Crutches,,,,,,,,and a enhanced perspective

Huntindave McCann

Huntindave McCann

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I started by responding in a prior thread to Bill Clarke, then thought I'd start a new one.

Bill,

This is the first time for something like this for me. Yes I've got the usual aches and pains. Finger joints sometimes hurt like double hockey sticks but never in my ankle joint before.

My wife thought I must have broke my ankle. All I knew is that over the course of the day (Tuesday) while squirrel hunting, it just got more painful. Painful to the point of bringing tears to my eyes to attempt the simple task of walking. A full rest over night did nothing, in fact it was worse the next morning. I couldn't put any weight on my ankle at all.

A trip to the ER and a few X -rays later, I was being fitted with crutches. Diagnosis, arthritis flare up. Best thing I can do in the future, is ditch the rubber boots and use a nice lace up boot that gives better support.

I am hopeful a couple days rest will be all it will take. Not to make light of anyone with a permanent disability but it would suck to become a peg leg. On that note, having a temporary setback certainly opens one eyes towards those which deal with a disability, on a daily basis.

I am going to make a personal commitment to take at least one disabled person out in my boat sometime during the season next year. I plan to do this once during the fishing season and once during the waterfowl season.
 
Dave, We do get a different view quickly. I am sitting inside watching a neighbor deal with the leaves in my back yard. From a "do it myself guy" that is really hard. Keep on pluggin!
A phrase that has stuck in my mind for years is that we are all " temporarily able bodied"
 
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Dave,

Sorry to hear about the need for crutches. I actually just edited a smart ass remark out of this post. Reading this got me to thinking about how my legs and lower back are slowing me down after trudging around the river in my waders! Just isn't as funny as it use to be. Hope you get to feeling better.
 
Dave,

It can be eye opening when you're "disabled" even if it's for a short amount of time. Not sure if you've heard of this or currently try this, but I have several friends who take turmeric pills for arthritis. They've all said it's helped a great deal. I'm not sure of the different kinds of arthritis each person suffers from but it might be worth giving a try.
 
So, we are NOT going dancing tomorrow night?[w00t]When were you going to tell me? I even found my lime green Leasure Suit. [cool]

Hope you feel better soon, arthritis sucks. I have it in my thumbs, toe and now wrist.
 
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Pete McMiller said:
So, we are NOT going dancing tomorrow night?[w00t].
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Ain't no way I'm calling your bluff by showing up at your door in dancing shoes. Hard telling which clubs you would take me to.
 
Dave:
Very interesting. I went to North Dakota in mid-October. We hunted ducks for four days. I was using Lacrosse hip boots most of the time. Often had to walk half mile to hide the truck. Birds were incredibly wary. So I know I have a lot of arthritis in all my joints but mostly in my left knee. I do exercise a lot without issue but it took me two weeks to get over North Dakota. Lots of pain each night in that knee. All due to walking alot without proper support. I, also, feel for those whose disabilities which are present every day. God bless them all.
JCW
 
Dave,
From now say no to squirrel hunt during duck season [:)]

But seriously that stinks. Hope you heal quick.
 
Dave:

There was a while after a bad car accident 11 years ago that I thought I might not walk again. After a bunch of surgeries installed, removed, and replaced various bits of hardware in my hip, ankle and elbow, I was "released" and allowed to actually walk without a walker about 9 months after the accident. My saint of a wife helped me drag a canoe into a roadside trout pond that weekend and I was able to catch a trout or two, and the following October a few friends dragged my ass in a kayak into a bit of marsh for some duck hunting. I could get myself into the kayak, but at that point still needed help to get back our of it.

It was a full 18 months after the accident before I was really able to do things like put on a backpack and hike into a pond overnight, or portage a canoe solo, or walk in waders through thick mud--and I was a lot slower at all those things and will be forever.

Arthritis in the three injured joints has become normal, and the first sign I get of a pending low pressure system and a good fishing or hunting day is a subtle ache in the elbow. I've learned to compensate and do things in ways that don't cause a major arthritis flare up. Good boots are a must. My days of Tevas, Crocs and Muck boots are long gone.

Do what the doctor tells you, take whatever anti-inflammatories your kidneys and liver can tolerate, ask about physical therapy that might help, and soldier on.

Re: Pete's offer, my wedding day was a year to the day after the car accident, and my doctor gave me a cortisone shot in the ankle that morning so I could dance with my wife. You could get the same treatment to keep Pete happy.
 
Wish I could Dani.........I actually lost track of that suit many years ago - and that's a good thing. Imagine though, Lime Green bell bottom leasure suit, thin sole Floresheim boots, Rayon open neck shirt and a puka shell necklace, with a full beard and shag haircut. I shudder just describing it LOL.
 
You are making it tough on me Dave. I should have just let out the diaper lines last time. [sly]

Get well soon. It sucks when things don't work like they use to.

A few years ago I was pheasant hunting with a high school classmate. I said something like "we aren't getting any younger". He giggled like he has for the last 30 some years I've known him( he's a 6'4" 250lb farmer who giggles like a little boy), looked at me and in the most serious comment I've ever heard from him says "but I don't feel any older in my head." So true. We are all still that 21 year old who could hike over any hill and tumble down paths with hardly a care...we just can't anymore...and we are only in our 40s...not really old like you.

Tim
 
Hey Dave. 100 years ago when I was an athletic trainer for the Badgers we taped all the football and basketball players. Today they're using a lot of ankle braces instead. The braces have come a long way since my days there. It might be something to look into for support. A lot more comfortable than the old days and they work. Good luck. Jim
 
jim bosanny said:
Hey Dave. 100 years ago when I was an athletic trainer for the Badgers we taped all the football and basketball players. Today they're using a lot of ankle braces instead. The braces have come a long way since my days there. It might be something to look into for support. A lot more comfortable than the old days and they work. Good luck. Jim
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Jim,
I will be looking into that. The hospital staff wrapped my ankle with a wide ace bandage. I've rewrapped it myself but hard to do a decent job. I can't seem to reach my foot as well as I did when I was twenty, imagine that. I'm hopeful I'll have the room to wear a brace inside my rubber boots or waders.
 
TimJ said:
You are making it tough on me Dave. I should have just let out the diaper lines last time. [sly]
Tim
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Ya and I should buy a check cord in your size. Just remember, your day will come, let this be a preview. [sly]
 
Dave, hope you took my post with the intended humor. I too suffer from from the effects of arthritis in the lumbar region, sure slows my firewood cutting. Whoever said "getting old is not for sissies" was a man afflicted. A-fib, hypertension,neuropathy of hands and feet have slowed my activity level but i keep plugging away.
Bird hunting with Rufus a 3 year old pudelpointer pushes me to "keep up", we have fun.
If it sounds like i am complaining, i am not, at 74 i consider myself lucky to be active. All of my friends have either "hung it up" or moved on if you get my drift.

Hang in there pal,this stuff comes and goes. There is always another cat to skin. Did i mention i like cats? They taste just like chicken!!!!!!!!.[;)]
 
The newer braces are less bulky than the first versions. Fitting in a boot or wader shouldn't be a problem. I can talk to the basketball trainer to see what he's using. If you're interested let me know and I'll PM you. Don't want to put an unsolicited endorsement for a product on the site. I'm off to the deer woods for a couple of days so won't have access to my PC. I'll check when I get home. Jim
 
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