Well hello guys and gals. This is your big dummy that lives in Georgia that's from Tennessee
Smitty500mag
Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
I really pulled a stupid one this time. I've been away a while again this time I took a header off of my front porch. It's only three steps high but this big dummy tried to make his knees bend in the direction they don't want to bend and then I came down hard in a squatting position that tore every tendon and leader loose from my kneecaps and kneezs now I'm pretty much disabled.
The orthopedic surgeon said he had to drill four holes in each kneecap and put some strapping through it to tie them off to my leg bones and also to the leaders and tendons. I hate to admit what I was doing but I will. I got a call from my good friend Georgia down in Texas and she said if I go out on my porch and look at the Moon I can see several planets around it. So I turned the lights out on my porch and immediately fell off of it not like I hadn't been out there at least 10,000 times. I didn't see the moon or the planets but I did see stars. Good thing I had my phone in my pocket or I'd probably still be laying out there trying to figure out how to crawl a couple hundred yards to my neighbor's house on my back. I spent two weeks in the hospital and now I've been in this rehab center for over a week. a fancy name for a nursing home. I am able to get out of my bed and into a wheelchair to go to the rehab room as long as my legs are not bent. I have braces from my ankles to my crotch on each leg that will be there for 6 weeks.
I had my first embarrassing experience with a bedpan the past 3 weeks that's almost as bad as the injury itself. So far I've lost 27 lb mainly because I don't want to eat due to that dreaded bed pan. It's a good way to lose weight but I don't recommend that plan to anyone.
June passed away about a year and a half ago and I met a very nice lady named Georgia online and we've been talking for several months. She even at her age in her seventies is still a member of the Visiting Angels. They care for disabled people and and the elderly. Somehow God saw fit that we be together. I really don't know what I would do without her. Her husband passed away 2 months before June did. He was in the early stages of Alzheimer's and was rocking in his rocking chair drinking a milkshake and the chair turned over and broke his neck instantly and he died. She has been grieving over the loss of her husband much like I have over June. We take turns crying on each other's shoulders. She is from Wisconsin and wound up in Texas where she turned an old hospital into the largest Dove program in Texas for battered women in. She ran that program for 11 years before she became semi-retired. It was so demanding people were calling her at all hours of the night and when they ran out of room at the hospital she brought women that had been battered by their husband and their children to her home to care for them.
She also spent 12 years in Guatemala and Belize as a missionary caring for lots of very poor folks there. I don't know what I ever did to deserve two women like June and Georgia. I guess God decided it was time for me to quit grieving so much over June and try to help others for a change. If there ever was an angel that walked on Earth it would have to be this lady Georgia that lives in Texas. She has already spent two and a half weeks with me and she will be back in the morning to stay for good or until I get better or both God does work in mysterious ways.
Comments
Hey!!! Thanks for checking in. That was a bad fall, yet it still could have been worse. Glad they got you put back together and on the mend. Glad you and Georgia found each other, funny how things happen like that.
You haven't missed much here, just hot dog, chili, and taco threads. Someone did ask a gun question but it fell to page 87 due to lack of interest.
Keep getting better and check in as you're able. Prayers continue.
Thank you Joe I appreciate it as usual. My threads over the past couple of years have been nothing but of sorrow anyway maybe in time I can get back to discussing guns and not needing prayers every time you turn around. I've missed you guys but as you know this has been the worst 3 years of my life and everyone here has been as good a friend as a person can have. I love you guys like family.
Atta boy, and I know you will too. In the mean time, as many prayers as needed are standing by. You have many friends here that care of you in return, that's what friends do.
I've been worried about you, Smitty. Sorry about your fall. Please do the rehab as required. It'll mean all the difference.
Your friend Georgia, is she hot!?
Tragedy intertwined with happiness. You have it all going on, all at the same time. And yet, you keep plowing forward, never giving in, staying true to yourself, and being open with people that have never met you. You have my respect and admiration, sir.
Glad you're back on the forums, @Smitty500mag
(my former GB Forum handle was Lock_Stock_and_Darryl. I too was off the forums for a while)🇺🇲 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇲
Godspeed on a full recovery and wishing you a happy time with your new friend Georgia.
Welcome home, Smitty! Sorry 'bout your knees, sounds painful as all get out! Listen to the docs and do your exercises and they'll have you up and around before ya know it.
Well Jim she's older than I am but she looks a heck of a lot better than I do and she gets around a whole lot better than I do too.
Yeah, she's hot!
You will be up and around before long.Sorry to hear about your accident. I fell off a skateboard in my late 60s and bang up a knee. You get zero sympathy when you are an old man and do something really stupid like that.
glad your on the mend smitty
take it easy were not as young and heal as fast any more . sounds like you in pain but still lucky to be on th green side of the grass
congrats on you new companion she is a looker . I see your going above your pay scale again
hope it works out for both of you . life is too short to live with out a close companion to share it with
Smitty, glad to hear you are on the mend and trying to get on with your life. The folks on the Forum are partly what keeps me going as you and I have traveled a similar road..
About six or seven years ago I pulled a similar trick. Stood in one of those cheap plastic chairs and tried to cut off a low hanging limb on huge oak behind my second home in Va. The chair collapsed and as i was falling i tried to protect the running chain saw and keep it from cutting me up. Landed on my left shoulder and it hurt for over a year. I had to much pride and was too embarrassed to seek help. By some miracle it healed up. Never stand in a chair or on a ladder with a running chain saw if you can avoid it. -------------Ray
Sorry about the knees , you need to get up and moving that lady is a doll
So happy to hear from you again smitty although sorry to hear of the accident, hang in there and heal and enjoy your new friends company.
Smitty, you have a pm. Work hard with your PT and get better soon.
Welcome back! Do the PT, and you'll be up and around soon. Glad you have someone to care for you.
DR,
I used to think it was my dashing good looks was the reason I had women above my pay scale. I've had to come to terms over the years that it may be my oil fortune and my diamond mines in South Africa that may have a lot of influence on my female companions.
You guys know I'm joking of course. I've actually just been blessed by women that actually think I'm a nice guy and worth their time. I guess they just feel sorry for me for whatever the reason. I have been one of the luckiest men on Earth to not only have great female companions but they also have been very beautiful inside and out. The truth is the looks don't even matter but thank the Lord he did decide to send beautiful ones to me. June and Georgia are two of the nicest humans God ever put on this Earth. I must have done something right in my lifetime for him to think I deserve these two women in my life.
After over 2 years of my welcoming death as a good friend that I could not wait for his visit I now find I have reason in my life to live again. Just having a hug from Georgia from time to time makes life worth living again. I actually know in my heart that June would love Georgia and vice versa. They are both a like in so many ways. June will never be replaced in my heart but I find I have room for Georgia also and I will never be able to replace her husband but we love each other and have each other to hold on to during the sad times that still loom from time to time but nothing like it was a few years ago when we were alone. If it's possible which it appears it must be June and Georgia's Grady found a way to put us together. The chances of it just happening are way too high. What's the chances of a hillbilly from Tennessee living in Georgia finding a lady from Wisconsin that's lived all over Central and North America who was currently residing in a small town deep in the heart of Texas meeting up seem very improbable without some sort of divine intervention. Just when I think life has finally done me in I get a reprieve. The only bad thing is that at our age it's all going to happen again in not all that many years from now.
Sorry to hear about your accident. That really sucks. As far as your grieving, go right ahead. It just shows the love and admiration you had for your wife. I know most of us would be grieving a lifetime too. Get better soon. Oakie
Well guys I finally got out of the nursing home er, I mean rehab center. I spent two weeks in the hospital and two weeks in the rehab center and now I'm in a hospital bed set up in my living room just like I had June, my wife, in her hospital bed in our living room in the exact same position in the exact same place that she spent 19 months in agony with her cancer before she died. Now I'm laying in the same place and can hardly move with these braces on both legs. Hard to believe falling off of just a couple of steps that has me completely out of commission. I mean totally out of commission. I am basically totally disabled and will be according to the physical therapist for about 6 more weeks. Total recovery will take six to eight months and that includes lots of therapy and exercise. I have absolutely no idea how I would make it at this time without this wonderful woman Georgia my new girlfriend in my life.
The best news I can report is I no longer use that damn bed pan. That is the most humiliating thing a grown man can endure. I actually lost about 27 lb because I refused to eat to keep from using that thing.
The orthopedic surgeon informed me that my insurance would not pay for those leg braces which were over $1,400 each. One of his nurses gave me the address on Amazon for the exact same braces, same serial number and they were $134.50 each. Talk about a rip off.
I never realized how much someone depends on being able to get around even a little bit. Getting up with these leg braces on and using a walker just to get a drink or something to eat is dang near impossible without help. And I keep hating to ask Georgia to get ever little thing that I need. I don't know how I deserved to find someone with as big a heart as she has and is willing to do whatever it takes she says to get me back on my feet again. I don't deserve her but thank God she's here.
You old geezers my age please be careful cuz it sure don't take much to put you out of commission.
Amazingly the two surgery scares, one on each knee, that are about 6 in Long are almost invisible now. I guess that won't ruin my swimsuit modeling career after all.
Almost forgot to mention I was telling Georgia I dread doing my taxes in the next couple weeks because I don't have all my paperwork together and I'm stuck here in bed and they were going to be pretty complicated this year. Before the end of the day she filed my taxes for me and managed to save me quite a bit of money in the process. She's not only pretty but she's smart too. I know, I know, I don't have any earthly idea what she sees in me either? And like my beloved June she likes guns and can't stand the flaming liberals that's trying to take over our country.
good to hear from you Smitty
glad your on the mend and have a wonderful lady helping you that's a blessing
I agree bed pans area necessity but I hate them with a passion
best of luck just ride out the storm and therapy.
as been said many times getting old is not for Sissy's
were all rooting for you
you don't have those socks on to hide painted toenails do you???????
hope you get to feeling better soon, do the therapy and everyday will be just a little closer.
You're a goog guy, Smitty. Georgia knows that. Do right by her. June would approve.
Keep getting better. Prayers.
Latest update:
When you think it can't get any worse it can.
Earlier this week as I was trying to push myself up out of my chair with my arms to get a hold of my walker my left shoulder snapped with terrible pain. I saw my orthopedic surgeon day before yesterday for my knees and while there he tested my left shoulder and determined the rotator cuff is damaged and will require surgery. If I have surgery that would leave me with only one working limb which would leave me pretty much disabled. As it is I can still use my left arm with pain somewhat. The doctor said I can postpone the surgery on my left shoulder for a while but if I put it off too long it will be unrepairable. So I'm going to continue rehab on my knees to get them working before I have surgery on my shoulder. Hopefully I can get that done before time runs out on my shoulder.
These past 2 years have been a real nightmare and it doesn't appear to be close to over yet. First off my wife June died of cancer after 19 months of terrible suffering, my sister just finished her last round of chemo for her breast cancer, my daughter-in-law is still recovering from stage 4 brain cancer which is a miracle she is still alive, my brother-in-law is still recovering from prostate cancer that he was diagnosed with on the same day that June was diagnosed with cancer.
The past 4 weeks my 92-year-old mom who is normally in great health has been in the hospital and now nursing home with a urinary tract infection that has really brought her down. My sister who is my mom's best friend and who are like sisters has been staying with her around the clock trying to get her to do the rehab to get her back on her feet. Yesterday she said mom said you're forcing me and she said I'm just tired and don't want to do it anymore. So it would appear mom has given up. What really makes it bad is that I can't be there with her. If she dies now I won't even be able to attend the funeral.
My friend Georgia is still with me but she needs to go back home tomorrow to take care of some things in Texas and won't be back for a couple weeks. Except for 2 weeks she's been with me since the 1st of March. These next two weeks are going to be pretty tough without any help even more so than the last time she left for 2 weeks since I now have this bad shoulder. I don't know what I would have done without her she's been the only bright spot in this continuing nightmare of mine.
Greg, I don't even know what to say. That is one of the most devastating post's I have ever read.
I will pray for the best outcome for all involved.
My heart is hoping you find some relief from all of this.
Well darn, this isn't the checking in I'd hope for. You've been through a lot both physically and emotionally. With help of Prayers, friends, and family you have continued to drive on.
Prayers and best wishes continue for you.