[pwd72s]

Pain, you say? Lemme tell ya about pain. On April 2nd, I had a tumble. Cindy called the neighbor to help me get up. Bless him! He saw the damage and knew not to move me. Called 911. Next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance on my way to the Corvallis Hospital Emergency. There, I insisted on talking to my daughter in South Dakota before consenting to emergency surgery. After talking to the surgeon, my RN daughter told me to sign the paper! When I woke up, I had some pieces of metal in my neck. Seems my spine was fused from the C3 to C6 with screws and rods. Boy, that hurt. However, with the aid of some strong narcotics, I managed to bear up. They kept me in ICU for 10 days, a regular room for 4 more days. I lucked out in the regular room, as my roommate was another car guy! Duane, who taught me many of the finer details and the history of the fuel injected small block Chevy engine. After those four days, off to Salem for an inpatient neurology rehabilitation admission for 18 more days. The best thing I can say about that place was the rehab therapists, OT and PT both. They were all excellent and the highlight of my stay there, even if they were worse than drill instructor, when it comes to pushing people to do difficult tasks. Home now for almost two weeks. My abilities are still limited. I use a walker to balance when I'm standing and walking. I can tolerate short distances pretty well. I need help with some of the basic things, but I'm getting stronger and more independent by the day. Hand coordination is still difficult (Dee Dee is typing this for him). I'm getting stronger by doing the exercises the home PT guy gave me.



But now, on to the real pain.... my inability to do things. A few days ago, Dee Dee discovered the battery in the Camery was bad. She was able to find a guy with a big truck to get a jump and safely make it home. I was able to tell her where the plug-in voltmeter I have was located. Then able to describe the voltages she should see if the alternator was good. It was okay. So, she headed to Napa auto and purchased a brand-new AGM battery. Boy, they are spendy now! Do you know that Napa can only install windshield wiper blades?? So, she bought it and brought it home. Thanks to that same blessed neighbor, Cody, for coming to the rescue again. I told Dee Dee which tools to lay out for Cody after watching a YouTube video, Kudos to Toyota for making it a 2 10mm bolt system to replace the battery. The real pain was not being able to turn any wrenches myself. That right there, is REAL pain.



It's good to be back. I won't be posting often until my hands behave better, but I know it's coming.

Your crusty old bastid warns all of you, try to avoid compressed vertebrae if you can. The conjecture seems to be that the nerve damage caused my fall, not the other way around. I'd been having balance problems about a month before the big fall. I'd written it off to diabetic neuropathy, but i was horribly wrong. Please remember this warning sign.