Recovery

I miss George /Carlin. He always had a way of stating the obvious things in life that never seem to occur to the rest of us.

I went to the Doctor today. It would be better to call Dr. Schierer a miracle worker. The miracle isn't done yet but the recovery is well under way. On June 20, 2011 I decided that it was too wet for Nate and I to do our normal lumber jacking work.  Carol had wanted me to build a couple of racks for the many bottles of wine we were storing in the basement.  I went down to the neighbors and retrieved my ladder. It was still sprinkling a bit but I thought it was no big deal because I was going to be in the garage working. I brought the ladder in and set it up to get the wood I needed down from the attic space. I could reach what I needed from the ladder so I did not go up in the attic space. After dropping several pieces of wood down on the garage floor I felt the ladder slip just a touch. It was probably less that one inch. That little slip caused me to flinch and when I did the bottom of the ladder began to slip out and I sped toward the floor. I remember thinking on the way down that it was no big deal I had fallen about the same distance a few weeks before without serious consequences. The landing on the floor was solid and I initially thought it wasn't too bad. I went to get up off the floor and realized that I could not move my left arm. I went into the house and told Carol that I needed to go to the hospital.  The emergency room doctor determined that I had dislocated my shoulder and said he would try to put it back in place. He said try because I am a big fella and he was not. After getting plenty of drugs in me he made a couple of  unsuccessful attempts to put my shoulder back together. At that point Dr. Schierer was called in and later in the afternoon they put me under and got my shoulder back in place. A week later I started physical therapy with Megan who is affectionately known as the mangler. It takes a special person to be a physical therapist. You must be willing to hurt people to make them better. Megan and I worked together for 2 months and my condition got worse. Dr. Schierer ordered an MRI. The results indicated that I had torn my rotator cuff. Surgery was scheduled and took place on August 30,2011. After 10 days the staples came out and it was time to go back and see Megan the Mangler. When I began therapy in early July I thought Megan had hurt me about as badly as possible. September would show how wrong I was. She would ask how much pain I could take and my only response was: "When I piss myself  you have gone too far."  She never quite got there but it was close a few times. I had my last session with her on Friday.  Today Dr. Schierer told me to do the remainder of my therapy at home and he would only schedule more if I stopped making progress. My shoulder isn't 100% yet but I did not expect that yet. Dr. Schierer advised me today that I should expect full recovery to take about a year. I am willing to live with that because without the expertise of Megan and Dr.Schierer I would have a useless left arm.  I will forever be grateful to both of them.

Things have changed a bit here. Carol won't let me get on any ladders. I am not anxious to do so anyway. The next time I do climb one there will be a spotter at the bottom.

So Mr. Carlin I know how the below average feel. Climbing a ladder and getting a few pieces of lumber seemed like such a simple task. I couldn't manage to get it done. I am reminded every time someone asks about my arm and I have to say I fell off a ladder. It is not a skill you want on your resume.