Blog

On a January night in 1975 we were on a friend's ranch out east of I-75 when our son, Ken, and our friend's son went riding their horses around the ranch and came upon two men illegally hunting on their property.  The owner's son asked them to leave and when they refused the two 14 year olds turned their horses around to head back to report to us.  At that point one of the men shot at the boys, and since Ken was last he and his horse got the bird-shot.  They raced back to where we were setting up a picnic, hollering that Ken had been shot.  It's amazing what you can do when the adrenaline is pumping.  Somehow Pete managed to get Ken over the fence and into a car.  I realized that his injuries were not life threatening but our friend's wife drove Ken and me to Sarasota Memorial Hospital while the two Dads went looking for the perpetrators.  Fortunately they had done their dirty deed and left.  I don't know what Pete would have done if he'd found them.

At the hospital, our family physician was called and he ordered x-rays.   Fortunately Ken's boots caught several bird-shot but he sustained several shots in his left leg and his rump. His horse got several in her rump also.  While we waited for the x-rays to be developed, Ken asked me what I thought the doctor was going to do.  I told him I figured the doctor would order Neosporin and Band-Aids on each site.

When the doctor arrived and read the x-rays he came into the examining room followed by some students or interns.  He reported to all of us the findings that the bird-shot was fairly deeply embedded in muscle tissue and he then posed a question to the group: "What do you think we should do about this situation?"  The students/interns remained mute but Ken, laying on the gurney raised his hand and when the doctor acknowledged him, his response was: "How about putting Neosporin and Band-Aids on all of them?"  The students all started  snickering but the doctor quickly silenced them when he agreed with Ken stating that in order to extract them, it would tear up too much muscle and that his system would either cover them or reject them.  Ken was very relieved and gave me a "thumbs up".

A couple of years later when Ken was showering he rubbed a sore spot on his chest and one of the pellets popped out.  I guess the rest still remain embedded.  We used to tease him that, when going through airport security he might set off the alarm.  Life is challenging but good.