The "Nada" Farm Chronicles

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January 2015

So it seems the next surgery is pretty soon....

Due to an "incompetent rotator cuff", you have to be kidding me! Oh well it turns out the Rotator Cuff which "looked good" upon inspection, when I had the first surgery on my left shoulder... Wasn't ! I was actually pretty surprised the rotator cuff looked good, It hadn't worked in over ten years, and the Rot that was what was left of my left shoulder joint had just succumbed to, well I'm not sure, I never got to see it, but the X-rays looked pretty awful. The arrow points to the notch that isn't supposed to be there, but is, and catches so the arm can't raise above horizontal. Caused a few mobility problems, of course Workers Comp said there is nothing wrong with this shoulder.

Anyway I had the anatomically correct, shoulder joint, total replacement. And I was as good as I could be, about not doing anything until I was supposed to. I was ridiculously compliant. But it seems the "McCurse" lives on. And, as I explained last page, the two week rule was in effect. And as this shows the new parts looked good. (In this, X-ray, you can even see the metal plates holding my neck together, I'll never get on another Airplane.)

I will be having another surgery to try to regain use of my left arm (in a more than parallel world) toward the end of January, where the "not anatomically correct" repair may be a necessity. I still hold a differing opinion on what the real issue is, but as the doctor (whom I still have perfect confidence in) was about to embark on a vacation, I decided to bring my opinions to the table, a little closer to the date of the surgery.

The biggest issue I have with any of this, is the loss of time in the garage. Now due to the fact it's actually winter, I mean the cold part, I am not as miffed about it, as I might otherwise be, but the fact remains. I do have a number of winter projects that I had hoped to be making some headway on by now, and instead I am starting the entire "year of therapy" all over again! As previously stated, the lack of deep and ever present bone pain that was immediately eliminated has been worth it all, to this point. But I had hoped to get to a couple of the projects that I had lined up for the winter anyway. SORRY BOB!

UPDATE: the surgery went well, I didn't die, I did have the same bruising "That no one can explain!" Yet again. And this time I left it in the sling for a total of a day, yep one freakin day! And it isn't going to heal into a lump this time. If it will go there, I'm moving it there, and if they didn't tack it down well enough, it'll heal anyway.

And it worked, the first visit to Dr Hill after, was a success, It was 11 days after the surgery, and as he watched, I nearly touched the back of my head, and raised my arm farther above my head than it had in years, I was moving so well he turned to the half dozen future doctors that shadow him, and said "O K This guy isn't normal. You aren't going to see this result this fast, he's not normal." Chris took that to mean something else I think, because she was agreeing too much, and really smiling, about it. He did say he was really happy that it worked out like this, as he was concerned after the first surgery failed so completely, but it really didn't, it removed the pain. And this time I regained much of the range and still no pain. And I'm not done yet, still stretching it and just started to build a little strength. Because it is explained to me that if we get a good "range of motion" established first, then the strength can be developed through out that entire range. Makes sense to me, so now I stretch, and when they say, I strengthen. And an additional little gem of knowledge, that I somehow missed in our talks about the total reverse shoulder replacement, is the 15 pound limit. I really didn't have much choice in what I was going to do after the failure of the rotator cuff to rotate, but i'm sure there was no mention of a 15 pound limit (Now boys and girls, I don't want you to worry, so as I'm writing this almost a full year after the fact, {{ I have been extraordinarily busy, more details to follow}} I know that it all works out OKAY in the end so DON'T PANIC!!! )

I have four major building projects, (Spring and Summer) the same number of vehicular projects (Winter and Spring), and a couple inventions (anytime would work) that I would like to get to work on. And I'm no spring chicken anymore, so if I'm going to get anything done, I have to get about getting it started at least. I believe in my projects keeping me going. I know as soon as I decide to sit in front of the "boob tube" and eat in relative comfort every day, I figure I've got about a year before I croak. I need to keep moving, however painful or inefficient it is, or the end is nye. I've seen it too often. it's almost as inevitable as the smokers cough, slow down too long and regaining momentum is nearly impossible. Anyway enough of such considerations, I have projects!

If you remember back on page.??... Man, I was sure I did a page on it, when I fixed the furnace in the little house? But after checking over all the pages quickly, it seems I didn't.

So, READERS DIGEST, the furnace in the little house, it quit working. I took a bunch of parts off it, and found that, the trick where they draw mosquitoes with a propane tank, in the summer, as a bug deterrent? Well, it seems to work with the stupid Lady Bugs that infest everything each spring.

So imagine the pilot light on your furnace, mines electric, so it's only lit when there's an imminent need for heat, but in between there is a residual Propane odor present. And the Lady Bugs like it. And they are crafty little explorers, finding a way into just about everything, including the little hood over the pilot light. ( circled in Orange) Where they are when the furnace fires off and eventually there is a plug of scorched Lady Bug carcasses occluding the pilot light. So it won't light, the thermocouple does it's job and shuts down the fuel source to the heaters and no flames, no heat, lines freeze, and Ray finds a soaked basement when he goes to check on something else.

Curse the Lady Bugs!

Of course, as the furnace continues to cycle for days, the valve that actually provides the gas for the main heat burners gets quite a workout. To the point, of a really stupid design of tiny aluminum fingers/brushes get over heated, over vibrated, and finally break off in the main valve. This kills the main valve for the homeowner, and thus the entire furnace. Because the main valve (circled in yellow) is plumbed in at the factory and so much trouble to un plumb, and re plumb that a furnace repair guy would take about two days to fix it and cost about $1600.00 not counting the parts and meanwhile the freezing continues. So a new furnace is the usual answer, about $600.00 and a day at $800.00 to install it and you save $200.00 and a day of freezing. Or you illegally fix it yourself for $65.00 with an eBay part, and pay to heat the basement with a space heater for a day or two until the part arrives. You can guess which way I went with it. Now I'm basing these estimates on what was told last time it broke, about two years or so ago. When the guy told me you can't buy the parts I needed, you have to replace the valve body in it's entirety, and that costs two days... yada, yada, yada. And everybody (in furnace repair) charges at least $100.00 an hour, and more yadas. It's no wonder there are so many outside wood burners around here, even at at $5000, a crack, they are more user friendly than the trouble free Propane units like city folk got. But that is water and gas under the bridge. Those big propane tanks we always worried about in fire fighting classes are a real treat to deal with on a daily basis. They can only be filled to 80% as they are 500 gallon tanks, that means 400 gallons of Liquid Propane. They are not supposed to be allowed to run under 20% which is 100 gallons and depending which crook you deal with they cost from $1.29 to $3.40 a gallon to fill. And if you heat your house to 68 degrees you need two tanks for a winter like this last one. And a fill is 300 gallons to get that rate. Do the math, 300 gallons is all you can buy according to their rules, and when you live at the top of a 300 foot ice covered driveway, some weeks we are not accessible. Can't wait till the basement is done. But that story is a few pages on it's own.

Now back to the shoulder, I am trying to retrain muscles that have worked in a certain form for the last 62 years, to do something entirely different, with caveats that if I dislocate it, it means another surgery. And I have at least two more of those I need this year, as I have already met my deductible. Which wouldn't be an issue if the City of Akron met it's promises about our retirement health care, but that is a 15 year battle in the courts, that we have only won every step of, but the city has lawyers and they need something to do. I wish them all slow painful deaths. And how does Dastardly Don keep getting reelected? What a travesty! Okay, back to the shoulder, In attempting to "be good" I have been house bound and useless, I have decided being in the garage entices me to do things so I have avoided it altogether, all winter long. I have been watching movies and sitting and eating and sitting and watching movies, and this week we went out to clear a portion of Chris's garden of the weeds from last year, and it nearly killed me! I can't believe how weak and sore, and did I mention weak and sore, I was? After only a few hours of picking up rotting leaves and such and wheel barrowing it and dumping it I was nearly paralyzed with pain. Another week of this and I'm a dead man. I mean sitting around, And the infinite wisdom of the legal asses in the state government who cut my drug availability to keep me from ever again being able to control the pain. Have compounded the need to take a chance on a wheel chair, versus the pain I experience when I try to act like a normal human, at least my version of what's normal for me. So the push is on to get a doctor to cut me and fix it or finish me. I'll keep you posted on my progress.