Man Saves Own Life, Uses Steak Knife for At-Home Tracheotomy

[wmenorr67]

OMAHA, Neb.   An Omaha man struggling to breath used a steak knife to perform an at-home tracheotomy.

Steve Wilder says he thought he was going to die when he awoke one night last week and couldn't breath.

Wilder says he didn't call 911 because he didn't think help would arrive in time. So, the 55-year-old says, he got a steak knife from the kitchen and made a small hole in his throat, allowing air to gush in.

Wilder suffered from throat cancer and related breathing problems several years ago. About that time, he had an episode where he couldn't breath because his air passages swelled shut. He says that's what happened this time around.

Doctors don't expect Wilder to suffer any adverse affects from the tracheotomy once it's healed.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354655,00.html

Reminds me of the MASH episode where Father Mc, I believe, had to perform one.

[LAK]

Funny; I can just see this guy in a restaurant. When he starts fidgeting, picks up his steak knife and tries to "turn it on himself", a couple of quick thinking good intented folk spring on this apparently poor suicidal soul and grab the knife and in the ensuing struggle he of course passes out from the original cause of his problem blocking his windpipe.

[LadySmith]

I salute another hardcore do-it-yourself-er. 

[Dntsycnt]

Man, that's crazy...how do you do a tracheotomy?  Just aim below the adams apple and stab?

I woke up one morning in sixth grade with my face/head swollen so much I could just barely breath...I mean it felt like suffocating.  I staggered down the stairs and my mom freaked out and zipped me in to the ER, where they injected me with something or other and the swelling went down.  I don't think anything has ever scared me more, except perhaps the upcoming election.

Who wins in a fight between this guy and the dude who cut his own arm off?

[Ex-MA Hole]

Good question.

Both are nuts....I'd think the arm guy....took longer to do....

[Sergeant Bob]

I salute another hardcore do-it-yourself-er. 

I always kid around about removing my own appendix but, this guy is for real.

[Jamisjockey]

Good question.

Both are nuts....I'd think the arm guy....took longer to do....

With a dull swiss army knife.  He had to break the bone with a rock.  Hands down winner.

[Josh Aston]

Man, that's crazy...how do you do a tracheotomy?  Just aim below the adams apple and stab?

On your throat plate thingy (I forget the technical name for it) there's a hole between your adam's apple and the base of the plate.  Cut a hole through there into the throat, stick in a tube (we used NPAs), then safety pin the tube to the skin so it doesn't move around too much.

[Racehorse]

Who wins in a fight between this guy and the dude who cut his own arm off?

Well, if you're talking an actual fight...the tracheotomy guy wins. He still has two arms. It's a lot harder to fight with just one arm.

I think the guy who cut his own arm off is tougher, though.

[Perd Hapley]

Man, that's crazy...how do you do a tracheotomy?  Just aim below the adams apple and stab?

On your throat plate thingy (I forget the technical name for it) there's a hole between your adam's apple and the base of the plate.  Cut a hole through there into the throat, stick in a tube (we used NPAs), then safety pin the tube to the skin so it doesn't move around too much.

If I just had the nerve to try that, I would do it (and do it poorly) just so I could sue you for millions of dollars.   

[Josh Aston]

Man, that's crazy...how do you do a tracheotomy?  Just aim below the adams apple and stab?

On your throat plate thingy (I forget the technical name for it) there's a hole between your adam's apple and the base of the plate.  Cut a hole through there into the throat, stick in a tube (we used NPAs), then safety pin the tube to the skin so it doesn't move around too much.

If I just had the nerve to try that, I would do it (and do it poorly) just so I could sue you for millions of dollars.   

not my fault if you screw it up. 

[BridgeRunner]

I'd have gone for the paring knife myself.

[The Annoyed Man]

Good question.

Both are nuts....I'd think the arm guy....took longer to do....

With a dull swiss army knife.  He had to break the bone with a rock.  Hands down winner.

IIRC, it wasn't even a SWISS army knife...more like a chinese knockoff, with the blade probably made of a zinc-elephant dung alloy...

[BridgeRunner]

IIRC, it wasn't even a SWISS army knife...more like a chinese knockoff, with the blade probably made of a zinc-elephant dung alloy...

Marketing proposal: Buy a good knife for more efficient auto-amputations.

I vote for the trach guy.  The amputation guy should not have been out alone in a remote area with no one to check on him if he didn't show up.  I guess one may choose to assume that kind of risk, and I've also enjoyed the exhiliration of solo backpacking, but it's still not a great practice in very remote or hazardous areas.

The trach guy doesn't lose any points for stupid, but gains a few for super-quick thinking while oxygen deprived.

[The Annoyed Man]

IIRC, it wasn't even a SWISS army knife...more like a chinese knockoff, with the blade probably made of a zinc-elephant dung alloy...

Marketing proposal: Buy a good knife for more efficient auto-amputations.

I vote for the trach guy.  The amputation guy should not have been out alone in a remote area with no one to check on him if he didn't show up.  I guess one may choose to assume that kind of risk, and I've also enjoyed the exhiliration of solo backpacking, but it's still not a great practice in very remote or hazardous areas.

The trach guy doesn't lose any points for stupid, but gains a few for super-quick thinking while oxygen deprived.

Last sentence is so true. I'd probably just panic and die, feeling incredibly silly.

[BridgeRunner]

Last sentence is so true. I'd probably just panic and die, feeling incredibly silly.

I showed up in the ER very mildly oxygen deprived a couple weeks ago.  Triage asked me why I was there.  "Uh, I <gasp> dunno...I <gasp> kinda have a <gasp cough> cold and,uh <gasp> I don't feel good.

Yeah, once I got some oxygen I got teased considerably.  Lack of oxygen is a fast route to stupid for me. 

[lupinus]

arm due wins

In the spirit of do it yourself surgery though...

I once got a sliver of (some hard food I can pronounce but not spell) which slid down the inner side of a tooth and completely into my gum.  It was to deep to tweezers, pushing had nothing.  Getting it out was fun...digging into your gum with a pocket knife doesn't hurt as bad as one would expect really.

[BridgeRunner]

In the spirit of do it yourself surgery though...

I dunno, if we're gonna start talking about do it yourself surgery, I was, in my muddled youth, a pretty intense self-injurer.

Effective but pretty bizarre and unhealthy way to pick up some good first aid skills.

[wmenorr67]

Until I hear of a DIY vasectomy then these two guys are not that tough.

[Josh Aston]

Until I hear of a DIY vasectomy then these two guys are not that tough.

This close enough?

[wmenorr67]

OUCH.  Ok he wins.

[SomeKid]

The cynic inside me wonders if the local physicians will ask the DA to press charges against the man.

Of course, a lawyer might sue him before that happens.

[K Frame]

But the guy with the tracheotomy would very likely get winded a LOT earlier than the guy with one arm. Once that happens, the one-armed hiker could dance circles around him and pummel him.

[SomeKid]

But the guy with the tracheotomy would very likely get winded a LOT earlier than the guy with one arm. Once that happens, the one-armed hiker could dance circles around him and pummel him.

Trachs increase O2 access to the lungs. Sorry Mike, the guy with the Trach would likely last longer.

[Josh Aston]

But the castration dude could take one hell of a kick between the legs.