The One Year Mark

Good evening and welcome, I'm so glad you dropped by. I've been blogging for awhile now, actually quite awhile now. But a year ago I had a big change happen in my life. Me and Gayla were clearing brush, a thing I usually did in June and July; and then it happened. The thing is I didn't know it had happened. I was pulling a branch hanging down and I got my foot hung-up and I went down. Sure I hurt a little bit, but that's because I don't bounce like I use to when I hit the ground. But I didn't think any more about it and Gayla hauled that and one more load that evening. That was on Friday, Saturday we cleaned enough little stuff to make about another pick-up load and hauled that to the dump site. Then I mowed the area that we had cleared. I preached on a slightly sore ankle on Sunday and then mowed some more on Monday. On Tuesday my ankle was pretty sore but I thought I'd get out and help Gayla with more yard work. I couldn't get my sock on because my ankle hurt so bad so I went and took a shower. As I was stepping out of the shower I heard a pop and almost collapsed on the floor. Gayla came in and I told her what happened and she called our local clinic and got me an appointment with the P.A. When we got there they took at look at it and sent me over for x-rays. Apparently I had fractured my fibula and tibia the day I fell and when I stepped out of the shower they broke. The clinic got us into an orthopedic surgeon the very next day in Dumas Texas. Dr. Riley had more x-rays taken of my ankle and lower leg, after looking at them she scheduled me for surgery, (number #1). Up until this time the only kind of surgery I ever had was oral surgery.

Surgery #1 and it didn't goes as planned. When they got into do the plates they thought they found evidence of infection as well as charcot foot, basically the bones below my ankle had become soft and started to collapse. so instead of plates I got bolts put into my leg, two pins inside my foot and a rod through my heel. And then they kept me in the hospital for two weeks, again a first for me; I had never spent more than a day in the hospital.

 Surgery #2 came about 4 weeks later. One of the pins in my foot started sticking out the side of my ankle about 2 cm. When we went in to see Dr. Riley see took a pair of fancy pliers and pulled the pin out of my ankle. It's not as bad as you think, because of the neuropathy I couldn't feel anything. So I just sat there and watched her pull it out and throw it in the trash. On our next visit I knew things were not good, Dr. Riley had a concerned look on her face and didn't really talk much. I told Gayla my foot and ankle were in trouble. Sure enough Dr. scheduled my next surgery to take the post and pins out right away. 

Well they took the hardware out and while I was still under Dr. Riley confirmed the worst. I had infection in my right leg below my knee and in my foot.

Surgery #3 - Later that day Dr. Riley came in and told me I had a couple of choices. First she could just cut off the infected area, but she would have to probably cut some in the not to far future. Or they could take my leg off about 5" below my knee where I had good bone and good blood flow. I opted for the second choice and the next day it was off to surgery again. When I came out from under the anesthetics the asked me how I was doing I said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I can feel my stump, the bad news is I can feel my stump." A few days later and I was on my way home.

Next came getting fitted for my prosthetic and then learning to walk again. I went through two practice legs so that the critical adjustments could be made. The folks at Mahaffy were great in getting us through this process.

 After the adjustment it was time for my regular leg and I decided that I didn't want an ordinary pattern on it so I went with a star field and planets on it. Part of the reason I chose it was to remember my son who committed suicide last October, he loved star gazing. and now my leg looks like this 

And now at the year mark things are going pretty good. I can get around better, a lot of the time with out my cane or walker. My time limit on my leg is about a hour to an hour and half. I've taken to working in our shed/my shop on a new hobby. I am repurposing things that I hope to sell or give away depending on what happens.

In my next post I'll talk about the changes and the challenges of this last year. Things are going to be different but remember no matter what your going through look to God and He will bring you through. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9). 

Until next time "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26).