Transition to a "New Normal" as they said at WRAMC

i will be discharged from the rehab center on 12/1/10 after not quite 8 weeks in rehab recovering from a broken femur. I asked my PT "Is this more severe than a hip replacement?" as the center is almost filled with folks recovering from them, then knee, loss of strength and ability to walk and lastly folks like myself, various broken bones, surgeries etc. He said, "definitely" as I must heal not only the severing of muscle via the surgery which makes the right leg feel literally "like dead wood" but must also grow new bone which is a time consuming process When a person has hip replacement oftentimes they are up within a day or two walking. I did not place any weight on my right leg until 7 weeks then it was 50% for a week that is stand on both legs. In the 8 the week I have begun to place 100% on the leg, that is take a full step, right they left.

So that is why my MD gave me an application for a permanent handicap sticker seeing the recovery longer than a few months, I think. It also means that I will not being having the lower back surgery until I am much more recovered from this surgery again as the MD gave his prognosis.

So this is my way forward and new normal:
1. I can bend my right knee about 95% to the back, I can bend the left until the foot is about 2 inches from my butt. So I have about 20 more degrees in bend to regain back if I can.

2. The PT's say I am stable and strong. I must walk with a walker at all times. This is so if the right thigh fails, becomes weak to the point it won't support me I can use my hands and walker to keep from falling.

3. I must from now on, walking up steps lead with the left (good) foot, walking down steps lead with the right (injured) leg. I forgot as I practiced and the right leg let me know right away by "being dead weight"

4. I want to ASAP make an appointment with a Physical Medicine and Rehab MD so that he/she can create an outline for therapy and do's and don'ts to recover strength and at the same time do not injure my lower back further.

3. I must participate in my recovery doing the exercises assigned by the PT every day and by attending out-pt PT for as long as I can. I want them to set up an exercise program so that I can continue on my own after the sessions end.


Where has God been during my injury, rehab and as I go forward into a "new normal"

a. I believe what happened was an accident and nothing more. As a joke I read once "Shit happens" supposed to be Buddhist perspective, I was present. I knew it was bad, I told Lisa to call 911 an that I was not going to try to get up. I checked my body and my right leg gave me feedback that it was injured very seriously as it felt like "dead wood" above the knee. The fireman said, "maybe a dislocation" as he couldn't feel a jagged bone I guess. Every movement or touch of the right leg made me cry out in excruciating pain. The ride to the ER was a nightmare of pain. Being transferred to the hospital gurney was pain, being ex-rayed was pain. Nothing relieved the pain until the morphine drip started.

And when the RN put the catheter in I knew I was headed for surgery. I was moved to the ortho section of the hospital and put into traction to keep the bone pieces in place until surgery so I would not move and do more damage. I can't remember exactly the white lie the RN used but I didn't believe it. She said something to the effect "We don't want the bone to grow." I was incredulous, bone does NOT grow that quickly! Borne out by my not being able to walk on the leg for 8 weeks after surgery so the bone could grow! I didn't question her because if we start with a lie, she sure wasn't going to tell me the truth.

I must say that "I trusted in God" with the same level of trust as when I walked into Walter Reed after Jason's injury in 2005. I knew then that Jason's injury would be a benchmark in my life, a turning point against which I would measure the rest of my life. I was injured, I did not have any control over what would happen next. God/Force of Life would see me through surgery and recovery or not. I would follow MD's orders and let the rest be in God's Providence. I think it will be the same with death. I trust in God in that over which I have no control.

The image that came to me quickly after surgery was that I was a rowboat nestled in a cove, grasses on the shore, The boat gently rocked by the quiet movement of the waters maybe from a breeze. The feeling was I was being held, protected, at peace.

2. During these two months of 6 times a week therapy