Well, I set out to hurry up and finish making the lift pole thing for my farm tractor so I could use it to unload a new-to-me compressor and then I was going to make room somewhere to stick the compressor for now.
Well, the tractor battery needed charged so I got that going and figured that I’d just work on getting some more stuff moved out of my tarp shed while the battery charged. Grabbed the wheelbarrow and… we have a flat… actually the tire is coming apart…
So that’s about how the day went, lol. Dad happened to have a new tire and tube and since he uses this wheelbarrow all the time even though it’s mine (and I really don’t care that he uses it), he donated it to the cause. I’ll replace it soon. Old tube is repairable, I’ll patch it when it warms up and it will be a spare tube. Got pinched where the cheap tire that was on it started coming apart. And I do mean cheap tire. So cheap there’s no manufacturer or country stamp on the tire. I should take a picture of this dumb thing. The cords are loose on the inside of the tire.
Anyway, figured while I was fixing wheelbarrows that I’d fix my other wheelbarrow that the frame (wood) broke. Dad had an old frame he said I could use and I had intended on getting to this awhile ago so hopefully the old frame is just as petrified as I remember it to be and we’ll be good. But I’m getting ahead of myself because I took the time to clean the threads of the bolts off with a wire wheel on a drill and gave it some sauce, stuck my little impact on and of course all four bolts just spin. Not sure why I wasted my time because I really didn’t expect anything else with it being a thin “homeowner” grade tub. But I was hoping at least one would come out, lol. Nope, not my day I suppose. Oh well, they have a date with a cutting implement in the next day or two now.
I also did manage to get some more stuff moved out of the tarp shed and the wheelbarrow dad uses is good to go just in time because he intends to use it tomorrow to bring firewood up. I’ll probably let him get it loaded and push it up for him like I usually do when I’m around if I don’t refill the wood box for him. Have to humor him and let him do some stuff, lol
I have a regular ole wheelbarrow that I use once every five years whether I need it or not just to keep it in good shape. You’re right. Every time I go to use it the tire is flat. I pump it up with air and it usually lasts long enough for me to get done whatever I need to get done. With all the crippling health problems I’ve had, I also picked up a pretty nice four wheel, pneumatic tire, red wagon, the kind that has the removal stake sides. If I haven’t had to move something like dirt, that’s been the yard vehicle of choice. So with the weather getting nice, I was going to fix the tire on the wheelbarrow, and I had the same problem, that it didn’t have a hole in it, the rubber on top of the cords was just disintegrating in one spot. But it sounds like I’m like you, that I can’t stand to have stuff like that and not fix it. But what I did do is I got one of the foam filled run flat never needs air harbor freight wheels on sale for 12 or $13 if I remember right, and I put that on. Now that it works I’ll probably never use it again.
On a personal note, running through all the physical therapy last fall and through the holidays has actually done a pretty good job of correcting 90% of the stuff I was suffering from. I turned the corner with it all, and now I just have to keep exercising to keep improving. The only thing left was the crumpled hand from the pinched nerve.
Two MRIs, several x-rays, nerve continuity tests, the x-ray like thing they do where they put die in your system, and a da Vinci with a ultrasound, and they finally figured out what’s wrong with my hand. We knew it was up in the forearm, and the crumpled hand was just a result of what was wrong
Well, picture your nerve as a little elastic vinyl tube in the elbow end of your forearm. That rubbery elastic nerve sits inside a sheath that would be like a soft PVC tube in comparison. I forget what the units were, but the nerve was supposed to be 1.1 in that area and the sheath was supposed to be 1.3 or 1.4, point being that there should be free motion. Well, my sheath is about 2.1, and the nerve is about 2.05, completely filling the space. It appears it’s actually under compression for about a two or 3 inch stretch coming off my elbow.
The doctor said he’s never seen such an advanced case where the patient wasn’t just screaming. I said he should talk to you guys cuz you guys know my screaming. What caused it is there are all kinds of little bits and tips and things that lay across the sheet crossways that just grow off your muscles and tendons and bones or whatever. Think of an upside down railroad track, where the rail is the sheath with the nerve inside, and all the railroad ties are sitting on top of it. Everywhere the railroad tie is sitting on it, its pinching it out of shape or crimping and pinching it. So they’re going to slice about a four or 5 inch opening on the bottom side of my forearm and elbow, and they use little tiny hooks and knives to take every one of those pieces that cross over the tube away. It’s supposed to be very straightforward. Since they never actually touch the sheath or the nerve, the recovery for the nerve is instantaneous when the surgery is complete. there’s still a two week recovery time where I have to avoid certain kinds of motions but use the arm at the same time so scar tissue does not grow in the wrong place but I really can’t do anything with the hand for another couple weeks after the surgery. The surgery will be on the 21st, and he told me point-blank do not use the hand for anything strenuous between now and then to let the inflammation of the nerve itself calm down. So I basically got plopped into a chair on Thursday for the next two weeks. He also gave me the bad news that the recovery will not be complete . If my arm operated that level one before this happened, and with the pinched nerve, it’s now at a level 10, after the surgery is not going to come back down to a one. Because I let it get pretty advanced, after the surgery will probably come down to an eight and if I’m really lucky it may come down to a six or five, but unless a miracle happens, I’m going to have a permanent loss in my right hand of probably about 30 or 40%. That was a shocker.
The good news was that after I got it on track, my doctor on this is Harvard, Mayo clinic resident, +20 years. The other doctor is Harvard/Johns Hopkins resident +20 years and the resident is Duke with residence at Emory. If that isn’t the dream team, I don’t know who is, and both docs are going to operate on me.
It’s been a total bummer and has shut down all my projects with the cars and cleaning up the property and the house for the foreseeable future.
On a positive, I met an attractive blonde petite nurse with a great sense of humor, probably enough to put up with my bullshit and we’re going on a second date tomorrow. Say a prayer for her that she’ll put up with me. I’ll send an update after the second interview tomorrow.
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