do you want to communicate. chest beating is ok, but your story should have clear point. you are telling 2 stories in one. of course don't listen to me too much, since i am polish, so what do i know?

[specialed]

Speaking of being Polish and writing. I just read "The Long Walk" by Slovomir Rawicz. This dude and his bros were some badass Poles. You read that shit yet Bob?

[glassgowkiss]

yes i did. you know, the treatment during his captivity and in gulag is so true. some of my family members ended up in kazachstan in 1940. so if we are talking german concentration camps during ww2 someone should talk about soviet part in extermination of several millions of people during stalin era. but this is heading for spray.... as usual

[Stephen_Ramsey]

"The Long Walk" is the "mother of all" Epic stories. Very well written too.

 

Oh, and Layton-- thanks for posting, good story.

Edited February 7, 2005 by Stephen_Ramsey

[specialed]

His book starts off by saying that Polish people have been the most abused and oppressed people in history. When I read that I though bullshit, but after I read the book, I said that's a fair statement to make.

[Jason_Martin]

Mike,

 

I just ran your word count through my computer and it came out at over 3,500 words. This is a huge article to get published. Normal features in newspapers are usually between 1,000 and 2,000 words.

 

I make part of my living selling articles to newspapers and magazines. And believe me, it is far easier to sell something that's short than something that's long.

 

500 words however is super-tight. I think this article can easily be cut in half. It can probably be brought down into the 1,000-1,500 word level, at which point it will be more marketable to both newspapers and magazines.

 

From a critical perspective, there are three elements to the article: 1) Accident and Rescue, 2) Recovery, 3) Relationship. If you choose to tighten the article and focus on one of these three issues more concisely, I think you could sell the article.

 

Certainly climbing related magazines and websites are more interested in the accident itself. Other venues are going to be interested in what happened afterwards or how it impacted your relationship.

 

By no means should anybody's suggestions be taken as THE WAY to write your article. Ultimately it is your work and you have every right to keep it the way it is. Every suggestion made should be taken as a grain of salt. That is, unless you feel the suggestions really will help your ultimate writing goals.

 

Jason

[sunyata]

mike,

 

great essay- raw and straight up. i could only hope that i would be that strong if bad shit happens to me.

[skykilo]

I had 'fun' reading that Mike. I now intend to try that much harder to avoid being put on a stretcher. Yikes.

[Stefan]

Good read. Instead of one publication, make it two publications. Try to sell each individually. It would be easier to cut it down....

 

Or try to sell it as part 1 of a two part series. That way you can tell the magazine editors people will want to buy the next issue....