Stress Control:
Wounded

Two men came into the Loop Pizza Grill and one of them put a gun to Mike Robie's head and demanded that he open the safe. Robie grabbed his chest, faked a heart attack and fell to the floor hoping they would run off. Instead, one of them opened fire, emptying his gun at Robie. Robie said he thought the attack was over. But as he lay on the floor the second gunman knelt down beside him and fired at his stomach. Then he aimed it at his head and pulled the trigger. But the weapon jammed. The two men fled. ... Robie was hit in the face, thigh, stomach and chest, inches from main arteries and vital organs, like his heart, temple, and right eye. One bullet actually went around his spine without injuring it. He remained conscious throughout. Since returning to work, it seems everyone wants to know what it is like to get shot 11 times. He tells them, "You don't feel a thing. The body is amazing in that it protects you by going into shock," Robie said. "I knew they were shooting me, but I wasn't feeling the bullets."
Excerpted from The St. Petersburg Times – 28 May 2001

Former U.S. Army Green Beret Don Paul and former U.S. Marine Craig Huber, authors of Secure from Crime, write that the vast majority of pistol gunshot wounds (and puncture stab wounds) miss vital organs or arteries, thus, though stressful, aren’t physiologically fatal. Most bullet wounds are roughly as traumatic as a compound fracture of a bone. As stated earlier, it’s often the psychological panic (psychogenic shock) – and loss of hope – that can cause death.

Stabbing or shooting victims, if they notice anything, usually describe a sensation not as a quick, violent penetration but more like a blow that lands and doesn’t let up. A bullet’s heat causes a burning sensation.

Most gunshot and stabbing victims are still capable of fighting successfully. Many keep going without even knowing they were hurt. President Reagan didn’t know he’d been shot until he got to the hospital. But if one does know, it must be shaken off. It’s better to not look at the wound and risk stress panicking. Oftentimes, the difference between life and death all comes down to your self-control and will to survive – your choice, your willpower.

Then gunfire erupted. The criminal had pulled a hidden gun from his waistband and began firing. For police officer Costa, everything was happening so fast but seemed so slow. ... Pfffftttt!!!! A bullet whizzed past his right ear, so close he could feel the heat. Man, that was close, Costa thought. But before he hit the floor he felt as if someone had slammed him from behind in the right shoulder. There was a tremendous burning sensation. He had been shot. ... There was tremendous pain in his shoulder and across his back. It felt as though 500 pounds were on his shoulders. His hands began to get numb. Costa tried to calm himself, remembering that having the right mindset could be the difference between life and death. ... His mind focused on Scott, 12, his son. "This bullet's not going to kill me," he thought. "I have a little boy to raise. I'm going to survive. I'm not leaving this world. You're OK, you're going to make it through this." He thought of his family. "It's not my time to go yet. No way." He hung on. ... At UPMC Presbyterian, a CAT scan showed the slug had hit him in the back in the right shoulder, broken a bone, traveled to the left, went under his spine and traveled through the back of the neck, into the base of his skull and into the left side of his brain.
Excerpted from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – 04 May 2003

You might well overcome the stress of even a serious injury through sheer Willpower and choosing Courage.

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