Be kind to old stupid people.....

jlrhiner

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namely me.

As many of you will remember, I've had hell with my knees. 4 total knee replacements in 23 months. I just crossed 2 years post-op on the last one (Aug of 2013). I've tried very hard to overcome the first 2, a bilateral replacement. (Both done at the same time) I tell people when asked, being tough and stupid is painful. They were installed wrong, and we'll leave it at that.

Since August of 2013, I've gone from 359 lbs to 289 lbs as of Monday of this week. Still a ways to go.

Now for the latest stupid move. (Sometimes I have trouble counting them all.) I took a bag of ice out of the freezer in the garage to dump into the blackwater tank of my trailer. I dropped it onto the floor a couple of times to break it up. A couple of cubes got away on the floor. I did my thing, hooking up the trailer to the truck, disconnecting electric and generally getting the trailer ready to go to the dump station.

I thought I would grab a bottle of water out of the fridge and started that way. Remember the ice cubes? Well I didn't. Stepped on one which caused my left leg to go hard to port. The right one wasn't down and locked yet, so it folded back completely underneath, causing my heel to smack my butt cheek, a thing that hasn't happened in a few decades. The rest of me crumbled into a cussing pile of old person. Thank goodness school has started.

Sparing all the rest of the sordid details, I knew I'd screwed up. I called my daughter and son-in-law, and off to the hospital I went. After a bunch of x-rays (on a brand new, state-of-the-art digital, wireless machine, sorry I digress) I broke my tibia in 2 places. 1 being a piece broke clean off, the other a 7 inch crack.

6 to 8 weeks no-load at all, with weekly reviews to make sure everything stays put, 6 months or better on a cane and a year before it'll stop hurting.

Well, it could have been worse. No turkey season, no deer season and no fall trail riding. So y'all are going to have to put up with a lot more of me.
 
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Good luck with all that. Looks like you've had more than enough of the other kind.
 
Sorry to hear about this.

I fell down the front steps a few winters back.
It seemed my right foot, shod in a Sorel boot, was up by my
right ear for a little while. I had been holding the railing on the way
down the steps too.

A heavy jacket and natural padding (fat) kept me from
doing any real damage to myself. But I shoveled slowly that day, and
was sore the next one.
 
Wow!! That's a long time to be hurting. Hope you're wrong on that one. I feel for you.
 
I hope you heal much quicker than that. And you are not stupid. Being able to navigate a computer and this forum if you are over 55 takes any possibility of that away.
I feel for you. I was 8 weeks into a very bad rotator cuff tear (3 torn tendons) when I slipped on my kitchen tile floor because I had to take a leak. I should have just gone outside. Anyway, my wet foot hit the tile floor and down I went. Tore it again. I had surgery yesterday. My recovery will be faster... but I do know the feeling. And yes I am on the forum day after..:) What better pace to hang out.
Get better James.
 
I also want to wish you a speedy recovery! Time seems to pass quickly, the older we get. Maybe it won't be as long as you think! Good Luck In Your Recovery!
 
Wishing you only the best, and a speedy recovery. I had bilateral knee replacements nine years ago, and the surgery went without a hitch. A bit tough for the first few months, then easy sailing. Getting new knees changed my life. Instead of being a severely arthritic old man with a cane, walking slowly or not at all, I returned to being a fully ambulatory individual. And having both done at the same time was, in my opinion, one of my better life decisions as it allowed me to get the rehab for both knees done at the same time. I missed 8 weeks of work at the time and then returned to an almost fully normal life (but it took me over a year before I was comfortable swinging my leg over the seat of a motorcycle).
 
Hope you get better. You are far from the only one. A few years ago I was on a ladder working on some cabinets in my garage. Instead of moving the ladder I stretched to reach something. Ladder went down as did I. Didn't hurt the ladder but my leg hit a board on the floor and broke it. Not bad but my friendly Ortho Surgeon said have an inch higher and I never move my ankle again. Very careful on ladders now. If every dumb thing everyone on this forum did was fatal, I believe there would be no one here.
 
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It's breeding season now and I had to wade into a fight between several of my goat does who were picking on the lowest ranking doe. My goats all go between 150 and 200 lbs. One was cross-wise behind me when she got T-boned by another pushing her into the backs of my knees. They of course crumpled and I fell backwards over her and down hard on my middle back, legs in the air. No damage but I was sore for about a week. At a certain age, falling down is just plain not any fun.
Hope you heal faster than expected.
 
Speedy Recovery

Its tough to imagine having to endure the number of surgeries and the accompanying pain you have endured, hope your healing goes well and this latest incident becomes a distant memory! You have my sympathy.
 
know that you are in our prayers Jim....& by the way if you were healthy.. you'd probably be needed to put up some 6' A frame scaffolding at some power plant.... not much, maybe 200 pieces plus X braces that you'd have to help hump up 3 flights of stairs before you got to the boiler at the power plant... now see what you're missing out on?...

Heck you've got the time to peruse the WTS ads here.....you just might find a couple of good wheel guns that you've been seeking.....
 
know that you are in our prayers Jim....& by the way if you were healthy.. you'd probably be needed to put up some 6' A frame scaffolding at some power plant.... not much, maybe 200 pieces plus X braces that you'd have to help hump up 3 flights of stairs before you got to the boiler at the power plant... now see what you're missing out on?...

Heck you've got the time to peruse the WTS ads here.....you just might find a couple of good wheel guns that you've been seeking.....

Now that was a scary thought.
 
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