Bad News & a Change in Plans

For the last couple of weeks John's right leg has been bothering him. It's more in the thigh muscles and it hurts when he does a lot of walking. We thought it would be a good idea to get a doctor to check it out before we left the campground so we went to the ER in Port Angeles. They took X-rays and examined him but didn't see any problems, so they gave him some prescription ibuprofen.

We were able to get into see an Orthopedic Doctor on Wed. 8-27, and they concurred with the ER's diagnoses. They recommended physical therapy, so we made some appointments in Centralia, WA, the area we were moving to next.

Then on Sat., 8-30, John woke up with extreme pain in his right leg, and he couldn't put any weight on the leg. On Sun. we made another trip to the ER. This time they were very busy, and John had to sit in a wheelchair for 4 hours waiting (he was in real pain). After the Doctor examined John, he just gave him some strong pain medicine but didn't order another X-ray. Linda asked if they could do a MRI, so they said they would schedule one. Because it was Labor Day weekend, they couldn't schedule one until Thurs., 9-4. John didn't get out of bed until Thurs. morning because his leg hurt so much.

The MRI was in Sequim, about 45 minutes away. Linda drove him there and got the wheelchair out to transport him into the MRI. The results were very obvious to the technician, but he couldn't tell us anything. He just told us to head for the hospital in Port Angeles. When we got there we found out John had a hip fracture. And they checked him into the hospital, because he was going to need emergency surgery. We tried to figure out how it happened, and the only thing we remember is John falling on his butt while walking the campground. Down near the lakeshore the path changes from asphalt to gravel and that's where John fell. He didn't feel any pain at the time, so he continued to do a lot of walking, and that's must of aggravated the hip. What was probably a small crack eventually developed into the major fracture.

We were a little nervous about the quality of care we would receive, but we were very satisfied with an excellent Doctor and really caring nurses. We couldn't have received better treatment if we were in a large city.

John had surgery on Friday, 9-5, and everything went well. He was released from the hospital on Monday, 9-8, and went back to the motorhome to recuperate. Linda arranged to have the MoHo moved to a campground closer to Port Angeles. Another campground host at the park, who has a motorhome, drove it out of Fairholm campground to the Heart of the Hills campground. It is on the same road that Hurricane Ridge is on . It's only 5 miles to Port Angeles, and we have good cell phone coverage and good Internet access. The only thing missing is TV, but we're getting use to that.

We're still here waiting for the hip to heal. John can't put any weight on his right leg, so he's using a walker. We have a visiting nurse and a physical therapist who come to the motorhome for treatments. And the weather is getting colder and more overcast. We've definitely got cabin fever, but there's not much we can do until the doctor releases John. We're watching a lot of old movies, John's reading about a book a day, and listening to our satellite XM radio for news and baseball games. BTW, the Cubs and the Dodgers are in the playoffs. The good thing is we can turn off all of the election hype.