skyrider 0 #1 June 11, 2010 HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Jonathan Metz had been trapped for two days in his basement with his left arm stuck in a broken furnace. Smelling rotting flesh, he decided that amputation was his only hope. So he fashioned a tourniquet near his shoulder and began cutting. He made it almost all the way through, but wasn't able to free himself. He was rescued Wednesday after three days in his West Hartford basement when worried friends called police and firefighters cut the furnace apart. Doctors gave the account of Metz's harrowing experience at a news conference Thursday. They said the attempted self-amputation probably saved his life, preventing the infection in his gangrenous arm from spreading to the rest of his body. "There was a little bit of fat that remained and he was in and out of consciousness," said Dr. Scott Ellner, Metz' surgeon at Hartford's Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center. "It sounds like maybe there was a nerve there that prevented him from completing the amputation." Metz had been working to replace the fins on his furnace in his West Hartford basement Sunday when his arm became trapped, doctors said. A friend, Luca DiGregorio, said he and other friends grew worried when Metz, who lives alone, did not show up for work and missed a Tuesday night softball game. Metz also did not answer the doorbell when DiGregorio stopped at his home Wednesday, where he said he saw Metz's beagle, Porsche, "yipping at the back door." DiGregorio called police, who found Metz in the basement. "I was a little worried, especially when the first cop showed up," DiGregorio said. "Then more showed up, and then the ambulance showed up, so it got a little nerve-racking." Firefighters ripped apart the furnace with heavy tools, including a spreader normally used to take the door off a car, West Hartford Fire Chief Matt Stuart said. Once they did so, the arm "just gave away, because his arm was already infected and the tissue was nonviable," Ellner said. Officials didn't know what type of tools Metz used to attempt the amputation. He was mumbling during the rescue operation, officials noted. Ellner said Metz drank some of the water that had leaked from the furnace to help him stay alive. Dr. David Shapiro, a trauma specialist who also worked on Metz, said he could not have lived much longer. "I've never experienced somebody who had the ability to go through something like this," Ellner said. "He provides a lot of inspiration for myself, not just as a physician but as a human being." Shapiro said Metz was not out of the woods. Infection remained a concern, but Metz was expected to survive. He will have to undergo more surgery to prepare the arm for a prosthetic, Ellner said. Neighbors describe Metz as a quiet, friendly man who helps them shovel out from storms. They said they were caring for his dog until he comes home and were visiting him in the hospital. His case evoked memories of Colorado climber Aron Ralston, who cut off his arm with a dull blade after getting trapped under a boulder in a remote Utah canyon in 2003. He twisted his arm against a rock to break the bones, cut through his flesh, then wrapped the stump in a makeshift sling. Then, he rappelled down a 60-foot drop and hiked six miles through the desert for help. Later that year, an Australian miner amputated his arm below the elbow with a short-bladed craft knife when he was pinned under an overturned tractor carrying more than three tons of limestone dust. --- Associated Press writer Stephanie Reitz contributed to this report. http://www.katu.com/news/national/96086209.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MF42 0 #2 June 11, 2010 QuoteIt sounds like maybe there was a nerve there that prevented him from completing the amputation. I read the book by that other guy who cut his arm off in the canyon a few years back. He described cutting that big bundle of nerves as the worst part of the whole experience; said it felt like sticking his entire arm into molten lava. Matt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
futuredivot 0 #3 June 11, 2010 That is balls-don't have any idea if I could do that even if I knew the option was death.You are only as strong as the prey you devour Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,611 #4 June 11, 2010 Owe? I was expecting another thread about the deficit. ... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grimmie 173 #5 June 11, 2010 I was thinking the same thing Kallend!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gawain 0 #6 June 11, 2010 Quote Owe? I was expecting another thread about the deficit. I was thinking the same thing...it took me a little while to realize he meant, "Ow!" ..."Ow ow ow...fuckin OW" So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright 'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life Make light! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 14 #7 June 11, 2010 Damn, how can you get that trapped in a furnace???I'm now going to have a buddy system for furnace repair, just like scuba diving. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyrider 0 #8 June 11, 2010 Quote Owe? I was expecting another thread about the deficit. Funny , I posted this at my Home board, and only the assholes pointed out I wrote "ow" wrong! seems they are the same on all boards! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyrider 0 #9 June 11, 2010 Quote Damn, how can you get that trapped in a furnace???I'm now going to have a buddy system for furnace repair, just like scuba diving. Teh OLD cast furnaces. were damn near as big as a car, and just as heavy! I figure that is probably what trapped him! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyrider 0 #10 June 11, 2010 There, Spelling/ grammar cops,...that better? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 14 #11 June 11, 2010 Makes sense. My furnace is the modern flimsy sheet metal kind. It couldn't trap anything bigger than a Chihuahau. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shotgun 1 #12 June 11, 2010 Quote There, Spelling/ grammar cops,...that better? Yeah, that's better. I thought it was something about being in debt before. Man, these stories about people having to cut off their own body parts always give me the chills. Though I do like one of the quotes from this story: "He provides a lot of inspiration for myself, not just as a physician but as a human being." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,611 #13 June 11, 2010 Quote There, Spelling/ grammar cops,...that better? Spelling or malapropism?... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heatmiser 0 #14 June 11, 2010 Quote Quote There, Spelling/ grammar cops,...that better? Spelling or malapropism? My edumacation is showin' when I have to google that word.What you say is reflective of your knowledge...HOW ya say it is reflective of your experience. Airtwardo Someone's going to be spanked! Hopefully, it will be me. Skymama Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyrider 0 #15 June 11, 2010 Quote Quote There, Spelling/ grammar cops,...that better? Spelling or malapropism?[/reply chief of Police? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites