Between a Rock and a Hard Place.Could you endure this pain??

I read the book several years ago. It’s truly an amazing story. For those of you who don’t know, to summarize the story, he ended up cutting off his own arm with a pocket knife to escape and save his life. It involved hours of breaking his own arm bone, cutting through flesh and nerves, and finally tearing it away and leaving the arm pinned in the canyon.

The name of the book is Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston..This book describes Ralston's struggle against thirst, hunger, desperation, pain, stress and anxiety, because nobody knows where he is.

Imagine having an 800 pound boulder pinned on top of your arm in the middle of no-where.
Imagine being in this situation for 6 days alone with no food or water and your energy slowly dying away.
Imagine knowing that the only way out of this predicament is for you to first, break off the bone in your arm and then slice it with a flat metal object bit by bit for the next 3 hours..

My question is to you, what would you be willing to do to save your own life? Cut off your own arm? Your own leg?

Thinking about the incredible pain of the nerve fibers and the breaking of the bone makes me cringe.. But certainly it would be worth it to be able to live. Or would it? What kind of pain would you be willing to suffer to save your own life?

The video is about a crab cutting off its own claw after being injured in a bird attack..And when the crab’s right claw is badly injured by the attack, he pauses on the sand, and cuts it off with his other claw...

However, unlike humans, crab claws grow back. So this story isn’t all bad. It typically takes about a year for the claw to grow back. peace,sugarcookie1

If you liked the book, you should watch the movie.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by 1ibl2ibs
If you liked the book, you should watch the movie.

en.wikipedia.org...

I saw the movie it was good but i liked the book better..peace,sugarcookie

reply to post by sugarcookie1


This is a good topic lets post on it ..bump

The reality is, the great pain would not actually be there for very long at all, the nature of the nervous system would put a person into shock, and that would deaden the senses to the point where though feeling ill, and cold, the pain would be manageable to a degree, and the cutting would be terribly uncomfortable, but I am not saying by any means, it would be enjoyable.

The impression of pain for the reader (or viewer) is more of the squeamish function at work than in the actual situation.

Could I do the same, probably, do I ever really want to know, that would be a big fat NO!
To be honest, I probably would not wait 6 days, as generally, after 3 days of no water, you brain ceases to function properly as the chemicals and proteins become imbalanced.

All pain being subjective your answers would be very individual, but nobody can say what they would do in the same situation unless they were actually in this-or a similar scenario.

I think I would cut off my nose to spite my face..and actually I have

Originally posted by RyanFromCan
The reality is, the great pain would not actually be there for very long at all, the nature of the nervous system would put a person into shock, and that would deaden the senses to the point where though feeling ill, and cold, the pain would be manageable to a degree, and the cutting would be terribly uncomfortable, but I am not saying by any means, it would be enjoyable.

The impression of pain for the reader (or viewer) is more of the squeamish function at work than in the actual situation.

Could I do the same, probably, do I ever really want to know, that would be a big fat NO!
To be honest, I probably would not wait 6 days, as generally, after 3 days of no water, you brain ceases to function properly as the chemicals and proteins become imbalanced.

I think i would just lay there and die i dont think i could do that to myself..But i dont know ive never been placed into to this situation so maybe the will to live would over ride it all..peace,sugarcookie1

Originally posted by RobinB022
All pain being subjective your answers would be very individual, but nobody can say what they would do in the same situation unless they were actually in this-or a similar scenario.

I think I would cut off my nose to spite my face..and actually I have

Lets hope were never put into this kind of scenario..It would be a hard to decide what to do..peace,sugarcookie1

I don't think I could do it, personally. I am a coward of the first magnitude. I can't imagine what he went through and what kind of fortitude it took to do what he did. As one poster said, maybe his chemistry was off enough, it skewed his perceptions. It is a lesson for those who are cocky and daredevil types. Let people know where you are going and when you expect to be back, and don't go off doing silly things alone in the wild.

Lucky guy, his pain only lasted a few days.
Some people live with it for their entire lives.
Not to make light of his suffering as I'm sure it was horrendous.
I've been watching my Dad suffering from stage 4 lung cancer for 8 months now and he's in awful pain all the time.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here Sugarcookie1, I know you have more than you're fair share of pain too.
I would rather suffer short term than long.
People with extensive burns probably suffer far more than he did.

Originally posted by Iamschist
I don't think I could do it, personally. I am a coward of the first magnitude. I can't imagine what he went through and what kind of fortitude it took to do what he did. As one poster said, maybe his chemistry was off enough, it skewed his perceptions. It is a lesson for those who are cocky and daredevil types. Let people know where you are going and when you expect to be back, and don't go off doing silly things alone in the wild.

Iamschist
I dont know how i would be id probably just die I'm like you to big a coward..Id have to be so delusional to do what he did makes me shudder..
I agree if your going to do this kinda stuff let someone know where your headed to he wasn't to smart about that..peace,sugarcookie1

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Lucky guy, his pain only lasted a few days.
Some people live with it for their entire lives.
Not to make light of his suffering as I'm sure it was horrendous.
I've been watching my Dad suffering from stage 4 lung cancer for 8 months now and he's in awful pain all the time.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here Sugarcookie1, I know you have more than you're fair share of pain too.
I would rather suffer short term than long.
People with extensive burns probably suffer far more than he did.

Asktheanimals
I'm so sorry to hear about your dad i know its hard..I took care of my x mother in-law for my father in-law while he worked for months she had 4 different kinds of cancer she wouldn't have chemo and the pain was horrible and she had a hard time breathing i watched her waste away ..Hospice came in towards the end and kept her drugged and comfortable any way you put it it was hard so i understand what your going through..
I have some pain at times but I'm not sure what pain is really i was born with this so Ive never been normal ..I know people dont understand when i say this but i dont know what having a pain level is plus allot of it is covered up with huge amounts of prednisone..
I wasn't making a point on the thread it was just a good true story is all..
People with extensive burns i cant even imagine that pain i read not to long ago about a boy that was burned over 99% of his body and what he went though I'm not sure id have the will to live though what he went through..Thanks for posting..sugarcookie1

reply to post by sugarcookie1


I wasn't trying to belittle what the guy went through - it was worse than most of us can imagine. As to whether we would do the same under the circumstances is impossible to say unless you went through the exact same scenario.
I'm also having a bad day for pain, I've had an inflamed spinal cord for 4 years now and some days I would rather just not even wake up. Medications can only do so much and doctors are only willing to give you so many - which results in most cases of pain being ignored or severely under-medicated. It's the kind of hell I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
Sure it sucks, but I;m grateful to still be alive when I didn't think I would be. As long as some days are bearable life is worth staying around for. If it weren't for the good days I wouldn't stay around long.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
reply to post by sugarcookie1

 

I wasn't trying to belittle what the guy went through - it was worse than most of us can imagine. As to whether we would do the same under the circumstances is impossible to say unless you went through the exact same scenario.
I'm also having a bad day for pain, I've had an inflamed spinal cord for 4 years now and some days I would rather just not even wake up. Medications can only do so much and doctors are only willing to give you so many - which results in most cases of pain being ignored or severely under-medicated. It's the kind of hell I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
Sure it sucks, but I;m grateful to still be alive when I didn't think I would be. As long as some days are bearable life is worth staying around for. If it weren't for the good days I wouldn't stay around long.

edit on 1-5-2012 by Asktheanimals because: (no reason given)

Asktheanimals
Doctors are very cautious about giving out pain meds..I'm very surprised with a inflamed spinal cord they aren't giving you more or better pain medication i get 100 vicoden pills a month and the fentynal patch i know i have a drug problem but when your in pain like we are who cares..
All i can say is hang in there you have allot to live for..I know life can suck sometimes in-fact it sucks allot..But those good days even if there few makes it all worth getting up in the morning to face another day stay strong! hugs and peace,sugarcookie1