I did something incredibly stupid ... pics added

I slipped and fell while moving a 560lb gun safe... which landed on my leg, twisting my knee and spraining my ankle pretty bad. The "stupid" part was trying to move it from my family room to a back bedroom by myself, and skipping a minor detail in the process. "Hey kids, don't try this at home"

Last week, I made myself a "gun-room / man-cave" out of one of our spare bedrooms. I ripped out the old carpet, put down a new laminate floor, moved my reloading bench in there, book cases, and bought another 6' "Gorilla" workbench from Menards. All I had left to do was move my 28 gun Cannon gun safe into the closet. It's 60" tall, 30" wide, 22" deep. Listed weight is 560lbs.

Being in the safe "business", I've got my own 1,000lb freezer dolly, and I 've moved my share of safes.... and I made a rookie mistake. To get the safe into the closet, I had to go through the doorway, stop, and make a 90 degree turn to the left where the 3' x 6' closet is. I had taken down the bi-fold closet doors and took the bedroom door off it's hinges, but it was still a tight fit. I had to set the safe/dolly down upright and then spin it in place. To make it easier and to protect the new floor from scratches, I put a 4' X 4' piece of masonite down, and duct taped the edges to the floor to keep it in place. I had a small gap between the masonite and the carpeted hallway on the outside of the doorway. So I grabbed some cardboard from the workbench packaging to cover the 1' X 3' section of bare floor. Where I screwed up (the "minor detail") was not duct taping it down, like I did to the masonite.

When crossing the cardboard as I was going through the doorway, I still had the dolly tipped back and "balanced", and when the wheels cleared the cardboard with my feet still on it, I was now a "floor-surfer". Cardboard on new laminate floor is slicker than snot on a doorknob... I fell backwards when the cardboard shot out from under me... and the safe came down on top of me, pinning my left leg. I was trapped. The only way to get out was to lift the safe.... so I caught my breath, and got "mad" at it, and lifted it up and slithered my leg out. I had my cellphone on my belt, but the safe normally holds 29 long guns and 15 handguns, and now I had fricken guns lying around everywhere after emptying the safe, so I didn't want to call 911, if you know what I mean.

My left ankle is all black & blue, and I twisted my left knee too. But I knew that as soon as I sat down, it'd swell up and I'd be done, so I kept going on the "move". The safe was flat on it's side, but still on the freezer dolly underneath it. I had to use an old bumper jack and a short piece of rope tied to the dolly handles to lift the safe back up to the "balance point", and finish the job. When I got done, and took my boot off, my ankle balooned up. I'm glad I was wearing high top work boots... it gave my ankle some protection.

Now I'm spending the day with zip-lock bag full of ice cubes taped to my ankle. I had ice on it pretty much all day yesterday too, and the swelling has subsided quite a bit. I might be able to walk on it tomorrow... today I've got crutches, but it feels much better already.


Bottom line... no dents or scratches on the safe, nor the floor... just on me.

It could have been much worse - I'm glad it wasn't.

Keep the ice on it, keep it elevated, and rest as much as possible. I messed up my back almost a month ago now, and I'm just getting back to the point of being able to put my own socks on (almost). I could barely walk, stand, or sit for two weeks. My wife had to do almost everything for me, and all I could do is lay down, keep ice on my back, and let my body recover.

ETA: My doc would tell you 20 minutes with the ice on, 40 minutes off, and repeat every hour.

Yup, my hunting partner is a former EMT and registered nurse, and he told me the same thing about the ice. 20 minutes on, 40 minutes off, so I've been doing just that since noon yesterday. It works. I can put weight on my ankle this morning (but I'm limping a lot) so I doubt if I broke anything or did any serious ligament damage. My knee hurts more than my ankle, but it's not swollen at all, just a little "tender".

My buddy's pissed at me because I didn't wait for him to come over and help. We're going turkey hunting next week, I'm his "guide" and designated turkey caller, and he doesn't want to carry me out to the blinds.

I'm almost 62 yrs old, you'd think I'd know better. I used to do this shit all the time with no problems (move heavy stuff alone)... I guess I just got too fricken old to be such a "macho man" .

I'm still young and dumb. My current problems stem from getting ready to move in about a week and a half, and old sport injuries. Missed the mat in wrestling, and hit concrete in 2000. In 2005, I was working a firefighters benefit concert, and lifted the amps into the van wrong after the show, and slipped two discs (L4 and L5). I have been really doing well since 2007, but in the last couple months I was skipping my normal stretches, and with all the packing, I was reminded the hard way

Moving is likely one of the hardest things you can do for a bad back! Lots of bending down, picking stuff up and setting it down again. I just helped my daughter move the weekend before last. I was the "dolly guy". No bending and picking up boxes for me, I just moved the furniture and big stuff that'd fit on a two-wheel dolly. She moved from ground level, I could wheel up the ramp of the U-Haul truck, and her new place has a handicapped ramp. Nothing heavy had to lifted. We had two dollies, and stacked the big heavy boxes on them, for the most part. We unloaded the 17' U-Haul in about an hour. Her boyfriend used to work for a moving company so he knew exactly what had to be done, and it was easy.

I too had back problems with L4 & L5 back in the 80s, so I hear ya. I was a roofer from '67 to '85, and I wore my back out. I had to quit and find new employment because of the back problems. Once I stopped all the continuos bending and lifting a roofer does, my back pretty much healed up. Even the occasional safe move pales in comparison to the back damage I got from 18 years of bending & lifting, 8 hrs a day, day in / day out. If I have to choose, I'll take a bum ankle & knee over the disc problems everytime. When your back hurts, everything hurts when you move.

We thankfully have a family member paying for the heavy furniture to be moved professionally. I was down for a couple days after our last move with friends and family helping.

This move is out of our first floor apartment into our first home, with steps coming in either the front or back doors. My wife has done all of the packing, and she's kept the boxes pretty light so she can lift them. Our plan of attack is to start moving after our closing date, taking car loads at a time with the light stuff, and where friends and family can help. Then the last day of the move will be the big stuff with the movers, clean up the apartment, and be done. My wife has been an absolute trooper the last month - between packing, helping me with my back, job hunting, and keeping the place in some sense of order, she's been amazing. Bought her some roses last night after work before I laid down with the ice pack again.

Really glad you're ok, it really could have been worse. I'm all kinds of messed up, 8 years Rollerblading and then another 5 of tourney paintball... Now I'm dumb and ride bike trails LOL... I still strap my skates on and hit the skatepark every now and then as well.

Ouch. Glad you are ( relatively ) OK,

Glad you are o.k.

Good luck turkey hunting!

Glad you're OKAY, but where are the pics of the new room?!

Glad you'll be OK! It doesn't take much to get hurt and if it can go wrong it will! I'm glad you didn't blow your back out.My wife is recovering from a L4-5 back fusion and it's one long recovery.The more people you have helping you the better! Take care.

You know this would be much better than flames injury reports..

IFYOU PROVIDED PICTURES TOO....

Glad your OK.

BTW, have you been hanging out with Flamethrower lately? This sure sounds like a Todd story.

glad you're ok! Hope it heals quick. Icing helps a lot, like others have said.

Well heck, could have fired up the Arfcom beacon, could have had a few of us show up. I'm always up for a trip.

They'll be here when I'm finished. Things are on "hold" right now... the new room is in the lowest level of my tri-level home, down two sets of stairs (7 for each set). Right now, I'm hobbling around OK, but avoiding stairs. I still got lots of stuff in boxes from the move down the hallway. All the reloading presses had to be unbolted from the bench to fit it through the doorway. All the dies, scales, etc., are still in boxes. I'll take some pics when everything's put where it belongs... it'll look much better than a pic of a pile of cardboard boxes on a workbench. Give me a few days.

I had to wheel the safe 20' down a hallway that seperates the 2 downstairs bedrooms, bathroom, laundry room, etc. The doorways to the bedrooms are at the end of that hallway. The hallway is only about 40" wide. I'm 6' 2", and 240 lbs, so I'm almost 40" wide all by myself. There just wasn't room for any helpers... if 20 guys showed up, all I'd have would be 20 spectators.

I kinda feel like that DEA guy who shot himself with his Glock "Fawty". I'd be the only "professional" there trained to handle it.

Best round for 560lb safe coming after you? Glad things weren't worse in the outcome, get well soon!

Ok... here ya go.

This is my ankle about 72 hrs after (taken about 10:00am Thursday morning... injured about 10am Monday). I don't have "fat" feet or a "fat" leg... that's all swelling, It's about 60% of what it was Monday night. I worked all day yesterday, so I couldn't "ice" it again until last night. Same today. I can walk OK... I just have to take stairs one step at a time. I've learned this.... going down, bad leg first... going up, good leg first. I put the crutches away... more trouble than they're worth. Glad I've got high pain tolerance.



I probably shouldn't have called my new room a "man-cave". Man-caves have recliners, fridges full of beer, and big screen TVs. My room is more of a "gun room". It's where I now keep all my toys. All this stuff used to be in my family room. That's the "man-cave" now. Now I got room for a pool table & a bar. Nothing in it except two recliners, wood stove, and a TV (and it's 20' X 25').



Reloading bench in my "toy" room. Dillon Square-Deal B (.44 & .45 Colt), Mec 650 (12ga), Lee Challenger (for rifle and some pistol), and underneath is a Lee 1000 (9mm & .45acp).






New work bench, for working on, and/or cleaning, my guns. Also have my holster making stuff here too (the toaster oven is for heating the kydex).






The safe that "took out" my ankle. I filled up the rest of the closet with gun cases. I screwed cuphooks into the clothes rod and bottom of shelf, and have about 30 cases hanging from the hooks.






The room's almost done. I still need another storage shelve unit, as I still got stuff stacked in boxes.

Looks nasty, and I'm pretty sure you can classify that as a man cave....

Did you go get an X-ray done? I broke my ankle last October and walked around on it for two days. (had a new gun to tryout when i was up north first AR)
The wife made me go in
Good luck - toad

+1 on the X-Ray!

I'm not dismissing the possibility that I broke something... but I really don't think so. If I did think so, I'd go for x-rays. And if it does not continue to steadily improve, I'll consider it. Even if I did break something, so what? They don't do anything on a foot unless it's a major break, and I certainly do not have a major break. I'd know that. This is a muscle/tendon issue.

I've had broken bones before, and they continually throbbed, and hurt like hell for days. It was a "deep" inside pain, at the core. This doesn't hurt that bad. It doesn't hurt at all unless I stress it by walking on it. It's most tender above my ankle by the bottom of my calf muscle, and feels just like a muscle pull or like a muscle cramp. It's not a "deep" pain. I may have torn a muscle, distinct possibility there, but I doubt I broke any bones. It looks a helluva lot worse than it feels. This is more like a high ankle sprain. I had 'em before, years ago, when I played football. They took a long time to heal.... and I was 40 years younger then.

The morning after it happened (tuesday), I could not get out of bed without a crutch. This morning, 2 days later, I was half way to the bathroom before I realized... hey, my leg still hurts when I walk on it.... slow down! It feels so normal at times that I forget to take it easy. It's vastly improved since monday night. If the swelling's not gone (or almost gone), by monday, I'll probably go to a doc then. My health insurance has a high deductable ($5K). I don't want to spend $1K of my money just to be told "Put ice on it, keep it elevated, and stay off of it for a few days".

Back in 2005, I purchased a large second-hand AmSec gun safe. The owner and I used a Harbor freight hoist to get it (laid down, dial facing up) into the back of my longbed F-150. Then I drove it home and backed my truck into my garage.

Huh. How to get it out..?

Eventually I conned a neighbor into helping me get it out of the truck. We were going to slide it slowly out, tip it downward, and get it on the ground. Then we were going to "walk" it to its spot.

Well, we had it tipped and coming out of the truck when my neighbor let go for some reason. I've got one bad hand, so essentially only my one hand was holding a 1,000+ lb 60x30x26 safe. Needless to say, I lost control of the safe. It quickly fell out of my truck, slammed into my home's fire wall, and landed flat on the ground upside down on the dial and handle. I was directly behind the safe when this happened and would have been pinned against the firewall at the knees if I hadn't jumped REALLY quickly.

Eventually we got the safe off the floor and standing right side up. It was already scratched up when I bought it, but the dial and handle were both at a slight angle. Thankfully everything worked. I eventually bent the handle back into shape but the dial was always a few degrees off. I also swore that I would never, EVER attempt to move a safe weighing more than 100 lbs ever again.

I hope you feel better and can enjoy your shooting room soon!

Mike

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