Post by allenuk on Oct 18, 2009 8:12:46 GMT -7
I wouldn't have bothered, as most of you know as much about me as I know myself, but our new member Denis85 asked, so, briefly, here it is.
I was an alcoholic. I drank far too much for 30+ years. Gave up in 2002, to general relief (including my own).
Following spring, went for a walk on the pristinely cut and level lawns at Kew Gardens in London, trod on a small bump, and broke my ankle.
Now (and this is where the drink comes into the story) because I have a condition called 'alcoholic peripheral neuropathy', I didn't feel the break, or rather didn't feel much pain. So, I walked on the leg, my GP said it was a swollen ankle (which it was, but there you go), and after complaining for six months I finally got to an x-ray machine, and the radiologists had a good time laughing at the picture of the ankle, with bones every which way.
Anyway, a couple of years later, the surgeons said they could try and rebuild the ankle, but it would take more years, and the result would be a 'frozen' ankle, i.e. fixed at 90 degrees, and even that wasn't guaranteed, so I might end up with an amputation. So amputation at that point seemed a better option, i.e. to get it out of the way and get on with life.
Have I regretted it? Yes, on bad days, no, on good ones. When the socket is a good fit, and I'm walking round Kew Gardens (again), or cycling round the local park, life is grand. When I've got a sodding blister (like today), or the socket is sliding up and down, then no, I think I might have made the wrong decision!
But there you go, life goes up and down, doesn't it.
I'm glad it all happened in Britain, where even if the service can be criticised, at least it's free. I would not like to be in my situation but in the US, and at the mercy of the insurance companies, who would probably find my old alcohol habits a good reason for denying me cover now!
Anyway, that's me, Denis85. Look forward to your life-history.
Allen.
I was an alcoholic. I drank far too much for 30+ years. Gave up in 2002, to general relief (including my own).
Following spring, went for a walk on the pristinely cut and level lawns at Kew Gardens in London, trod on a small bump, and broke my ankle.
Now (and this is where the drink comes into the story) because I have a condition called 'alcoholic peripheral neuropathy', I didn't feel the break, or rather didn't feel much pain. So, I walked on the leg, my GP said it was a swollen ankle (which it was, but there you go), and after complaining for six months I finally got to an x-ray machine, and the radiologists had a good time laughing at the picture of the ankle, with bones every which way.
Anyway, a couple of years later, the surgeons said they could try and rebuild the ankle, but it would take more years, and the result would be a 'frozen' ankle, i.e. fixed at 90 degrees, and even that wasn't guaranteed, so I might end up with an amputation. So amputation at that point seemed a better option, i.e. to get it out of the way and get on with life.
Have I regretted it? Yes, on bad days, no, on good ones. When the socket is a good fit, and I'm walking round Kew Gardens (again), or cycling round the local park, life is grand. When I've got a sodding blister (like today), or the socket is sliding up and down, then no, I think I might have made the wrong decision!
But there you go, life goes up and down, doesn't it.
I'm glad it all happened in Britain, where even if the service can be criticised, at least it's free. I would not like to be in my situation but in the US, and at the mercy of the insurance companies, who would probably find my old alcohol habits a good reason for denying me cover now!
Anyway, that's me, Denis85. Look forward to your life-history.
Allen.