Bye Bye Crutch?

I bought a cane yesterday because I'm getting sick of the cumbersome crutch. It seems to be working OK.

My condition continues to improve day-by-day. It doesn't even hurt that bad to sneeze anymore. It will be 5 weeks since the crash today. I'm definitely coming out of the bad times. Even the memories of the excruciating first few days are starting to fade.

Now I can get in and out of cars with only minimal discomfort. I wouldn't even really call it pain. It feels more like soreness or tightness in the upper thigh area. Same for the bed, I can get in and out more normally now although it doesn't feel good to lie on my left side at all. There still seems to be some pelvic pain when I put pressure on the outside of the femur.

I can also still feel things moving around a little throughout the day. But it doesn't really hurt. I would say the most discomfort occurs after a lot of walking around. Then I feel like sitting down and taking a load off.

I've even tried walking without any support piece but that seems to twist my lower back a lot. I don't like the idea of putting weight on my lower back at a funny angle. It just seems like that would lead to future disk issues.

4 weeks today

I had a couple of milestones last night. I made it to the bathroom without crutches and only had to go once.

Yesterday I went to the doctor for follow up xrays. He said everything appears to be healing properly (in alignment.) He said my progress looked good but that it would be 12 weeks for complete healing. I made a 2 month appointment just in case. He also cleared me for travel since I'm flying to NJ this upcoming week.

So I can walk short distances...like down the hall without crutches, however, I'm heavily favoring one leg and look pretty awkward.

I think driving is not a problem anymore either.

Still limping

Able to get in/out of bed pretty quickly. I guess I've gotten used to the routine. Still have to support the bad leg with the good. I'm ready to be over this!

Certain leg positions are more painful than others. For example, I can get on my knees on the floor to play with the baby but can't get up on one leg at a time. I have to keep both legs together and stand up on both. It also hurts to get on my hands and knees and even more to crawl. I think it is due to the position of my left leg relative to the right and also to the direction of pressure on the pelvis.

The sharpest pains these days come from sneezing and coughing. A strong one of either feels like a knife in the groin. Luckily it only happens once or twice a day. Otherwise it's more about endurance. I'll feel great and hardly have to use the crutches, then after an hour or two I'll be leaning on them heavily.

I did manage to do about 10 situps and a few counter-top pushups last night.

Status Update

Last night and Yesterday. No painkillers. Able to walk with crutches and minimal pain in the morning and early afternoon. Towards about 4 pm fatigue/pain started increasing. Volunteered preparing dinner for church youth group until about 7:30 pm. Upper left thigh was pretty sore by then. Felt good to lie down at 8 pm. Got into bed pretty easily but uncomfortable to lie on side. Fell asleep on back.

Still hurts pretty bad to sneeze or cough. Sharp pain in upper thigh/groin.

Seems also to be a question of endurance. I can go for a few hours in the morning/early afternoon but the pain seems to increase during the day. By late afternoon/evening I am pretty sore and leaning on the crutches a lot.

Still can't carry anything or walk normally without crutches. I still look like a "special" person.

This year is the 50th anniversary of both "Leave it to Beaver" and Sputnik. Coincidence? You decide.

This morning I am still pretty sore and contemplated taking some pain-killers. Not much appetite either.

Yesterday the Carolina Panthers won against the N.O.Saints in a last-second field goal after a miserable game. The headline in local paper today states something to the effect that "things are looking up." That's making lemonade out of lemons I'd say.

3 week update

Today is the 3 week anniversary of the crash. I think my recovery is going pretty well. I still need crutches to walk around, although I'm putting less weight on them. It's more just to keep too much weight off of my left leg.

For the past couple of nights, I've been able to roll onto my right side in bed. It takes a while, maybe a minute or so because of pain in my upper thigh. I also don't want to put too much stress on the joint all at once. However, once I'm on my side, it's not too bad. Just a dull ache inside the thigh. However, It's too painful to lay on my left side yet.

Also, I haven't taken any Vicodin since Wednesday. Again, the pain hasn't been too bad except when my left leg moves suddenly. For example, when it falls off the table or out of bed too quickly. The key to minimizing most of the pain is to keep my legs close together.

I drove for a long distance (10 miles) for the first time today. The last time I tried to drive, about 10 days ago, my pelvis felt like it was coming apart. Today I had no sense of bones moving around in there. I just had to lean on the car while getting the crutches out.

The thing that seems to be lingering is a dull ache that feels like it is running down inside my left femur.

Feeling Better

Today I woke up after a pretty good night's sleep and got out of bed in a few seconds without much pain. I still hooked my good leg under the bad and lowered both to the floor.

I had to sleep flat on my back again, though, and couldn't lie on my side. It's still too painful.

I made it to the bathroom OK and was able to get in/out of the tub without too much struggle. I still can't lift my leg more than a few inches in front of me. Rather I pull it up behind me and go over the tub side backwards.

Van Halen Concert 9/27

I purchased tickets to the Van Halen reunion kickoff concert in Charlotte about two months ago, long before my bike crash accident. I'll be damned if I was going to let a little broken pelvis keep me away from it. Little did I realize how painful going through with it was going to be.

My wife didn't want me to go, especially seeing my condition at the Wal-Mart on the previous evening. Honestly I was having second thoughts that night as well. I napped on Thursday until 11 in the morning (after getting up between 5 am and 8 am initially) and felt much better all day Thursday. I purposely limited my movement even further and sat on pillows much of the day.

That afternoon we did a recon drive to the arena to check out the handicapped drop-off and parking. I was shocked to discover no handicapped parking spaces on any of the surface lots. I didn't check any of the nearby garages however. When we got home I checked online and the arena's website did not show any handicapped parking lots either. Strange omission I thought.

Our plans were in limbo due to the parking situation all that afternoon. We finally decided to have Elizabeth's mom chauffer us to the arena and drop us off at the handicapped entrance. That turned out to work really well and minimized the distance I had to walk. We made it inside and up the escalator then discovered our section was diametrically across from where we were. Oh well, I knew I'd have to do some walking!

We made it to our section and were amazed at our fortune in that our seats were right below the entrance level. Thus we only had to step down a couple of steps to the seats. And we had the end of the row as well. It seemed like pre-destination if you ask me.

The show was awesome. Here is the set-list for those keeping score:

01. You Really Got Me
02. I'm the One
03. Runnin' With the Devil
04. Romeo Delight
05. Somebody Get Me a Doctor
06. Beautiful Girls
07. Dance the Night Away
08. Atomic Punk
09. Everybody Wants Some
10. So This Is Love?
11. Mean Street
12. Pretty Woman
13. Drum Solo
14. Unchained
15. I'll Wait
16. And the Cradle Will Rock
17. Hot for Teacher
18. Little Dreamer
19. Little Guitars
20. Jamie's Cryin'
21. Ice Cream Man
22. Panama
23. Guitar Solo (incl. "Women in Love" intro, "Cathedral", "Eruption")
24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
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25. 1984
26. Jump