Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Hawkes injured during fall

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Bosque Magistrate Danny Hawkes didn't think screwing in a light bulb would be so difficult, but after impaling his arm on a wrought iron fence last week, he quickly changed his mind.

Hawkes, who returned to the bench this week while still recovering from his injuries, learned a valuable lesson last week — never use the top step on a step ladder — no matter how safe you think it is. The former police officer and airman reservist found that out the hard way on Memorial Day when he was catching up on some household chores.

"I have a pipe fence at the entry way of my house and a gate that has two lamps on either side," Hawkes explained. "Well, my wife had been bothering me to change the light bulb because one of them had been burnt for a while."

Before his wife, Mary Alice left with their youngest daughter on a trip into town, she brought him a step ladder to change the bulb. Hawkes said as he was climbing to the top of the ladder, which is clearly marked 'do not step,' he remember thinking to himself that if something happens, he could always grab onto the pole.

"Well, something did happen — the ladder went out from under me," Hawkes said.

The judge grabbed onto the pole, but as he fell, one of the wrought iron spears hit him in the rib cage and alongside his torso. As he continued to fall, his left arm hit another spear, which went all the way through the arm.

"I was impaled on the fence — hanging there. My feet weren't even touching the ground," Hawkes said. "At first, I thought my arm was caught, but I kind of looked around and I noticed that the spear was about eight or nine inches above my arm and sure enough, there was blood coming out all over. I was just hanging there — I couldn't get off. "

At that moment, a lot of things were going through his head. His first thought was that he should just wait for help, but quickly, he realized that if he waited any longer, he could ultimately bleed out.

Luckily for Hawkes, his 14-year-old daughter, Melanie stayed home with him to rake up leaves. She saw her father fall and immediately went to help.

"She asked me what she should do and I told her that we had to get me off the spear...," he said. "I told her to get behind me and get her shoulder underneath my butt and grab my legs. I counted to three, and I pulled myself up where I could get my foot in the crossbar of the fence and stand up."

As he stood there watching blood gushing from his arm, he held onto the pole with his right hand and very gently pulled his arm off the spear. He said it was actually relatively easy because the blood lubricated the spear.

"A couple of times, I felt myself getting real dizzy so I inched myself off (the spear) and finally pulled myself off," he said. "I jumped down and went to my knees. I could feel myself passing out, but I knew I couldn't."

While Melanie ran inside to call 911, and her mother, Hawkes took a few deep breathes and held his hand on the arm's pressure point. He kept thinking to himself that he must have hit an artery because of the amount of blood shooting out of his arm.

"I thought to myself, 'Son of a gun, I'm going to bleed to death in my front yard,'" he said. " Instead of calling 911 right away, she (Melanie) called my wife to turn around and come back home because she had just left a few minutes before. I was wondering what was taking so long, so I kind of walked calmly to the front door, and I didn't want to get any blood on the carpet so I told her to bring me the phone."

After talking to dispatch and telling them what occurred, Hawkes sat patiently on a tree stump waiting for help as his daughter wrapped his arm tightly in a towel. About seven minutes later, rescue personnel arrived and transported him to the University of New Mexico Trauma Center.

As it turns out, Hawkes was very lucky. While his doctors were amazed by his injury, they were even more amazed that he didn't suffer any more severe injuries.

"It missed everything," Hawkes said. "I didn't hit the artery, no tendons, or a muscle and it didn't hit a nerve that they could tell. They told me because I have very good muscle tone, it pushed both muscles to either side and went clean through. The doctors couldn't believe it. I was very, very lucky."

Because the spear went straight through his arm, Hawkes' doctors were unable to suture the wound. And because there is always a risk of infection, he is required to go back to the hospital on a daily basis to change the dressing.

"We have to let it heal from the inside out," he said.

Hawkes was hospitalized for two days and while he was out of commission, two other magistrates, including Tody Perea, covered his docket in court. He said he's feeling a lot better and is glad to be back to work.

Hawkes has only praise for everyone who helped him that day --from volunteer rescue personnel at the Jarales Fire Department to all the doctors and nurses at UNM-Hospital. But the one person who he is most thankful for is his daughter, Melanie.

"My daughter did very well. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to get off (the spear)," he said. "All the nurses at the hospital told her that she should remind me of how she helped me when it's time to get a car."

As it turns out, the light bulb is still not working. In fact, the light bulb that Hawkes was attempting to change wasn't even the one that was burnt.

"If I had only used the regular extension ladder, it could have easily been fixed," he said in retrospect. "But no, I get on the step ladder. My advise: follow the instructions — don't step on the top step."

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