Well folks, I continue to make progress in my recovery from my leg injury way back in February 18th. What an ordeal this has been. Without a doubt this is the worst medical situation I've ever had, surpassing even my dislocated knee in 1962 and my six month bout with a staph infection after my hernia operation in 1959. The kidney stone attacks and subsequent operations (two of them) last year were pretty bad but at least they didn't last this long.
The worst thing about my leg injury (ruptured quadricep ligaments) is/was my swollen left foot. Since the night of the accident my foot and lower leg leg has been swollen. Numb, red, hot, pulsating and very uncomfortable. The only relief I ever got was at night when I went to bed with an elevated foot. In the morning the swelling had gone done to almost nothing. But once I was up and around the swelling came back.
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| My swollen left foot |
I may have already mentioned this before but my doctor told me I didn't have to use the walker anymore. Great! I'm using a cane now. And, get this folks, there are times I don't have to even use the cane!
I can actually go a short distance on my own two legs. But I don't push my luck. I don't want to have my leg give out and fall and lose everything I've gained in healing the past two months.
I can bend my knee a bit more and I can actually lift my injured left leg to put my pants on, a big plus. The things we take for granted. My doctor told me the next time I see him (two weeks) I may be able to take off my brace. Hey, then maybe I can bend my leg enough to ride in the passenger seat of my car instead of having Bill load me into the back seat.
This morning I went out on our lawn for the first time since my accident. I wanted to take some closeup pictures of the profusion of daffodils that are a blooming here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. It's a regular Spring Paradise here folks!
I got the bird baths up but I have to ask bill to refresh them every day which he isn't too happy about. Soon I'll be able to refresh them myself. Bill's not too thrilled with this extra duty I've foisted on him.
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| Bill refreshing the bird baths this morning |
The Fickle Finger of Fate, I was spared . . . . this time.
32 comments:
Splendid indeed, Ron - aside from your melancholic penultimate sentence, though it's worth sparing a few moments to give even that a thought too.
Yes, one can go on and on searching for reasons why such things happen and when they do, though I suppose it's a natural human reaction to try to work out some rationale behind these seemingly random incidents we're subject to, some of which can be life-changing, as your own illustrates. I think it's absolutely the right attitude to draw lessons from it, not only to avoid repeating the conditions that allowed it to happen in the first place but as a means to find profit for life in the wider sense.
Pleased that you haven't missed too much of witnessing the little miracles of external floral life with, no doubt, the greater part of the best yet to come. The daffs alone should be enough to help cheer anyone up.
Ray,
Even with all the pain, discomfort, and inconvenience (and loss of income, I don't get paid for this time off of convalescing), this experience has been of value to me. It has given me a new appreciation of life and the freedom that mobility gives one. Each day now is even more precious that it was before my accident. Eventually something will get me but in the meantime, I plan to make sure each day is valued and counts.
Ron
Honestly, what does Bill to do all day that he can't take the time to refresh the birdbaths? I sincerely hope I never become as big a grouch as Bill when I get to that age. You have been supporting him for over thirty years and he has to complain when you need help.
Tony,
Bill is a grouch, no doubt about that fact. But Bill is the only person who really cares for me. I'm a grouch too. We're a good match.
Ron
Bill wouldn't have it any other way taking care of you even with the grumbling! 😃
Ron,
I thought you tore your tendon, not your ligaments or was it both? Good to see your little walk in the kitchen. I don't agree, though, that we are fragile. The human body is actually pretty tough. It overcomes a lot of abuse and damage in a lifetime. I also don't agree that Bill is the only person who really cares for you. A lot of us care. I am stiff today from my neck down my back, bottom and upper legs, a bit sour moving, all of which is from that fall I took yesterday, I'm sure. But it'll pass.
Lar
Life is a gift, a true miracle! I am glad you are getting better and stronger even if it takes time.
Lar,
Of course you're right, I know others care for me. I could of more "artfully" worded that sentence. Bill is the only person in the world who can live with me. Nobody else would have the patience to put up with me, because believe me, I'm not easy to live with. And also, I am the primary focus of Bill's life. Before my Mother's brain got damaged from watching too much Fox TV, she was totally focused on my well being and liked me. Others care for me, sure but their primary focus is elsewhere and there is nothing the matter with that. You have your family, Bill B. has his family, etc with all my friends. I remember all the times Bob McCamley left me down because his primary focus was Jim or whatever trick he had in his sights at the moment. All those times I went to Provincetown which whom I thought were friends (Bob McC., Bob Murphy and Brad Corrill) and as soon as we got there they abandoned me and took of with new "friends." Bill would never do that. And of course I have a new friend now in Pat and we're very close but we don't live together and probably never will. One thing though, when I am with Pat he's not taking off with someone else which is refreshing for a change.
Me medical papers say I have a "ruptured quadriceps", which I'm not sure is ligaments or muscles. I think they're ligaments. All I know is that they were severed (the way I fell on my knee against the ice frozen drain pipe) and I could not move my lower left leg. Only now can I move it . . . a bit. My home health care worker said this injury was worse than a broken leg because tissue takes longer to heal than a broken bone. Lucky me but my leg is healing. Hopefully by the end of May I''ll be back to my usual annoying self.
And again, I know you care for me but Lar, no one but no one cares for me like Bill. He's proved it by putting up with me for the past fifty years!
Ron
You are absolutely right Roger. Bill grumbles a lot but he does it. Been doing it for fifty years now. Never abandoned me or left me like some my friends have done over the years because of their "other priorities", usually their family or in the case of my gay friends, the latest trick to catch their eye. I've always been priority number 1 with Bill as he has been with me. I would have it no other way.
Ron
Nadege,
You are so right Nadege, life is a gift, a true miracle. That I have lived as long as I have is also a miracle. So many of my friends and relatives, many younger than me, have gone and yet here I am still. And I have a lot of living left to do. This is just a bump in the road.
Ron
Ron - that cartoon at the end just made me laugh out loud. Thank you for that. And it's super terrific that your leg is coming along nicely. Please don't push it.
Pat
BTW Ron - is Raybeard an author?
Pat
So glad you're up and around :-) A couple of years ago I had two friends who had snapped BOTH quadriceps tendons at the same time :-( Sorry about the swelling - it does hurt. You shall mend quickly, though.
I'm a grouch, too, but since I live alone I talk to myself and actually have grouchy conversations with myself. It's like having two grouches in one.
Your progress really is remarkable, Ron, but when I watched that video I was nervous - - hoping that you wouldn't fall. It's fantastic that the foot swelling is going down. I'll bet you're counting the minutes until the brace comes off.
Jeffrey,
"Both quadriceps tendons at the same time"? Both legs? My doctor used the plural of my quadriceps when referring to my rupture so I assume I had two that were severed,
Ron
Getting the swelling gone will be a big help. One step at a time, one day at a time. Have fun, DG
Only of my own blogs, Pat. Should I be flattered that you ask the question? Methinks I will, in fact, luxuriate in that glow, though why escapes me.
Incidentally, Ron - Does Bill read your blogs? If he does I hope he has a thick skin.
Good news! Glad to hear that things are improving. :)
Ron, I'm so glad to hear your medicos have got you off the walker to the cane and soon entirely on your own two legs. I've followed the problems and procedures you've endured for a couple years and am hopeful that I can be as resilient and positive as you if such blows lurk in my future. I'm only a kid of 65 but I can still look up to a good example. You're sure one.
David,
Controlling the swelling in my foot is a big plus. It is a struggle every morning putting on the compression sock because I can bend my leg very little, good thing I have long arms. Put to be free of the pain of the swollen foot all day is a blessing. I can actually enjoy life, restricted as it is now days. Progress, a little at a time but still progress.
Ron
Walt,
Thanks! Yes, things are improving, slowly but improving. My health care worker said my biggest challenge was just to be patient and she was right.
Ron
Pat,
I don't know if Ray is a published author but I do know he is an excellent writer. Read some of his movie reviews, just as good and better than most professional movie reviews you'll ever read. I am so lucky to know blogger friends like Ray who are talented writers who are interesting to read.
Ron
Ray,
You asked if Bill reads my blogs. He says he doesn't anymore but I suspect he does every now and then. I don't write anything in my blog that I wouldn't tell him in person. Does he have a thick skin? No, not really; that's why he stopped reading my blogs.
Ron
Geo.,
Yes, you are a "kid of 65". I'll take 65 again, there are a lot of things I would like to do over (smile). I'm glad my postings of my health trials and tribulations is of help to others who read this blog. I just write about my experiences and how I handle it. I'm glad I come off as "resident and positive" but I don't see any other option I have. To me to give up, unless I had some dreaded fatal disease, is not an option. My only hope is that when my time comes, and it will as it will for all of us, that it is relatively painless and I'm not too much a burden on anyone. I would prefer to make a quick exit. But until that times comes, I have plenty of living to do which I will do!
Ron
Ron,
So glad you were able to get the swelling under control and gain a bit more freedom. I think you will recover quickly now, though perhaps still not quick enough in your mind. You made me nervous walking without the cane, but was happy to see the progress.
Cindy from Sonoma
Jon,
You may call yourself a grouch but you're a sweetheart. All of us who read your blog know that, we see right through you. That's why you have such a large following of those middle aged farm ladies (smile).
Jon, I can't emphasize what a relief it is to have the swelling in my foot under control. I do it with a compression sock. It's hell putting it on every morning (and this morning I think I strained my leg because my knee is hurting now) but it is well worth the effort because I go through the day relatively pain free. I can concentrate on doing other things rather than have that throbbing, hot, numb feeling all day in my foot. And you're right, I am counting the weeks, days, hours and minutes until I can get this brace off. I can bend my leg a bit more but it is still very stiff at the knee. And I don't trust myself to walk unaided yet but that day will come and what a day that will be. I just want to get back to normal again, get my mobility back and driving my car which I haven't done since I feel February 18th Just to go downstairs into our basement (where Bill lives and where I have my freezer chest and all my unread books) would be a treat. Onward and upward Jon!
Ron
Pat,
That cartoon made me laugh out loud too. It epitomizes exactly how I felt. I'm convinced that Wayne ("The Cajun") pushed me that fateful freezing cold night of February 18th. He was mad at me when he left. Just like my Mother was mad at me. I have made a vow to myself, when my time comes I'm not going to be mad at anyone. What an awful memory to leave behind.
Ron
Ron
Ron, re my blogs: - aw shucks, you really shouldn't say such things (but I like it).
re Bill: To compensate, maybe you ought to do a 'Butter up Bill' post. He's a bit too much in the background for the life-saver you say he is.
Cindy,
I was nervous walking around without the cane! But I had to try. I'm getting better but I still don't trust myself that my leg will give out. I don't want to damage any healing that has already occurred. And yes, I am so glad I have the swelling under control. I didn't realize how bad it was hurting until I put the compression sock on. It's sort of like banging your head against the wall, you don't realize how much it was hurting until you stopped doing it. Now if I can just get this leg brace off and bend my knee.
Ron
Ray,
You're an excellent writer. And I'm not the only person who has this opinion.
Bill is my lifesaver. I would not be where I am today without Bill. Bill doesn't like me to write about him. He prefers the background. Bill and I have a unique relationship. We keep the jealousy and control to a minimum, or as much as possible. We made a decision fifty years ago not to fall into that trap so many couples fall into that destroys their relationship. When Bill saw me he knew it was for life even if I didn't at that time. He has since proved it. Were it not for Bill I would not be here today. Is he perfect? No. Am I? No. No one is but this is what works for us. We made our own rules and I know that confuses some people and even disturbs them but it is our life.
Ron
You wouldn't have to see a numb, red swollen foot if you had listened to reason.
Wayne pushed me.
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