I won't laundry list  everything thats wrong with me.  I noticed most of ya are over 50.  As we get older we tend to not be as agile as we were when we were 20.  It pisses me off to see someone jusmp out of a 4 wheel truck thats 3 foot off the ground, parking in the handicap parking.  I hate those that abuse the HCP slots, using some other family members sticker when they are not there.

Although you might be in a cast for a couple weeks it isn't what I'd consider "crippled", although that's a very pejorative term.  You are temporarily inconvenienced.  You should be thankful it isn't worse and you can look at it as an eye opening experience, like you've pointed to.  It gives you a taste of what it's like for those less fortunate than yourself.

All you "cripples" should get together and have a good old Cage Match Cripple Fight to the death.  The winner can take the name "The Crippler".
 

Look up cripple or crippled in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A cripple is a person or animal with a physical disability, particularly one who is unable to walk because of an injury or illness.

So I guess from the above and everuthing else I read using the word crippled is correct.

If I was close enough to support any of you, you would have my help anytime you wanted it. I'm well aware of what the work disabled and handicaped means. Took care of my wife with no help for 2 years before she passed. she couldn't walk, talk, go to the bathroom, etc. 100% depending on me. Again wish I was close enough to visit, help or support any of you that needed it. Very hard subject for me and my feelings run all over the place with memories.I'm with you all in thought at least.

 Ok PO...In that case I got your back as well! And that Choco-late Oxicontin Grande sounds awesome! With some tramadol sprinkles too.

And Karen...keep us informed regarding your progress.

I'll keep you updated, for sure, WG. 

I'm pretty fortunate, because I heal fast.  The orthopedic surgeon asked if I was Indian, because (apparently) Indians heal faster than Caucasians, and the healing that's already taken place was of an extent he would have expected from an Indian. 

The other good thing is that I've realized health care here is a lot more working-poor-friendly than Florida.  My daughter, who has chronic back pain and endometriosis and no health insurance, was treated in the ER, given a prescription for tramadol (which helped!) and given a list of the free clinics locally for her followup care.  Her ER experiences in Florida were not nearly as caring (grilled from the moment she walked in the door about payment, treated like a lost cause and sent on her way with aftercare instructions for OTC ibuprofen).

When we first arrived here at the beginning of the month, I was not happy about being here.  I felt trapped, I cried...had to have a friend of mine who lives 30 miles from here come over and talk me off the ledge.  This is a severe down-grade in my lifestyle.  It didn't help to break my foot the second day I was here.  However, the longer I'm here, the more I realize this is good place for me to try to regroup. 

I can understand peoples frustration, I have had knee probs for a long time and after 3 or 4 knee arthroscopys the next step is for a knee replacment , I get the same old story "your too young" and they wont do it till I an 75 , well I have now worked out what I will be telling the half witted dr at the hospital, and I am not joking either , I will go buy a chain saw and cut the bloody thing off if I have to just to stop the pain desprate  times call for desprate measure

Why are you posting pictures of someone's bald head?

That's it.... and having no money to speak of.  Oh, and NOT being a high profile sports star.

I even say: "Hey, my sister had her first hip replacement at 28... a ceramic hip that's still going strong 29 years later."... but I still get the "you're too young" thing.  She's had her second done for over 12 months now [57 when it was done].... in the same system I'm asking to be considered, and basically I was born the wrong sex.  Statistics show that women are considered for joint replacement surgery much earlier than men are here in Australia... and given the refusals/denials I've received over the last few years I have resigned myself to the fact I can't force them to do it and will have to wait.

WG, sorry I missed this before... got called for dinner....

Actually, Steve, while my situation is different to yours, believe me, I understand... I really do.   I too have days on end where I feel totally useless, like living with the constant pain, discomfort, nausea and restricted mobility is way too much, but then I think of the alternative, and that isn't too appealing, either, so I keep plugging away in spite of it, fighting on regardless.

Yeah, a hip replacement would improve matters, but that possibility is the only thing I have to look forward to because I know my spinal condition is inoperable and can only deteriorate. When I awaken some days it can take quite a while before I can get out of bed due to the pain in my lower back, the fact that my legs feel heavy and just don't want to work.  However, I still thank my lucky stars, pain and all.... cos when there is no pain and my legs don't feel heavy anymore... anything at all, well then I'm truly fucked.  

Thing is, I can still get out of bed.... which is a friggin' bonus cos my waterworks are on the blink as well.  Yup, I sometimes have to get up twice three time a night to go pee... which can be a problem.  On those nights when I'm feeling mobility challenged I have to guesstimate when I'll need to pee and set the alarm so I'm getting the legs working BEFORE I have to go.  And no, I haven't slept through the alarm.... as yet.

Another bonus to still being able to get up.... bed pans!!!!  Yes, I know, my reputation precedes me, and you all have this vision of starkers flying around the room on a jet propelled bed pan, but that is NOT the reason I think they're confounded contraptions.... tho I may have to consider it as a mode of transport if things don't go well.  No, when you have a bad hip and suffered serious pelvic injuries in the past, a bed pan is the last thing you want to be riding.  Nope, I'd rather be going to the bog, thank you. Not only that, I had a catastrophe or three with bed pans while I was in hospital up in traction.... with my arse slipping off and the recoil from the inner-spring mattress propelling the bed pan high in the air.

Okay, okay, it wasn't quite that bad, but they're still a confounded contraption I'd rather not use... same with those pee bottles they give you in hospital.  I had a couple overflow on me... well NOT on me, but you know what I mean. Anyhow, I know that I shouldn't have gone down the pub with a nurse pushing me in a wheelchair [yeah,they had to take me out regularly cos I went nuts with the confinement] but it was better than matron catching me in the nurses quarters again.  Did I mention that it was a long abstinen.... er, confinement?

OH, and WG, here's to a doctor pulling a rabbit out of a hat for you... to improve you lot... A LOT.

 damm and I thought I put up piccys of my crook knee

That top pic looks like someone laying down and half their ass is showing---just say-in. Feel so much better now knowing it's just a knee.

You're disappointed. Admit it. 

I'm in the same boat as most of you...4 lortab 10 a day and 30mg morphine for break through pain.

Pain sucks but at least it lets you know your alive...besides the alternative sucks worse.

There's one plus though....I get the good parking. 

I also haven't had to pay for parking in years.

Me either. But the damn handicap passes are getting expensive. I gotta find a new supplier.

He IS!  In fact, you know where DB goes to get his thrills [rocks off]?? 

The waiting room at Ashley & Martin Hair Studios.

While everybody's sitting around waiting for their hair transplant... DB's walking around perving on their chrome domes.

Apparently this smooth orb fascination is a replacement... an alternative to openly perving at boobs and the associated embarrassment at his age.

So yeah, if you're in Ashely & Martin and some bloke's with a lewd look on his face is perving at your naked sconce... it's not one of their hair technicians but Dave Bax, really.

To be honest, Smedley, you saveloy sucker [weiner sucker US]. that really sucks. 

With a mind as devious and twisted as yours, honestly, sunshine, you should be printing your own and cutting out the middle-man.

I dunno, have I gotta learn you lot everything?

When it cones to the devious and the dastardly, Smedley, you should be at the top of the game... but no, there you are , languishing in a pool of suck juice and going "oh woe is me, my dealer's run out of tickets."... and that, sunshine, is totally unacceptable... TOTALLY freakin' unacceptable, you hear me?

Orright, here's what you're gonna do!  First off, you're going to suck it up and grow a set... then you're gonna open up your office suite and create your own.... YOUR OWN free parking tickets... get it... then you're going to fire up your HP 3-in-One and print the bastards.

And if I hear any more of this sniveling from you I'm gonna send in the heavy artillery... and believe me, you don't wanna piss Doc off, not when he's in a 'shopping' mood.

The only cripples here are emotional cripples...

The worst I've had was a broken ankle that they put back together with screws and metal plates; the husband is a different story. He has osteoporosis with fractures, meaning the last five vertebrae of his spine are cracked and any wrong movement, bending over or even sitting down can add another fracture. He's in constant pain and has both hydrocodone along with Lyrica to deal with it but afterwards he's pretty much stoned. He also had two operations before the osteoporosis was discovered, the last one a spinal fusion with two titanium rods on either side of the lower vertebrae, but he keeps going without a whimper. Much.

That hurts my feelings. I don't think I love you anymore.

PO, you suck. I thought the talk we had was privite.

Oh.

Yeah.

Sorry.

So, I shouldn't have posted the whole thing in my blog?????

Your comment whether you were Indian has to do with medical coverage and not any ability to heal. My wife is a member of the Cherokee Nation which is located in northeast Oklahoma. She gets her medical care paid for by the Cherokee Nation.

You are in Oklahoma now which was formerly called Indian Territory. You may think that the United States consists of just 50 states, but there are probably as many Indian Nations that are independent entities within the United States. Take some time to learn how our federal and state governments forced the Native Americans from their ancestral homes by the greed of the white man for land. They were then forced to relocate to the Indian Territories on marches that would make the Bataan Death March look like a vacation.

If you happen to be in northeast Oklahoma, take the time to see the Trail Of Tears historical drama in Tahlequah that documents the relocation of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia to Oklahoma in the 1840's where thousands died from mistreatment and the wilderness conditions.