Thursday, October 30, 2008

Good News Today - NO Surgery required

Hi All,

I went back to the Orthopedic doctor today and we confirmed that there is NO surgery required for my heel or ankle joints... he said he could if I really wanted it, but everything was falling within the acceptable tolerances....I obviously opted for NO surgery. So from this point forward it is just let the body do its healing and do what we can to protect it from any further injury. I am still in a soft cast for another two weeks while we continue to wait for swelling to go down and get back to "normal".

I did have a first the other night....we needed some supplies for David to continue on our projects (he has stepped up and been a great help). So off to Home Depot we went and I took advantage of one of those electric carts...beep beep, watch out for Dad....I must say I felt a little like a Grandpa cruising around the store...then I realized...I am a Grandpa. Oh well, I was thankful for the ride rather than using the crutches.

Time for more elevation and ice. Sandy has a bunch of pictures on her camera, I just haven't been able to download them here yet.

Take care,

Bill

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bill is out of commission for a while

Hi All,

It has been a rather eventful week. We are pretty much ready for Granddad and Grandma to move in on Nov. 8. Their room is ready, the ramp into the house is built and the room in the garage for Granddad is almost done. While Bill and David were finishing up mudding the drywall in the garage room on Tuesday night, Bill (that's me) did a dumb thing. I was standing backwards on the ladder mudding the ceiling joint and I slipped. The fall was about 5 feet straight down landing full force on my left heel. Thankfully I didn't hit anything else on the way down. Sandy was out doing some shopping...but was informed we needed to make a trip to the ER for some x-rays. I was pretty sure that the ankle was not broken, but not so sure about the heel. I was right, the heel has 5,6,7 breaks....they quit counting, let's just call it shattered. The ER doctors were surprised I didn't also break my hip or back, which is common with that type of fall. It is currently in a soft cast, I saw the orthopedic doctor on Thursday and he said so far no surgery but I need a CT scan on Saturday to check the joints and get some clearer pictures. Sandy has been taking pictures (external) so I may be able to post them later, it is a very pretty purple right now. Healing time is estimated to be 3 months (that's a long time)...so for now I have moved into the supervisor role and David is stepping up in the laborer role.

Thanks for praying....pray more for Sandy and the kids....I am not the best patient, I don't do well sitting around doing nothing...thankfully I have a laptop and wireless.

Sandy will be making the trip north next weekend to drive home with the girls since I have been advised not to fly due to potential blood clots.

Bill