I'm Falling Apart

I'm terribly sorry that I haven't added anything to my blog in a while, but there is a good reason why. I had total hip replacement surgery on my right hip June 12, 2007. I am slowly but slowly becoming "The Bionic Man". This makes a total of 8 major surgeries that I have had since 1970, 4 of them since 2001!

I had a total knee replacement on my right knee in July 2003, a total hip replacement on my left hip in October 2004 and now a total hip replacement on my right hip in June 2007. I'm a big "hit" at airport and hospital security stations. This hip replacement is considerably more painful than the last one. I don't know if it's because I put the operation off too long or because of my age or a combination of both.

I honestly and truly believe that the joint replacements are a direct result from injuries that I sustained while playing Jr. High and High School football in the late 1960's and early 1970's. I'm from a small town in Southeast Texas where football is almost a religion and every kid dreams of getting a college scholarship and then playing professional football. If you were even an average player, you had to play offense, defense, and special teams because there weren't enough good players to play. If you got hurt, you were usually told to "rub some dirt on it" or "put some ice on it" or "shake it off and get back in there ". I had 2 knee surgeries in High School (1970 & 1971) and 2 knee surgeries in 1978 to remove torn cartildge because of this kind of coaching.

So, here I am today almost 52 years old, I can barely walk, I work in a warehouse (We'll see if I'm still able to do that in about 10 weeks) and I am trying to raise a 5 year old son with leukemia (He's doing great by the way). Things could be worse, they can always be worse and sometimes they do get worse. I'm just thankful that I'm still alive and able to play bass guitar and help take care of my family. If it weren't for my wife, Terry, I'm positive that I would either be in an assissited living home or be dead right now. I love her more than she could EVER know.