Update on the Backwoods Savage

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Good news Denise. If I may... when you are out in the woods, move slowly and deliberately. You don't need a foot slipping out from underneath you, for sure.
 
Today I took a few minutes to visit the sugar bush. The sap is running but they have not started boiling yet. Still had a few hundred buckets to hang. I didn't think that would be good therapy so wished them well and left.


Woodchip, that is strange to take a year for recovery. I remember on the first one I was climbing trees about 2 months after the surgery and doing pretty much anything I wanted. I don't really have that far to go to be healed now as most of the time now I'm not even using a cane or crutch; well, about half the time anyway.
 
Awesome news Dennis! Listen to your body and you will know if you are pushing too hard.
 
I don't believe in luck...he was blessed. :) Seriously, after he was hit and on the ground he told some people that was trying to comfort him to just "let me get up and walk it off"....old highschool football player. But talking about the blessing...while he was laying on the ground a women came up to him and told him to do what she told him and that he would live. She got him on his knees with his head against the ground and held him in that position. Until the EMTs got there she talked to him about who he was, where he was from, his kids, etc.,...during this time she told him that she was a retired surgical nurse. Finally when the EMTs arrived they hopped out with "the board" to load him on...the woman quickly told them that if they laid him on that board that he'd be dead before they could make it to the hospital that was only 2 blocks away. They loaded him with him on his knees and head down on the board...she had detected/knew that he had lung punctures and that he would drown if put on his back...with head down the blood could drain out. He made it to the hospital. He died 3 times that night...the last time he died the doctors walked out and was breaking the news to his few family members that were with him at the accident....the nurses, though, kept working on him and they got his heart back beating.

Fast forward 4-5 days...they were carrying him to surgery to repair his shattered hip area when they detected internal hemorrhaging. Come to find out one of his shattered ribs had just sliced into an artery. They already had the surgeons and OR ready so rather than reconstruction on his hip they opened his chest up and did emergency surgery there. Thankfully the OR and surgeon was standing there ready as they said he wouldn't have survived if both had not been ready.

There were several other instances where he was very blessed during his ordeal. What is interesting is that despite some very serious searching by some *good* lawyers, private investigators, contacting state nursing boards, ads in several newspapers in the area the lady said that she lived in, etc.,...the lady has never been located. ???

Anyhow, he's doing good now...his ribs were so shattered that all they could do was just let them mend/heal ever how they lay...the only thing they did was to "dull" sharp edges. Now, he has no chest expansion as we do...breath in chest expands, etc.,...his is more like a barrel, but yet he still walks 3 miles a day...he's the healthiest one of us at the shop!!!

So, take it easy and don't over stress that hip. You know better than I do that the bone has got to knit with the appliance and over stressing it during the early knitting period isn't going to do it good. THR is kind of like grafting a tree...gotta give it time to grow together and get strength to the bond. Take care of it now and reap the benefits later on....of course, you all ready know that don't you. ;)

Best wishes on a great recovery/rehab!!!!
Ed
Backwoods Savage said:
Intheswamp said:
Glad to hear you're doing well, Dennis. I had a friend that had a hip replacement...he went to the point that one day he came in on the delivery truck and every step he would holler...that was his last day at work until after he had the replacement done...it was basically flat bone against flat bone at that time. He did well with the surgery and rehab. Fast forward a few years and one night he and his wife are hit by a Mac truck while walking down the sidewalk. He pushes his wife mostly out of the way and a couple of teenagers...the truck carries him probably 150' up into a yard and throws him into a granite marker and runs squarely over his titanium hip and his chest. He died three times that morning in the ER....broken bones in neck, all ribs but one shattered, pelvic in 3 places, lungs punctured several places, etc.,....and bones around the titanium hip shattered. The titanium hip...not a scratch on it. Those hips are TOUGH.... So is my friend, after cold turkeying off some oxycodon and another narcotic that the docs told him he would be own the rest of his life he started getting his color back and came back to life. He works for me and loads and unloads trucks (tires) each day and usually walks about three miles a day before (1 mile) and after (2 miles) work. His goal during recovery was to get back to work...BUT, he followed doctors orders and didn't rush it. So, don't get over rambunctious but keep that positive attitude...attitude is everything!

Best wishes,
Ed

WOW!

Now that is some story! My hat is off to the man. He is one very lucky guy.

As for the pain with every step, yes, that is classic hip replacement time. That is where I was with both hips. The strange part is that I got a shot in the hip in November that took the pain away. My wife had this done and it worked great for her. Well, it worked for me too, but for a very short period of time. When the pain came back it was at least double what it was before so there was not much choice on the surgery. And yes, bone on bone.

The oxycodon they give you after surgery (2 types) is pretty stout stuff and also makes you very sleepy. For the most part I am off the stuff but do have to take some pain meds if it gets bad. It appears I have some sciatic damage so there is some pain in the leg to deal with. Rarely is there pain in the hip itself. Almost all of the black and blue is gone but I do have some. That might be because of what I did last week when I got a terrible pain in the hip while getting up off the floor (was looking at a leaking water line).

Walking is indeed the best exercise for the hip and I am happy to report that I have successfully walked to the mailbox and back....with no crutch or cane! It is about 100 yards to the mailbox so I walked twice the length of a football field. During that walk, I had zero pain!
 
Ed, that is just such an amazing story. Was he visited by an Angel? Could be.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Ed, that is just such an amazing story. Was he visited by an Angel? Could be.
Possibly so, Dennis, possibly so.

On a lighter note... He has to have chest x-rays at least yearly...we always hope that there's a new x-ray tech doing the x-ray...my friends normal statement if it's a new tech and just before they do the x-ray is "I heard something snap the other day in my chest and it's been kind of bothering me." He's had x-ray techs run out into the room wide-eyed thinking he'd just be run over by a truck or something...

There's a picture of him the day after his accident...strapped to a bed, completely immobilized, tubes running all over the place. When somebody around him says "I feel like I got hit by a Mac truck" he whips the picture out, shows it to them, and says "No, this is how you feel when you've been hit by a Mac truck".

He's had so many "hits" in life, but his attitude is better than 99% of the people that I meet.

Take care,
Ed
 
Dennis relax for a couple months. Nice to see your pushing it though!
 
Hey Guys, another update. I had a bit of a problem early this morning so have been up since around 5:00. Sometimes my leg gets to hurting, especially below the knee. Doctor says it is sciatic nerve. I took pain meds and put heat on it but it didn't help and I finally had to get out of bed so the wife could sleep. We have a massage unit and I worked the leg pretty hard and it finally settled down. I was working in the barn for about 2 hours this morning and worked up a sweat too. Felt good. Then I realized that not once today have I used a can or crutch! In fact, I have not used it since I was at the sugar bush yesterday. I'd say that hip is coming along really good.
 
You're doin good Dennis.. Keep up the good work. Hope you are feeling like a 20 year old by the months end!
 
Bass, that really sounds good. Maybe I could even feel a 20 year old then... Of course I mean a 20 year old's muscles.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Maybe I could even feel a 20 year old then...
pretty sure the Mrs. wouldn't approve of that.

Glad to see you are on the mend. Kinda figured that no news was good news, but have been worried about ya lately. Every time I see one of those "hip replacement recalled?" lawyer commercials I think of you. That, and every milk crate I see.
 
Best of luck Dennis, and take it slow, one day at a time. May pizza and beer be in your immediate future.
 
Well, the weather was pretty nice yesterday and early today. I finally got out and got some needed work done but no wood cutting yet. I was moving some stuff from one barn to another this morning.

Yesterday I did not use cane nor crutch all day even though I did some pretty heavy work in the barn. This morning I feel it for sure so used the cane for a while. Then carrying things from one barn to the other I just put the cane aside. Got so tired I took a break. Could hardly walk after the break! So, the rest of today and tomorrow will be rest days. Sure felt good to do some work though.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Well, the weather was pretty nice yesterday and early today. I finally got out and got some needed work done but no wood cutting yet. I was moving some stuff from one barn to another this morning.

Yesterday I did not use cane nor crutch all day even though I did some pretty heavy work in the barn. This morning I feel it for sure so used the cane for a while. Then carrying things from one barn to the other I just put the cane aside. Got so tired I took a break. Could hardly walk after the break! So, the rest of today and tomorrow will be rest days. Sure felt good to do some work though.

Happy to hear you are getting better! Better start finding the parts to the saw now. Hahaha:)
 
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