Independence from Chronic Pain and Life's Challenges

So I FINALLY return with a blog post this July 4th, "Independence Day" --- it's been since the LAST holiday, the kick-off for summer in the US, Memorial Day, that I've posted a blog as I'm concentrating on bolstering content in the Forum area of Lumigrate this summer.  "Polishing what is there" so to speak.  I also have had the pleasure of spending some time learning and making contacts for future developments within another important area related to aging, end of life, and hospice and paliative care.  As you've seen there are new forums from Petie and Karen related to occupational therapy, and Aimee Shannon and Dr. Jerry Rand are preparing content for their sections on Lumigrate.com.  Yenta's working on something about drug-sniffing dogs to go hand in hand with things we're developing with Dr. Rand related to narcotics education.  We even have a new user at Lumigrate who is a well-known dog trainer, and we can only hope he'll enjoy Yenta's pieces about her relative who was instrumental in canine training back East.

So THAT is what I've beeing doing for the first phase of summer.  A NEW forum from local PT Kari Mullaney, who specializes in neurological rehabilitation is in it's formative stages, and local DAOM April Schulte-Barclay's writing something about migraine and acupuncture and Chinese medicine for her Forum. Most of these things take some input and facilitation from me, so it's a process.  And it's SUMMER, and things just go slowly as so many are off on holiday and 'doing summer things'. 

As I've mentioned a bit in the past, my father's been diagnosed and treated in a very allopathic way for Lewey Bodies Dementia and I'm along for that ride and doing my best to balance my resources, which for all of us are time, energy, money. It's a wonderful experience and when I see all the good adaptive equipment he has, some of it the hospice people have never seen, I realize how MUCH MORE I have to share and develop.  I'll be meeting with the owner of YouCan Toocan in Denver where we've obtained most of his adaptive equipment over the years; they ship anywhere in the United States currently.  So MORE on that later in the summer!

I returned this past week to Grand Junction just in time to get up early on Tuesday and attend a really wonderful inservice about sleep apnea (look in Forums under Sleep / Sleep Apnea if you're interested) -- again, focusing more on the Forum areas lately than blogs.  As I settled into hanging around home this holiday weekend, I grabbed a copy of the Grand Junction Free Press and saw a photo of a man in a wheelchair by the local hospital's helicopter on flight deck at the hospital.  I'd been fortunate to be touring at the grand opening open house just as one of their spiritual leaders performed the blessing for the flight crew and facility/equipment.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time.... 

The article was by Seth Anderson, who started the outdoor clothing company Loki in years past.  I had driven past their store every day for four years and never stopped in and this last spring for some reason pulled in on my way back from meeting with a local hospital/clinic about some things we're hoping to collaborate on in the future.  It turns out it was Seth who had been in the news recently having survived an avalanche, which I thought was a really interesting coincidence.  I remember when the 911 tape was released how POLITE he was and 'together' mentally, so to read this story he has written about the extent of his injuries further earns my respect and appreciation for him.  

I've copied and pasted the article below to encourage as many people to read it AND put a link at the bottom if you're interested in seeing the photos and looking at this amazing local 'independent' newspaper.   I also have set up some links to photos of our local Search and Rescue fundraiser from this week, as they were involved in Seth's rescue AND that fundraiser is to take people climbing to the top of our Independence Monument in the Colorado National Monument.  Last year two of my friends went and the PT who I largely credit with fixing my neck in the past is the leader of the Search and Rescue climbing team (if I understand and remember correctly). I have photos on my facebook of a hike the winter before last where I went to the Monument's base and changed my facebook profile photo today to it just for grins. 

While I'm currently not feeling like I'd be up to such a challenge of cllimbing the rock, I hope that in the future I will be.  I did buy a climbing harnass way on sale at REI a couple of years ago when I was seeing my health gradually and consistelty return and was hoping to get back to ALL that I used to do (which included single track mountain biking, in-line skating (on Rollerblades so I'll say 'Rollerblading'), hiking and skiing... I've gotten back to everything that doesn't involve wheels, and I hope in the future my recovery will continue and I'll be able to risk being injured and will get back on my beloved bicycle and skates.  I hope Seth connects with others who have had to modify their lives and activities as well.  After the hiking season I had last year I was hopeful (as it was the best I'd been in 12 years). 

I hope that everyone who reads this, including Seth if he does (as I'll let him know of this blog post), will keep working very hard on becoming Independent as possible from chroic illness and get back to what I jokingly refer to as 'chronic wellness'.  Here's the article he wrote -- and I've bolded the parts I thought were most wonderful for the people who follow Lumigrate's information. 

3 months after surviving an avalanche - an update by Seth Anderson

What happened? There I was living out my dream. I was skiing the intimidating Thunderbird Couloir that stands watch over the Colorado desert valley hamlet called Grand Junction. My St. Patrick's Day adventure was going great. Off the summit by noon was happening.

I felt so strong climbing more than 5,000 feet up. Skiing down I tore strong, confident turns on the icy crust coating the “T-bird.” Then the icy layer cracked open with a loud roar. I was immediately swallowed face down into a violent, swirling and stinging mass of snow. I swam to get upright as the avalanche rumbled down 500 feet of the steep northwest face of the Grand Mesa. I was miraculously spit out before the last 50-foot drop could bury me 20-feet under. A tree saved me from flopping over more rocky terrain.

I laid with legs swelling until search and rescue rappelled me to a helicopter ride to St. Mary's Hospital. My broken legs were salvaged by 21 titanium screws, full-length femur and tibia rods, two fibula plates, and two left patella fixators.

THREE MONTHS TO STAND

Three months later, the pain ebbs and flows between dull reminders to sharp tinges and tweaks. My strength is gradually returning. Muscle spasms wake me out of the roaring avalanche that rips through all of my senses. My body constantly reminds me that I'm lucky to have survived the violence.

I spent a month in the hospital, mostly battling the waterproof bedding and resultant heat and waking night sweats. Two weeks of physical therapy were focused on improving range of motion; my stiff knees refused to bend back more than 70 degrees. It was assumed that part of the limitation was mental blockage. Thrashed muscles on strike, refusing to cooperate out of fear of being thrown back into harm's way. The anguish of recovering and healing from my strange avalanche disaster has been more painful than the quick and dirty deed that caused it.

Every night I rub my scraggy, knotted-up legs before I can nod off to rest. I wake to tears almost every morning to rickety-stiffness that racks every cell south of my hips — hips that I'm really lucky didn't crack, too.

Few in my medical circle want to let me in on the reality that the bones will heal, but the avalanche gave my body and specifically my leg muscles a traumatic thrashing they won't soon forget. It seems the surgery itself added burden.

TWO STEPS BACK

A 24-hour bug put me back in the hospital for five days to fight a serious infection over Memorial weekend. It set me back to the point of not being able to even stand. Beyond the setback, I'm expected to take it easy for up to a year and a half, and slowly return to as close to normal as an unfinished Steve Austin (Bionic Man).

My multiple leg fractures are in “ossification”; calcifying functionally but growing irregularly outside the confines of bone structure. It's those wiry, frayed ropes and wicked knots that used to be my quads and calf muscles that pain me as much as broken and bruised bones. I didn't know bones could bruise? My literally black-and-blue joints are textbook examples of skeletal contusion (my attempt at medical jargon).

GRACEFUL FUTURE

On the bright side I'm alive. I needed to slow down and enjoy life and family anyway, and realize how fragile life can be. Life is especially fragile flying down a 500-foot cliff-studded, forested slope in a whirling mass of snow hurling over ledges at terminal avalanche speed, slamming trees, boulders and eating pineneedle debris instead of air.

I fought death to swim upward and stay upright. My legs (better than my head and vitals) took the blows and now they're paying me back, with interest. Years. But I'm alive, damnit.

The sad thing is, when I look at the astro-bills that it cost to save me and make me whole, it's almost as frightening to a kid fleeing from Clifton Village North as being swallowed by that avalanche.

If I didn't have insurance, a great wife, strong family and amazing always-there friends, I might wish I weren't around. My dreams would have been flattened in the least. And yet I wake every morning, hoping and trying to make life a little better in the small ways that I can.

Thank you all for being there with me when I needed it the most.

Mardy's note -- Thank YOU, Seth, for sharing with so many through your words. We're GRATE-FULL to have your experiences and that you were brave enough to share as you did with this piece, and hope you help many others by my including it here today.  ~~ Mardy

Link to wonderful article in the Grand Junction Free Press by Seth Anderson whose lower extremities were badly injured three months ago in an avalanche --

www.gjfreepress.com/article/20100702/COMMUNITY_NEWS/100709971/1076&parentprofile=1059

Link to article about this year's climb and raising of the flag on Wednesday: www.gjfreepress.com/article/20070705/COMMUNITY_NEWS/70704012&parentprofile=search

www.gjfreepress.com/article/20070705/COMMUNITY_NEWS/70704012&parentprofile=search

Photograph of Independence Monument from the Free Press' archives: apps.gjfreepress.com/utils/photogalleries/ui/publicgalleryphoto.php