Worst day ever !

[RSKY]

My wife suggested a treadmill for walking 2 miles a day. You have something to hold onto.

The doctor emphasized that I not have a cane or any other support while walking. No canes, no stroller with grand baby in it, no shopping cart at grocery. Went to the grocery and Walmart last night with the wife and I think my staggering around embarrassed her. She finally told me to push the cart before I fell. She thought people were thinking I was drunk.

 

[ponytug]

I think that the idea is that, like rehabilitating stroke patients, that you are forced to retrain your brain to pay attention to the side that works.

It sounds challenging, and rich in ways that could be hard on you. So sorry. Good luck on the rehab!

All the best, Peter

 

[rontaki]

The doctor emphasized that I not have a cane or any other support while walking. No canes, no stroller with grand baby in it, no shopping cart at grocery. Went to the grocery and Walmart last night with the wife and I think my staggering around embarrassed her. She finally told me to push the cart before I fell. She thought people were thinking I was drunk.

If you are going to walk as if you were drunk, Walmart is the best store to do it in.

 

[orezok]

Back in the nineties when I was having the same problem the doctor had me stand with my back against the door to the room we were in. Then he had me look him in the face and do the drunk walk towards him. You know heel to toe and so on. I made in fine. Then he put me back against the door and close my eyes and do the drunk walk. I thought I was doing great until he caught me and I realized I was falling. Nearly took him down with me. That convinced me that he was correct in saying I had no sense of balance without my eyes. I had surgery, shunt implanted, the next day.

My wife has the same issue. She needs to look down at the ground while walking or she will lose balance. Wife considered the brain surgery, but at 83 she decided it was too risky.

 

[RSKY]

If you are going to walk as if you were drunk, Walmart is the best store to do it in.

I will agree.

Now a funny story that you will laugh at.

In 2001 my wife had eye surgery. She actually had stitches in four places on her right eyeball. And her face swelled up like she had been hit with a baseball bat. We didn't think anything about it until walking thru Walmart and this big biker type was walking down the aisle toward us. He took one look at my wife and stopped with his fists balled up like he was ready to fight. Stared at me as we walked past and I thought "Uh Oh". He thinks I blacked my wife's eye. This happened two or three times before we left the store. Seems like it was a big guy that always looked ready to jump on me. Made me nervous. She thought it funny.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

My wife has the same issue. She needs to look down at the ground while walking or she will lose balance. Wife considered the brain surgery, but at 83 she decided it was too risky.

I am supposed to look straight ahead when walking. Doctor's aide said looking down at my feet won't do me any good.

I may have to fix a neighbor's mailbox after staggering into it. I think the post was nearly rotted off before I hit it, while walking, I hit it while walking.

She is one of the younger divorcees who I've done various things around for around her yard. She has actually brought gifts for me to the house after I did something. Then her and the wife sit and talk.

 

[ponytug]

I will agree.

Now a funny story that you will laugh at.

In 2001 my wife had eye surgery. She actually had stitches in four places on her right eyeball. And her face swelled up like she had been hit with a baseball bat. We didn't think anything about it until walking thru Walmart and this big biker type was walking down the aisle toward us. He took one look at my wife and stopped with his fists balled up like he was ready to fight. Stared at me as we walked past and I thought "Uh Oh". He thinks I blacked my wife's eye. This happened two or three times before we left the store. Seems like it was a big guy that always looked ready to jump on me. Made me nervous. She thought it funny.

RSKY

Reminds me of when early in our marriage, my wife got T-boned in an intersection by a teen driver trying to escape some hulking guy he'd enraged. I got a call from her saying the EMTs were putting her in an ambulance for our local hospital and she had to go. Click.

I hustled over there, and found her in a room in the ER, being attended to. I got the gist of it (two black eyes from the air bag, some scratches and a cracked rib or two from the impact. Car was a lump of crushed metal as she'd been going 50mph when the idiot plowed into her.) and then I promptly got hauled out of the room for some pretty severe questioning. Later, I found out that my wife also got the third degree, and we were initially both mystified. It took awhile for us each to figure out what was going on.

The docs didn't get the car accident side of the story and were convinced on the basis of the injuries that this was a domestic violence case. We laughed about it later, and ever since, whenever my wife has to go into the ER, she leads with "this is a horse injury", or "the cow got me" or whatever it is, just to stave off the third degree. We laugh about it now.

Yeah, we bought the exact same model car the next day figuring any vehicle that had kept her basically in good health from a side impact accident at that speed was worth owning.

All the best,

Peter

 

[civilian]

Have a similar story to ponytug's above. During reconstruction of my wife's breast from breast cancer, one of the implants rupture and the outer covering poked through her skin, and hence the emergency doctor visit. Nothing said to her about abuse. But when I showed up later, she was pulled aside and I was left out in the office wondering. Doctor was asking her if she was hit or kicked to rupture the implant. No was her answer. Then any abuse? Then she laughed. No way. Doctor never understood what caused rupture. I think it may have been poor quality implant, but will never know. I was finally was allowed in the office. Jon

 

[ruffdog]

I am supposed to look straight ahead when walking. Doctor's aide said looking down at my feet won't do me any good.

I may have to fix a neighbor's mailbox after staggering into it. I think the post was nearly rotted off before I hit it, while walking, I hit it while walking.

She is one of the younger divorcees who I've done various things around for around her yard. She has actually brought gifts for me to the house after I did something. Then her and the wife sit and talk.

When in the shower and you close your eyes, do you have to hold the side of the shower?

 

[RSKY]

When in the shower and you close your eyes, do you have to hold the side of the shower?

My shower is a 1970's style fiberglass one piece unit. (Next big job is to get it torn out and replaced with a walk in unit). When shampooing my hair I put one hand above my head and press on the ceiling of the unit. If I don't I'm afraid I will fall out of the shower.

This whole ear problem has changed my relationship with my grandkids, especially the nearly nine year old grandson. When they had to haul me out of church on August 10th, then transport me to an ER in an ambulance, it shook him up badly. Suddenly granddaddy wasn't indestructible.

All five grands were here yesterday for Sunday lunch plus a seventeen year old (son in law's niece) who is 'at home' here with us. Every time I got up and walked around one of the bunch was hovering near me. Took me a few minutes to figure it out but the smirks on my daughter's faces finally clued me in. The grands were watching out for the feeble old granddaddy. Ready to catch him if he fell. Besides all that as usual I laughed so hard during the meal my sides hurt. The oldest two had double dated the night before and p1ssed off both their dates for sitting next to each other in the movie and talking all the way thru it.

Life goes on!

RSKY