I'd like to contribute, so I think the best way I can at the moment is posting one of my personal horror stories, if only to give others something to chew on when it comes to "what went wrong". I was lucky I had someone who could come help me.
I'm a professional in a conservative part of the world. I have friends who know that I like bondage (and other things) but those are my friends and family. So it was an adequate reminder that planning is key to have pressure marks on my wrists for ::looks at the calendar:: over a year now. They are *just recently* going away.
A day came along on a weekend where I 'just needed it'. I'm a bit of an escape artist. I used to know how to pick locks, could contort when I was younger, etc. Also, over the years, I've gotten a collection of toys. To scratch the itch, I took out handcuffs I had for a very long time. Some leather cuffs for my legs, a collar and a gag harness. In addition, I used a leather blindfold. I (un)dressed accordingly and did what I've done hundreds of times, if not thousands. I put the harness on, and applied the lock. I put the blindfold on, the collar, the leg cuffs and finally, the handcuffs. All of the keys were on a keychain attached to a strap in the corner of the room.
I have very poor vision and used a cain, so this didn't pose too much of a challenge for someone who walks around his apartment in complete darkness from memorizing the layout. I hobbled over to the area where the keys were, I picked them up behind my back and proceeded to try and unlock the handcuffs.
It is hard to do that when you put one on backwards. After doing this hundreds of times (in the not-so-recent past) I forgot the one most important thing -- making sure your hands match. My left palm was facing in, and my right was facing out while behind my back. Furthermore, I commited another fatal flaw. The left handcuff lock was on the inside, facing towards my head, while the right was facing down towards the floor.
It was utterly impossible to navigate my hands to get either key to the correct position. What would have otherwise been a 20 minute "scene" turned into 6 hours of moving around the place, removing the (locked) harness and blindfold using leverage against assorted things.
I decided to text a friend of mine. I couldn't negotiate the process of getting my phone into the right position to call the one person I truly trusted to get me out. So I got the phone on the floor, layed down on my stomach, and navigated the phone interface *and* typed the message... with my toung!
I still haven't lived that one down.
After 4 messages and waiting for him for 3 hours to *get out of work* he drove to my location 50 miles away, came into my apartment (after I buzzed him in with my nose and wrapped myself with a blanket to minimize the embarrasment) and he took the keys which I had placed on the door knob (on the inside) to relieve my wrist.
He was then even more the nicest, most caring person on the planet, and took me to the nearest supermarket 10 miles away in the next town to buy ice, pain relievers, wrist bandages for carpel tunnel treatment, and made sure I was okay.
My sister, who I didn't call, but did tell because, well, even at this age I don't *really* want mom to know, even if she does know, gives me crap about the whole ordeal.
I had lost sensation in my right thumb and left pinky. After six months sensation returned. (I still feel very small spots of numbness.) The entire circumfrence of my wrists were bruised severely. The bruises slowly turned to pressure scars (like what you see around strangled people's necks in CSI) and those have practically gone away recently. My shoulders burned with soreness for weeks and I'm lucky I didn't damage them.
Fifteen years of experiences, countless escapes, familiarity, routine, confidence don't matter when you're typing your best friend while mostly undressed with your tounge on your phone to get you out.
Anyway, that is my story. I hope you got a chuckle out of it, and hopefully it can serve as one of many reminders that we shouldn't ever be complacent with our experience.
