The light at the end of the tunnel

am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel from my ankle surgery that I had in December.  I had severely damaged the ankle in a fall in May 1982 and after having it repaired and spending that summer in a cast thought things were all  right for a few years.   In  1994 I was beginning to have some problems and went to see about it and could have had fusion then, but the kind of fusion I would have needed would have ended with a below the knee amputation once the cast had been removed after three-six months.
I decided to let things alone and just see what happened and in June 2014 while training with Thermo my guide dog in New York I started having problems walking correctly, or more like limping.  After getting worse I got a hold  of a young ankle specialist and after three months of x-raying and other testing On December 8, 2015 I had a full ankle fusion and tibial bone graft on my right ankle.  Since then I have been in one form of a cast or another, including a soft plaster splint, a beautiful Carolina blue fiberglass cast and now a very bulky aircast.  As it stands now since I have only been weight bearing for about one month is that if the wxrays look as good as they did one month ago, Dr. Jackson will consider the ankle healed and will let me start riding my exercise bike again as well as working Thermo my guide dog.  I am assuming I will either be in some sort of light brace or be in a compression brace for my ankle and then the fun part of basically learning how to  walk again on that foot which I already know from taking it out of the aircast periodically that the entire leg is extremely weak, so we will see.  It's just nice to know that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

16 years ago

I cannot believe that 16 years ago I was about to be married to my soulmate and best friend.  Sue and I were not young, she was 35 and I was 37.  I remember thinking after many failed relationships I would never find the one person that I would want to spend the rest of my life with and when we met, it was literally love at first sight for me.  I think I literally scared her to death when I proposed on our first date, but that's ok too.  We were blessed to have nearly 10 good  years of marriage before she succombed to a fatal heart attack on March 6 2009.  It was a good marriage with only one really major fight.  It was not  perfect, but it was good and would do it again.
  Sue I don't think you have any idea how greatly you are missed.  I have totally rearranged the house, have put out many of my NASCAR collectables you gave me and they are displayed with pride as well as our china, and it actually has been used by mom, me David and Eve last Christmas since it was only the four of us in town that Christmas day.  It was good because 11 days earlier I had to lay Major the Gentle Giant down due to cancer and I know you know how much that broke my heart.  I have Thermo now, a very exhuberent Yellow Labrador and I think you would be madly in love with this overgrown puppy.  He is turning into a confident guide dog even if my mom doesn't totally trust him because you know how much she likes to control me especially now that dad is  gone.  I have tried really hard to carry on in the past 6 1/2 years since you left me.  Let's see I have had four major back surgeries and the last one I was told that within a 95 percent probability I would be a full blown paraplegic, not sure if I was ready for that, but you know me I would have made the best out of it anyhow.  I have had some work done on the house and even though I am still getting the move to move, I am still here in Pine Ridge.  We bought this house as our home and until I have guidance from above, I have no plans on moving.  I am comfortable here and since the house has been rearranged, I know  where everything is and enjoy having friends come over from time to time.  Beverly is still in the trailer.  Toby passed six months after you did and she and Brandon, her son, have done a good job of keeping the place up and keeping the rent up as well.  I am hoping to sell it to them this summer, by owner financing it to them and I really hope they will buy it from me.Other than that I miss you more than ever and no I am not dating yet.  I have been on one date since you passed and I would like to, just haven't found the right girl, and maybe I am comparing you to anyone I would meet, but you were special and knew that God gave you to me and as you recall I wasted no time in asking you to marry me.  I still cannot believe that tomorrow, July 10 2015 would have been our 16th wedding anniversary and you would have been retired from Hopkins by now.  Just know I always loved you even when I did not show it like I always should have.I look forward to the day when I reach Heaven and we will see each other again.  Happy anniversary my angel.

Not feeling good

I think that this one says it all.  I got the staples taken out on Friday and they really pulled and just have not felt good all weekend.  .  The incisions have really stung and the lower one feels really warm to the touch and is really bothering me tonight.  I am hoping I don't have an infection there, but after talking to our church nurse, I know that is highly possible so I have called the surgeon's nurse and left her a message on her voice mail and am hoping she will call me back first thing in the morning. 
If nothing else, maybe I can get an antibiotic called in to my pharmacy and that will take care of the problem.
I did not make it to church this morning and was really disappointed because I wanted to be there with mom, but she definitely understood and checked on me a couple of times and that was good too.  I know she is about ready for all of this moving stuff to be all over and done with and she is definitely going to be here with me for at least a coule of weeks and I think that will be good for both of us.  I know it gets real lonely here and am sure the same thing happens with mom too.
I am happy we were all able to take her out for Mother's Day yesterday and definitely enjoyed Red Robin.  I would go there more often if it were closer to my house, their hamburgers are really good even though they are huge, and mom and I will be going somewhere later in the week.

So excited

I am so excited tonight.  I just learned that Kelly the puppy that I sponsored in Sue's memory will be going back to Southeastern on June 2.  If she passes her In for Training tests, which I have no doubt that she will pass, then she will start her training as a guide dog and that pleases me.
I sponsored her to memorialize Sue and know that she would be just as excited and proud as I am for the way that her raiser, Kayla has done with her.  I know that this has been a positive experience for Kayla and her family and I really hope that she will consider raising more puppies for Southeastern.

One more day

One more day and I will have my nerve stimulator implanted in my spine.  I was so shocked and pleased on Friday when the surgeon's office called letting me know that there had been a cancellation and seeing if I wanted to ahve the surgery on Monday, which I gladly took.
It was definitely an unexpected blessing and by this time tomorrow I should be leaving the hospital heading toward a drive thru and then to mom's house for two days.
After the trial being so successful I am looking forward to the permanent implant doing what it did during the trial and that is a great thing because the relief was so immediate and I felt really good with the stimulation and am so thankful that we are going down this road instead of fusion surgery.
I am just so thankful everything worked out the way that it did and so humbled from all of the people that have been praying for me as well.

Oh what a surprise!!!

Oh what a surprise I received around lunchtime today.  Dr. Toussaint's office called and wanted to know if I could have my surgery Monday morning instead of Wednesday morning, and of course I changed it.  I was so surprised and it was definitely an unexpected blessing and feel very fortunate to have had the date changed.
I had really hoped for the surgery to have been done today, but realized that was totally unrealistic, but Monday is the next best thing to that.  It just goes to show that the Lord definitely takes care of His children and all we have to do is to trust Him.

A better day

It has definitely been a better day other than I have been extremely sleepy all day long.  The added half Perkaset pill has definitely made a difference and I discovered by accident that some of the real pain I was experiencing during the day was due to exercising right now.  I know that riding the bike is definitely good for me, but I get into a groove and just start flying and it seems to be aggravating things instead of helping, so am going to lie low until after I get the stimulator implanted and then will slowly get back to where I was riding.
It is now less than six days until the stimulator is implanted and I am extremely excited about the prospects of what it is going to do for me.