Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Shrapnel Wounds

Today I saw a man pick out a small shard of shrapnel from his skin that had worked its way out from deeper tissue. The wound was months old. He did it without veering off topic or changing the rate or rhythm of his speech. Without even wincing, he picked at his skin for a few moments and then teased out a piece of metal. He then placed it on the table next to us as we finished our conversation. No further discussion on the metaphor is required.

3 comments:

Kelly O said...

Oh duuuuude. That's hardcore.

Todd Franklin Osborn said...

that goes beyond hardcore in to deep tissue core.

We Are Growing Higher and Higher said...

Dear Aaronish,
I've just come upon your article on Shrapnel Wounds (2/1/09), and it was touching.
Just last evening I discovered that an associate of mine is suffering from the same disposition that you mentioned in your article. He fought in the Falkland Islands back in Jan/91. He has shrapnel in his back arm and his leg. He is currently living/working in the Bay Area and his insurance does not cover the necessary surgery that he needs; as a result he will be returning to Scotland to have his leg removed(his leg functions normally, but because of the cost to remove the shrapnel, they are just simply going to remove his leg.)
I feel compelled to ask you if you know of anyone/service/Doctor(s) or hospitals here in the USA that might possibly examine him and perhaps perform the necessary surgery(s) here in the USA? He is only 42 years old. God help him!

Once again, thank you for your blog. It startling, but necessary for me to come across.

If you know of anything/anyone, please contact me.

Best regards,
Carla Thomas
Carla.Thomas@kustomweb.com