The Return of the Blog!

Its been almost two months since my last blog. I refused to type with only one finger. Now, finally, I'm able to use both hands on the keyboard. I just didn't have the patients to go from 60 words a minute down to 15. One finger just didn't cut it. So, here goes with two hands.

If I had to do it over again I certainly wouldn't have fallen off that ladder. I still can't believe it happened. I remember, as I climbed a lousy 3 steps on the ladder, Mary Ellen said "be careful Mr. Balance". Shortly after her warning, the ladder moved to the right, and I fell to the left. After laying in the mud for 15 minutes, with Mary Ellen's help, I was able to get on my knees and stand up. Mary Ellen kept saying "I'm going to call 911", and I kept saying "NO". However, once we got 'Mr. Balance' back in the RV, I decided maybe an ambulance was a good idea. And thus the adventure began.

The ambulance arrived in 5 minutes, and the EMT's couldn't have been nicer and more proficient. Decatur General hospital was only 5 minutes away. Again, we were impressed with the nurses and staff. The X Ray showed a broken humerus bone in the shoulder. ER recommended an orthopedic surgeon across the street from the hospital. After looking at the X Ray, he felt the bone was well aligned and didn't need surgery. ER had given me a sling. All I could do was take pain medication. The problem was I couldn't drive, and Mary Ellen was and is afraid to pull the travel trailer.

Point Mallard campground in Decatur was to be an overnite on the way to Navarre, FL. It turned out to be a 7 nite stay while we tried to figure what we were going to do. The people at Point Mallard were great. They unhooked the truck from the trailer and set us up for an extended stay. At least 3 times a day, a staff member would stop by to find if there was anything we needed. This campground is beautiful, but we found it was more than beautiful, it also had a very caring staff. Stay there when you get a chance, and tell them "Mr. Balance with the broken shoulder sent you". You won't be disappointed!

Now most of you know we have 4 sons. They just happen to be 4 wonderful sons. Dan and Mark were the closest to Alabama. They live in Indianapolis. Dan insisted that he and Mark would come to our rescue. Dan would pull the trailer and Mark would drive "the chase car". We had decided that going south was much more appealing than going back home to the ice and snow. The boys arrived after our 7 nites at Point Mallard and took us the rest of the way. Dan wanted his Mom to ride with him in the truck and I was to ride with Mark in the "chase car". I wasn't surprised Dan wanted me to be as far away from him as possible. I think he thought I just might give him a little too much advice if I was sitting right next to him. He did a great job, and the drive from Decatur, AL to Navarre, FL was uneventful. We wanted them to spend the nite in Navarre, but Dan was determined to start heading back to Indy. They were only here long enough to set us up and left after about an hour. They drove as far as the Birmingham, AL area before getting back to Indy the next day.

Our first priority was finding an Orthopedic doctor down here. More about that in my next blog.