A New Day......In The Beginning

This is definitely the start of a new beginning for me......I spent most of the day today waiting to see the Infectious Disease Doctor for the last time. That's what I was hoping for anyway. That would be two Doctors now that I've finally been able to kick to the curb. Well anyway, one Doctor and a Home Nurse. I think I'm doing good, right.....It's been a long time in coming. My "stump", I  hate that word and "residual limb" that don't sound any better either. It seems like a better word  could be used to describe a part of me that I had carried around and used for a lot of years, had finally healed. The awful pain I had lived with for so long was gone and I was still off all pain medication and having no problems with that. I felt I was on a roll....

Part 2......Did I or Did I Not

Well I'm back and as I promised, I'm going to tell if  I Think I became addicted to painkillers or not. By the time I finish this Post it will be quite clear.    " Did I.......Or Did I Not "

Going Home.......Minus One

      I've lost count how many times I've come home from the hospital. In the two and a half years I've had this infection in my leg it's been at least six or eight times, maybe more. Each time I hoped it would be the last time. .....This time though it was looking pretty good.....

Man's Best Friend

Man's Best Friend

     
    I came home after they fused the knee not a happy man. I wasn't seeing any light at the end of tunnel and hadn't for a long time. I was still in a lot of pain and I was  starting  to worry about  the amount of pain medication I was taking. It   was a lot! My wife worked during the week. That left  my grandson and he was in school every day.

And The Party Rocks On

   I made it through the six weeks with the spacer in my knee, but I wasn't doing so good. The constant pain was really starting to get to me. I was still taking a lot of pain medication, it was either not working as well as it did in the beginning or the pain was getting worse. I think it was some of both.

When I Was Down and Almost Out, " I Never Heard Her Complain "

    I knew that I had never done anything in my life time to deserve to be in the situation I was in. Sometimes bad things just happen,no reason...

Sometimes You Are the Bug and Sometime You Are the Windshield

      I went in for a total knee replacement on April 13th,2009. I had put it off for as long as I could. The pain was awful. I had a good Dr.,and I had no problem with a hip replacement about eight months before. I needed to get back to work...

What Happened

     Infection....That's what  happened. I've worked hard all my life, never missed a paycheck. I spent 27yrs. on Big Boats hauling coal & grain up down the Ohio & Mississippi Rivers. Wore my hip & knee joints out from all the jumping up & down off barges. Part of the job.

Big Boat