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garyhaupt's avatar
garyhaupt
Explorer
May 14, 2015

Another Gary update

I have been given the green light to begin a gradual return to weight bearing. Whew....that was a long 14 weeks. Now it's pool time and stationary bike and a cautious return to walking. Three months before any 'shock' to the bone/ankle. Even dryland walking is bad. Guess I'll have to drive to the bar, then. I'll have to have a stool, for heavens sake, to get up into and out of the cab...but, that's what it will be.

Still and all....I am glad to not have broken my back and am not in Nepal.



Gary Haupt

22 Replies

  • joe_b_'s avatar
    joe_b_
    Explorer II
    May 16, 2015
    Real bummer on the ferry cuts. Read that they pulled the Taku off the schedule entirely. The bottom line is that Alaska is broke and instead of slowly starting to cut back on spending years back, they kept spending like a bunch of drunken sailors right up to the cliff edge. Last year the state earned more revenues off the interest of the budget emergency fund than they received from their oil sales out of the pipeline. Now they are talking about taking 4 billion dollars out of the emergency fund to fund the current budget. So there will be less interest earned off the budget surplus fund in the future. Glad I am not still working as a consultant up in the north country this year.

    Don't know how much the cuts in runs out of Prince Rupert will hurt the local economy there, as most of the economy appears to be based upon shipping large volumes of coal and grain to the Asia, via large cargo ships. The last time we were in PR, the cargo ships were lined up, one behind another, waiting their turn to load. Must have been close to a dozen of them in line or at the loading docks. PR is our favorite departure port for the Alaska Ferry system, headed north.
  • garyhaupt's avatar
    garyhaupt
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    joe b. wrote:
    Make sure you only frequent bars that have seat belts on their bar stools. Some of those stools are really high for an older fellow to safely use late at night. LOL. Very considerate of you to fall off your roof during a slow time on this forum. Gave all of us a chance to live vicariously through your experience. Somewhat like our old boy scout prayer, we said on camping trips in Oklahoma. It went, Dear God, don't let any of us get bit by a rattle snake, but if they do, don't let it be me. Amen


    I'm just that kinda guy, Joe. And I have found that sitting on the floor or on a four legged chair with the legs cut-down, really reduces the chances of getting splinters.


    And..now that they have cancelled 50% of the ferry runs out of Prince Rupert north...your views are?


    Gary Haupt
  • Kennedy64's avatar
    Kennedy64
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    garyhaupt wrote:
    Kennedy64 wrote:
    I never saw the original post, saw bone/ankle and curious to what happened because my 14 YO daughter is schedule for surgery on Wed for the tendon by her ankle.
    14 wks is a long time to be non weight bearing, 2 yrs ago she spent 33 wks in a cast and ski boot so she can sympathize with you.
    Good luck with the rest of your healing!!


    Kennedy64...what happened is that I stopped listening to my own good sense and instead heard these deep male voices around me, which were saying stuff like.."Gary...go up on the ladder to the roof and shovel off the snow"...so, I did. And down I came, landed flat on both my feet, then went backwards. I crawled into the house...20 minutes later crawled out to the car and we were off to the hospital. Broke the tibia on the left side, right where it goes over the ankle bone. In a kinda Y. Fractured off a nice bit of bone. They put two screws in, immobilized it all in a cast for 6 weeks, then cast off, but crutches. The big things was...ABSOLUTELY NO CONTACT..NO WEIGHT for 14-16 weeks. The consequences of messing up are more than just inconvenient. Have to go back in and fix and re-screw and start all over again. I am very fortunate. I have a fabulously good looking red headed real estate agent/nurse, that looked after me and was very patient with it all.

    So..that is the story. The hardest things to deal with..boredom, bathroom and showering.















    Oh my good Lord!!! Holy smokes!!!
    I can't even begin to imagine the pain you went thru and I have given birth twice! I think you win on this one.
    You'd better just do what your lovely real estate agent/ nurse tells you to do.
    Hope the remainder of your healing goes smoothly.
    And quite listening to those voices, they tend to get us all into some pickles


    Gary Haupt
  • joe_b_'s avatar
    joe_b_
    Explorer II
    May 15, 2015
    Make sure you only frequent bars that have seat belts on their bar stools. Some of those stools are really high for an older fellow to safely use late at night. LOL. Very considerate of you to fall off your roof during a slow time on this forum. Gave all of us a chance to live vicariously through your experience. Somewhat like our old boy scout prayer, we said on camping trips in Oklahoma. It went, Dear God, don't let any of us get bit by a rattle snake, but if they do, don't let it be me. Amen
  • garyhaupt's avatar
    garyhaupt
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    rjxj wrote:
    Thank god you are able to make it to the watering hole. I have a back and leg pain issue and told the wife I'm getting the crutches out of storage. I have never used crutches before but after trying them I think I would go with a walker. Be careful on that bar stool. :)


    Thing about the walker...everyone trips over the damned things. On the plus side...get a much better parking spot. And now, it's like learning to walk all over again. Oh well.....here it is Friday and we know what that means!



    Gary Haupt
  • garyhaupt's avatar
    garyhaupt
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    ScottG wrote:
    Good to hear of your progress Gary.
    For me, one of the shocks of getting a little older is having problems you never dreamed of and then taking an even more surprisingly long time to heal.
    Glad you'll be keeping your social schedule!

    Cheers,
    Scott


    Isn't that the truth, Scott? When one goes in for anything now...they ask? how old are you, Sir? My goodness, how much did you say you weigh?
    Any o-t-h-e-r health issues, Sir? And they are looking like you are about to keel right over.


    Gary Haupt
  • garyhaupt's avatar
    garyhaupt
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    Kennedy64 wrote:
    I never saw the original post, saw bone/ankle and curious to what happened because my 14 YO daughter is schedule for surgery on Wed for the tendon by her ankle.
    14 wks is a long time to be non weight bearing, 2 yrs ago she spent 33 wks in a cast and ski boot so she can sympathize with you.
    Good luck with the rest of your healing!!


    Kennedy64...what happened is that I stopped listening to my own good sense and instead heard these deep male voices around me, which were saying stuff like.."Gary...go up on the ladder to the roof and shovel off the snow"...so, I did. And down I came, landed flat on both my feet, then went backwards. I crawled into the house...20 minutes later crawled out to the car and we were off to the hospital. Broke the tibia on the left side, right where it goes over the ankle bone. In a kinda Y. Fractured off a nice bit of bone. They put two screws in, immobilized it all in a cast for 6 weeks, then cast off, but crutches. The big things was...ABSOLUTELY NO CONTACT..NO WEIGHT for 14-16 weeks. The consequences of messing up are more than just inconvenient. Have to go back in and fix and re-screw and start all over again. I am very fortunate. I have a fabulously good looking red headed real estate agent/nurse, that looked after me and was very patient with it all.

    So..that is the story. The hardest things to deal with..boredom, bathroom and showering.


    Gary Haupt
  • garyhaupt's avatar
    garyhaupt
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    As of today, Friday...I took my first actual steps. geez..that is weird. Such a fear thing going on. Have to take a flexing walk with the fixed ankle...but the hardest thing is walking with a normal gait with the 'normal' leg. Physio was yattering away...'Gary, walk normally'.


    Gary Haupt
  • GaryKH's avatar
    GaryKH
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    Good to hear! Although getting around like that on crutches can be annoying, it is freeing in that you can start to get around better.
  • Kennedy64's avatar
    Kennedy64
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    I never saw the original post, saw bone/ankle and curious to what happened because my 14 YO daughter is schedule for surgery on Wed for the tendon by her ankle.
    14 wks is a long time to be non weight bearing, 2 yrs ago she spent 33 wks in a cast and ski boot so she can sympathize with you.
    Good luck with the rest of your healing!!

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