Gold Coast cop Gary Hamrey relives the moment he was shot in the face after an armed robbery at the Arundel Tavern

`IT stunk ... burning flesh, blood and gunpowder. I just thought I was going to drift away': Cop Gary Hamrey relives the moment he was blasted in the face.

GARY Hamrey would rather not be having this conversation. Then again, he'd rather not have been shot in the face in the first place.

"I'm not too media savvy but … I realise we're in a high-profile job," the Gold Coast dog boss squad has told the Bulletin in an exclusive interview less than nine weeks after being shot at point-blank range while tracking two men suspected of an armed robbery at the Arundel Tavern.

"To see that people are appreciative of what I did gets you a little bit (emotionally). The public have been really wonderful and very sincere. I think we, as police, underestimate from time to time how much support we have from the public."

Sergeant Hamrey suffered extensive facial injuries in the early hours of Friday, September 27, when a bullet, believed to be fired from a .22 rifle, blasted through his left cheek and out past his ear at the back of the neck.

Remarkably, the 50-year-old has minimal physical scarring but he's the first to admit there are emotional wounds that can't be seen.

Having returned to "suitable duties" three days a week, the father of three adult sons, including a fellow officer, hopes to be back on the road with his beloved dogs by the end of the year.

Before then, however, he granted an extensive insight into the moment he was shot, the toll his injuries continue to take and how it feels to survive when the likes of colleague Damian Leeding did not.

Police officer Gary Hamrey at the Runaway Bay Police Station, ready to resume duties with the dog squad after his recovery from being shot in the face.

SHOT IN THE DARK

It was that instantaneous realisation I had been shot. Your mind goes into overdrive. Time slows down, I can assure you of that.

You seem to process hundreds of pieces of information in split seconds and what develops is an overwhelming desire for self-preservation and to protect other people in your immediate vicinity.

(Did you always know you'd survive?) No. I panicked and really thought I was going to drift away.

My life didn't flash before my eyes. I had no thoughts of not seeing other people or my family and friends. I just thought I was going to drift away. I panicked and became irritable and kept asking about my condition.

It wasn't until I asked the ambos for their opinions that I realised I was going to survive and it became easier to cope after that ... all the recollections are very vivid. I don't think there's anything I can't recollect from the night.

PAIN GAME

Gary Hamrey leaving the Gold Coast University Hospital in the company of family and his partner.

I'm not a tough bastard or anything. It hurt like hell, although it wasn't initially painful. It was just shocking. It stung and you could smell it. It stunk - burning flesh, blood and gunpowder.

When the ambos got there it started to hurt and at the hospital is when I really realised it was hurting.

That pain is hard to describe. Nerve pain. Swelling pain. Every time I moved my jaw it hurt. Ear ache. It was just unbelievable. Throbbing pain … I was incredibly thirsty and couldn't have any water because I had to go for scans and operations. I remember being so hot. My heart was racing.

It's one of those experiences you would never want to happen to anyone ... the wound had to be (regularly) flushed out and that hurts. Everything they did hurt but I just had to suck it up.

At one point I was taking 30 to 40 tablets a day ... I've got doctors' appointments booked until the end of January, (but) the light at the end of the tunnel is it will get better, be that in one month, two, six or 12.

I will have nerve pain and discomfort for a while and there are procedures that will hurt, but the bottom line is it will get better or the pain will diminish.

MAN IN THE MIRROR

I never actually saw the wound. I didn't look in the mirror afterwards, even when I got home ... I wasn't concerned with how I looked.

You have a certain expectation from what some people look like after being shot in the face but that wasn't a concern for me. The fact I was here and still giving cheek to the doctors and nurses was more important to me.

THE HANGOVER

(How does your face feel right now?) It aches. My ear aches. My face aches. My jaw aches. I'll have a headache by the end of the day but it's manageable. It's just uncomfortable but there are people in far worse shape than me.

There's still a certain discomfort at night, rolling over, not sleeping, but it's a small price to pay when you consider what could've happened.

At the scene of the shooting.

UNDER THE SURFACE

There are some dark areas that happen after something like this but the psychological journey is where it should be. It was explained to me, it was a near-death experience and that's basically what it was.

It's how you learn to process that (reality) that will give you the best result in the end.

While you might have previously thought you could cope with everything that comes your way, a situation like this can mean you can't. You just don't have the skills or experience and it takes someone to explain things.

It'll stay with me but with the help of family, friends, colleagues and professionals, those dark times become less and less and life moves on. That's just the way it's got to be.

THE DEPARTED

We've lost colleagues from incidents (like this) and that's pretty difficult to deal with. A lot of people have commented that it happened on Police Remembrance Day and the similarities with (Senior Constable) Damian Leeding's murder (at an armed robbery at Pacific Pines Tavern in 2011).

I feel really sorry for the families of the police who have been killed. You really do sympathise with them because in a perfect world they could have been in the same situation as me bar different circumstances. It's not luck. It's just what it is.

It could've gone either way with me but it didn't, and there's no point reflecting on the bad side of it. (Smiles) There's enough people thinking about those things so I don't need to worry about it.