Need well wishes and prayers, please.

[weepeskythistle]

Today was a mix of Freds' stubborness and the pain medication. He tried to get out of bed during the night to go to the bathroom himself. Of course he fell on his butt. The medication made him loopy enough that he either forgot he ddn't have two legs or didn't care. Dawn is feeling guilty that she left to go home and get some rest, the nurses are being very apologetic because they sent her home and said they'd keep an eye on him. No serious harm seems to have come from the fall, though.

Prior to and after the surgery, Fred was having some emotional issues with losing his leg. A psychologist has been called and he gave Fred a drug that will take the edge off for now, but will stop the drug and start counseling/support after the pain and associated drugs are lessened.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. Being on the heavy doses of pain medication has had him pretty high and loopy, definately not himself. He's being rather, well, childish and wimpy right now. I'm sure some of it is trauma and some of it is drugs. I'm also sure we'll be able to help him through it. Kinda no point in having friends if they abandon you in hard times, right?

I've often said that I have many acquiantances but few friends. Friends are people you can turn your back on. That is, stand back to back and tell the world to f****ing bring it on, it's time to rumble.

You are absolutely right about people. Statistics in all the literature base around the world in academic libraries prove your point. Men especially are jerks and dump their wives when they become disabled. Anyway, the point is, we must not measure ourselves by non-disabled standards. Fred is an example of how quiclky one can become a part of the disability community. It is not a fate worse than death except for in the non-disabled's minds and attitudes. Those attitudes keep all kinds of barriers in place.

Fred's system has to medically stabilise, he will go through adjustment phases, and when meds are reduced he will be all set for rehab. Think realistically but positively!

[Mike_Oettle]

Fred is in a tough place right now, and could find himself even lower. But he will pull out of it, especially with the help of friends and family.
His wife also is in a spot, and she might become much more depressed.
Certainly he will have to look for lighter employment, but once his prosthesis is fitted he will be able to walk again.
It could well be that facing the challenge of walking again will steel him to take things more realistically and become more enthusiastic, too.
It is especially important that neither of them should have guilty feelings.
Fred’s fall was an accident. He was not completely compos mentis, and she was exhausted. There is every reason why she should have gone home to rest.
The phantom pains could take a while to disappear (indeed, they could return after a long break), but his prospects are good.
He might even be amused to learn what happened to my father following his war wound. The nerves to his legs were severed, and reconnected in an odd way: he would often feel things on the one leg that were in fact on the other leg. This he noticed especially when lying on his bed on a Sunday afternoon reading. A fly would settle on his leg, and he would automatically swat where he thought the fly was . . . only to see the fly take off from the other leg!
At any rate, Fred will no doubt be free of that confusion.
Regards,
Mike

[ohiopiper]

Fred ate and slept today. This is improvement. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink except Gatorade since Thursday and his sleep had been fitful and inturrupted by pain. He ate lunch this early afternoon and slept for several hours and very deeply. I left before he woke, but Dawn says he woke acting a bit more like himself, but there is still a long way to go.

####I copied and pasted your comments into an e-mail and sent them to Dawn last night. They meant a lot to them, to know that folks beyond our immediate circle of friends have even a mild interest in his recovery. THANK YOU!####

My wife and I took the kids for the afternoon. I need a stiff drink and some sleep after that escapade. My two are enough of a handfull! Adding two more is like, well, double the kids. I never knew a game of "tag/hide-and-seek* could last for more than two hours.

*Think "CalvinBall". The chaos is similar, I imagine.

[Foyt20]

Some good vibes headed Freds way. To a speedy recovery.

[Lallans]

Fred sounds like a fighter, which he can put to good use if he goes in the right direction. I'm keeping good thoughts for him in particular right now, and at all times for all workers doing dangerous jobs. When things go wrong on those, it's often just generally accepted that men do those things for some strange reason that doesn't affect or benefit anyone else.

[dutchy kilted]

Sorry for the late response, I haven't been on in a few days. Please tell Fred I am wishing him well.

Tell that in return for all the good thoughts going his way, when he gets his final prosthesis we want to see him in a kilt!

[ohiopiper]

Quote:
Tell that in return for all the good thoughts going his way, when he gets his final prosthesis we want to see him in a kilt!

I think I'll make that my angle to get him into a kilt.

[GaRebel211]

Best wishes to Fred, and his family and friends....

[ohiopiper]

I spent another hour with Fred yesterday (Saturday) and he is doing better. The therapists have him learning how to move himself from bed to chair and back and to move his wheelchair. He, of course, says he wants none of it, wants to get to the crutches immediately. They've told him he must learn to use crutches efficiently before getting a prosthesis.

They are beginning to slowly wean him off the pain meds. The doses they were giving him were massive, as he'd had a previous shoulder injury and apparently built up quite a tolerance for the painkillers. He'd been hallucinating due to the drugs, some pretty weird stuff. Called his wife (Dawn) in the middle of the night wanting to know why there was an indian sitting in the corner staring at him.

The only bad part of the visit was when I first got there. I brought him a thermos of home-brewed coffee and I was under the impression that if I got too close he'd try to kiss me for it!

ETA: As his nurse was walking out, Fred said, loud enough foe her to hear, "She wants me...To jump off a cliff." His sense of humor is returning.

[Coinneach]

It's good to hear Fred is getting back to his old self. There is always a tendency to want to rush things, especially when you're getting better and stronger, but also to prove to others that you're feeling better and stronger. The therapists know best. I hope he lets them do his job, though he may go crazy from their taking too long (in his opinion).

I hope every day gets better and easier for him and his family. It's such a blessing to them to have you and your family there to help, I'm sure.