Broken bones...all fingers except one, several of them a few times. Elbow, leg, knees (both). Nose, three times. Wrist. Two ribs. One foot.
Several concussions, a twisted neck, back, leg. Two vertebrae popped at various times. Lots of stitches over the years. Knife through one leg. Torn ligament in one leg, etc. A few auto accidents (not my fault, not driving in most), two parachute incidents (one with busted knees, one in intensive care), a bailing hook under one kneecap (a lot more painful than I would have imagined), and a few other things along the way. Certain respiratory issues that prevented breathing...also more painful than one might think.
Some of the worst pain has been dental. I had braces, the old fashioned band kind, for seven years.
My favorite was a root canal a few years ago. I let it go far too long, and the pain became almost unbearable. With no dental insurance, I bit the bullet and had the root canal done. It took over three weeks to get done. The dentist finished it one evening, and two hours later I was notified I'd be deployed early in the morning. I had been gone a day when I got a message from my wife saying that the dentist needed me back in ASAP. This was in february or march, and I told her I might be back in october.
The tooth stayed painful, and that shouldn't happen with a root canal. Every time I bit down on something, it was a new adventure in pain. I asked the wife to find out what the problem was, and the dentist told her it was nothing, just see him when I could. I asked her to verify that it wouldn't be a problem flying, and he assured her it wouldn't.
Long story short, I ended up making some parachute jumps a few months later. We jumped at 18,000', and on the ride up, I felt a lot of pressure and pain build, a pop about 15,000, and the pain went away. It was still very painful to chew.
Some months later I made it home and had it x-rayed by a different dentist. Normally a root canal involves drilling down the root of the affected tooth, removing the nerves, and driving a spike down there to hold in the tooth. My destist had drilled through the side of the tooth into the neighboring tooth, and driven the spike into the nerve of the neighboring tooth. Every time I bit down on something, that spike stabbed the other nerve. He'd also left an air cavity in the tooth which apparently let loose during the climb to altitude...venting into my jaw, and causing a host of other painful problems.
Needless to say, I didn't return to the same dentist again.
The whole thing required expensive oral surgery later, and in all honesty, wasn't nearly as much fun as I might have liked. What doesn't kill you does indeed make you stronger, but sometimes it's just not worth it. Given the choice between death and a visit to the dentist, I'd choose death.
Several concussions, a twisted neck, back, leg. Two vertebrae popped at various times. Lots of stitches over the years. Knife through one leg. Torn ligament in one leg, etc. A few auto accidents (not my fault, not driving in most), two parachute incidents (one with busted knees, one in intensive care), a bailing hook under one kneecap (a lot more painful than I would have imagined), and a few other things along the way. Certain respiratory issues that prevented breathing...also more painful than one might think.
Some of the worst pain has been dental. I had braces, the old fashioned band kind, for seven years.
My favorite was a root canal a few years ago. I let it go far too long, and the pain became almost unbearable. With no dental insurance, I bit the bullet and had the root canal done. It took over three weeks to get done. The dentist finished it one evening, and two hours later I was notified I'd be deployed early in the morning. I had been gone a day when I got a message from my wife saying that the dentist needed me back in ASAP. This was in february or march, and I told her I might be back in october.
The tooth stayed painful, and that shouldn't happen with a root canal. Every time I bit down on something, it was a new adventure in pain. I asked the wife to find out what the problem was, and the dentist told her it was nothing, just see him when I could. I asked her to verify that it wouldn't be a problem flying, and he assured her it wouldn't.
Long story short, I ended up making some parachute jumps a few months later. We jumped at 18,000', and on the ride up, I felt a lot of pressure and pain build, a pop about 15,000, and the pain went away. It was still very painful to chew.
Some months later I made it home and had it x-rayed by a different dentist. Normally a root canal involves drilling down the root of the affected tooth, removing the nerves, and driving a spike down there to hold in the tooth. My destist had drilled through the side of the tooth into the neighboring tooth, and driven the spike into the nerve of the neighboring tooth. Every time I bit down on something, that spike stabbed the other nerve. He'd also left an air cavity in the tooth which apparently let loose during the climb to altitude...venting into my jaw, and causing a host of other painful problems.
Needless to say, I didn't return to the same dentist again.
The whole thing required expensive oral surgery later, and in all honesty, wasn't nearly as much fun as I might have liked. What doesn't kill you does indeed make you stronger, but sometimes it's just not worth it. Given the choice between death and a visit to the dentist, I'd choose death.
