Leg Injury Anniversary

Me in the emergency room last year - in shock

Today is one year anniversary of my leg injury.

To remind new readers of this blog what happened at approximately 11:09 PM, on a very cold (5 degrees) and windy night as I left my shift at the hotel where I work.  As I was rounding the corner of the building after checking to make sure the doors were locked (something I do every night after my shift is over and on my way to my car), I stepped on frozen ice from a drainpipe on the side of the building.  

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The corner where I fell, photo taken the next day when the ice was removed (too late) from the drain pipe)

Down I went, hitting my left knee on the edge of the drain pipe. 

I was on my knees, with the cold wind painfully whipping around my face.  I stayed in that position for about five seconds while I assessed my situation.  I felt my knee pad had moved to left of my knee.  I thought I had dislocated my knee.  Many years ago (1962) I had dislocated my right knee.  I was going to try and limp to my car but decided instead to take a few steps back into the Inn and get myself together.  That decision probably saved my life.  

I took approximately five steps to get back into the hotel and my leg just gave out.  I was on the floor, inside the hotel.  If I had decided instead to try and limp to my car, I would have fallen in that alley where the wind chill was below 0 degrees and probably have frozen to death.  They would have found me the next morning, a frozen corpse in the alleyway.  

But Fate had something else in store for me.  Interestingly my normal reaction upon falling (and I've fallen before) was to try and limp to my car.  I don't know, maybe my Guardian Angel saved me . . . . . . again.  

I collapsed on the soft rug in the hotel lobby.  As I mentioned before I thought I had dislocated my knee.  Thank goodness I had my cell phone (hear that my friend Larry who keeps his cell phone in his car glove compartment . . . off)?  

I called 911.  The rest is history.  

I was taken to the Beebe Emergency Room, only three blocks away.  Hear that my friend Jon, who lives in the mountain wilderness of Tennessee?

They assessed my situation.  Took X-rays that determined that I hadn't broken any bones.  And my knee wasn't dislocated.  

They put a splint on my leg and sent me home.  The only problem was that I couldn't make my lower left leg to work.  

The doctor at the emergency room suggested that I contact an orthopedic doctor.  The next day I did.  The earliest appointment I could get was one week hence.  

When I saw the orthopedic doctor he arranged for me to have an ultra scan (I'm not sure if that is the right term, I don't remember) of my leg.

When the results of the scan came back my orthopedic doctor informed me that I had torn my quadricep muscle of my left leg.  It would have to be reattached.  That meant surgery.

I underwent surgery.  Then I had a twelve week period of recovery, with a splint on my leg.  

I could not go to work.  

I was bed ridden.  

Thank God for Bill.  Without Bill I would have been in a rehab unit.  There was no way I could take care of myself.  I couldn't drive.  

I'm going on too long with this folks but let me just to sum things up.

I'm walking now, more or less normal.  My left leg will never be the same.  I can still feel the quadricep muscle, it is numb.  It doesn't hurt.  The only discomfort I have is the almost constant swelling of my leg but the swelling isn't near as bad as it was the twelve weeks of my recovery.

There were many nights when I had difficulty sleeping because of the swelling in my left leg.  Even now sometimes I wake up at night and the swelling has returned.  However, not near as bad as this photo shows.  Just a general numbness.

For about eight weeks (I don't remember exactly) I was on a walker.  Folks, I have a new appreciation for old folks, or even young folks, who hobble around on a walker.  My choice was a walker or just lie in bed all day. I'll take the walker (which I still have by the way).  

One way I was fortunate (I guess) was that I fell in the wintertime.  Would my leg be well enough for me to do my Spring plantings?  Well, it wasn't but I got out there with my walker and did it anyway.  That's just me folks, it takes lot to discourage me.  Stoic Ron.

Eventually I progressed from the walker to a cane (which I also still have, just in case I have it in the back seat of my car).  

Above is a photo of me in May doing my first Spring plantings.  You should have seen me trying to bend down without bending my leg.  he Great Contortion Magnifico. 

 But you know what folks? Even though I went through my own personal Hell this time last year, I am so thankful that I am here today to write about it and to look forward to many more days in good health in this, my life.



One day all this (my life) will come to an end.  I hope it's not a violent and painful and humiliating end but my life will end, that is for sure.  All of our lives will end.  Mine perhaps sooner than most of you who read this blog.  And that's because I'm an Old Fart. I have lived a long time and have had and continue to have a wonderful life.  

So today I remember this time last year when I took a "pause" in this wonderful life of mine.  Perhaps that fall was fated just to remind me of what a good life I do have.  I know this, I have a new appreciation of life.  

More News on the Medical Front

My last visit to my orthopedic surgeon (I hope)

This morning I had my last doctor's visit for awhile.  The past few months have been a spat of doctor's visits and quite frankly, it was becoming a bit tiresome.  However, I know that it is necessary to see my doctors to keep this old chassis going.

Filling our my Wellness sheet this morning at my orthopedic doctor's office - way to get the day started off right - I was the first patient (8:00 AM appointment)

Last Friday I visited my dermatologist.  For the first time in a couple years I got clean bill of health.  No burning off bits of my skin and leaving his office looking like someone was torturing me with cigarette burns.

A couple of weeks ago I visited my main doctor at the VA and got the good news that my prostate cancer is effectively gone or at least in remission.  My PSA level was down to .3 which is fabulous.  This probably means I'll die of something else instead of prostate cancer.  Of course I will die of something else, hopefully deathbed scene is still a long time away.

This morning I visited my orthopedic surgeon doctor.  The doctor who reattached my quadricep muscle on my left leg so I could walk again.  And walking I am, hallelujah!!!!!




I just cannot tell you how thankful I am to be walking again. Amen and AMEN!

But all is not well in Ron's World.  Even though my leg has healed very well, I still have trouble walking.  I can't walk like I used to which concerns me, because walking was always one of my strengths.  I'm especially concerned because tomorrow I'm taking a bus to Philadelphia (one of those "Old People Excursions") for a Day In Philly.  All the years I lived in Philly I could walk anywhere.  These days, my walking is somewhat limited.  I have to husband my strength.  

The problem is a soreness in my lower back.  I've had it for years.  At first I thought I was having hip problems but that's not it.  

After I got the good news from my doctor this morning that my injured leg was well back to it's normal use, I brought up my "walking" problem.  

He said I probably had spinal stenosis.  After all I am approaching Crypt Keeper status; i.e. I am old.  Next month I'll be 74 (how did THAT happen)?

He asked if I wanted an X-ray taken.  I said "Sure!"

The X-Ray showed a white cloudy area at the base of my spine?  That's arthritis folks.  Old man here.

He said I could have cortisone shots if the pain was too great (it isn't, I've learned to live with the stiffness and soreness).  He also said "Some people have an operation and then, most don't"  Count me in the latter category, thank you.  No one is operating on my spine . . . . thank you again.

He did give me a sheet of paper showing me what exercises I could do to slow down the progression of me falling apart with "Arthur Ritis" as we call this malady around here (Bill has arthritis too).  

So I'm off to my Day in Philly tomorrow folks.  Have to get up REAL early (4:30 AM) to catch my 7:00 AM bus out of Georgetown from the Sussex County Community College campus for the 2 1/ 2 hour ride to Philadelphia.  

I wonder if they'll have as big a reception for me as Philly had for Pope Francis.  One thing I know for sure, I won't be having a private meeting with Kim Davis.

Kim Davis, religious hypocrite and bigot

Leg Injury Update June 2015

The folks at Tidewater Physical Therapy, Milton, DE
(Pat, Melissa, Kathy, Richard and ME!)

How's the leg Ron (you might ask)?

Just fine.  I was informed this week by Rich, my physical therapist that I only have four more visits (two next week and two the following week).  Then I'm on my on.

I can walk unaided without a cane now and I'm here to tell you I am might happy about that fact.  I still have a slight limp, which will gradually dissipate as time goes on.  However, I still have to be very careful that I don't twist my leg by turning around too fast or else I'll be back to Square One.  And I DON'T want to go there again.

It's ironic but I was dreading physical therapy but my three times a week sessions (one hour each) have proven to be most beneficial to me.  Not only in helping me to get back to normal physically but mentally.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I was quite freaked out when I first injured my leg way back on February 18th, by falling on the ice and rupturing (severing) my quadricep muscles in my left leg.  I had no use of that leg and feared that I never would again.

You know how they something good always comes out of something bad?  Well, that's what happened here with me when I had that terrifying accident that left me totally dependent on Bill and others for survival.  Not only do I have a new awareness of the appreciation of good health and being able to move around on my own but I also have a new patience for others who are handicapped.  Never again will I be impatient with a person of less than mobile means who is slowing me down during my regular routine.  

And you know something else that happened during my ordeal?  I made new friends, the physical therapy folks (Richard, MacKenzie, Melissa, Kathy, Olivia and Suzanne).  I look forward to seeing them everyday and I will miss them when I no longer return. 

So here is the prognosis for me folks:

My leg won't be completely healed for about a year.  I still can't kneel and wash my tiled kitchen floor.  And I certainly can't "hop, skip an jump" as the questionnaire that I have to complete every two weeks at physical therapy requires me to fill out.  But I can get around on my own.  And I can drive my car!  And what a wonderful, precious freedom that is.

Now I'm ready to go for a significant stretch of time in which I have NO health issues.  The past few years have been quite an adventure for me with my health issues.  But then I always think, three of my close friends died this year. It can always be worse.  So now I am ready to jump back into Life with both feet, or at least step in gently. 

Me with friends David and Scott - David was also going to physical therapy and we happen to run into each other at the supermarket after my physical therapy session - I no longer have my cane!

Leg Injury Update - June 8 2015

Me at my doctor's office this morning

Early this morning I made a visit to my orthopedic doctor's office for my periodic update. 

He is very pleased with my progress.

I am very pleased with my progress!

He told me I need to work on bending my leg a bit more and also straightening out my leg but otherwise, he was very pleased with my progress.  

He gave me another doctor's note to continue my physical therapy which is helping me so much.


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It's all good in the neighborhood folks!

Return to Work!

Well, I did it folks!  I returned to work yesterday.  

It was a struggle getting into my car, as the above video attests too, but I did it!  

I've been off work since I fell on the ice February 18th of this  year and ruptured my quadricep muscles in my left leg.  I couldn't move my left leg below the knee.

After surgery and a long healing process and continuing physical therapy sessions three times a week, I returned to work at the hotel yesterday.

I wasn't sure how my endurance would hold up.  I survived the eight hour shift (3 PM to 11 PM) but I was exhausted when I got home.  

When I got to bed about 11:45 PM last night, I didn't get up ONCE. Usually I get up at least once or twice for a bathroom visit. 

NOT ONCE FOLKS.

I was dead to the world until I woke up at my usual time of 7 PM this morning. 

Ah but it was good to get back to work.  I'm a very active fellow and the past three months of inactivity was turning me into a slug.  I need activity.  Not a marathon run but just activity.  

I need that social interaction with other people.  

I need to have something to work my week around, which is what my part-time job at the hotel affords me. 

And I need the money.  Yes folks, I need the money to keep up with the ever increasing costs of maintaining the lifestyle to which I've become accustomed.  Those annual trips to Toronto and Hollywood don't come free.  They cost.  

I'm back folks!

Me at work last night - BIG SMILE!

Returning to Normal - Not the Town but the Life

Tomorrow I return to work.  I've been out of commission since my fall on that dark cold night of February 18th. A long, long time ago.

Yesterday I drove my car for the first time since that life changing accident that tore my quadricep muscle on my left leg. It was a tight squeeze getting in the car but once in, I was able to drive my car. Hallelujah!  You don't know what it means to have the freedom of mobility.

I've been walking without my cane for several days now.  However, my cane is never far away just in case I feel my leg buckling. There were two instances during Pat's visit last week that I felt my leg buckling.  All that walking around Rehoboth Beach and other places we visited. 

I can garden more now.  Transplanting garden center plant purchases and pulling weeds. I use that seat contraption with the seat and wheels.  Yep, it's similar to the one my Mom used when she got old and wanted to continue to garden but it works. 

Even though I can drive and get around without my cane my leg still hurts if I over do it.  Last week, all that walking around during Pat's visit, was a real workout.  At the end of the day I was wiped out. It's going to be interesting to see how I feel after a full eight hour shift at the hotel.

I'm looking forward to getting back to work and my regular schedule. My accident, while traumatic, painful, and inconvenient, taught me was a new appreciation for quality of life.  To have the mobility to be independent and just go about normal activities. 

My leg is hurting now, which it does if I sit too long, so I'll end this life update.  

Summer will be here in a few weeks and I am ready to enjoy every day to the max.

Medical Update

A selfie of me at physical therapy yesterday prior to my hour workout

Just a quick medical update on my health status folks:

I visited my dentist yesterday.  He checked out the pain I'm having in my left jaw and indeed, it is as I expected:  a case of TMJ.

He told me to go "easy on the chewing, don't eat almonds (which I have been eating) and try to stay with soft foods."  That I can do, I'll leave out the almonds when I have my next batch of yogurt.

Physical therapy went well again yesterday.  I'm doing all my exercises well, increasing my endurance each time.  The only area where I'm encountering resistance is the bending of my leg.  My physical therapist (Rich) works with bending my leg to stretch my reattached quadricep muscle until I cannot take the pain level.  

On a scale of 1-10 my pain level (mostly swelling) is 1.  When Rich is working on my leg it goes up to 5 or 6. I know the pain is necessary for gain (I'm a poet and don't know it) but still . . . . it hurts!  "No pain, no gain."

I was wiped out yesterday after my session but a good wipe out if you know what I mean.

This morning I stopped in the hotel to confirm that I will be back at work on June 1st, albeit on a physically restricted level.  No climbing or descending the steep wooden stairs to the outside VIP suites on the canal. No mopping the floors.  And of course no carrying furniture back and forth after an event.  And of course no helping guests unload their luggage from their cars.  I don't get that request that often but I do offer to help when the guest is older than me and obviously very frail.  I'll have to let my guilt go if I encounter any of those guests when I return to work.

Where I work at in Lewes - not long now until I return (to the scene of my accident with is at the bottom right of the portico of the hotel - I was rounding the entrance when I stepped on the frozen ice from the rain spout and my life changed forever - one random fall that caused so much damage

Today is an absolutely gorgeous spring/summer day.  This is Memorial Day Weekend and hundreds of cars are flowing down Route One, right past Casa Tipton-Kelly.  When I bring Pat back tomorrow from meeting him in Wilmington tomorrow, we will be in the Holiday Weekend Flow.  Should be fun (not).  But we will be going to Pennsylvania for a few days, which is opposite of where most of the holiday weekend vehicles are going.

So there you go folks.  My leg is going to really get a workout these next few weeks beginning with tomorrow.

Daddy Long Legs

Sidney Ervin Hughes
Born 10 May 1836 Yancey North Carolina
Died 19 Oct 1920 Bradshaw, North Carolina

Sidney Ervin Hughes was my great-great grandfather.  His daughter Mary Alice Hughes (1858-1916) was my great grandmother.

Mary Alice Hughes - my great grandmother

She was married to Isaac Lewis (1856-1944) who was my great grandfather and father of my grandmother Hester Lewis (1892-1945).

Isaac Lewis, my great grandfather

Hester was the mother of my grandfather Fieldon Jacob Tipton (1884-1939) who was my grandfather and the father of my father Isaac W. Tipton, Sr. (1920-2000). 

Hester Lewis - my grandmother

Hester was a tall woman.  Her father Isaac was a tall man. Her husband and my grandfather Fieldon Tipton was tall also.

Fieldon Jacob Tipton - my grandfather

Fields and Hester had twelve children, all sons of which eleven survived birth.

Eleven Tipton Brothers at 1960 Family Reunion

You see the tall man in the back to the right?  That's my dad, the tallest of the Tipton brothers.  

When I was young, I was tall for my age.  If I remember right, when I was eleven years old I was six feet already (chew on that Tom Cruise). I frequently had these questions hurled at me:

"Are you really only eleven years old?"

"Do you play basketball?" 

"How did you get so tall?"

Well, the answers to those questions were:

Yes, I was really that young and TALL.

No, I didn't play basketball - too uncoordinated (clumsy).

And how did I get so tall?  Well, I was born that way.  

A few months ago I came across the photo of my great great grandfather Sidney Ervin Hughes and the mystery of my tallness was finally and forever solved.  Damn, check out that man's legs.  Talk about a daddy-long-legs.  That's where my tallness comes from folks, the good old gene pool.  

Me in Provincetown, Mass. 1976

Bill told me the first thing he noticed about me when he saw me for the first time across the Westbury Bar in Philly, was my long legs. 

He said he was a "leg man."  Lucky for me he likes long legs or else I would never be where I am today, with this wonderful man who has devoted the last fifty years of his life to making me happy in every way possible. 

Of course regular followers of this blog know that one of my legs was injured a few months back.  I'm on the mend now and those long legs are going to be on full display soon.  

First bout of physical therapy right after my surgery to reattach my quadricep muscle on my left leg which was severed when I fell on the ice February 18th, 2015 -  painful and laborious

These days I'm walking around still holding my cane but rarely leaning on it.  My leg is still stiff but I can now bend it 85 degrees which is a big improvement over the 30 degrees when I first started physical therapy last month.  

I can now sit in the passenger seat of the car, still can't drive though.  

My leg is still swollen, painfully at times but most times bearable.  

Next week my friend Pat arrives for his annual spring time visit to LSD (Lower Slower Delaware).  

He will be chauffeuring me around during our visit to my home state of Pennsylvania and a few days here in LSD.  My leg should get a good workout. 

When Pat leaves, I return to work at the hotel for two nights a week.  Right after Memorial Day and the onslaught of summertime guests and all their needs and wants.  Should be fun.  

And that folks is the status of yours truly, Daddy Long Legs. Soon to return.

Me at the local flower nursery, sans brace but still with my cane to steady me and make sure my repaired leg doesn't buckle - recovery for this injury is a long process

Leg Injury Update - Again!

Hey folks!   I'm making great progress at physical therapy for my injured leg.  Check out this video that I asked my physical therapist to make this morning.  This was my first day on this contraption (I forget the name) which will exercise my newly attached quadricep muscles in my injured left leg.  

I feel and tore my quadricep muscles in my left leg way back on February 18th of this year (a day which will be forever embedded in my memory bank).  Folks, it's been a long haul but after my workout this morning, I actually believe I am on the road to normalcy and will be walking and talking in time for my visit from Pat in two weeks and then back to work.  

Can you believe it?  

Wonderful!!!!!

No More Leg Brace!!!!!!!

NO MORE LEG BRACE!

For the first time since I fell and injured my leg (ruptured (severed) my quadricep muscles on my leg), I no longer have to wear this ugly, constricting, supportive, hot, unsightly, leg causing sponge brace.  Hallelujah!

My orthopedic doctor said that "Your leg brace is probably restricting you now, you don't have to wear it any longer." 

This was the best news I've heard since . . . . well I don't know. 

Folks, this has been a long haul.  The Cajun pushed me I fell as I was leaving work on that dark and cold (5 degrees) night of February 18th.  Life hasn't been easy since then folks, especially for someone as active as I am.  

The pain, the inconvenience, the neediness, the doctor's and physical therapy visits . . . . slowly coming to an end.

I see my orthopedic doctor again June 8th.  I will continue my three times a week physical therapy for at least another four weeks. 

But my life, as I knew it is slowly but surely coming back to normal.

I still have trouble bending my injured knee. My doctor advised me of several exercises I could take, including swimming (which is out of the question for me) that would lengthen my reattached quadricep muscle.  He said I also have to get rid of the build of up scar tissue around the quadricep muscle, and that can be done by exercise

I just came in from raking some grass.  I couldn't stay out too long because of the blazing sun and heat.  But I will be out later today when the sun and heat retreats.

Want to see what it looked like getting out of the car with the leg brace?  Take a looky see below:

No more with THAT struggle.

Leg Injury Update and Other Musings on this Saturday Morning

Mother and daughter in my dentist's waiting room

Good morning folks!  Yep, I'm still hobbling around on my cane with my full leg brace.  But that may change this Monday.  

Monday I visit my orthopedic doctor.  "Rich", from my thrice weekly physical therapy sessions, thinks I am ready for a bracketed leg brace.  Rich sent my doctor a fax suggesting the same when I visit my doctor this Monday.  Folks, I am ready to discard this, now hot, foam rubber, full leg brace.  I've been wearing it since that terrible dark, bitterly cold night of February 18th when the ghost of my dear departed (angry) friend Wayne pushed me down I slipped and fell on the ice near the drain pipe as I was leaving work, thus rupturing my quadricep muscles of my left leg. 

"Jannelle", my new dental hygienist

I'm on my fourth month of recovery folks and I have to tell you, this has been perhaps the roughest four months of my life with the possible exception of those eleven months in 2006 when I couldn't sell our house in Pennsylvania. The past four months have been a challenge to say the least. 

I just got in from planting more plants outside, which I do these days standing up.  Hard on my back?  You bet!  

But as I've said in previous blog postings I do have an image to maintain in my neighborhood, the neighbor with the prettiest flowers (with the possible exception of my dear neighbor Barbara). 

But what is happening is that slowly but surely I am returning to my regular life.

Yesterday was the first time I could squeeze myself into the passenger seat of our car.  Uncomfortable?  Yes but I was in . . . . finally.  Pat is coming down to LSD for his annual visit May 23rd and I don't want him to be chauffeuring me around in the back seat of his car. 

The novelty of "Driving Miss Daisy" that Bill has been doing for the past four months has worn off.

I'm sleeping better at night now that I can lay on my right side, something I was unable to do until last week. 

I can whip in and out of the shower pretty fast these days without the long drawn out process that I've been going through for the past month of so.  Before that I was giving myself whore sponge baths from the sink.

This week I was able to keep my long delayed dental appointment that I had to cancel two weeks after my disastrous fall from grace. Photos from that event is my excuse for posting them to this blog.

I can now bend my knee 72 degrees.  Still not as much as I would like but much better than the 30 degrees when I started physical therapy three weeks ago. 

Stretching that reattached quadricep muscle and bending my knee 180 degrees is perhaps my biggest challenge these days folks.  I'm told that may take months yet.  But in the meantime, I am progressing forward. 

Ron Tipton, Downingtown High School Marching Band - 1959 

I will march again.

Progress Report - Leg Injury

Me in front of my physical therapy facility in Milton, DE - three days a week physical therapy

Good morning folks!  Another beautiful spring day here in lower slower Delaware. 

Time for a progress report on my leg injury that happened so long ago.  February 18th, back in those cold, dark days of winter. And here we are in the warm, bright days of spring and I'm still hobbling around with my leg brace and cane.

The good news is my three times a week physical therapy sessions are coming along fine.  In fact, I look forward to going to physical therapy.  The location is nearby, the facility is welcoming, clean, and efficient. And the best part is that I am making progress!  I am so happy.

However, I still can't bend my leg enough to sit up front in my car, let alone drive it.  Bill still has to help load my old carcass in the back seat. I've tried sitting in the passenger seat of my Subaru Forester but my leg just doesn't bend enough yet. 

I asked my physical therapist ("Rich") why it's taking so long for me to be able to bend my leg.  He told me that my quadricep muscle had to be reconnected (sewn together) and thus it was shorter now.  It takes a while (months) to grow back for where I was before my accident. After my exercises, Rich works with bending my leg until it hurts.  Little by little we're stretching that quadricep muscle. 

However, my physical limitations aren't stopping me from my spring plantings.  After physical therapy yesterday I had Bill drive me to one of my favorite nurseries.  I bought some wave petunias to plant at the end of our driveway. 

Me (with the smile) at Sandhill Nursery yesterday for more plants

So you may ask "Ron, how to you transplant your plants when you cannot bend your knee?"  Well, I plant them standing up.  Yep, standing up.  You say it's hard on my back? Well yes, it is but I do have a certain image to maintain in my neighborhood and I have to get my driveway entrance sent for the spring and summer season.  Besides, Bill derives a lot of pleasure from a riotous menage of color as he drives in our driveway. 

Me with the first plantings of Wave Petunias this past Sunday when the temperatures were in the fifties, the temps are in the 80's now - goodbye spring

So, to sum up my status now.  I may or not be ready for Pat when he buses down from Toronto on Memorial Day weekend (May 23rd).  If I'm still wearing a brace we'll just rent a van that has enough leg room for me. Of course I'll need to be chauffeured around again.  Lucky for me that I know two men (Bill and Pat) who are such good drivers and don't mind hauling me around in my compromised state).

Pat and I plan to spend a few days in Pennsylvania where I will introduce him to some of my longtime friends from my Previous Life.  We'll meet Larry in Wilmington for a tour.  Then later on in the week Pat will be here in Lower Slower.  We'll do our usual rounds of Rehoboth and nearby favorite restaurants. We probably won't do the Washington D.C. trip and we definitely won't be visiting Baltimore and the Inner Harbor. There's enough to do around here.

I'm scheduled to go back to work on June 1st.  I should have a different kind of leg brace (bracketed) on then and still using a cane.  But I am ready.  I'll probably still be doing physical therapy but I think I can manage both.  This Thursday I have my long postponed dental appointment (teeth cleaning) that I had to put off right after my accident.  

Slowly but surely, life is returning to normal.

May Day - One Month To Go!

Today is May Day, the first day of May. 

I fell and injured my leg 72 days ago on February 18th, two months and thirteen days ago. 

I had orthopedic surgery to reconnect my severed quadricep muscles on March 10th, 52 days ago or one month and twenty one days ago.

After I had my surgery my doctor told me my recovery would be from eight to twelve weeks. 

I have not been back to work at the hotel since I fell leaving work at the hotel way back on that bitter cold night of zero degrees.

Two weeks ago I began physical therapy three days a week. I am making great progress. I can now bend my knee 60 degrees.  Not much to the casual observer but great for me who could not bend my knee at all a few short weeks ago.

The week after next on May 11th I have an appointment with my orthopedic doctor. I hope to dispense with this leg brace I've been wearing for the past 72 days.

On June 1st I am scheduled to go back to work at the hotel. I am anxiously looking forward to that date.  Even though I may be wearing some kind of reduced leg brace on my knee and still using a cane, I will be on my way back to a normal, active life.

These past few months have been revelatory for me.  I have learned a lot.  Not the least of which is a new appreciation for the freedom that physical mobility provides.  Also a new appreciation for those who are physically disabled. I am much more sensitive their situation.  Never again will I be impatient when I am shopping in grocery store and behind a person with a cane, walker or one of those carts.

A mobile shopping cart that I have ridden - a great learning experience

Some may think my past few months have been wasted.  To the contrary, the past few months have been yet another learning experience for me for which I am very thankful.  

But as thankful as I am for this learning experience I am looking forward to getting back to my normal, active life. And just in time because the best time of the year is upon us now.  Great weather, no more snow and ice. 

I'm ready folks.