{"id":26733,"date":"2023-08-03T18:21:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T01:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rodbinder.com\/journal\/?p=26733"},"modified":"2023-08-20T09:11:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T16:11:40","slug":"aug-3-the-day-it-all-changed-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rodbinder.com\/journal\/2023\/08\/03\/aug-3-the-day-it-all-changed-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Aug 3 The Day It All Changed (3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Socrates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life was different when I got home. I had a cast on from my balls to my toes. Getting around was difficult. I was in a wheelchair for a few weeks.\u00a0 Eventually, I graduated to a cane.\u00a0 That came with a problem, there was a twisted wire that was holding my knee together. That was banging against the cast when I moved. It was very painful. I was off any painkillers.<\/p>\n

I still tried to do the things that needed doing. I remember one incident clear as glass.\u00a0My carpet was dirty and needed vacuuming. Standing and doing that was impossible. So I lay on my side and crawled and cleaned. When I finished, I turned to look at the wonderful job I did. Everywhere I had crawled, I left a white trail where I dragged my cast and leg behind me. I just started to laugh.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I would end up in an ER.\u00a0I figured that if a doctor could cut a window into the cast where the wire was hitting, I would be able to survive a little longer. I still had weeks to go for the next round of surgery.<\/p>\n

When I got into an examination room, I could overhear the Doctor in the background complaining that he was going to be late for a golf game. He was angry at that.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the rest of this incident is true, with no embellishments.<\/p>\n

He was in a real hurry, he was ramming the cast-cutting saw into the cast hard. I asked him to slow down. He made a comment like I was an idiot, mentioning the saw wouldn’t cut flesh. Just then, I felt the saw dig into my leg. Blood poured out all over. When he got close enough, I punched him in the face. I knocked him to the floor. I grabbed some bandages, put them on the wound, and left.<\/p>\n

No police came after that. I figured we were even, I guess he did too.<\/p>\n

I lived uphill from the Hospital, and 3 days a week I would hobble down to physio and do painful workouts. I was determined to walk again.\u00a0 Going down the hill was ok, coming back up, not so much.<\/p>\n

I continued that for a long time. The time came for the surgery to remove the wires from my knee. That involved another four hours under the knife.<\/p>\n

The time came for the cast to come off. My leg was skinny on one side. Walking was still tough. Driving was even tougher. I couldn’t bend my knee. The only way to drive the 5-speed truck is with my leg straddled across the passenger seat. I had to use my cane to work the gas pedal. I learned to put it into neutral quickly, then my clutch foot was available for braking.\u00a0 From the outside, you couldn’t tell anything was different.\u00a0 For passengers, I am sure it would have been nerve-racking. Don’t worry, I didn’t drive often, just when there was no other choice. I still walked up and down the hill to physio. I needed to exercise my leg.<\/p>\n

It took two years before I could walk without the cane, another two or three to hide the limp. I still do not have full range of motion. Weather changes are painful.<\/p>\n

I did go skydiving, but I did make sure that I hit the center of the landing spot, where there was a ten-foot diameter pit of pea gravel. I also climbed a mountain, but there was a lot of swearing.<\/p>\n

After 5 years, I was able to ride my Harley again, I even took a long ride into the United States. I saw Rushmore, Deadwood, and Sturgis before I went home.<\/p>\n

I will never run again, When I try I look like a three-legged chicken. The important part is that I never gave up.<\/p>\n

Even after the next big accident, this time with a broken neck and broken neck, that is another story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n