Another week has come and gone... May 29

Here we go again. Another week has flown by and I am still here breathing on my own. This makes life great! Boy, we sure had a bad rain storm last night. Several people told me that we got 2 inches of rain. We needed that around here.
Betty's brother passed away on Wednesday. He fought it as much as he could, but they knew this was coming. It does not make things better, but it is life as we know it can be. His wife is donating his eyes to someone that needs them which is a great thing to do. I know it was not an easy decision, but it will be good for someone to see again.
My poison ivy is getting better, but it hangs on like it knows how to do. It wakes me up during the night when it itches. I try to apply more medicine to it to help, but it is not pleasant. Me and poison ivy don't get along together real well, but, it like many other things, is something you live with. This is a good thing for me to have life to put up with it.
My pain seems to be getting better as time moves on. It does not hurt as much to climb stairs as it once did, but ladders and I still have an issue. I can get up them with pain, but don't balance as well as I used to. That is OK, too, because I am here to deal with it. Lifting something heavy still is pretty painful and getting something off the ground is still a hard process to work around. That, too, is something I am glad to be able to deal with. My memory is still suffering from all of this, too. I don't remember things like I used to. Names are my worst problems, but numbers are not as easy to remember as they used to be. Oh well, I told a group of guys at work today that if I look at them like I don't know them, don't be afraid to tell me who you are. This is tough on me still. At work, I have to write everything down that needs to be done or it won't get done. I work off this list all day. Sometimes, my 10 hours day is much longer because I work slower on things than I used to. I hear from many people every day that I am one lucky person to still be here. This I do realize! I can just hope my mind will come back to where it used to be, but that is just a little of hope from me. Only time will tell for sure.
Sitting still hurts to do. Anyone with a broken tailbone understands this better than anyone else would. This is something that will be there for a long, long time, if not forever. I have a foam pad at work that I sit on and it helps a lot, but any other time I sit some where else, it hurts if I stay too long. My right should still hurts daily, too.
Would any one out there like a case of poison ivy? I will share it with you if you want some of this painful agony. Some people don't react with this as bad and I can only tell you how lucky you are.
Today, God is with me as He usually is. He helps my mind realize just how LUCKY I am to still be here. If you are one of those people that still reads this, I love you. If you only see it once in a while, I can live with that, too. This is an important part of my recovery to know people still care. Please tell God how important Russell was to Betty and to his family and He will lead him down the right path towards happiness.
Love to all of you. Mark 5/29/08

Wednesday, May 21 and still moving

Another week has gone by and I am still here. Yes, I am writing an update on life and still here to enjoy it. Certain things are a lot harder than they used to be, but will a little time and patience, all moves forward. I went to Mom and Dad's last week end and was trying to help them clear out some vines that are growing out of control. It is a lot harder to do these things, but I can still be some help. Mom was so worried that I was doing this because she is afraid I will get hurt doing it. I have to think about what I am doing and takes steps to be prepared for the task I am taking. I was pulling a lot of these out of the area and she was afraid I was going to fall. I keep one foot back in case something gives more than expected. I know better than to let myself fall or cause other problems. This is how God helps me stay alive! There is no way I want to go back through this again. I could not put myself or my family and friends through this again. I realize how hard it was on everyone else. Yes, I have the pains from all of this, but you guys had the real problem to deal with. As a matter of fact, I ended up with poison ivy from pulling all of these vines down. It is all over both arms and I remember now how allergic I am to it. I can stand not scratching it when I am awake, but had a real problem during the night. I tried Ivy Dry at first, but it did not seem to help. Now I stay covered in Calamine Lotion. As the blisters bust, the lotion soaks it up and allows it to dry without spreading. It does not look good, but it will go away with some time.
Betty had to make a trip to Arizona because her oldest brother is about to die. They are giving him about 10% chance to live. All of his internal organs are shut down. He was taking some medicine he ordered from Mexico and it caused his liver to fail. His is in a coma so she went with her brother, Bill, to see him before he is gone. She was thinking a trip now or one for the funeral and she wants to tell him she will pray for him. I realize what his wife is feeling right now. I am glad she decided to go while he is still breathing instead of waiting. She feels bad about the whole situation and realizes how close SHE was to this.
A took a week of vacation this week since Betty was on her long change, but this incident changed how things were going. I told her that she needed to go be with her brother because SO MANY people were there for her when I was there. This kind of effort means so much to the person having to deal with the issue. We all need a shoulder to cry on once in a while!!!
Make the most out of life while you can and enjoy every day because God wants you to. Dearest Russell, we are saying prayers for you and your family. God will steer you down the right path for your future. He loves you now and will love you when you get to heaven. Good luck my dearest brother-in-law. Takes God's hand when he reaches out for you. He will take care of you from here on out if that is what he decides is best for you.
Mark 5/21/08

Thursday, May 15 and still going ahead

Another week has come and gone. I am still here and still posting my progress. I am doing OK and still have pain everyday. That is part of life and I can move ahead with that. I am going to see a doctor next week and have my right elbow checked. It has really started hurting more each day. I have a spot on it that is real sensitive to contact. I guess we will have to see what the doctor thinks about it. I guess I hit it pretty hard when I fell and the pain will not go away. I am hoping he can tell something about it. I am hoping it will not need surgery, but only he can tell me. I noticed that it seems to be larger in size than the other one. I really don't want to have it operated on if this is possible, but the pain is a real problem. I still have pain with my shoulders hurting when I reach for something and tend to forget this long enough to reach for something and feel the pain. My broken tailbone hurts a lot of times, but this I will have to live with. I have been told that this will be with me for a long, long time and may never go away. Hard chairs really hurt to sit in. I am not sure which hurts me more, my broken tailbone or my semi-fixed pelvic.
I had a comment to my last entry from some friends of ours here in town. Sallie told me that her, Scott and Noah are still reading and appreciate the fact that I am still adding to this BLOG. These kind of comments mean so much that people are still concerned with how I am doing and following my progress this way. I know many people read up on me here, so I will keep writing so everyone knows. I hear it so many times about my positive attitude on my pains and had someone tell me the other day that they noticed that I limp a lot less than I did a month ago. Another one of those comments that lift me up.
We went to Matt's soccer tryouts on Tuesday night and ran into a friend I have not seen in a while. His daughter used to play soccer with Breanna. I am not sure how long it has been, but he knew nothing about my accident. I told him my story as best I could and he said he was sorry from what I went through, but was so happy I am able to walk. Getting up and down the bleachers at the field still hurt me, but I go through it slowly and overcome the pain. Betty and I talked to a another Dad that has a girl that was friends with Megan. He knew what happened to me and was surprised I was moving at all. He is one of those great people in this world that is always so kind to people. If you did not know it, you would never guess he is a lawyer. He has such a great outlook on life and deals with things so well. He is one of those people that is good to be around. He coaches the soccer team above Matt's age group and said that if Matt does not make the team, he will try to bring him up. This would be great because Matt plays goalie best. Matt's coach's son also plays goalie so Matt never gets to play it with this team. So many parents have told us that he is a much better goalie than the other kid and wonder why we don't complain about it. What would this do other than make the coach upset at him? I say it would be a waste of effort on our part. We will deal with whatever decision is made.
Life is great and all we can hope for is good news from the doctor. Whatever he needs to do to make me better is something I will deal with. I am hoping I do not have to miss any work over this, but will deal with this decision and hope God knows what is best.
Love to all of you and thanks for putting up with my "complain" session. Send some love to God as he loves you, too.
Mark 5/15/08

Sunday, May 11 and all is great

Well, another week has come and gone. Today is Mother's Day and I would like to wish all of the Mothers out there a great day. What does it take to be a great Mom? Love and attention are great starts, but there is more to it than that. Not only do you as a parent have to be a corrector, but being someone that you kids are comfortable with and are good at talking too. I had great parents that were always there for me, but more than that, my Wonderful wife is, too. This is a key to having great kids in this world that are not only good to be around, but one that is willing to help others, too. That has to be one of the key things my parents taught me. If you have a teenager or pre-teen, this may seem like a difficult chore, but consistent and there always mean so much. All kids make errors in life, but you have to help them see the errors, but also teach them how to repair the problem and to never do this again. This is a very important part of growing up. To this day, I have always been comfortable talking to my parents about almost anything. I know that I had problems as a kid, but my parents did their best to help me learn from it and how to become a better person. I thank them for making me the person I am today!
My therapy is going well. I still hurt after each session, but feel like I am improving. Just remember, don't put something heavy on the floor or ground and expect my help to get it. My right shoulder still hurts daily, which makes no sense to me because I broke my left one. I guess the impact on my right shoulder is from my fall when I landed on it, but did not break it. My pelvic area still hurts daily but seems to be improving, too. My right elbow hurts when I put some weight on it wrong. They did not find any major problems with it, but I can feel where the sore part is. It is not on the tip of the elbow area, just slightly above it towards my shoulder by about 1/4" from the point of it. I can feel a spot where there is a small gap there. I don't understand this, but have learned to live with it. I try to remember not to put pressure there, but sometimes I forget.
Another positive note is that I got a reply to my last blog note and it was from an old friend that I haven't heard from in a while. Jennifer and I worked together several years back. She is one of those sweet people that you enjoy having around you. I enjoyed having the pleasure to know her and her husband, Rob. Now Jennifer has kids and is living in Tennessee. She is one of those people that told me to keep this writing up because she keeps up with my progress this way. Hearing things like this always lifts me up. I know my story is not a pleasant one, but because of God, I am still here and still improving.
I wish to send my love to all of you. Thanks for reading up on my progress and responding if needed.
Mark 5/11/08

Tuesday, May 6th and still moving along

Well, another week has gone by and I am still improving. It has been a little more than a week since I wrote anything here. I thought that I should stop writing, but I get notes from people telling me they still follow my progress here. So, thanks to you, I will keep writing my progress. I had two comments to my last entry. One was from Harry and Gail. They are good friends of my parents that we have known for a long time and I did not realize they knew what happened. I was good to hear from them and made my day to see there note. The second one was from my cousin Shannon and all of her family. It seems like their life is progressing along, too. This was another one of those notes that was special to me.
I have noticed that stairs are getting easier for me. I can make them now without having to depend on pulling myself up the hand rail. I can make it up without using the rail. Please don't get behind me because I am still a little slow, but I make it and feel good about this. Ladders still hurt a lot to go up. I have to climb these at work once in a while, but as long as it is only a short distance, I can make it. I am tired when I pull myself up, but coming down is much easier. If it is too far, I don't even try it. I know that no one wants to see me create any problems.
Rehabilitation is going well. I seem to push myself a little harder each time and can tell it later on, but I am no where near where I was before all this happened. That is OK because God decided I still need to be here. I have people ask me why I am always in a good mood after all of this happened and all I can say is that this is something God made of me. I tell people that it depends on how close you were to the light when you saw it. I think I was real close and the stories I hear really make me realize this. I am still scared of this event when I think about it. I enjoy telling people what I know of all this, but too much gets me. I realize I will probably have these pains for the rest of my life and I can live with it.
Life is moving along for us and I wake up every day breathing on my own. This makes it a good day!
Love to all of you. More of my progress report next time. This is short and sweet, but this is how I am. No, I'm not short and not always sweet, but still BREATHING!!
Mark 5/6/08