Casualty Ward Locationless, Locationless, Locationless
By
Team Bluedog on 19-Feb-08. Waypoint GA1005
Cache Details
Difficulty: | |
Terrain: | |
Type: | Locationless |
Container: | Other |
Proximity: | 161m |
Description
Caching's Casualty Ward
This is a simple but sad cache.
It is dedicated to all of us who have come to personal grief in some way pursuing our neverending task of caching. If you have lost some skin, drawn some claret, pulled or strained a muscle or heaven forbid, broken a bone, here is your chance to get some satisfaction and log your injury.
Feel free to lay the blame as you see fit. Most companions seem only able to offer assistance with a camera or a laugh.
Post a pic and/or tell your story.
Bluedog
P.S. this is also my first GCA cache and I'd like to dedicate it to Roosterman !!!
2009 update - Well this little cache is now just over 12 months old and I am amazed at some of the injuries sustained in the pursuit of this "gentle" sport. Thanks for supporting the cache and I hope you dont end up on here too often.
2010 update - I just had another look at the galley pics and am still amazed at how many folk have sustained injuries and even ended up in a real hospital. Folks, this is now an EXTREME SPORT. Enjoy, be careful and if you cant be careful, post the results on here :)
Oh and dont forget the sister cache to this one "Panelbeater" for equipment or vehicle mishaps and the new "Cachemobile" for our caching steeds. Also new for 2010 "Where is my car ?"
Hints
Qbag ybt guvf cntr gb znal gvzrf - lbh znl unir gb ernffrff ubj lbh fcrag lbh fcner gvzr |
|
Decode |
Logs
Heres my log and pic rom that cache:
Despite a (forgotten) warning from the bear we took the kids with us. While lifting miss E up a tricky bit the ground underneath me gave way and down I went with it. Miss E, still in my grasp, had her first flight without an aircraft! Somehow I managed to reel her in and save her from injury. No broken bones but a very sore leg for me. The egg continued on while I comforted the kids and licked my wounds. Happily the cache was located and log signed. TFTC
It's greatin the little country towns but as the other half always reminds me: to put the brakes on, not stop with your foot!
No guess what happened next?
I shouldn't really talk about it, but I think you may know what happened without me telling you
thanks for the Locationless Cache
Mr G is always have brambles, thorns and the like jump out a bite him
I once provided some breakfast entertainment at a quilting retreat, when I went for an early morning walk, which involved going down to the nearby river and caching among some scratchy undergrowth on an already quite warm morning, and I turned up for breakfast with scratched and bleeding arms - lol
The other day I noticed a rather dark bruise in a weird place - best described as "inside leg" ... "How/when did I do that?" I thought ... then I remembered a fence I climbed through in a hurry, while chasing a FTF (we were second .... sigh) the night before ... I guess my high pain threshold, and the excitement of the chase, meant I did't really feel it at the time - lol
But ... neither of those are my worst caching injury ... The worst one was about this time the year before last, when I did ... something ... to my knee when climbing back through a fence after my (infamous?) stripping off naked and wading into a river for a FTF ... again, I was squeezing myself through between the top couple of wires (the top wire was barbed wire so climbing over was not so easy an option), when the wire I had almost my whole weight resting on snapped, and my foot slid as I ended up hanging from the next wire down, and my knee twisted awkwardly and made a weird cracking noise ... so I untangled myself from the fence ... carefully moved my knee to see if it worked, stood up, and walked the km or 2 back up the hill to my car and headed off to my quilting evening. I am not sure what I actually did to my knee - despite the fact that it was sore for 6 weeks and I couldn't straighten it fully for about 4 weeks, I didnt go to a doctor with it ... again - high pain threshold? ... and I could walk ok, if I was careful, and it was slowly getting better ... I think the daily wandering to/from Geocaches was good physiotherapy for it - lol (yes - daily - I was in the middle of my 403 day streak - lol)
Yes, I am ... different ... lol
While trying to find Aladdin's Cave GCK2W6.
Did a bit of damage while searching for the new 'The Landlord's Daughter' geocache at Lawson. That stick would have poked me right in the eye, but my sizable nose protected me!
I was concentrating on ducking under a low branch of the tree when I overbalanced towards the trunk. I tore my jeans and scratched my leg on some barbed wire which had been discarded beside the tree.
I found the cache (GA1973) and then limped back to the car where I spent five minutes scrubbing the dirt and rust out of my leg.
I broke my finger but it hasn't turned me off caching at all
This involved crawling and slithering through narrow blackberry tunnels. It destroyed my T-shirt too. I wished I had chosen another one to wear .
I have found myself at a casualty ward with blood poisoning from a leech bite and received a good shot of penicillin in the back side. I wasn't too worried at the time, but the Doctor said if I didn't come in today, I would have been crawling in tomorrow. He also said it was probably more likely to have been caused by the water being in contact with the fresh wound rather than the leech itself.
Fortunately for me on this occasion, I survived. I cant say the same for the leech!!!!
My casualty ward visit is a small scratch (that actually bled quite profusely) after wandering around on Saturday doing some geocache hiding. Walking through waist high grasses, weeds, prickles and in among trees and small bushes I am surprised that this is the only injury. Still an injury is an injury. As I say to GabGab if you didn't bleed you didn't have fun.
No caches for us unfortunately but luckily, we were still able to claim one smilie for the day.
Bush scratched my legs due to my wearing shorts rather than long hiking pants.
Today I was wanting to visit a trigpoint and had to negotiate a barb wire fence. My husband and son had shorts on so decided that they would wait by the car while I went to take the close-up photos. On my way back through the fence I scratched my arm. My husband and son offered no assistance when I was negotiating the fence but took great joy in photographing the injury.
I am logging this for a claim in the Summer Scavenger Series. My injury is not very serious but is a frequent occurrence for me.
BOWRAL & DISTRICT HOSPITAL
BOWRAL STREET, BOWRAL, NSW
What a goose I am, I was at Nowra Hospital yesterday and didn't think of this cache Oh well, never mind, I can certainly log casualty at Bowral.
Most injured though was retrieving a cache through a large patch of black berry bushes with cuts and a abrasions all over.
I escaped with a cache that hadn't been found for close to three and half years...and rescue a trapped TB.
Very work the injuries. No photo taken of evidence due to where all the cuts were sustained.
Luckily this wasn't as bad and didn't stop me caching for the rest of the trip, though I knew about it when I woke up in the morning or did anything physical. For the next 2 nights at the venue I went a different way and carried a head torch. The silly thing is that I wasn't even pissed at the time, had 2 beers and was going back for more. If I had been I would probably just have bounced and not hurt myself. Thanks Bluedog.
open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Luckily my caching experiences have not ended up here, but I have come away with bruises, scratches, cuts and torn clothing.
It looked a lot worse than it was, lots of blood but after a good wash out with water and alcohol wipes it did look as bad as it could have been.
I now have a nice half circle scar on my hand to remind me of a great days caching.
Thanks for the cache.
I chose my bed, had a very yummy dinner, cooked in the well set out kitchen, and settled down for the night. But there was a plague of mozzies Bzzzzzzzz There must have been hundreds in my bedroom all buzzing about my head I dec I decided to cover myself totally with the sheet and breath through a tiny slit that they shouldn't be able to penetrate.
However, when i woke up next morning, it appeard that I'd thrown the sheet off in my sleep as it was quite hot and they'd all had a go at whatever bits of skin were showing - mostly my face but also shoulders, arms, legs, feet and even my hair. I have a reaction to mozzie bites and it's possible to count each one by the swollen red spots which generally last 5 days or more
You might think this is nothing compared to a broken leg or similar but you're not the one covered on red lumps for a week
It was not too long ago that I sustained a superficial scalp wound in the quest for a FTF on "Marlborough Street Reserve" [https://coord.info/GC6RGQD] that went wrong.
The details of the (mis)adventure can be found here [https://coord.info/GLP84CPM].
There was no picture, but a lots of witnesses including a Banana that came along later and found the blood trail.
Thanks for the locationless cache Bluedog
This is the entrance to the casualty dept of Venice hospital, when we visited there last July.
We were attempting the gc.com cache Rail of Blood. The cache itself is up on a abandoned railway embankment. Its only T2 but we missed the 'easy' route up instead attempting what seemed like a near vertical geo-trail just below GZ. On either side was lantana, with thorns, big thorns, biggest thorns I have ever seen on a lantana bush. Curse all lantana plants.
I got to within about 3 metres of the top and the pathway was just too steep to continue, so down I came - part of the downward journey was on my butt. When I finally reached level ground I realised some of the lantana thorns had done their worst. Hence the photo. Fortunately we carry a first aid kit and after cleaning up the blood I realised the injury wasn't as bad as we thought.
Ended up finding the cache another time, using the easier route which was thankfully lantana free at the time.
Three days of cache maintenance and the score is . . . blackberries 3, geocacher 0.
Well, I did manage replace caches and logs and clean things up, so it was worth it!
Today's final injury reminded me of this Locationless, so I thought I'd try to get a couple of my wounds in the one shot!
You can see that the earlier injury is healing nicely . . .
On the ascent after finding GCGH0T Millgrove Track, I slipped and cut my hand on a broken branch.
A temporary bandage of hankies got me to BernieH's place where his lovely wife Annie put a more professional bandage on it.
This allowed me to get home, have dinner, and then present at Sandringham Hospital Emergency where I received six stitches after a very short wait.
After finding the Kew Reservoir, I noticed View From Above not too far away, so I walked around to it.
As I approached however, I found that I was across the road and up a small cliff from where I needed to be.
I didn't have good boots on but I thought I could negotiate the cliff.
However, my shoes slipped on the gravel at the base of a small black tree half way down the slope, and I slipped down the cliff, managing to grab the tree as I went past, ending up like a very average pole dancer in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the tree. I then managed to get down to the bottom of the cliff without further complications.
Phone ...check.
GPS ......check
Skin ....... not all present, and a fair amount of blood beginning to exit a couple of deep scratches on my arms and legs.
On with business however, and the cache was soon found, nice hide, and it was in good condition.
Then I made my way back to the car and the first aid kit.
Probably that'll do it for today.
GC64Y0G "Between a rock and a high place"
Foolishly I went back up (a safer way) to try and find it but soon realised I needed help and so headed back several km's back to the car. Finding caches en route of course!
Thanks to Tronador for telling us about this cache!
TFTC! Cheers,
The Hancock Clan
Foolishly I went back up (a safer way) to try and find it but soon realised I needed help and so headed back several km's back to the car. Finding caches en route of course!
Thanks to Tronador for telling us about this cache!
TFTC! Cheers,
The Hancock Clan
Foolishly I went back up (a safer way) to try and find it but soon realised I needed help and so headed back several km's back to the car. Finding caches en route of course!
Thanks to Tronador for telling us about this cache!
TFTC! Cheers,
The Hancock Clan
Now to see if I can figure out how to upload the pic.
When replacing a container back into a typical deadwood niche in the bush he became a geo casualty cutting the back of his hand on something sharp inside the hollow!
A quick patch up with an oversize band aid seemed to fix this issue until later in the day it became evident a vein must have been nicked and suddenly let go!
We were fortunate at that time to be sharing an afternoon tea with caching friends with whose help a pressure bandage that stopped the blood flow was applied.
However in just over 10 years of caching we are thankful this has been the only significant incident that would qualify us to claim a find on this cache!
'The Green Zone' GC5CVMY
Lapstone, NSW
Well, I only found out about my injury after returning to Leura, and then I was off to the Katoomba Hospital Emergency Room with a left foot swollen to twice its normal size.
I thought I had an infection from my two leech bites (no big deal about the leech bites because I get them all the time) but apparently it was an allergic reaction.
Antihistamines.
And now I'm OK again and back on my feet!
Of course, it was all worth it for the smilie . . .
Thanks to Shonkylogic for telling me of this cache.
-=-=-
Well this should have been an easy cache, trust me to make it harder.
No problems with WP1 or the final GZ it is what I did in between.
While walking to the final, I'm walkng through the park lands, and come across a wire fence on Greenhill road. This is just 2 wires, and all one needs do is to push down and climb over or push up and scurry under.
In hindsight I should have gone under, but over is easier, faster, and I have done similar 1000 times before. As I'm climbing over my shoe get caught and I overbalance, hands out to break my fall, and it works well.
Problem is that there are some rather large stones with pointy bits, that are forced into my right hand.
I think 'Oh, for trucks sake' Well not those exact words, as you might imagine, but one that sounds similar.
I didn't have my first aid kit with me, so I had to improvise, how to slow the bleeding? Notepad paper works as I found out. And it was securely 'glued' to my hand. Well now that the crisis is over I continue on to GZ, find the cache, log a find and now head to RAH Emergency ... on a Friday afternoon. As it turns out I seem to have hit a sweet spot, as most people were heading home at this point, and not one was yet out doing alcohol related shenanigans.
Only waited 30-45 minutes, staff were both fascinated and horrified to my solution, a little warm water got the paper off, a bit of anesthetic, a good scrub, some antiseptic, 'superglue' the wound together (not kidding), a tetanus booster, and a cursory examination of my wrist later and I'm out of there. Took twice as long to treat me then I waited.
I was out one day caching by myself and to get to GZ I had to go over a fence. I managed to snag my shorts on the wire and did not think much more of it. But when I was at GZ my knee felt wet and when I checked I had a nice cut and plenty of blood.
When I got back to the ute it was time to get the First aid kit out and clean the cut. It needed more than just a bandaid, and thankfully I carry butterfly strips for just this kind of Major "oops".
See even being called "Lawyer Vine" will cause grief!
Acko
'
Well, the rain came down, and lightning flashed, and thunder rolled, and just as we began our search, the storm unleashed its full fury on us and chucked down hail Ow Ow Ow A crazy 100 metre dash back to the VERY LITTLE shelter, and we huddled together to outwait the elements. And as often happens in moments like this, we both thought it was hilariously funny And even as we cowered away from the hail, and our legs got stiff and uncomfortable, and our clothes more soaked, we still laughed Once the storm petered out we went back to the search and made the find
It was only as we walked back to the car we realised the damage to our bare legs Thankfully it was all superficial and healed up very quickly, but I sure copped some ribbing from friends about it
Cheers. MODU.
Little did I realise that one of our club members, at about this time, fell off a ladder at his house at Bonnie Down while checking the filters in his water tanks. He hit his head on a pump cover as he landed on the ground and was months recovering.
Mr Beetle thought he spotted a potential track and grabbed a large leaf to pull it out of the way. That's when the fun started. After a fair bit of cursing and jumping around we returned to the toilet block where he put his hand under the tap. That seemed to help but it was still stinging pretty badly.
We decided to get out of there and as we travelled towards Atherton the pain started under his armpit.
We decided that it might be worth a visit to A and E to get it checked out. They knew exactly what they were dealing worth and that he had touched a stinging tree. Their stories of other people's exploits were quite interesting and the triage nurse did tell us that you are better to touch them on the hand than the leg. Then the pain travels up to your groin.
Now what are these dreadful trees. Well they grow in rainforests and are particularly fond of growing on the side of tracks where there is more light. They are covered in tiny hairs that are not visible with the human eye. When you touch them they break off in your skin and release poisons in to your system.
The bad news is that they will only continue to affect you for about 6 months and usually when you touch something hot or cold.
We googled them of course and found they have only caused one death in Australia and that was a guy who picked one to wipe his ar** after a bush sh#* and the pain was that intense that he shot himself!! Probably not a lot of truth in that but who knows.
Anyway, after treatment which is usually wax on the area [but the nurse we had preferred a tape] we continued caching on our way.
Thanks.
This was the ninth cache of the day whilst out caching in Wingaap Territory. I was accompanied by Nyssa Flutterby, Brightskies and Captain Terror. So Captain Terror walked in the lead to get to his normal 10-20 metres from GZ. Nyssa and Brightskies both followed him down and i went to lean on the tree to help me but i must have slipped because next thing i know i was sitting on the ground with a rather sore behind. I sat there whilst having my photo taken not sure whether to laugh or cry or both so i laughed. AND laughed. I looked around my immediate location for the cache as i was trying to gain the strength to stand up. After a little while someone found the cache and i hobbled over to them. Signed my name and struggled back up to the car. Thanks for the cache Wingaap... turns out i have a very bruised coccyx and the days caching became a little harder after my lovely fall.
"Within twenty metres or so of the cache, once I'd worked out the approach, my left foot somehow got tangled with the other left foot, and there I suddenly was, sprawled in the dirt. All that time scrambling along rock faces and I manage to take a tumble at the T1 section of the trip... how embarrassing.
Anyway, the wonderful big cache was right where I'd hoped, and I managed to sign the log and enjoy success before heading back to the car and see if I could clean myself up a bit. It's all just superficial, and was an interesting surprise for the other half when I arrived home. I definitely owe her flowers (or something) for her nursing efforts."
Called in this morning but couldn't find it. I was watching my GPSr when I walked on uneven ground & went down - crikies it hurt. People came to my rescue, I was stunned & a bit embarrassed but got up wondering how the Magellan fared. We both have a bit of bark missing, my knee has a funny V shaped indentation & is bloody sore. I mustn't have brittle bones yet as landed on my palms & they are just bruised. I'll claim that Locationless - Casualty Ward. I've been unsteady on my feet forever so this is just another example. Wandered back to the UAV thinking I'd ignore this one & after finding Werri went & bought a packet of frozen peas & affixed these to my knee which proved a great relief.
As I drove back down the coast decided I'd hop 'back on the horse' & give it another go but leave the GPSr in the car. I had interpreted the hint one way this morning but thought of it differently in the afternoon & soon had the cache in hand. (The new co-ords were only added today).
No doubt will be more painful tomorrow.
GC41083 Mini Maldives
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: duck 43 @ | Hidden: 11/08/2012 | Status: Available
Country: Australia | State: Western Australia
Coordinates: S32° 00.409 E115° 46.853
Somehow I managed to stub my toe on what looked like a tree root. Didn't pay much attention at the time other than to say geez that hurt.
Noticed later though that my sandal had filled up with blood
27.12 GC2TRJW The Black Mesa Airdrop 3/4.5
29.12 GC36BYA The Best View of the City 3/4.5
30.12 GC43AMB ArboNuts Challenge 4.5/5
30.12 GC35CVY CTU Mark I 1.5/4
30.12 GC35CVX CTU Mark II 2/4.5
30.12 GC3CF3N Elwood Canal 1.5/4
Not as bad as some of the other wounds logged here - I guess I'm just not trying hard enough!
The photo is missing the spiderweb of scratches and gouges on the other side of my arms - it's hard enough trying to take a photo of your own forearms with a camera-phone! I guess I need to adjust my 'grip the branch tightly with both arms until you get solid purchase with your feet' technique a little.... I've also spared you the photo of the crescent-shaped slice on my upper thigh and the various posterior bruises from stubby branches during the descents - some things are better left undocumented!
It is on the mend now, the image was taken today, 5/1/2013
Just one of the many injuries acquired whilst caching.
I sustained the injury on GC2KFTJ after doing GC297P9, but then continued on to GC230EW despite blood soaking through my pants (not that I checked the wound before continuing on... ignorance is bliss).
I was walking around on the top of some concrete pipes which had been filled with dirt, but the ground gave way beneath me between two pipes. I fell to mid thigh gaining a nasty gash along my left shin in the process.
I should have taken a picture before I cleaned it up, much more impressive.
Was opening a gate to get through, to hide a gnome, and finish off a series of caches, when my finger got crushed.
Yep, broken finger! wooo!! (sigh)
Sustained a small injury today doing the cache GC1B61W "Falls at Black Glen" by Dippy in Tasmania.
My log reads:
"Hi Dippy
Left home early this morning hoping to complete the PTPT caches along the track from Neika. Arrived at the car park to find it vacant. Got my gear together and set off. Had the track to myself for most of my walk; found both that I had not completed and thought that's the end of the PTPTs for the moment. Noticed Greenish had visited both yesterday.
From here it was off to Black Glen to find your caches. Drove to the first car park, looked at the track and drove slowly to the second. Gathered my gear and started the walk.
Crossed the river and by-passed the first cache figuring to get it when I came back.
A lovely sunny day, enjoying the walk when the track and I parted company. It was the track that got lost not me! Consequently, I followed the creek to the cache, bush bashing my way and crossing the creek four or five times. I, unlike Budge, did not fall in the river nor did I get wet feet!
The benefits of taking this path albeit unintentional, I did not have to climb the hill and I got to see more of the river than do most visitors to the falls.
Eventually arrived at ground zero only to find I had to cross the river yet again!
Time to search for the cache and the GPS had me walking all over but not in the right direction. During the search, I found the pink tape that I should have followed in but had lost somewhere along the way.
The cache hide was eventually found.
It was extracted, the log signed and the cache replaced at 1350hrs.
The walk back was a lot easier following the tape on the right track and didn't take anywhere near as long. However, it was difficult to follow the blazes in given spots.
What a great walk! The falls are magnificent. Thank you for taking me to this area for the first time. Waterfalls are a passion of mine, you have added another to the list of those I've visited.
After finding your two caches at Black Glen, I was driving home when Budge rang and asked "Did you finish the PTPTs today?" Knowing I had, he said Greenish had just had PTPT Echidna published and started to laugh! Not funny at all 'cos now I've got to go back again. He's got a sick sense of humour don't you think!!! (tehehe!)
Enjoyed your cache today and am looking forward to the big walk on Sunday.
Cheers OldSaint."
Thanks for the cache
Cheers OldSaint
And this was no exception.
So, for the last...4 or so weeks, i've been on crutches, as i had a soft tissue injury in my foot (which was not caused by geocaching!). Anyway, this weekend i got off them (bout time!), and went to find an earthcache. 400m walk through sand, and a 100 or so metre walk through rock pools and such. Pretty easy.. Grabbed the info, and was writing it down on my phone to email to the CO later, and oops! Fell into a rock pool, and sprained my OTHER ankle! (phone was fine!)
I am now refusing to go back on crutches for this!!
After a triumphant find for our 3000th cache in Para Wirra at the Devil's Nose, the usual "whoops, rolled my ankle" that Mrs Wibble often does with nary any pain (years of orienteering in your formative years lends itself well to slack ankle ligaments) became a "holy $%^$^# that hurts, that hurts that HURTS!" dropping to the ground.
A very slow hobble 1km, then a (slightly dodgy) dismantling of a barrier to drive a car in to pick me up, a visit to the physio, the hire of some crutches, and the fun of watching my ankle turn from tennis ball sized lump to overall puffy lump to purple, then green, then yellow, then all three colours, then another physio visit, and another.....
Learned a new piece of anatomy on this one. Anterior talofibular ligamant. I no longer have a functional one. It's not attached to my ankle any more (I imagine its just flopping around inside my foot now). I have a nice unfashionable brace to wear while caching and lots of strengthening exercises to do.
And to make matters worse, its a DNF !
I've added a "10 days later" shot - all better now!
I know you were all so worried (not)!
Ingar Fire Trail
Wentworth Falls, NSW
I was so excited with our FTF, that I pulled the cache container out of its hiding place a bit too quickly and did some serious damage to my knuckles.
The photo will show the result.
I've had a number of injuries while geocaching, but, fortunately, none that were too serious.
However, I discovered on Monday morning that I had somehow found a nest of grass ticks. At the moment my shoulders and back and other parts of my body are covered in large red extremely itchy lumps. This morning as I was putting cream on to numb them I counted 163! The ticks are so tiny that they initially looked like tiny black spots in the middle of a raised lump. This is the ONLY place I was on Sunday where I could possibly have picked them up.
NO this is not an April Fool's Day joke.
Sorry no pics available as I want to retain my privacy! The photo would not be wonderful viewing anyway! LOL
turns out i'm allergic to the grass there, AND something bit me!! almost two days later, i'm still not sure what did..