april ...... i was at a delivery , getting unloaded and steped out of my truck wrong. My left foot missing the top step and going down as i had grabbed the hand grip bars my right foot stayed on the top step, causing my knee to crunch together , feeling a pop .. that smarted. i finished what i was doing with a lil hobble and when done drove somewhere to park and play the waiting game. I fell asleep , woke at 2/3 amish and omg my knee had swelled and i couldn't even stand on it hardly at all. this all happend in Iowa land .... i had a good friend whom lived a lil over 100 miles away ..... sooo i just knew i would need some help .... i managed to drive to her town and she came to meet me at the truck stop , and took me to the ER ..... everything went down hill from there. I started getting treated for my knee injury , ice, pills whole 9 yards.... then ended up with a staph infection in my blood stream! how did that happen ?? have NO earthly idea , cuz i had no cuts or anything like that. by mothers day weekend i was in the hospital for 5 days , of them trying to get my temp down that kept shooting up over 100 to 104 for a few days .... during that time , i was developing pain in my shoulders/ upper arms and a small lil lump on my collar bone .... when i asked about it all 2 docs and nurses all said .." Oh its most likely from you using the walker them muscles are not use to that. I didn't know i had a muscle on my collar bone ....... ok
well it got worse , by memorial weekend my upper arms / mostly left shoulder and upper arm .. got so painful i could hardly move them, plus the lump got bigger.. it was so painful to the point of tears, so i requested we go to the ER that monday night , i couldn't even dress myself ... that was so awkward and i never in my life felt so helpless.
So 2 shots in my ahh butt .and my arms felt great , hell i even made breakfast the next morning and a nice dinner as the sorriness slowly came back and i went for a follow up on this whole situation. Finally a 3rd different doc who was doing my follow up and seeing what i been thru said , wow this is very serious ms henderson .... im like NO kidding ..... so he strongly refered me to a specialist in Des moines which was 35 miles from my friends place. Sooo off we went that same day..... and thats where they kept me there for around 8 days i think. I ended up with surgeries on my knee , collar bone and upper left arm and 3 and half months of strong antibiotics IV inserted , thru a pic line that stayed in my arm all that time. It was finally removed in middle of aug. and I was kept on antibiotics pill form till end of sept.
By 4th of July weekend i was healthy enough to drive myself home back to Buffalo NY . We rented a car and off I went .. my left arm was a lil sore .. my right arm was fine.... my friend was a little nervous at 1st wondering if id be ok to drive .... i just laughed and said . IM a truck driver.. hell yes i can drive and besides i was soo soo anxious to get home to be free of the hospitals and being cooped up for months and sleeping in a recliner. for a while there it was extremely painful for me to sleep flat in a bed , the pressure from my upper body to my left shoulder made the pain worse.
during all this time ....... i kept my owner updated , and the truck was parked in a safe place.. i had NO idea how long I was going to be down for. He never asked how i was or even sent a card. JUst was more concerned about the truck .... my friend went and got all my things out of it , so he could come and pick it up. I would never ever abandon a truck ... in all the years I been driving for panther I always took good care of the trucks i was in , and stayed loyal to the owners i drove for , and stayed out there on the road for months at a time. I do miss it , i miss the $$ too. ( note : yes I did ok as a solo and had NO complaints on my pay
)
I can go back to work .... well so thats what a couple of my docs are saying .... work mens comp has been a hassle to deal with. But I know the owner I was working for at the time will not hire me back.
my injured knee is slowly getting better ... but it can be painful when i 1st go to stand when sitting for a while.... my left arm is about bk to normal. i do not need a walker anymore and only use a cane or walking stick when im going to walk a lot like at a mall or festival kinda thing.
My Primary doc wants to put me on disability. * sigh* ...... so im checking into learning to work office computer programs.
ive had thoughts of applying for a small business grant and maybe just getting my own truck.
anyways
Christmas season is here.... and sorry to all the fellow Panther drivers ... I wont be out there sticking them chocolate mint candy canes to your windows this yr .. lol ..
soo thats whats been happening in my world ...... everyone have a nice holiday and stay safe out there.
well it got worse , by memorial weekend my upper arms / mostly left shoulder and upper arm .. got so painful i could hardly move them, plus the lump got bigger.. it was so painful to the point of tears, so i requested we go to the ER that monday night , i couldn't even dress myself ... that was so awkward and i never in my life felt so helpless.
So 2 shots in my ahh butt .and my arms felt great , hell i even made breakfast the next morning and a nice dinner as the sorriness slowly came back and i went for a follow up on this whole situation. Finally a 3rd different doc who was doing my follow up and seeing what i been thru said , wow this is very serious ms henderson .... im like NO kidding ..... so he strongly refered me to a specialist in Des moines which was 35 miles from my friends place. Sooo off we went that same day..... and thats where they kept me there for around 8 days i think. I ended up with surgeries on my knee , collar bone and upper left arm and 3 and half months of strong antibiotics IV inserted , thru a pic line that stayed in my arm all that time. It was finally removed in middle of aug. and I was kept on antibiotics pill form till end of sept.
By 4th of July weekend i was healthy enough to drive myself home back to Buffalo NY . We rented a car and off I went .. my left arm was a lil sore .. my right arm was fine.... my friend was a little nervous at 1st wondering if id be ok to drive .... i just laughed and said . IM a truck driver.. hell yes i can drive and besides i was soo soo anxious to get home to be free of the hospitals and being cooped up for months and sleeping in a recliner. for a while there it was extremely painful for me to sleep flat in a bed , the pressure from my upper body to my left shoulder made the pain worse.
during all this time ....... i kept my owner updated , and the truck was parked in a safe place.. i had NO idea how long I was going to be down for. He never asked how i was or even sent a card. JUst was more concerned about the truck .... my friend went and got all my things out of it , so he could come and pick it up. I would never ever abandon a truck ... in all the years I been driving for panther I always took good care of the trucks i was in , and stayed loyal to the owners i drove for , and stayed out there on the road for months at a time. I do miss it , i miss the $$ too. ( note : yes I did ok as a solo and had NO complaints on my pay
)I can go back to work .... well so thats what a couple of my docs are saying .... work mens comp has been a hassle to deal with. But I know the owner I was working for at the time will not hire me back.
my injured knee is slowly getting better ... but it can be painful when i 1st go to stand when sitting for a while.... my left arm is about bk to normal. i do not need a walker anymore and only use a cane or walking stick when im going to walk a lot like at a mall or festival kinda thing.
My Primary doc wants to put me on disability. * sigh* ...... so im checking into learning to work office computer programs.
ive had thoughts of applying for a small business grant and maybe just getting my own truck.
anyways
Christmas season is here.... and sorry to all the fellow Panther drivers ... I wont be out there sticking them chocolate mint candy canes to your windows this yr .. lol ..
soo thats whats been happening in my world ...... everyone have a nice holiday and stay safe out there.
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