Jeeez Don... what a nightmare for you . How did it happen, and how long ago? Are you wheelchair bound?
It was just over 3 years ago. I retired when our last child left the house, and we timed it for my MIL's 100th birthday. I was doing winter stuff, changing light bulbs in the security lights and stuff up high because the weather would be too bad when we got back from the trip to her mother's. My wife said, "While you have the ladder out, you might as well clean the chimney." I got the brushes, etc. and proceeded to clean the chimney when our dog decided to take off after a moose. He wouldn't come back, so I got angry and proceeded to climb down with less care than usual due to my anger with the dog. Anyway, the ladder slipped out and I fell at my wife's feet with a broken back. Life hasn't been the same since. The story goes on, but I don't want to bore people with my troubles. Thanks for your interest. I was in a wheelchair for a while, then used a walker, then crutches, now nothing unless there is an extended walk when I use a walking stick (more convenient than a cane).
Yes, it does. Ten years ago, I was thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail, which ends near where I live. I think I could have completed it except that I couldn't find an acceptable way of being away from my work or my cats. My wife could visit me on stops that I would make along the way, but she couldn't take the cats with her. Now, I doubt that I would be able to make the trip even if everything else could be worked out. I am still playing around with the idea of hiking what is known as the "100 Mile Wilderness," which is the last stretch of the trail before getting to Millinocket. However, it is also supposed to be one of the more difficult parts of the trail, and one in which there aren't very many outs, as it doesn't pass through or very near any towns, and there is probably not any cell service. This isn't just a hundred mile hike - it's a hundred miles of hiking up and down mountains. I don't know if I will, though. I was thinking about it last summer, and never did. Last year, or maybe the. year before, they found the body of a woman who had left the trail in this section to go to the bathroom, and couldn't find her way back to the trail. She left a logbook in which she said she had decided to sit tight and wait to be rescued rather than risking getting further lost. She had her tent and all of her supplies, yet she starved to death, and they didn't find her body for a couple of years. She wasn't far from the trail. She had hiked all the way from Georgia to Maine, and died during the last 100 miles.
Oh good lord @Ken Anderson , that's a tragic story.. @Don Alaska , goodness me you must have super strength of character to have suffered through all that at retirement age and be walking unaided after just 3 years,,,, Kudos to you and yours because I'm sure your wife must have been a super strength emotionally and physically to you also , but yes I can imagine how it has changed your life plans for retirement. Just shows how easily and quickly our lives can change and not always for the better. What is that old adage about the best laid plans etc... However, please don't think you're boring us with any stories you may wish to share, remember there's always someone who will learn from all of us ...and I wish you a continued recovery and good health from now on...
I am so sorry about that. I never used to be afraid of heights, but I am very aware now that I have grown older that all it takes is one slip-up. In the past, I have climbed ladders to the second story of houses that were on fire, and now I don't know that I could paint my own house beyond the second floor. For one thing, I can't lift the larger ladder, although that was no problem eighteen years ago; for another, it's scary up there.
I notice my aging most of all in loss of energy and stamina. I never was highly energetic to begin with...but now I really notice the difference. I can't keep up with my youngest grandson when he runs around in the yard, etc. either so when I'm watching him I have to make sure he's in a place that has boundaries that will keep us both safe.