"I Cried Because I Had No Shoes"

By the time we got to our Florida destination we'd had our share of mis-adventures. Of course there was my shoulder, but prior to that we'd had a flat tire and a tongue jack that wouldn't work. But during our 7 nites in Decatur, AL we also had a flooded camper due to a leak in our water heater. It seems that the genius who "winterized" the RV had overlooked a critical element in winterization (drain the tank!) By the way, for those of you contemplating the purchase of a water heater, it will cost you $650 installed! I now believe falling off the ladder and breaking my shoulder was the punishment for overall stupidity. Needless to say we were very relieved to actually be settled at Emerald Beach RV Park thanks to Dan and Mark.

Our neighbors on site 16 are Betty and Art Stierley. They were here when we arrived. They hadn't been here previously. Art and I had exchanged pleasantries over the first couple days. Of course he noticed my sling and wanted to know the whole story. I'm not sure he really wanted to know about our "trip from Hell", but by damn he was going to hear it! Of course he sympathized with my graphic description of every friggin detail. I guess it was a couple days later when "Mr. Egocentric" got around to asking him some questions. I learned that Art & Betty were in Navarre to bury their 45 year old daughter. She died after a two year battle with breast cancer. For two days he listened to me complaining about my poor broken shoulder, when they were dealing with their own broken hearts. Kids aren't supposed to die before the parents. I don't care if the kid is 45. After hearing Art's story, I tried not to complain too much about our minor plight. "I cried because I had no shoes, and then I met a men who had no feet."

In all my 70 years of life I had never had a broken bone. Thus, operating with only one arm was a whole new experience. It wasn't just the arm, but entire left side from shoulder to hand was bruised and swollen. Initially I had no use of my left hand. The hand had grown to about 3 times its original size. It operated like a faulty prosthesis stuck to an arm but lacking batteries. Neither my wife nor I had thought to have my rings removed when we first went to the ER in Decatur. Now they would have to be cut off. Baptist Hospital ER in Gulf Breeze took care of that minor problem. Now Mary Ellen went in search of an Orthopedic surgeon. Baptist hospital told us about Andrews Institute next to the hospital. This building is orthopedic surgeons headquarters. There were autographed pictures of pro and college athletes all over the walls extolling the virtues of these doctors. Now they were going to be dealing with a semi-pro old person who fell off a ladder. They were not interested when I offered an autographed picture of yours truly. We were introduced to Dr. Ostrander, better known as Dr. O. He looked at the X Rays from Decatur and ordered an MRI. The MRI showed a piece of bone floating around in there. I, 'Mr. Obvious' realized this was probably not good. Dr. O told us that this piece of bone needed to be reattached from whence it came. This would require surgery. Mary Ellen and I quickly decided to give him the 'go ahead' and surgery was scheduled.

It was a 3 hour surgery followed by one nite in the hospital. Dr. O told us they removed the bone, ground it up, added super glue, and shoved it into the humerus at the proximity from whence it came. Don't you love 'from whence it came?' I don't think I've used the word 'whence' in over 50 years. I liked it so much I just had to use it 4 times.

Dave and Janet Lundgren spent the entire afternoon with Mary Ellen waiting for me to get out of surgery, recovery and back to a private room. Dave, and especially Janet are wonderful. More about Dave, later. The gift packages came pouring in. By the way, for those of you who haven't AS YET sent a gift, I'm registered at Ace Hardware!

Now the fun begins for my loving wife, Mary Ellen. I don't know what I'd do without her. Besides being a wonderful wife, she just happens to be a registered nurse. My only concern is she's a Hospice Nurse. By the time this is over I'm sure she'll decide maybe it's time for Hospice.

To be continued...