← 🎙️ Interesting Humans Podcast
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- [00:00]
Host
Welcome Back to episode 59 here. What a guest I have. Mr. Keith came in through episode 13, which was James Boron, the trauma surgeon. And Keith is a member of the Interesting Humans podcast community. He wrote a comment on the surgeon's video and he shared his own personal story. So I reached out to Keith and said, hey, this sounds awesome. Let's do a pre interview and if it, if it goes good, we'll, we'll jump on a real episode. Well, our pre interview, this was this morning. And I said, this story is just too awesome. Let's run it asap. Here we are today. Thanks, Keith. Thanks for jumping with me.
- [00:42]
Keith
Yep, appreciate it. Thank you, too.
- [00:45]
Host
I'm not going to give away this story, but I'm going to tell you that he was shot in the throat, age 18, no pain med, and I can't imagine for hours. And I'm gonna let you fill us in the rest of the story. So take us back to that day, Keith.
- [01:01]
Keith
All right. Well, it was, I was 18, senior in high school. December 10, 1988 was the year. And my stepdad, stepdad came in one morning, early one morning on the weekend, wanted to know if I wanted to go hunting. Neither one of us really wanted to go, but we, we ended up going. He and my mother had been married approximately. They were in their first year, I can't remember, 37 years ago, something like that. Anyway, so we pack up, head down to my grandfather's farm in Toombs County, Georgia. We go down there, get out. We just what we call steel hunting. We didn't go getting any stands or anything. We just walking around. My stepdad had bad knees and a pretty, pretty big guy to be getting up my stand. So we just, you know, went walking about back in the woods on my grandfather's property, we spent an hour, hour and a half doing that. Saw some deer, saw some, does nothing we wanted to take a shot at. So as we decide to come out, we're coming out on this old logging path road and a good pretty clear road in the timber, and a doe jumped out between what ended up being my first cousin and me and my stepdad. So she was probably, I don't know, 40, 50, 60 foot away. Guesstimate she saw us froze in the middle of the path. And unbeknownst to us, my first cousin had spent the night with my grandparents. And as country guys do, you know, boys like us, we hunt. We've been outside all our lives, you know, shooting guns and stuff. He grabs my uncle's 30, 30 and just happens to be in the same area of the farm that we were. And long story short, I'm looking at the doe. I've dropped down to one knee just looking at her. I was about to spook her. I was gonna, you know, stomp my foot and get her to run off. Like I said, I didn't really want to doe. It was doe days, but that wasn't what I was there for. Anyway. Just as I would say, probably the. The signal was going from my brain to my right foot to stop. I'm on my back. And it happened to be that my cousin was another 80 yards or so, 90. And we were a little higher than him as well in the woods. It kind of rose up. There have been a lot of questions people ask when I tell the story. One of the first questions is like, well, I mean, you know, was somebody shooting at you? Was it. You know, he was 13. There's never been any animosity and, you know, as far as me towards him with it. But he did take a shot, you know, and he missed the deer, and he got me. So you could probably see here, small scar, this entry area. As soon as the bullet, you know, it hit me, it knocked me down. Yep, right here. Traits here.
- [03:58]
Host
Yeah.
- [03:59]
Keith
Yeah. So it knocked me down. First thing I know, I saw, you know, blood came out of my neck. You know, it's kind of wild to see your own blood come out of your body, fly out of your body. So, yeah, blood flew out of the hole in my neck. The next thing was even really weird was my. My left lung deflating through that hole in my neck. That was eerie sound. Really strange, really scary sound. Like it's. I can't describe it. It's. It's. It's a swishing, you know, I mean, you're. You're basically your lungs deflating. I didn't really give you that detail this morning. I forgot about that one. But, yeah, that was.
- [04:39]
Host
It's all right.
- [04:39]
Keith
As I ruminated over it after we talked, you know, I remembered those. Those first things. This. This was, you know, an 88. So a lot of time has passed. I mean, it's here every day. Every day I wake up. I mean, it's in the mirror, his forefront. You know, it was a. Shouldn't be here, you know, by all accounts. And so my. My lung deflates. My stepdad shoulder to shoulder with me, you know, I mean, he wasn't kneeling down, but so he's over me and the pain starting to kick in, you know, and I start clutching my Chest. Well, he's a Vietnam vet. So he put it together that somehow this bullet had gotten into my left chest cavity or gone through it. What it ended up doing, I didn't have the sense to think rationally that because I tried to put my hand back here to check for an exit. One, you know, if it had exited, I wouldn't have been. I'd have been done. I mean, it hit me dead center. I couldn't really think rationally. So as I'm clutching my chest, looking at him, like, the question, he's. He's like, it's in your chest. That's why. That's why you're hurting. The next thing was, you know, I. I said it. I said, I'm. I'm done for, you know, I'm dead. I'm. It's just a matter of time, you know, I was like, there's no way. Yeah, there's no way I'm living through this. When I realized what had happened to me. So fast forward a few. Not. Not long. He jumps up, he says, I got to get the truck. And I literally told him, I said, no, don't leave me. You know, I don't want to be. I didn't want to die alone because I was prepared for it. I really felt that this was the end for me. But. So it wasn't a smart thing to do, but I realized, or either, you know, through divine guidance or whatever it was, I decided I didn't need to walk. After I walked a little bit, it was too much. So I sat down on the side of the path. He took off. Trucks probably 4 or 500 yards away parked up in the field next to a pivot. Irrigation pivot. So in the meantime, my cousin's coming to where we're at, and because he's heard the yelling and stuff after he shot. And that's another thing. It's weird to get hit and then you don't hear the bullet. You don't hear the crack for a good bit. I'm sure there's a lot of vets that can attest to that. Been shot at a lot more. But I thought he was shooting again, but it was just the original. The first shot, the shot that hit me, because I did yell out, you know, stop shooting. Yeah, he didn't shoot twice. He shot once because the deer took off. It wasn't a second shot. It was just the shock that I was having. But. So my stepdad comes in with the truck, comes in, pulls up to me. In the meantime, I've Gotten his Vietnam vet army jacket off of me because it was, you know, it was hurt, it was, everything was bothering me, I mean the weight of it. And I had a pistol strapped to my side too, which was his. Got that off. My cousin's just standing there. My stepdad throws me in the truck. Doesn't even acknowledge my, you know, he's in panic mode and he's, he's focused on me. He puts me in the truck. We had to go up probably a couple tenths of a mile. Thankfully that, that property led straight to us. One that's the main highway. Instead of us having to go back out through the farm, he had Forsyth to pull up to the gate and he had it, he had a big truck, it was jacked up. Had to, it had a brush guard on it. Back when people didn't have brush guards like they do now. He had one on it and he, he pushed the, the fence was basically two railroad ties with a, like a three quarter inch cable, you know, locked across it where he, he pushed the, got the table cable tight, gassed on it and he just laid the timbers down and we got out on the highway immediately. That's 20, 20, 20 ish miles to Mount Regional Hospital in Vidalia, Georgia. So by this time I've figured out, or just by instinct, I put my left index finger in the bullet hole because I was, I couldn't breathe, you know, with the lung had deflated and it's filling up.
- [09:05]
Host
How far in are you?
- [09:07]
Keith
Half the first knuckle. Yeah, right into my throat.
- [09:11]
Host
Wow.
- [09:12]
Keith
You know, so I can breathe the best I could because the, you got the rat lung. That's the only one working. The left ones filling up with blood or trying to.
- [09:22]
Host
What's the pain like right now?
- [09:25]
Keith
Well, the initial pain was nothing like I've ever felt until. And we'll get to this later. Some of the stuff that was done in the emergency room, you know, life saving techniques that were used. It felt like somebody took a hot poker that was glowing orange, you know that you would see a blacksmith or something, you know, do it forging, making a knife or something and they stuck it in my chest. That was where the, the pain, you know, the entrance, the entrance wasn't where the pain was at, it was where that thing had gone through my lung was, was the really rough part. But I guess with being in shock, honestly from once he got me in the truck, I mean I know I was hurting, but I think your body takes over and kind of helps you a little bit. Yeah, I Don't really remember the pain. I just remember thinking, you know, he's praying, you know, the whole time. He's. He's. God, please don't let this boy die. You know, he's like, you know, I'm just over there trying to survive, sitting in the truck next to him. And he's. He's going up north from towards Backsley, between Baxley, Georgia and Vidalia, Georgia. He's going up U.S. 1 to Vidalia, to the hospital. And it takes about 20 minutes. We had a close call with a logging truck that was on that. That road to go to Vidalia. You don't take US one all the way to Vidalia, it peels off and goes to line. So there's a road called Center. Some people called it Center. Somebody will probably see this and correct me, but we called it Center. And because we lived off of it in town, we actually went by the house, the road that our. Their home was on, on the way to the hospital. But you couldn't pass on that road, and there was a log truck on it. So he got on the Common Channel, said, hey, you know, I'm behind you, and I need you to get out of the way. My son's been shot, and he's. He's hurt bad. So the guy didn't really look. And I can remember thinking, we're about to have. Now we're going to have a wreck, because the guy just put. He almost locked the truck up. He didn't have a trailer on it, but. But, you know, it was. He didn't have a trailer, but he. He bounced the back tires. And then my stepdad had to kind of do an evasive maneuver. Excuse me, not to hit him. We're still about 10 miles out there, so. But he gets me to Vidalia, gets me to the emergency room entrance. I'm still conscious, still got my finger in the bullet hole. And I said earlier, you, you know, you asked me if I ever lost consciousness. I think I was about to there because my sight started looking like when a TV screen goes. In the old days when you had regular cable and you. You lost the signal and it went fuzzy. It looked like that. And all I could see was like, the outline of the. The people coming, you know, the nurse and whoever was coming out of the hospital to help get me in. Into the emergency room.
- [12:24]
Host
Yeah. Is the pain still in the same place that you described before?
- [12:29]
Keith
I feel like it. It was kind of all over.
- [12:33]
Host
I mean, you had to be total shocked.
- [12:34]
Keith
I mean, I had a totally in Shock. I was in shock for sure. Body was in shock, everything, you know, hyper. By the time I got there, I was hyperventilating pretty bad. I mean, taken to the point, I got in there and they actually gave me a bag because I couldn't stop the Slow my breathing down. They were like, we need you to slow your breathing down so we can work on you. And I was like, right, your body's just doing what is everything it can to survive. So, yeah, we got that. He got that under control. The There happened to be a trauma surgeon from Atlanta, Georgia, that was like, did volunteer work that happened to be in that hospital. Just by happenstance, that weekend, he takes over, he starts calling out, you know what to do. It was a little chaotic. He got him in the right direction. He actually, instead of cutting a tracheotomy, he used a bullet hole. It was large enough, a.30 30 caliber to trach me. To save that time and effort, he trached me through the bullet hole. So he put a trach tube in the bullet hole after he got me working. Yeah, yeah. Next thing was, he had to chest tube me because that lung, that's where they figured out where the bullet was at. They cut my clothes off. I didn't have an exit wound, but there was a big knot, like, kind of. You're looking at my back, standing right behind me. From the left shoulder down, a few inches off center, there was a big, big knot. And he asked me if I had a cyst or he asked my stepdad. He got, you know, any kind of cyst in his back. He's like, no, he's like, here's the bullet. It was between my rib cage and my skin. So it made it all the way through me. Stop there. They didn't cut it out there. They left it in. They left it in. But. And then he came up with. He had to chest tube me. And that was really rough. He let me know it was gonna be rough. He told me, he said, look, I can't give you anything. I can't even get. You Give you a local, you know, like, you would get to get stitches.
- [14:53]
Host
So. So here you are, you're 18, you're laying, you're laying in an emergency room. You were shot 2 hours, ish. Roughly before this. You still have.
- [15:04]
Keith
No, probably. It was. This was probably getting to an hour. The two hours by the time. Yeah, probably one hour to there.
- [15:13]
Host
Nothing for pain?
- [15:14]
Keith
No, nothing.
- [15:15]
Host
Oh, my gosh. All right. So they cut your. What is it called?
- [15:21]
Keith
So he cuts. Cuts the cuts me Underneath the left breast, you know, down kind of just below your nipple, basically around under your arm, but below your armpit. It's pretty much if you came straight down from my left armpits, like 4 or 5 inches, they clear the chest. They clear your pectoral muscle, and just below it kind of center back some. They cut you two and a half inch incision and no pain meds. He told me. He even showed me that. I mean, he was. I don't think he was trying to be. Anyway. He was just wanting to give me all the information. He showed me the blade. He said, I gotta cut you, and I can't give you anything. He says, it's gonna hurt. And he asked me if I watch westerns, you know, I was like, of course. You know, who doesn't? And he said, well, I'm not gonna give you anything to bite. You know, you've seen westerns when they get shot, to give them something to bite. When they cut the bullet out. He said, but I want you to squeeze this. Had an EMT in that town that was a pretty big guy, and he was at the head of my bed, and he told him, he said, give him a finger or two, you know, let him squeeze your finger. So when he cut me, I squeezed him, you know, and it still hurt like hell.
- [16:38]
Host
What was that like right there? Like, oh, my gosh.
- [16:41]
Keith
Yeah. I mean, you're just getting laid open. I mean, he's cutting you to the point where your ribs are exposed. You're. You know, so he can shove a tube between two of your ribs. I mean, he's got to go through the skin, so that helps, you know, he's not just gonna. But as far as getting through the. The ribs, it's got to be pushed through, and it's got to be pushed into your lung. Pierce. It pierces your lung. So, yeah, that. That was the next step. And he showed me the tube just like he did the razor blade, basically his scalpel. He said, I. I gotta put this inside of you, and it's going to be rough. He's like, it's going to be. Gonna be bad.
- [17:22]
Host
I can't imagine.
- [17:22]
Keith
So it was quick.
- [17:24]
Host
Quick pause right here. I want to understand. So you already have a trach in.
- [17:29]
Keith
Yep, got a trach tube.
- [17:31]
Host
What is this next thing for that they're cutting you for?
- [17:34]
Keith
For the collapsed lung. But what went through my lung are they putting. It drains it. It drains the tube. It drains the blood out of it. Because when you get. Your lung collapses. Yeah. Usually something's Pierced it. Pierced it and caused it to bleed. And, I mean, it may be to help keep it inflated as well. I'm not. I'm not sure. I think the main. The main. The main goal is with a collapsed lung is to draw any blood out of it. They hook you up. They hook you up to a machine, and it. It may help re. Inflate it. You know, I've never really thought of it that way.
- [18:07]
Host
Yeah. Okay, so here you are.
- [18:10]
Keith
Stayed in. It stayed in for, like, probably eight or nine days somewhere, or maybe not long before I got to the hospital is when they pulled it out. And that's skipping forward a little bit. But since we're there, you know, I made it to Savannah. I went through trauma surgery. I had a week.
- [18:30]
Host
How'd you get this?
- [18:30]
Keith
I didn't really have a long. Yeah, that's where they ended up flying me to.
- [18:34]
Host
Okay.
- [18:35]
Keith
Helicopter.
- [18:36]
Host
Yep.
- [18:37]
Keith
So as soon as I got into Vidalia, I heard them. You know, they knew, we're not. We're just gonna try to stabilize him. And they called Savannah immediately. One of them called out. I don't know if it was that surgeon or who it was, but. And by that time, wasn't long. My mother and my. My dad's parents were in the. In the. The room now after I'd gotten the tube in. And I'm basically. I'm breathing normal. You know, I'm trached. I got a chest tube in for the collapsed lung. I get kind of a sense of peace, really. It's the only way to, Like. I knew as bad as it was, I had a sense that I was going to be okay. I mean, I wasn't scared anymore. Not. Not, like, bravado, but it was just like a. You know, I just had a sense they were. They didn't have that sense. I mean, they were torn apart. You know, I was the oldest. Oldest of. I've lost count. My mom was the oldest of eight. That was her dad's farm that we were at. I was her oldest. She had four. She had seven siblings, five brothers and two other sisters, and all of them but one had children, and most of them had three. Four. Four or a minimum of two. So there's like 20. They're in the mid-20s of us. You know, I was the oldest on my dad's side. It was just me. Me and my two brothers, and my aunt had two girls. It's a lot smaller family, but.
- [20:10]
Host
Wow.
- [20:11]
Keith
Yeah, they. They were in there.
- [20:13]
Host
So you arrive at Savannah.
- [20:15]
Keith
Yeah.
- [20:16]
Host
When you arrive there, did you ever find out that, like, the surgeon think you were gonna make it?
- [20:24]
Keith
No. He told me that after. After, really after I got out of intensive care, somewhere around the eighth or ninth day, he came in with a diagram of what the bullet had done and what it did to get into my chest. As soon as it went in inside my windpipe, it turned and traveled over 5 inches inside my windpipe. And didn't. Didn't destroy my windpipe. I mean, it just road inside my windpipe, basically five something inches. That's what the larger scars for. I don't know if you can see it. There's one above the trach runs across here. That was to go in to fix the hole in my windpipe that was down in my chest. Of course, they just sewed this one up from the outside. But he said it went. It came out in millimeters above my heart. It turned again, and this was a 30, 30. This is a big, big piece of lid. And it wasn't a soft point, because I don't think I'd have made it if it was a soft point. It was a full metal jacket, but it went through left lung, front, back, and then through the rib cage. And like I said, they cut it out there. That's something else people ask me, you know, when I've told people this over the years since it's happened, like, did you get the bullet? And I said, no, you know, I didn't. And I kind of wonder why, with something as traumatic as that and as crazy as the story is that they. That wouldn't have been something to offer, you know, hey, you know, this thing. I sure would have held on to it, you know, but at the time, that wasn't really something I was thinking about, you know?
- [22:02]
Host
Yeah. Yeah. You're worried about making it.
- [22:05]
Keith
Sort of making it, yeah. Not thinking about, hey, man, save that bullet you cut out. You know, Save that bullet you cut out of my back.
- [22:12]
Host
Right. All right. All right. So you're at Savannah. Okay. How many hours has it been now since you're able to get some?
- [22:22]
Keith
Now it's been. It's over two. Well. Well over two and a half hours.
- [22:26]
Host
And when do they give you the pain medication?
- [22:28]
Keith
No pain medication. They gave. What they gave me was the anesthesia to put me under. That's when. That's when I got some relief.
- [22:36]
Host
Holy. Okay.
- [22:37]
Keith
All they did was they rolled me in, prep me for surgery, put a catheter in, drain my bladder, and I was. When that guy did that, I was kind of like, what in the Hell are you doing, man? That was painful.
- [22:50]
Host
Wow.
- [22:51]
Keith
Yeah. Like, damn, I'm already in enough pain. But, you know, they got to do what they got to do. Yeah, yeah, but, yeah, there was. There was nothing until. Until that. No. No relief. I mean, I'm in that helicopter. They were putting one of those manual bubbles on me to, you know, make sure I was getting enough. And I was like, no, I'm good. I felt like she's about to blow my lungs up with that thing. I told her, I said, I'm. I'm breathing well enough without it. And I could feel that bullet. That. That padding in that helicopter is not much. I mean, I was laying on that thing. Now I'm feeling it. I can feel it, you know, because it's. It's between my ribs, so it's pressing. I mean, I could feel it. I was laying on it.
- [23:36]
Host
Why. Why don't they give you any pain medication in the helicopter?
- [23:40]
Keith
I mean, I just said, you're in shock. We can't. They're in shock when you're in that kind of shock. I don't know if medicines progressed from that. I. I still. I hear stories about it, you know, other people. But I mean, that. That Dr. Invadellia was up front. He said, I can't give you anything. And I didn't get anything. What I got was an IV with fluids and like them, you know, using that manual chest inflate, I guess, but I didn't need it.
- [24:13]
Host
Do you have a diagram that the doctor drew of.
- [24:17]
Keith
No. It'd be cool to have it. His name was Carl Boyd. On. I don't think I'll ever forget him unless I get dementia. But he came in. He came in with it when he. When I got out of. When I got out of intensive care. It showed my. It showed you windpipe. You trach your lungs and your heart, and he. That's where I got the five something inches and the millimeters. I mean, this is. All. This all came out of his mouth on about the eighth or ninth day of my visit. I was only in there 11 days, which is kind of crazy, too.
- [24:49]
Host
All right, so one more time, it goes in about here. Okay.
- [24:55]
Keith
It enters here, turn, turn straight down, travels inside my windpipe five something inches, and then comes out of the windpipe on the front side of it and turns right above my heart. You got to figure from here to here is about 6 or 7 inches or so. I mean, everybody's different. But he told me it was millimeter. He said, kid is millimeters where it turned. That's what that large scars for above your heart. So it was running straight at my heart which if I'd have been standing up, I don't know if I just. I think I did mention that, that I was kneeled down when I got shot. I was in a kneeling position looking at, holding. Holding my firearm in my hand, the barrel of it out. You know, I had a shotgun and. Yeah, we'll be back after a quick break.
- [25:52]
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- [26:34]
Host
In that episode, the surgeon that I, that I met you basically because of that comment, he tells a story of something similar. But the bullet actually rested against the person's heart. They never died, but it rested against their heart.
- [26:48]
Keith
So yeah, they left the bullet. Yes. Moving it. Yeah. That's wild.
- [26:53]
Host
All right, so you're in. So, so you have surgery. And I want to just make sure that this is going to be a very basic question. What ultimately was the surgery for? Was for a couple different things. Right. You had to repair something.
- [27:10]
Keith
He had to repair the hole in the windpipe and then to, to look and see if anything else was, you know, messed up. Just like the, where I made the comment, that surgeon said it's like plumbing. You know, you're just, you got things that are torn apart or cut apart or whatever and you're trying to, you're trying to stop the bleeding and put them back together. So that's what the, that's what the surgery was for. And they did the trach there as well. That's why my traits. Pretty clean for a trait. A lot of people have rough looking traits because they're done, they're done under an emergency situation. Somebody does it. You know, civilians have done it before for people. Somebody I just met recently on a job I was on, he had his was. Man, it was two times the size of mine because it was done out, it was done out on the highway or either in the either. Either. On the highway before they put him in the ambulance, he had a bad motorcycle wreck. And. Yeah, his was. His was way, way bigger than mine. Mine's pretty symmetric.
- [28:22]
Host
Yeah, right. If. If ever there was a scar that looked good.
- [28:27]
Keith
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- [28:28]
Host
It's symmetrical. What?
- [28:29]
Keith
It could be. Yeah, yeah. I've never been. Covered it up, you know, it's just. It is what it is.
- [28:36]
Host
So let's keep going. You. You have this surgery, so now you finally get your relief, right, which is a big part of this story. You wake up to, what. What's life like?
- [28:47]
Keith
And intense pain again. Pain. Pain. Worse pain. Worse than any of the other pain. Yeah. And I was strapped down. I woke up in recovery, and it was a recovery room with. I don't know if there were dividers in there or not. I mean, I was. Everything was. The only thing I could move were my hands, and I was moving them trying to get attention, but it was crazy. So that same morning, another hunter had been shot somewhere in the general area because he was in the same recovery room. And the game warden, when I came to, was literally over there telling the guy how lucky he is and. And saying, hey, this. This kid over here in the corner across from you has been shot in the neck. This guy. I remember him saying, he's shot in the leg. I mean, I don't know to what extent, but I didn't pay much attention beyond that. I was. I was moving my hands, trying to get somebody's attention to get some pain medication. And I couldn't speak because, you know, I'm trach now. I got this sewn up. Everything's. I got staples all the way across here. I got the trach tube in here. And I just was. When the nurse or came over and leaned over my bed, I just said, paint. You know, I mouthed it. And she's like, I just got you some. Let me check. And I just kept saying it, you know, mouthing it, Pain, pain. And. Yeah, that was rough. Now, after that, they must have gave me so much, or either your body's. Your body's protecting, using its own defenses, because I don't. I don't remember, but waking up. But two times during that week that I was in intensive care, one time I wrote. I opened my eyes, and the nurse was standing by the bed. Second time opened my eyes, and my grandfather was in there praying. But other than that, I don't recall any pain other than waking up. Recovery. I think they gave me enough morphine because when I went into. When they put you in progressive care, you're just outside of intensive care, literally through the doors on the same floor in case they got to put you back. I hallucinated really bad coming off the morphine. I woke up. I was wet. I was wet all over. Initially, I was embarrassed. I thought I'd, you know, gone to the restroom on myself. But then I realized it was from all the way from my head to my feet, I realized I had sweated so much. I saw, you know, I'm in a hospital room that's not very large. You know, there's 20 by 30 if they're that big, probably not even that large. And my mom was in the corner sitting in a chair, and she looked like she was a mile away. It was like, you know, it's weird. Vert. I don't know how to describe. I mean, she just looked like she was way, way far away. And then I saw a grandfather clock. And there wasn't a grandfather clock in a hospital. In a hospital room. Well, I saw a grandfather clock. I don't know, but I literally saw a grandfather clock. And when I woke up as well, I was startled because I. I thought I was being rolled to the morgue, honestly. And you ever tried to wake up and couldn't wake up before? Everybody's had that happen to them? Well, I was. I was trying to wake up, and I couldn't wake up. And so when I did come to, you know, it was with a joke, you know, kind of panicky.
- [32:24]
Host
Yeah.
- [32:24]
Keith
And I realized I'm soaking wet. So literally within an hour, a nurse comes in and asks if I want some pain medication. And I was like, no. I mean, I didn't shake my head, but I. I believe I could. Yeah, I could move my head, but I wasn't, like, all immobilized. Like, I was. I still couldn't speak. You know, I'd use a notepad. But she. She could relate. You know, I said, no. She said, you have a bad experience. And I was like. She said, let me see if I can get you something different. So they put me on, like, tie locks, which I think is kind of like Tylenol 3 or something. But when I left the hospital, 11 days, that's how. That's only as long as I was in there. And I was ready to get out of there.
- [33:11]
Host
I'll bet.
- [33:13]
Keith
Can't get any rest, right.
- [33:16]
Host
Then something incredible happens. Like. Like, is that. As if this story's not remarkable enough? You go to college?
- [33:26]
Keith
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
- [33:27]
Host
You gave me this. You told me this story, and I covered.
- [33:32]
Keith
Yeah. So I go to college the fall of the next year. I think that would be when it was. Yeah, the fall of. Actually be the. That upcoming. Yeah, the fall of 89. So I go to a little college and little town in Bleckley County, Georgia, called Cochrane. It's. It's probably closer to Atlanta than India by Dalia, where I lived at the time. I've become friends with this guy. His last name was Schumann. I think his first name was Schumann. But like I say, it's been a long time ago. And he notices the scars. We're getting to know each other. And he asked me, and I'm like, yeah, you know, this happened to me. He said, where were you at? And I told him. He said, you know, that was. He said, that was my dad in that emergency room. Because he wasn't a surgeon that worked at that hospital where I lived. He was a trauma surgeon from a hospital in Atlanta. I don't know which one, that volunteered to go around to small towns like mine and help small town hospitals deal with big trauma. So that was, you know, as bad as that day was, it could have been. It was like the stars were lined up for me not to, you know, leave this earth that day. It's the only explanation I got for it because I should have been gone. My doctor told me that when he came in with that diagram, he's like, kid, if you don't believe in miracles, he said, you need to start. He said, because I've been doing this 23 plus years. And he said, don't take this the wrong way, but when I get a call, whether it's an ambulance, another hospital, whatever, I get a call to get scrubbed up, to do surgery, and I get the description of the victim. He said, I'm pretty good at knowing whether I'm actually going to have to operate. He said, and I always prepare myself to operate because that's my job. He said, but I told my partner and my nurses that were scrubbing up with me. He said, we're not gonna have to do surgery. He said, there's no way. And he's telling me this himself. You know, on the eighth day, he said, there's no way this kid, this dude's gonna be doa. And he told me himself, he said, then you come in there with your eyes. You're not just, you know, shot and in bad shape. You're wide awake. I was like, yeah, I didn't want to be. I wanted to be. I wanted to be knocked out.
- [36:00]
Host
Yeah. Was there Any. Was there a point in any of that? The couple weeks starting from the gunshot through the healing, were you just praying for, like, take. I mean, I hate him.
- [36:15]
Keith
No, not really. Not. No.
- [36:19]
Host
No, no, I don't.
- [36:21]
Keith
Because that. That week. I don't remember. Like I say, I remember those two. Two points.
- [36:27]
Host
Yeah.
- [36:27]
Keith
I mean, I felt pretty bad when I got into an actual room. I remember the first time I looked at myself in the mirror and I was pretty.
- [36:34]
Host
Yeah.
- [36:35]
Keith
I mean, because I still had staples all the way across here. Had to trach. Trach was still in. Some staples for the entrance room was at. And I mean, I look rough, but I. I was told later they're like my neck was out to where my chin was at from the swelling.
- [36:59]
Host
Wow.
- [37:01]
Keith
Yeah, I know. I mean, never saw it. I was never aware of it, but yeah, black and blue and, you know, out to my chin. Pretty. Pretty swollen. But no, as far as wishing, you know. No, I mean, it's. It's. I had a. My so. So close to Christmas. I mean, it happened on December 10th. I had a 270 that was going to be my Christmas present. And as wild as it seems, I don't hunt anymore. I wasn't a big hunter then. I actually went hunting there that season. After I got home, I still had trachs. They don't sow traits up. They just let them grow. They bandage it. They grow. You know, they grow together. I still had to trach. Trach was still open. I mean, there was still a hole in my neck. And I took that 270 and went. Went hunting. End up the PTSD, because I've got PTSD from it for sure. Because I'll jump. A lot of people that know me have been around me like, man, you're jumpy. I said, well, you get shot in the neck, you know, you'd probably be pretty jumpy, too.
- [38:14]
Host
Sure.
- [38:14]
Keith
There's probably some other. There's probably some other factors go along with it. But I went the next season, and my brothers didn't really hunt much. We. We were more. We fished more. I mean, we were outdoorsy, but we were more into the fishing. We hunted, but we weren't avid hunters. I think they wanted to go with me because they were worried about me, both of them. Like, if I. Because I was. I was like, well, I got this gun. I'm gonna go the next. The next season. I was going while I was going to college, and they would go with me, and everything was all right until you start hearing shots from other properties, and then I went to pieces, and then I just really didn't. I haven't gone deer hunting since.89.
- [39:01]
Host
Yeah. Yeah. I'm always looking for, like, is there a moral of the story? Is there anything. If you can go back to that day, is there anything you would do differently?
- [39:15]
Keith
I don't think so. I mean, I was just trying to. Like I said, my mom hadn't been married to my stepdad long, less than a year. I was a troubled kid. We lost our father when I was 8 between Christmas and New Years of 78. Lost him to a car wreck. And the stepfather we had between him and the one that I have now was not a good guy. So I had a lot of questions. You know, I was raised religious, and I still am somewhat, I'd say more spiritual. I don't know about religion as much. I know there's. I know there's something controlling it because I should have been out of here. And I had a lot of questions, you know, about why things had happened the way they did when I was a kid, to the point I can remember one time I was in. In my bedroom. And I'll try not to get too emotional, but it was some years before this happened. But I got really. I kept saying, show me, show me. I was talking to God. I was like, I want to. And I almost think that that day, he showed me some years later, because, I mean, I was real. It was like 30, 45 minutes to where I had gotten a feeling that I had messed up. That, you know, if you've read the Bible, and I don't want to get, you know, go off track, but it says you can't see him in this form. And I felt like I had conjured him. I mean, honestly, I got really scared because I just kept on for like, 45 minutes because I'd lost my dad. My stepdad was violent, alcoholic, and there's a lot of. There were things that happened in that house, you know, that made me like, if you're real, why. And show me. That was what. I just kept saying it, and I've looked back on it and thought that that day, you know, he showed me he was real. That's a hell of a way to learn it. But I just kind of feel that way. It was probably three. I was probably 14 or 15 when. When this experience happened, and it was as real. It was as real as anything I've ever experienced in my life. You know, I was asking for proof and. And I got. I think I got that proof.
- [41:46]
Host
Yeah, I've Heard it said he. Or he ordains what he hates to accomplish what he loves.
- [41:54]
Keith
Yeah, that's. That's. Yeah. That gives me goosebumps. Yeah. I've never. Never heard it put that way, but, yeah.
- [42:01]
Host
Wow. All right, then tell me the story. So we were on the phone this morning, right?
- [42:08]
Keith
Yeah.
- [42:09]
Host
You said you're a boilermaker. And I said, oh.
- [42:12]
Keith
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I was just in Pennsylvania at a Susquehanna nuclear plant doing some work on their. Their condenser that they had a big mess up in. We're up there about 50, almost 50 days solid, just working 13, 14, even some nights, 15 hours a night. And then you were like, oh, yeah? Where at? And I was like, hazelton. And you just, like, flipped out. You're like, no way. I was like. He was like, we're at. In Hazelton. I was like, well, west Hazelton, right off the. You basically come out of the parking lot of my. Where I was staying.
- [42:54]
Host
Yeah.
- [42:54]
Keith
And jump on 81 South. Or jump on. I think it was 93.
- [42:58]
Host
93.
- [42:59]
Keith
It goes towards. Yeah, it goes towards the plant. And you were like. You mentioned that restaurant. And I was like, yeah, that's it. You're like, yeah, grew up. Yeah. That was wild.
- [43:09]
Host
Most of our family went to college. Right across the street from there, there's a Penn State.
- [43:13]
Keith
Yeah. Yep. I saw it. Yep.
- [43:17]
Host
Right there. Yeah. So funny.
- [43:18]
Keith
Yes. That was wild. Small world. I know. Make that comment.
- [43:24]
Host
You know what I love?
- [43:27]
Keith
Go ahead.
- [43:28]
Host
What I love about this the most is just none of this happens. If there's not. If. If there's not the comment that you made on the post.
- [43:39]
Keith
Oh, yeah, I know.
- [43:41]
Host
None of this happened. We don't get to.
- [43:42]
Keith
I mean, that just came up. I haven't seen your podcast. I've watched a lot of podcasts. I've spent a lot of time away from home, a lot of time driving, even. I was working at two of the newest nuclear plants in the states to be built for about. I was pretty much at home for over 10 years, working at two of them that are online now, about an hour from me north, where I live now in Statesboro. And I had a lot of. I love music, but at some point, it's like, I gotta have a little something else when you're driving. Two hours round trips. One hour there. So I listen to a lot of podcasts. So now I'll be. You know, I started scrolling through yours, and I found some. Some interesting ones already. But I'll be catching up with your stuff now.
- [44:34]
Host
Yep.
- [44:35]
Keith
And, yeah, that's wild.
- [44:37]
Host
You now have another one here to add to the interesting pile. I mean, this story. I. I do want to say, you know, thanks. Thanks for.
- [44:47]
Keith
Yeah, thanks for. Thanks for the interest.
- [44:50]
Host
Yeah. And I love it. It's a small world. And if you're ever up in this area. My favorite.
- [44:55]
Keith
Absolutely.
- [44:56]
Host
I love grabbing coffee. So let me know if you ever come around.
- [44:59]
Keith
I sure will. We're probably going to be back up there.
- [45:02]
Host
Oh, good. Good.
- [45:03]
Keith
Oh, yeah, Yeah. I will. I'll reach out. We probably will. I mean, I may not be with the same company, but. Sure. Yeah. They got to work on their other ones. Their. Their other turbine was doing the same thing that that one had done, so there'll be an outage next spring. They're trying to run it until next spring, but I don't think the one we just worked on running yet, because the millwrights had to do all their work after we did ours, so. Yeah, I mean, I hope it does. I hope the work. I hope the work holds up, but it wasn't regular maintenance, so it. We may be back up there sooner than. Than we think.
- [45:40]
Host
Yeah. Well, I mean. I mean, I'm in Georgia.
- [45:43]
Keith
Oh, yeah. You're in Atlanta now.
- [45:45]
Host
Yeah.
- [45:46]
Keith
Oh, I'll be up that way. Because our daughters. Our oldest went to Kennesaw, and then she came home and she finished up at Georgia Southern, and she's out of. She's got her degree now, and she's like, dad, I can't make any money in Statesboro. So she's. She's going back up to Atlanta. So. Yeah, I'll be up there. I'll definitely.
- [46:07]
Host
Great.
- [46:07]
Keith
Hit you up.
- [46:08]
Host
Thanks.
- [46:09]
Keith
Go out and grab a. Grab a drink or a bite, you know, something to eat.
- [46:12]
Host
I love it, man. Thanks for your time today.
- [46:16]
Keith
Thank you.
- [46:17]
Host
Great story. Appreciate it.
- [46:19]
Keith
Yep. Anytime.
- [46:20]
Host
Yep.
- [46:21]
Keith
Have a good one.