injury healing

It has been a very rough past two weeks. On May 24th as we were preparing to leave our house on the semi, in the process of loading our tractor, I fell backward off the upper step of the cab square on my back. My glasses went flying. I bumped my head a little. It was carelessness. I thought I was on the lower step. When I stepped backward to the ground, it was not there, so I fell... The wind was knocked out of me. I laid there for a long time, but finally got up and walked into the basement. Everything seemed okay, so I didn't seem to need a doctor. But I was sore, and there was one bad spot in my upper back on the right side. If that muscle got activated, it was excruciating. So I'd avoid it and move very carefully. Peggy had to do all the outside work that I would normally do. I didn't want to step down out of the cab if I could avoid it. Driving was okay the next day, but other than that I just laid on the bunk. Tuesday night I had a violent reaction to the chicken I ate. It was the first food I'd eaten since Sunday because I usually fast on Mondays & Tuesdays. I assumed I got food poisoning from the chicken, but Peggy ate most of that piece of chicken and had no reaction. The effect was that I totally lost my appetite. Almost all food was nauseating to me – the sight or smell of it. I threw up twice Tuesday night. Then I was really knocked out with a sore back and nausea for the next two days. If I did try to give Peggy a break from driving, I had no endurance and could not sit there more than a couple hours. Friday I went to a clinic in Urbana, IL. The doctor probed and asked questions and was satisfied that I would be fine. He said I had bruised, cracked or broken a rib, and there is no way to treat it and I'd be fine sooner or later, depending on how bad the damage to the rib. So I felt reassured. And the back pain was getting much better by then, and I was starting to be able to stomach a little food. Then we got home for the weekend. Peggy was doing most of the work for both of us; all I could do was sleep and maybe drive a little. Peggy remains focused on getting work done. She keeps a very positive attitude and forges ahead. She was a little merciless to me. Once I'd show a little sign of life, she'd try to put me to work. I was expecting sympathy, but no... I think she was trying to keep me from atrophy – do all that you CAN do... But especially at first, the slightest movement might send me through the roof with pain, so I ignored Peggy's request to reach above my head for her chips, or reach down to the floor or into the cooler or find the paper towels. Last Sunday, 6 days after injury, it was Memorial Weekend. We had picked up 3 grandkids in Urbana to bring home. I didn't mind. I just didn't get involved much. We had about 15 people at the house after church. I still was eating very selectively and had little endurance, so I'd visit a little and then go find a bed to lie down for awhile. Gradually since the accident, we began to realize that the “food poisoning” symptoms of nausea and zero appetite, must've actually been due to the accident, not bad chicken, because it went on far too long. Now I'm practically back to normal, except the rib is not done healing yet – though it's very much improved. It's amazing how the body heals itself. That blow affected my entire body and profoundly interrupted my focus, appetite, digestion, bowels... I had some of the best talks with God last week! Memorial Day morning, I still felt terrible and weak, so mentioned the possibility to Peggy that I should not go out on the truck with her that week. We were under a load already, bound for Lake Havasu City, AZ – on the CA border. And there was a lot of work to do before she could leave - getting the vendor checks ready for the antique mall, which is my job usually but Peggy had to do it this time. Finally by the end of Monday, I agreed that I needed to help drive the 1700 miles to AZ to get it in by Wednesday, so I did go out with Peggy on the truck. In fact I drove all through the night Monday while Peggy got some much needed sleep. We got to Lake Havasu City very early Wed morning! And now almost 2 weeks after the accident, I'm 87% healed and feeling good. Some think I may've had a concussion. I'm still going to get checked by my regular doctor next week when we get home. On the lighter side, en route to AZ, we stopped on Tuesday evening at Sky City, Home of the Big Rig – 50 miles west of Albuquerque. It's a casino that caters to truckers more than anyplace I've ever seen. CDL holders get 25% off at the restaurant, and there is a special Winners' Circle desk where drivers get $10 loaded onto a card to gamble with. This promotional money can only be used at certain slot machines. We had been at Sky City a few weeks earlier, gotten our $10 on our cards, but didn't use it at the time. So this time we got another $10, plus $15 because it was Tuesday – senior citizens day. We each had $35 to gamble. I grew up naïve about gambling – inexperienced. However, Peggy grew up in the gambling sub-culture. Her whole family would do this together – aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother, all together to the horse track or casino. So I'd rather turn my card over to Peggy and let her do whatever she wants with all of it, and I'll just watch. She put my card in a machine and pretty quickly won $31.60. When all the money on the card was used, we quit. Wow - $31.60. Great! Then she took her card to a penny machine. Each press of the button cost $0.75. She went from $35. all the way to single digits, pressing that button over & over with no reward. But finally before she was all done, the numbers began to line up a few times. She won about $61. on that card. Cool! We walked away with over $90, ate at the restaurant for $10, including tip, and put $80 into our fuel tanks. But the real prize is still coming on June 13. We're counting on being the winners of a gorgeous 2009 Kenworth tractor, which is sitting outside the casino. We saw it this time and last time and began weeks ago to set our hopes on it. (jest – or half-jest) The drawing is June 13. Sky City gives away a semi tractor every six months. Generally, being in casinos is creepy to me. All the jangling & noise drives me up the wall – it never stops. It is not exciting. At least at Sky City I like all the round Indian people who work there. They seem nice & sweet, and they're all large men & women with round faces and smooth skin. I was very glad to get out of there with extra cash to drive through the night. I am writing from home. We went from Phoenix to Ft. Wayne and picked up a trailer on Friday near Terre Haute, IN bound for Jacksonville, FL. We are home now because it was not far out of route to stop here for a day, and this trailer cannot be delivered till Monday morning.