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Talk about anything that's clean.
by Mystique » Mon Dec 13, 2010 8:52 pm
We are so Glad to have you at your HOME--I bet it feels good. I hate the couple times a yr I have to spend in the hospital for 6 to 8 days.
We have matching shaking hands now. My Left arm has tremers and I never know what it is planning on typing. Glad it isn't my mouse hand thou, I really would be running into the trees and getting lost as I do even now.
Looking forward to you being back in game. Your daughter did a very good job of posting for you. She did a great job and we all appreciated it.
Love ya my friend. hope to see ya soon.
*Hugs & Smiles*  Yesterday is History; Tomorrow a Mystery; Today a Gift
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Mystique
- In Memory

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by KDSonoma » Tue Dec 14, 2010 7:34 pm
WOO FRIGGEN HOO!
So glad to hear you are back home now, Maldar!
It made my day to see this post
KD
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KDSonoma
- King of Sonoma

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by Taylanna » Wed Dec 15, 2010 8:50 pm
yay!! I am so happy you're home!!! What a great present!! Stay safe over the holidays!!!
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Taylanna
- PAS Elder

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by Maldar » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:13 am
Many of you have sent me kind thoughts, prayers, cards, cookies, etc. over the past year (close to the very day it all happened now, come to think of it) and I wish to thank you all so very much. Your support has helped me while still trying to get through this.
A lot of people have asked me in-game just what happened. I apologize for not telling you but it would take me a loooong time to type it out as conversation in the game, so I will fill you all in right now.
WARNING: Some of the details are very gory.
I have been called in to help investigate many arson fires throughout the Midwest even though I have been "retired" for a decade due to my autoimmune disease (CMT = Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome.........a genetic disease inherited from Dad's side of the family.) The fires I am called out to assist local arson investigators and the various state Fire Marshals with are only the ones that are major (tens of millions of dollars) fires that are believed to have been caused by arsonists.
In the middle of January of 2010, my team was called to another state to investigate a huge factory/warehouse fire that did approximately $18-million damage and killed 2 people. The structure was erected somewhere between 1885 and 1912 depending on who you ask, since we could not locate paperwork on the building. The original structure has a concrete basement/warehouse with a sub-basement made of concrete walls with a dirt floor. The sub-basement houses the utility pipes and the high-voltage cables that feed the step-down transformers housed in a concrete-walled room on the first floor. The outer walls are 3-bricks thick (many buildings and homes from that period were built with that type walls to aid in the insulation of the structures) with severe mortar decay evident. The bricks had been made locally and were known as "soft bricks" which decay over time. The flooring is century-old tongue-and-groove pine, supported by the original timbers and retrofitted with steel I-beams. This flooring is oil-soaked from machinery spills, etc., over the decades. The roof is wooden, with little support and no firewalls. The roof extends to within the last 40 feet on the south side (exposure Side C) where the roof is flat and even with the 3rd-floor decking in order to facilitate a future addition that was never built.
(Sorry, I was semi-paraphrasing from my report and realized this would turn into a tome if I continue.)
As is our standard operating procedure, we had structural engineers come in and declare the building safe or unsafe for us to enter (sometimes, as was this case, it is very difficult to tell without professional assistance.) They declared it would be safe for us and our equipment as long as we stayed clear of one particular area. Naturally, that was the area we had to be in for an important part of our investigation. The main fire was started on the second floor. We were up on the third floor checking out the burn pattern from up there through the burnt-out floor decking.
We had to bring in heavy machinery, but still small enough to fit on the freight-lift elevator utilizing hydraulic power with a 4,500 kg limit. We were having our contractor pull a very large piece of manufacturing equipment away from the area of the burnt-out floor. We had him place his dozer on the end of the machinery that was furthest from the hole quite some distance from the area of questionable stability while he attempted to drag it. We would have never done this but, under the set of unusual circumstances involved, we had to get this machine out of the way. I have no clue what it must weigh but I would estimate it at a couple tons and it was the reason to retrofit the floor with steel.
The 8 of us impacted by the collapse (5 investigators and 3 contractors) were near the "safe" end of that piece of machinery, about 40 feet from the "danger zone", the perimeter of which we had taped off so as not to wander into its outer edges. Naturally, the noise level from the bulldozer and that huge chunk of metal slowly inching along the floor was VERY loud.
I think we felt a slight drop of the floor first, maybe less than an inch, as the machine was still being pulled towards us and then a low, drawn out moan....loud enough to be heard above our own noise.... as the steel I-beam twisted under the additional weight of the machine and bulldozer.
We had made a preliminary assumption that the main fire (they had set over a dozen but this one was the worst of the bunch) was directly beneath the burnt-out flooring of the 3rd floor. What we have since figured out was that portion of the 3rd floor burned worse than the rest of it due to the flooring being soaked with pre-existing lubricants and hydraulic oil originating from the normal operation of the factory. The more intense heat rose directly under where we were standing but the floor didn't burn through because the hot gases and flames were venting out the hole that was created much more quickly, relatively speaking, than the floor above the fire's origin, which was basically just severely scorched. With nearly the entire 2nd floor gone, we had to go by what we could determine on the 3rd floor as to where the fire initiated on the 2nd floor. Common sense dictates 99.999% of the time that the fire originated directly beneath a burned-out section of floor. The heat, however, was of sufficient temperature (in the range of 1500 degrees) to severely compromise the integrity of the non-carbon, non-fireproofed steel I-beams.
Time became slow-motion. What took place in about 3 seconds seemed like a long 30 seconds (doesn't sound like much of a difference but, when a building is collapsing with you, it seems like a year.) I do remember the machine starting to slide in our direction and thinking "that's strange" all in about a second, not yet quite realizing I was falling feet first and the floor beneath us was gone. I remember seeing the dozer out of the corner of my eye as I was nearly gone from the 3rd floor, and it was going down, too. I don't think I was at all aware of my friends at that moment. I remember being in the air on the 2nd floor and that is pretty much all I remember until rescuers got to us.
The next time I opened my eye......I couldn't see out of or open my left eye......rescuers were standing over me and trying to dig me out as paramedics were tending to me. My left leg and left arm were both trapped beneath a machine that used to be on the 1st floor. We were in the basement, having passed through where the 2nd floor used to be and smashing through the 1st floor. I passed out again and didn't wake up for about a month.
**Here I am going to just post what my buddy has already told you.....it's easier**
"Bob...had an emergency procedure to temporarily remove a piece of his skull to give his brain room to swell. The neurosurgeons then put him into an induced coma to aid in slowing/stopping the swelling.
He has had surgery on his lower spine to repair damage around the L4-L5 region. He has had another surgery to remove a rib that had punctured and collapsed his left lung. He has had surgery to repair a compound fracture to the femur in his left leg and the prognosis for that leg is not good. He also has a fractured collar bone, broken cheek bones, a broken left eye orbit and a crushed left arm...."
Chris posted a bit more detail of some things and his posts can be found here: Forum index--Public UO Forums--Major Announcements
Before all was said and done, I have had many surgeries, literally from head-to-toe on my left side, had my left arm amputated, was put into at least two induced comas, fell into one coma on my own, became septic, had a clot move to my lung, and so on.
After being told I might be able to be moved back to a hospital in my home area around March of last year, then a few other dates as each previous date passed, I was finally sent back here and was released from the hospital here into a physical rehab facility. I was able to actually come home just before the holidays. It was a bittersweet Christmas present.
My 4 fellow arson investigators and the three contractors had various outcomes. One investigator was killed outright. His entire upper torso was crushed beneath the machine that was being moved. The second investigator was fatally injured when the 3-brick thick wall gave way and buried him where he was already pinned beneath debris. He died six months later in the hospital with me.
The other two investigators were seriously injured. Both suffered spinal and leg injuries. One had a fractured skull and was leaking spinal fluid from his ear and nose. He has permanent brain damage. The other had both arms broken and the side of his face torn off. He is still undergoing plastic facial reconstruction and will be for some time to come.
The contractor in the driver's seat of the dozer survived virtually untouched........some bruising, aches and pains. The other two contractors were safe on the 3rd floor.
Two of the arsonists were captured in March, I believe, and the third one has since been arrested, as well. They have all been charged with an array of felonies, including two counts of causing the deaths of firefighters in the line of duty......which carries the death penalty. They are all three being held without bond pending trial.
That is the best I can recollect at the moment. Details emerge all the time in my mind. I have suffered minimal brain damage......mostly related to memory and balance. My hand shakes enough that I usually die in the game before I can heal at the last minute (aka: when I realize I haven't been watching my health bar and I have about two hits left to live.) I have been getting in game more lately. Maybe one of these nights I will join you all for a Guild Event.........assuming someone wants to babysit me. lol
Thanks for your support doesn't say enough...........thank you!
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Maldar
- PAS Elder

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by KDSonoma » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am
wow ......
"assuming someone wants to babysit me". (at a guild event).
I would bet everything that there isnt a single person in PAS or our alliance that wouldnt jump at the opportunity to help you with ANYTHING ingame, myself included. I think deep down you know this from the responses and efforts in these forums and RL at following how things were going for you in RL.
It wouldnt be babysitting by any means. It's more like protecting our own. I think most have read one or more of my posts where I talk about how amazing it was for me to have literally EVERYONE in PAS jump at a chance to protect my Princesses when they came to events ingame with us. that always brought a tear to my eye in RL because I know it was sincere.
I sure hope you get a chance to come to some PAS events soon. As for dying before being ab le to heal yourself ... pfft, thats MY MOVE and I have copywrited it! Seriously though, I have played this game for some 13-14 yrs now, and I still have "oh crap" moments. I used to die more from icqs than anyone in the history of the world (I would be reading or replying to an icq when at an event and die before I got back ingame rofl).
I love vent, that has allowed me to play without icq on, but I still find ways to die that are just ignorant. One of my best moves is to die ingame, self res through sacrifice, then get prepped and start fighting something again, and all of a sudden my spells are being interrupted, and Im cussing with my indoor voice until I realize that I never "re-buffed with protection and reactive armor after ressing). I'm so used to never being interrupted on KD with spells because I always run with protection on (except when I get stupid like this example hehe).
Well the other day I topped myself, because I died in the lich room in doom farming red bones, self ressed, dies again because of not re-buffing, and self ressed again and STILL forgot to re-buff, and died a third time in a row. I just sat there and said OMG how stupid was that? And you know what? I used my last self res, prepped, and died AGAIN because I still forgot to re-buff. ROFL. So i got to wander around doom till I got out, ressed, and went back for my stuff, and when I landed to get my stuff I realized I STILL hadnt re-buffed, and had to manually open my spellbook and throw the 2 spells as liches were toasting my butt. Arg .... thats a 14 yr vet move?
Thanks for the summary, and I hope they send the friggen morons to Texas, where we can put em in the express lane for the death penalty. those kinds of people do not deserve to live. Period.
Cya ingame at an event soon my friend, where YOU can save MY BUTT. *hugs*
KD
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KDSonoma
- King of Sonoma

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by Warden » Thu Jan 06, 2011 5:41 am
Maldar wrote:...A lot of people have asked me in-game just what happened. I apologize for not telling you but it would take me a loooong time to type it out as conversation in the game, so I will fill you all in right now.
WARNING: Some of the details are very gory...
WOW......
I'm completely lacking in coherence after that...wow...
I find myself just sitting here staring at the screen and kind of shaking my head. I know what I want to say next but... *stops short of mumbling wow again*
The few thoughts I did have: Maybe this is silly, but the first one was Movie Rights. Call your agent...you're sitting on a gold mine.
Second thought I wasn't going to mention because I didn't want to start any death penalty debates, but KD already broached that subject so here goes. I hadn't really been thinking about the arsonists when reading your story, but when I got to "two counts of causing the deaths of firefighters in the line of duty......which carries the death penalty" I thought "#$%& YEAH!" so loud I almost jumped up and yelled it for real.
Third thought was that you seem to have an amazing disposition for having gone through all of that--one of many amazing things about this whole story. Thanks for taking the time to type it out. And I, for one, enjoy the tome-ish technical details.
It's been good to see you in game, even when the narcotics cut it short.  I'll be happy to watch your back in game anytime, and don't worry too much about dying. I think most of us, if in your position, wouldn't still be alive so we could go die in UO. Perhaps we should consider a new guild title for you, something like "I shrug off falling bulldozers...what do you do?"

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Warden
- PAS Elder

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by KDSonoma » Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:40 pm
any time I have had pain or an outbreak of illness like these stupid shingles, I think of Maldar and how he has handled his RL situation, as well as other PAS that I know that have faced RL hardships.
I am always inspired and my pain and issues pale in comparison with what these brave PAS have had to deal with.
I am so lucky to have known these PAS. They are some of my RL heroes. PAS Rocks Sonoma, but some PAS also Rock the Hell outta RL!
KD
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KDSonoma
- King of Sonoma

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by KDSonoma » Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:56 pm
the wounds are getting better, but it still hurts like a mother so far. I'm in my 9th day from starting meds, and I read that the pain can last from 2-4 weeks from the start of meds.
Ack
KD
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KDSonoma
- King of Sonoma

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