My grandfather (RIP) was a carpenter
and waaaaay back in the late 40s he was putting windows into house. Unfortunately the scaffold had been put up incorrectly and he fell 3 floors, smashing both legs. Months of operations passed but in the end, the legs could not be saved and both had to be amputated below the knee. Unfortunately many months of constant pain relief (morphine?) had led to it no longer having any great effect on him and he was very much aware and in great pain as both legs were sawn off. Worse, the specialist had been taken ill (common cold apparently) and so someone else did the op and cut the legs too short. As a result, the first time he bent his knees, the bone broke straight through the stumps and further operations and more time in hospital was required. The rest of his life he had two wooden legs and was in pain when walking.
He never coomplained.
The positive ending was that he met my grandmother in hospital and so not all was lost.

Edit: she was a nurse working at the hospital!
( ForecastMonkey, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 13:13, 1 reply)

coincidence
that your grandmother was in hospital at teh same time
(Smale is stuffed, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 13:52, closed)