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Cripple in the Boat - billxam - 10-01-2024
I figured this would be the best place to post this. All of this is my opinion due to my personal experiences.
Not looking for pity, I live with the body I have. I'm borderline heavily handicapped - no feeling in my right leg (but I can feel pressure and pain so I can sort of walk and drive), vertigo, can't lift my feet past knee high, falling down a few times a day and my favorite, Syncope. That's the short list. All sorts of great stuff. All due to illnesses, injuries (Spine injury in 2000, Anthrax in 2002, viral lung infection in 2012) and reactions to medications. And now, due to a seizure in 2012, my right arm is 4 inches shorter than my left - due to shoulders dislocating from the seizure. My doctor is surprised I can function as well as I can. The neurologist back in 2000 said I'd never walk or work in the printing industry again (I said hold my beer, 20 years later I retired from printing).
I'm not letting being crippled stop me. I don't like the term handicapped, it generates too much pity and unless it's a visible handicap, people think it's a mental issue. You could say my pronoun is crippled. Many times the level of nerve pain is debilitating so I take synthetic morphine a few times a month on especially bad days.
My point with this is this: If you find yourself becoming handicapped from an illness or injury, don't let it stop you and (this is my personal view, in my opinion) take PT with a grain of salt. In my opinion, people put too much stock in PT when they can do it themselves with just a little research. I do my own PT - part of my handicap is my tendons tear easily. Two years ago my left quadricep tore with a giant snap - I thought I had been shot at first because it was so loud when it tore. Put on my removable leg cast, compressed the heck out of my thigh, waited 7 days for healing (and taking collagen powder), did my own PT, didn't bother my doctor.
What you have to do is adapt to your body and it's new (lack of) abilities. Don't let it stop you. Yeah, you can get bummed out and depressed over it all but in the end, you have to live with it so get busy living or busy dying. I took paramedic training and had the fortune of having one of the best internist doctors in the country. Art always taught me to learn as much as I can about the human body. With my issues, I normally have more understanding and information than my doctors do. I guess my point is, now that I'm thinking about it, learn as much as you can about specific areas of your body that are involved - spine, legs, knees, shoulder, cardiac - whatever part is injured.
On to the boat in question or as I call it, the neverending project from hell. Having an engineering background has helped more than I thought it would.
Let me describe my greatest difficulty so far. A boat. Throwing a few photos of the boat, slip and wheels in question.
So we have a 16 foot fiberglass rowboat, handmade in the late 1950s. I rebuilt the interior (rails, seats, floor) twice now. I build whatever I can for any project I take on.
My physical issues are plenty when using the boat.
Standing while in the water with the vertigo is entertaining to say the least. But I use my cane so I've been able to deal with the staggering around in the boat. I'm going to make stabilizers for the boat to stop the boat rocking as much.
The seating is also an issue. Since I can't lift my feet past knee high, I either have to straddle the seat 100% of the time or twist around to get to the motor which (of course) leads to spine pain. I'm thinking a pedestal swiveling seat might be the answer but that has it's own issues in as the swiveling will make the vertigo go nuts. So it's probably going to be a static pedestal seat. Making that next week.
Getting out of the boat is basically impossible at the dock. My first try resulted in me falling into the water. So I built a boat slip, kind of like a trailer with no wheels but with the little wheels you see on boat trailers for the boat to roll on. Now I wear knee high rubber boots, drive the boat onto the slip and get out once it's stable and not rocking using my cane, sitting on the bow cover and twisting off into the water.
Most everything in the boat has to be within armslength so I don't have to get up while in the boat. Falling down in a small boat is not a good idea. Ever.
I'm having to design and build my own motor tilt assembly since the existing one I can't reach since I can't get up and move around in the boat - boat rocking, looking down into the water and vertigo is dangerous.
RE: Cripple in the Boat - putnam6 - 10-03-2024
Man, I read your post and Im embarrassed about how little I do, yeah I have my issues vertigo too, and old scarring on my left leg and ankle where I have constant throbbing pain, none of which seems to be even close to your challenges.
You are living a much better and fuller life than I am, hell you are living and sometimes it seems with me Im just existing. I sometimes have your spark and ingenuity but I need to have it on constantly, especially since Im 60 now and need to maximize my time.
Saw on X.com the other day and I'll and find the link...
This man a chef had a motorcycle accident looks like his left leg is injured, but his restaurant's kitchen has a rack on the ceiling attached to a metal arm that ends i a bicycle seat the man can sit on the seat it takes the weight of his legs and he can move on the kitchen weaving in and out of the other people, get the fridge and pantry it was amazing to watch.
This makes me wonder if something like that could be made for your boat and other situations
Thanks for your post it helped me think differently
RE: Cripple in the Boat - billxam - 10-06-2024
(10-03-2024, 02:29 PM)putnam6 Wrote: Man, I read your post and Im embarrassed about how little I do, yeah I have my issues vertigo too, and old scarring on my left leg and ankle where I have constant throbbing pain, none of which seems to be even close to your challenges.
You are living a much better and fuller life than I am, hell you are living and sometimes it seems with me Im just existing. I sometimes have your spark and ingenuity but I need to have it on constantly, especially since Im 60 now and need to maximize my time.
After what I went through when I was working, the pain at the end of the day was horrible - well what I do now is okay since I can stop and rest whenever I want to. In fact, after I had the lung virus in 2012 and fainted at work, they checked me every day and would send me home a few times a month. The quality of the employer is key to a lot of issues.
RE: Cripple in the Boat - putnam6 - 10-07-2024
(10-06-2024, 08:33 PM)billxam Wrote: After what I went through when I was working, the pain at the end of the day was horrible - well what I do now is okay since I can stop and rest whenever I want to. In fact, after I had the lung virus in 2012 and fainted at work, they checked me every day and would send me home a few times a month. The quality of the employer is key to a lot of issues.
Definitely this is true, your work situation makes a difference. The doctor who did surgery on my leg when I was 12 said I would have trouble with it when I was older, he was right. The scarring is too heavy DMSO helps but there's only so much you can use, it makes the keloid tissue scars more pliable and reduces inflammation
The last time I worked full-time for 10 days straight the pain was over the top, I'd get home each day at 8 pm and soak my feet and lower left leg in ice water and then rub DMSO cream over my scars. It would feel so much better I'd fall asleep from relief for a few hours wake up grab a bite go back to sleep till 4:30 am get up get ready and head back to work by 5:00-5:15.
That was from right before COVID; I miss those times, even with the pain.
