Today I got my 6 week check up: X-rays look good says the doc. He gave me the OK to put pull weight on the fractured leg- No more crutches!
It felt extremely strange walking on the bad leg; the calf and quad are very weak and my arch and heel is sore and tender after 7 weeks without weight since the surgery. But I walked around the block with my wife and daughter!
Monday, July 21, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Richard Peck, Rest in Peace
My friend Richard was buried yesterday. He had been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer back at the end of February. He passed on July 1st.
I met Richard back in
2011 when he took his son Nick and his other Webelos to check out Troop 4. Richard struck me as no-nonsense, and a
little gruff as he sized me up; we hit it off and he jumped right in and was right
there working knots with the boys. A few
months later Nick and Richard joined our troop.
Richard was absolutely devoted to Nick. He and Nick went camping at the beach and he
taught the boys first aid; we went
camping in the local mountains, and he helped the boys make the most shocking
pagan war flag, it was awesome. Richard
often told me how excited he was about Nicks
growing confidence and independence and sense of self empowerment. Richard helped out everywhere and the boys and the
adults loved him. He was salt of the earth. He taught cooking and pulled my introverted son into it; they shared a love for Penzey’s spices. Richard gave us his chile verde recipe.
At Bandido a couple years ago Richard helped me out with a
climbing program. He was off belaying
other boys while I taught Nick how to
rappel. Richard was so proud of Nick for
taking that on. He wrote me later that he “could see a sense of pride.... No false
bravado from him....Bravery is accepting that you are afraid, and pushing
forward in spite of that. One of the best emotions in life is laughing through
tears...:. Or grinning while physically shaking .... Good stuff !!” We went out on our own and climbed and
rappelled at Horseflats; Richard belayed
me while I tackled the crack at Romeo Void over and over until I got it. I was pretty scared on the crux of that
little climb but Richard had me on belay until I got it. Richard loved all this so much he got his
climbing instructor card. He took Nick
out on his final instructor’s exam
- where Nick got to show off some ‘special’
techniques on a 70 foot rappel! Richard
was beyond proud of Nick for how he
handled this; he told me that most of
the adults had bowed out (it was very high “pucker factor”). The last time we climbed was after the Angeles
Crest 100 last year (where Richard crewed me, along with my wife, brother, and a couple of other close friends) when Nick and Richard and I went up to practice anchors
and rappel rescue at Horseflats. We looked
forward to climbing and exploring more up there. We wanted to scope out the scary 80- foot Toprope
wall, but we never got the chance.
I trusted Richard and
that trust extended from the rock into
some hairy stuff in the real world. He
was real. We tried to be on our best behavior around the scouts and I for one
had to work hard to keep my language clean.
But I loved the fact that when we
were together without the boys his
language could sometimes blister paint -- I felt like I could breath around him. Richard became my close friend and
confidant. When I got upset at people places or things, he would just listen,
wouldn’t judge, but would tell me that he wasn’t going to put any bullets in my
chamber.
About these adventures, Richard once wrote to me, “We all have a ‘golden window’ in life
sometimes, to do things we haven't done before, and may not be able to do again
in the future. This is one of those opportunities for me…” I read those words now and they seem
prophetic and leave me speechless. His time was too short and I miss him.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Supplements and diet
A note on diet and supplements.
I have cut the carbs relative to my usual diet since I need less energy being largely chair bound. To my usual morning smoothie (see http://fredippides.blogspot.com/p/other-stuff-diet-and-injury-prevention.html) I am using more chia.
I am taking certain supplements to help with healing:
HMB: 900mg, 3 times daily. HMB has supposedly been shown to slow muscle wasting, and is supposed to help middle aged athletes put on and maintain muscle mass. I decided to take this to do what I can to prevent loss of muscle in my injured leg, which cannot bear weight for the next 2-3 months.
SAM-e 400mg, 2x daily. SAM-e is metabolized into glutathione, an important compound required in the liver to sweep toxic metabolites of many types out of the body. In particular, glutathione stores become depleted by using acetaminophen. Once glutathione is depleted, the toxic metabolites of acetaminophen do liver damage which can run away and ultimately cause liver failure. Since I am taking vicodin, which contains a lot of acetaminophen, this seemed like a good idea. Treatments for acetaminophen toxicity all involve ingestion of glutothione precursors after all.
In addition SAM-e is supposed to promote cartilage growth; in any event its been shown effective in treating osteo-arthritis. A big concern about my fractured acetabulum is that the cartilage must have been damaged when the socket cracked and separated. If this cartilage doesn't heal I will have a short running career (if I have one at all) once the fracture heals.
I am also taking a lot of glucosamine, again, out of concern for cartilage damage sustained during the acetabulum fracture.
3000-4000 i.u. of vitamin D daily to promote bone healing.
100% of the RDA for calcium in the form of calcium citrate, for bone healing.
500 mg vitamin C on top of 2-3 oranges per day. This is promote formation of the collagen matrix that evidently first forms in a fracture, before the fracture begins to calcify and heal.
I have cut the carbs relative to my usual diet since I need less energy being largely chair bound. To my usual morning smoothie (see http://fredippides.blogspot.com/p/other-stuff-diet-and-injury-prevention.html) I am using more chia.
I am taking certain supplements to help with healing:
HMB: 900mg, 3 times daily. HMB has supposedly been shown to slow muscle wasting, and is supposed to help middle aged athletes put on and maintain muscle mass. I decided to take this to do what I can to prevent loss of muscle in my injured leg, which cannot bear weight for the next 2-3 months.
SAM-e 400mg, 2x daily. SAM-e is metabolized into glutathione, an important compound required in the liver to sweep toxic metabolites of many types out of the body. In particular, glutathione stores become depleted by using acetaminophen. Once glutathione is depleted, the toxic metabolites of acetaminophen do liver damage which can run away and ultimately cause liver failure. Since I am taking vicodin, which contains a lot of acetaminophen, this seemed like a good idea. Treatments for acetaminophen toxicity all involve ingestion of glutothione precursors after all.
In addition SAM-e is supposed to promote cartilage growth; in any event its been shown effective in treating osteo-arthritis. A big concern about my fractured acetabulum is that the cartilage must have been damaged when the socket cracked and separated. If this cartilage doesn't heal I will have a short running career (if I have one at all) once the fracture heals.
I am also taking a lot of glucosamine, again, out of concern for cartilage damage sustained during the acetabulum fracture.
3000-4000 i.u. of vitamin D daily to promote bone healing.
100% of the RDA for calcium in the form of calcium citrate, for bone healing.
500 mg vitamin C on top of 2-3 oranges per day. This is promote formation of the collagen matrix that evidently first forms in a fracture, before the fracture begins to calcify and heal.
Second week & a nice Father's day on crutches
I had a great Father's Day yesterday. My wife and kids took on the task of cleaning out the garage, which had become piled up with e-waste, miscellaneous junk, making it difficult / impossible to safely access and use the chin up /leg up station given my crutches; the plus floor mat that I'd set up a few years ago had become covered with junk. So I found myself crutching around trying to help, while my wife & the kids were putting tools away, sweeping up and hauling out.
After lunch I zonked out, had to take a nap. Then back out for more garage fun in the afternoon.
It was fabulous. Once it was cleared I got on the chin up bar and did a couple sets - could only do 15 versus my normal 20; and did a couple sets of leg-ups. I tired easily. I spent a lot of the day outside which did wonders for my mood relative to sitting lazy-boy-chair bound, indoors.
Come 9:00, after a dinner out, I was completely whipped and went to sleep.
I had a hard time staying asleep however as my leg just ached all night, particularly along the IT band and the front of the hip. I think I'd better take it easy today.
Last week I progressively got better sleep, but sleep has still been an issue. When I got home from the hospital I was typically up every 1-2 hours to pee and was extremely uncomfortable; by the end of the second week I could sleep 5-6 hours which did wonders for my sanity.
The goal now is to get into an upper body/core strength regimen that doesn't stress the hip; and to continue and extend the isometric exercises I've been doing to maintain muscle tone on the injured leg. As the pain settles and hope I can sleep more and make it through the day without napping- ultimately I hope to dump the vicodin and then get back to work.
After lunch I zonked out, had to take a nap. Then back out for more garage fun in the afternoon.
It was fabulous. Once it was cleared I got on the chin up bar and did a couple sets - could only do 15 versus my normal 20; and did a couple sets of leg-ups. I tired easily. I spent a lot of the day outside which did wonders for my mood relative to sitting lazy-boy-chair bound, indoors.
Come 9:00, after a dinner out, I was completely whipped and went to sleep.
I had a hard time staying asleep however as my leg just ached all night, particularly along the IT band and the front of the hip. I think I'd better take it easy today.
Last week I progressively got better sleep, but sleep has still been an issue. When I got home from the hospital I was typically up every 1-2 hours to pee and was extremely uncomfortable; by the end of the second week I could sleep 5-6 hours which did wonders for my sanity.
The goal now is to get into an upper body/core strength regimen that doesn't stress the hip; and to continue and extend the isometric exercises I've been doing to maintain muscle tone on the injured leg. As the pain settles and hope I can sleep more and make it through the day without napping- ultimately I hope to dump the vicodin and then get back to work.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
First week
I had the staples holding my right buttock together removed on Monday. I had visions of the doctor wielding a large magnet to suck the staples out, after the fashion of Grinchy Claus taking down the Who's stockings down in Whoville. Somehow that seemed more plausible in my mind than the use of office staple removers like the ones I use at work on stacks of paper. Nor, use of a wire cutter to cut the things in half and needle nose pliers to pull each half out of the skin. Neither vision was correct, and in the end it was a medtech, not the doc, nor even a nurse that removed them and it was entirely painless. Another example that worrying is like paying a debt that you don't owe.
I am up at 6am today because Tina called around 5am from Dale's crew vehicle somewhere near Parker, AZ to check whether there was gasoline at Salome or Congress. Dale is riding the RAAM course faster than he did RAW last year. I think she called me by mistake. But I heard the call because I was awake, the vicodin having worn off from the night before, the right hip aching something fierce. It was good to have something useful to do. Regretably I cannot accept epic games of Shoots and Ladders as constituting useful work, although of all the activities available to me at the present, playing games with my kids should be the top priority and is ultimately most useful.
Its Wednesday and I have been home from the hospital one week now. I can move my leg much better than 1 week ago. When I arrived at home, I could not slide my heel towards my butt while laying flat on bed at all. Now its no problem. I couldn't previously lift my right leg up in that position- again, now its no problem. It still hurts a great deal if my right leg rotates inwards as for example it would if I slept on my left side. There is a pretty constant dull ache.
I am using less vicodin than before. This is good since it seems to screw up my mood and memory. Under the influence of the prescribed vicodin, I entered my SSAN incorrectly on a state on-line form last week. Incomprehensible. Also, extremely difficult to correct. It cannot be done on-line. However there is a help-desk number. Great! And so I have spend several hours on the phone navigating voice menu systems to get to the desired operator help line only to get the message "the maximum number of callers has been reached. Please hang up and try calling at a different time". This sort of experience should be required for anyone in favor of universal, government run health care system. Sit while in pain and navigate a government computerized phone menu system, only to be timed out again and again. Then go out and preach government health care. I should think that news of 12 month waits at the VA would clue people in, but hey? I am just a neanderthal.
OK enough of the sour attitude. I resolve to do something fun with kids today.
A few days ago I made such a resolution and the outcome was: Chocolate covered bacon. Fabulous. Today I will continue soap carving with my young son, which we began yesterday.
I am up at 6am today because Tina called around 5am from Dale's crew vehicle somewhere near Parker, AZ to check whether there was gasoline at Salome or Congress. Dale is riding the RAAM course faster than he did RAW last year. I think she called me by mistake. But I heard the call because I was awake, the vicodin having worn off from the night before, the right hip aching something fierce. It was good to have something useful to do. Regretably I cannot accept epic games of Shoots and Ladders as constituting useful work, although of all the activities available to me at the present, playing games with my kids should be the top priority and is ultimately most useful.
Its Wednesday and I have been home from the hospital one week now. I can move my leg much better than 1 week ago. When I arrived at home, I could not slide my heel towards my butt while laying flat on bed at all. Now its no problem. I couldn't previously lift my right leg up in that position- again, now its no problem. It still hurts a great deal if my right leg rotates inwards as for example it would if I slept on my left side. There is a pretty constant dull ache.
I am using less vicodin than before. This is good since it seems to screw up my mood and memory. Under the influence of the prescribed vicodin, I entered my SSAN incorrectly on a state on-line form last week. Incomprehensible. Also, extremely difficult to correct. It cannot be done on-line. However there is a help-desk number. Great! And so I have spend several hours on the phone navigating voice menu systems to get to the desired operator help line only to get the message "the maximum number of callers has been reached. Please hang up and try calling at a different time". This sort of experience should be required for anyone in favor of universal, government run health care system. Sit while in pain and navigate a government computerized phone menu system, only to be timed out again and again. Then go out and preach government health care. I should think that news of 12 month waits at the VA would clue people in, but hey? I am just a neanderthal.
OK enough of the sour attitude. I resolve to do something fun with kids today.
 |
| Chocolate covered bacon |
A few days ago I made such a resolution and the outcome was: Chocolate covered bacon. Fabulous. Today I will continue soap carving with my young son, which we began yesterday.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
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