Time to start facing it

[stetto]

Well guys, they got me doped up to where I can't drive, can't work, can't focus on much of anything, and my hands are withering away as I type. My surgeon and I are starting to argue like old married people, I want him to fuse two more neck bones, he says it isn't necessary. In the mean time I'm growing grumpier.

I have a small bunch of modeling stuff, kits, parts, tools, junk that I don't see any reason to continue looking at piled up in my garage and tool bench. Some of it is "antique", like glo motors and radios and just...stuff. There's even an electric kit in their somewhere.

I have no idea what I have invested in all this stuff, never kept track because I always thought I'd be crashing it all myself. My kids have no interest whatsoever.

So be aware that as soon as I can concentrate for an hour at a stretch I'll be putting a list together and I'll give the FUBAR guys a first shot at what's here. Nony, my offer still stands: the glider stuff is all yours whenever you want to come pick it up...

[balsum fractus]

Stetto, sorry to hear about all the grief you are going through. This growing old really sucks... Hopefully you can find something that will fit within the limitations you are facing, and still get some enjoyment out of life.....
Thanks for the kind offer of the glider stuff, but truthfully, I have too much model stuff now. Put it on ebay or something and turn it into cash for your family...I think that would be the best use of it..........
It will be a year or two before we can do a major road trip again...I have to get a new truck first...this one is killing me with repair bills.......

[jetmex]

Damn, Stetto, you need to knock that stuff off.  My mechanical putter together skills only go so far and Terrin might not be able to afford me if I have to make a house call...

Hang in there, amigo.  We're thinking about you down here.

[Onepoint]

I wish I had some magic to send up for you, but I am told my magic dust ran out years ago, now I just have old people dust. 

I have so mush stuff stacked up, I was going to send you some. 

Endeavor to persevere. 

[stetto]

Endeavor to persevere. 

Ah, one of my favorite lines from 'Outlaw Josie Wales', which is my favorite Eastwood movie.

I appreciate the support guys, but I guess I'm coming across wrong. My hands are simply not going to allow me to build models and work with small parts and run anything by radio control. When I was in Phoenix, the club I flew with was made up of 70 and 80-year-old duffs who couds fly circles around any of the young bucks. Those boys still had their hands. I do not, at least do not have hands I would trust in control of a screaming propeller blade.

But I'm not a complete invalid just yet. I have a collection of stuff I'm never going to be able to use. The surgeon who fused part of my neck last year told me the palsy in my hands is spinal cord damage that would likely get better over time. After a year it is getting worse. You should see me with a hammer.

It's not just the modeling stuff either. My guitar playing is becoming embarrassing.

This is a simple case of me realizing that I should get used to this condition. It's called degenerative disc disease for a reason.

[balsum fractus]

I guess it is times like these where we can't have everything we used to have, to at least be thankful for what is left- eyesight being one of them....and there are lots more....

http://www.wimp.com/seeingwithout/

and

http://www.wimp.com/withoutarms/


Happy Father's Day, by the way.......

[stetto]

Thanks for the Fathers Day greeting, Nony.

The links do little for me. I am 52 years old. The people in those videos were born the way they are. I may be impressed with their perseverance, but this is apples and concrete blocks. I'm not goig to spend the 52 years of my life re-learning hopw to use fingrers that quit on me. Some things, yes, but you have to be in my shoes. Yesterday I could hold a pencil...

[jetmex]

Stetto, I can't really say I know what you're feeling, but I do know a little of what you're going through.  I have arthritis in both my hands, a hereditary thing that runs in my family.  33 years of beating on airplanes and keyboards didn't help much either.  Your comment about the pencil struck home, because I can hardly hold one either.  Signing my name is an exercise in patience and hoping that no one around me thinks I have Alzheimer's!  The kids tell me it hurts them to see me write, and I'm sure glad I don't have to fill out many forms.  Getting older doesn't bother me, except for that...

Hang in there, amigo.  When the time comes, I'll toddle out there on my John Deere lawnmower and we'll see who has the fastest wheelchair...

[jetmex]

Hey Stetto - haven't heard from you, hope all is ok on your end of Texas.  I tried to call you last week and got your voicemail.  Give us a call or drop a line and let us know how you're doing.

[stetto]

Jaime; Sorry, haven't had my phone near me the last couple weeks. A friend is going through one of the most bizarre medical debacles since the hospital gave my dad a MRSA infection and then CHARGED him to get rid of it.

My ol' buddy Bob (74, I think), an Illinois farmer from way way back, gashed his toe somewhere between the house and the machine shed where his sh*tkickers were. He didn't even notice, it was that minor...Until it got infected and the black tendrils of blood poisoning started crawling up his leg. The "doctors" told him they'd have to amputate the toe and that he'd probably have to learn how to walk again. There was a problem, however, in that, being 74 and all, he was a triple bypass survivor and was on a healthy daily course of blood thinning medication. They took him off the Plavix and waited for his blood to "thicken back up". They took his toes (notice the plural-They waited just long enough for the nasty to infect a couple more) last week and got him scheduled for a lay-up in an old folks home to recover. Bob's not old, he's just in his 70s. Don't tell him he's old.

He went back to the horse pistol two days ago with a black foot that they now say will have to come off (just below the knee--To be "safe", mind you). The two weeks with the old people has now magically become several months.

Bob and his wife, Nadine, live about 40 miles from us in the middle of an Amish-rich part of the county. She doesn't drive. Nor do the Amish, at least not far. The Mennonites, on the other hand DO drive, but their neighborhood is 15 miles to the north and Nadine doesn't know any of them. But she knows us.

So I've been busy.

[Onepoint]

That doesn't sound like fun at all, for anyone. 

[jetmex]

Eric, not a problem.  When you have stuff to do, you have stuff to do.  Hope your friend is getting by ok...

I'll try to call again either tonight or sometime tomorrow.