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ekjdm14 
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Joined: 20 Aug 2024
Location: Alsager UK
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 Topic: Torn patellar tendon...
Posted: 27 Jul 2025 at 4:33pm |
Well that'll be me out of action for a while. Managed to trip on a piece of wire embedded in the ground & fell awkwardly, net result being my Patellar tendon has been torn clear off the bone of my tibia & the quad tendon has sucked the patella up above the ball of my femur... 
Few hours spent in A&E (ER for you guys on the sane side of the Atlantic) and to my surprise have been released home in a splint for the moment awaiting a 'phone call with a date for surgery.
Not the way I'd planned spending my Sunday afternoon but could be worse I suppose, at least it happened with the rest of the family around so we managed to get the land locked up and me loaded in the car in a half hour or so. Out of interest, how long do you guys in the US expect to wait on an ambulance generally? Here, roughly a 20 minute drive from the hospital, on a Sunday afternoon my ambulance ETA was 1hr40-2hrs. about 15 years ago when I was taken out off my motorcycle & badly fractured my right tib/fib I was sat on the road probably 45minutes before ambulance came. Just curious how your guy's wait times compare (also interested what a 20minute ambo ride would cost you/your insurance)
Cheers, better luck to you all!  |
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Stuck Farmer
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dr p
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Joined: 24 Feb 2019
Location: new york
Points: 1417
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Posted: 27 Jul 2025 at 7:45pm |
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Easy grand for just the transport. Then there are the nickel and dime charges. Could be 2500 easy
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Coke-in-MN
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Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Location: Afton MN
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Posted: 27 Jul 2025 at 8:35pm |
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Here if you call for emergency (911 call) you get the full load = Police first in about 3 to 5 minutes , then the fire dept a few minutes later with truck and coupe cars of extra people . then Ambulance and 2 or 3 EMT manning it .So within 15 minutes its like grand central with no room left to park .
Had to call once for wife , and next time she said I'll walk next time rather then being invaded like that again . So I had to haul her to ER myself or she refused to go .
Last trip I had to call 911 again as was fall and low respiration - clown show again but she spent 6 days in hospital and 30 days in transition care before coming home .
Ambulance cost was $1700 but insurance paid all but $100 my cost .
Is a volunteer ambulance and fire unit paid for by City / County tax - why they all show up is each call they respond to they get about $40 put into their pension fund savings .
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Life lesson: If you’re being chased by a lion, you’re on a horse, to the left of you is a giraffe and on the right is a unicorn, what do you do? You stop drinking and get off the carousel.
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Dirt Farmer
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Joined: 15 Sep 2020
Location: Illinois
Points: 446
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Posted: 27 Jul 2025 at 11:45pm |
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Wish for a quick recovery, we'll keep you and your doctors in our prayers. In my neck of the woods the ambulance comes and gets the victim er patient takes them to Litchfield, there they can't do schit and put you on an expensive helicopter ride to Springfield where they sort you out from rthere. Thats what I've been told, fortunately no first hand experience.
Edited by Dirt Farmer - 27 Jul 2025 at 11:47pm
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DMiller
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Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Location: Hermann, Mo
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Posted: 28 Jul 2025 at 2:49am |
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Agree with Dirt Farmer, prayers for speedy recovery from this where get to return to try it again.
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ekjdm14
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Joined: 20 Aug 2024
Location: Alsager UK
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Posted: 28 Jul 2025 at 6:43am |
 DMiller wrote:
Agree with Dirt Farmer, prayers for speedy recovery from this where get to return to try it again. |
Thanks all, for the well wishes. Certainly won't be aiming for a do over of this performance though Dave!  First job when I get back to the land is rooting out that damned wire at either end & chopping it (and it's conduit) into tiny harmless pieces! and Dirt Farmer, everything crossed it stays that way with the lack of experience for you.
Shocked at the cost of ambulance for you guys, and already quite some variance in service depending on area. Hate to think what the actual surgery would run me too! How much does decent health/accident insurance cost there? Can't fault the treatment I received yesterday but have a sneaking feeling it'd be somewhat less than a week's wait for the actual operation had I had some sort of private coverage.
Edited by ekjdm14 - 28 Jul 2025 at 6:45am
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Stuck Farmer
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ACinSC
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Joined: 16 Dec 2015
Location: South Carolina
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Posted: 28 Jul 2025 at 7:45am |
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Hope you're better soon Dan
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tadams(OH)
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Location: Jeromesville, O
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Posted: 28 Jul 2025 at 1:19pm |
Prayers for surgery going well and a speedy recovery.
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DaveKamp
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Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Location: LeClaire, Ia
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Posted: 28 Jul 2025 at 7:56pm |
Yikes- sorry to hear that, Dan... but I've been there.
About 5 years ago, I was working on a site in Saint Charles, Mn... found the ONLY patch of black ice on the whole parking lot. Right foot slipped about 2", then found solid ground and stopped, and BANG! Tore that quad right out.
Repair of the tendon wasn't the bad part. The fact that there was a chunk of cartilage folded over under my kneecap, and that doctors wouldn't do anything about it for just shy of 2 years, was the bad part. Long story, bad story, did not end well. If they'd been willing to spend $1200 to MRI it when I first reported the problem, it would have saved them a significant amount of money in the settlement... and my knee wouldn't now be in the lead-up a replacement. 
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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Tracy Martin TN
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Gallatin,TN
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Posted: 28 Jul 2025 at 9:25pm |
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Prayers for a speedy recovery ! Listen to the physical therapist!
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No greater gift than healthy grandkids!
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Hubert (Ga)engine7
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Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Location: Jackson Cnty,GA
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Posted: 29 Jul 2025 at 7:02am |
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Prayers for a quick appointment and successful surgery. In my area the ambulance service is county operated vs private in some nearby areas and our service is great but I may be biased. Less than 10 minutes on scene after calling 911. Fire/rescue is volunteer/part time paid and usually arrive first. No charge if the med unit doesn’t transport, $1500+ for transport which Medicare and supplemental insurance covers. Dispatch only sends what is needed not the whole cavalry.
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Just an old country boy saved by the grace of God.
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WF owner
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Location: Bombay NY
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Posted: 29 Jul 2025 at 7:25am |
Coke-in-MN wrote:
Here if you call for emergency (911 call) you get the full load = Police first in about 3 to 5 minutes , then the fire dept a few minutes later with truck and coupe cars of extra people . then Ambulance and 2 or 3 EMT manning it .So within 15 minutes its like grand central with no room left to park .
Had to call once for wife , and next time she said I'll walk next time rather then being invaded like that again . So I had to haul her to ER myself or she refused to go .
Last trip I had to call 911 again as was fall and low respiration - clown show again but she spent 6 days in hospital and 30 days in transition care before coming home .
Ambulance cost was $1700 but insurance paid all but $100 my cost .
Is a volunteer ambulance and fire unit paid for by City / County tax - why they all show up is each call they respond to they get about $40 put into their pension fund savings . |
As someone who was a volunteer firefighter and EMT for many years, I take real offense with your post.
I have left Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas morning present opening when my kids were small and many, many middle of the night calls to help people in distress. I have sat through hundreds of hours of training, so I could do a better job helping out in emergencies. I have done hundreds of hours of fundraising, so we could afford decent equipment. This was all done without one penny of compensation and many times actually cost me money out of my pocket, not to mention time away from family.
Also, we don't get one penny of pension.
... and then people like you call our emergency response "a clown show"???
I sincerely hope none of the volunteers in your area know your feelings about the service they provide, especially if you have a real emergency that you need police/fire/EMS! The reality is they would respond anyway and do their best to assist in any way they could, despite your attitude.
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ekjdm14
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Joined: 20 Aug 2024
Location: Alsager UK
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Posted: 30 Jul 2025 at 2:43am |
Thank you all for the prayers & thoughts, they're all much appreciated. I received a call yesterday to fast overnight and am due in hospital in an hour or so, still bleary eyed with patchy sleep haha! fingers crossed will be patched up and on the mend soon. Pleasant surprise to be honest, I had been warned that they were extremely busy currently.
Thanks again folks, truly appreciate you all.
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Stuck Farmer
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Dirt Farmer
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Posted: 30 Jul 2025 at 5:37am |
Hey you hang in there, being blurry eyed it may not take much to put you back to sleep for the surgery that there is an answered prayer with them getting you in in such a short window, praying all goes well.
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ekjdm14
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Posted: 30 Jul 2025 at 6:21am |
Indeed it is, and although not religious (much more spiritual, mind) the prayers are very much appreciated. Not quite as bleary eyed now as its just gone midday but ought to be in surgery soon. Thanks again Dirt Farmer Seriously impressed by the lack of pain thus far too, barely used any painkillers yet when I did my tib n fib 15 years ago I was dosed up to the gills on morphine and still squirming in agony.
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Stuck Farmer
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Dorix
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Posted: 30 Jul 2025 at 6:23am |
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Hope you recover soon. I got hit on my motorcycle over 20 years ago, I think the ambulance took about 20 minutes.
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ekjdm14
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Posted: 30 Jul 2025 at 6:32am |
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Ah, just spoken to the surgeon and going down for repair shortly.
Turns out the tendon is off my kneecap not from the tibia, it's still attached down there lol
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Stuck Farmer
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ekjdm14
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Posted: 30 Jul 2025 at 6:39am |
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Dorix, thank you too. That's not a bad response time, barely even time for the adrenaline to wear off huh.
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Stuck Farmer
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Dorix
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Posted: 30 Jul 2025 at 10:24am |
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I remember being in the ambulance and the adrenaline wearing off, and starting to feel the pain. Fortunately it was in town at low speed.
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tadams(OH)
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Posted: 30 Jul 2025 at 2:15pm |
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Praying for healing
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Ted J
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Posted: 01 Aug 2025 at 11:31pm |
Prayers from here in WI going to you too Dan. My BIL just had it done to his knee, same scenario and he's walking pretty well now after only 5 weeks of healing. So, I hope your time frame is about the same.
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