Andrew Heckman, the man who was riding for us in 2002 when he got
ameliorated by a car (the story is at:
webpages.charter.netAndrewHeckman2.htmOpen ↗) just had his hip
rebuilt! His is an amazing story that has traveled all over the
internet. Andrew's hip was so crushed in the accident that his doctors
likened it to a bowl of corn flakes. And this sweetheart of a man,
refuses to be compromised by this disaster. Keep his fires burning. Let
him know how much you honor him: "Andrew Heckman" <[email hidden]>:
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Home Again Published on 03/31/04 at 17:04:02 PST by Andrew
Heckman At last I have a chance to do a quick site update.
I¹ve been devoting a lot of time the last couple of days to
a business plan I¹m working on for a client, but that¹s
going well enough to allow a quick post.
I came home from the hospital last Friday afternoon, and I¹m
able to get around on crutches (and even go very short
distances -- five feet or so -- without crutches!). Pretty
amazing considering that I have a foot-long gash in my left
hip, where a doctor reached in, sawed off the top of my
femur, etched a plug from the living bone, jammed that into
my sunken hip socket and sunk two screws to secure it, then
shoved in a faux socket, screwed a metal ball into the top
of my femur bone, then stapled me closed again.
The operation went extremely well. The only difficulty,
according to Dr. Hikes, was that my sciatic nerve was ³just
lying there like a snake in the grass waiting to bite us.²
Normally, the sciatic nerve is encased in a bundle of soft
tissue, but in my case, the soft tissue had all been
obliterated. So the surgery took about 3.5 hours total.
My hospital stay was a piece of cake compared to my last
experience. Whereas before I was in the hospital for three
weeks and non-weight-bearing for six weeks, this time I was
in the hospital for five days and was standing up (using a
walker) the day after the surgery.
The only really tough part was on Tuesday, when I really did
feel as if I¹d been hit by a truck. Lisa said I was pretty
pale and waxy on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. But
they pumped another pint of my own blood into me on Tuesday
and that helped get my systems back on line. By Wednesday, I
was walking a bit with crutches and feeling optimistic that
I would, as hoped, leave the hospital by the weekend.
Now we¹ve got my pain meds worked out, and my blood volume
and hemoglobin levels are getting back to normal. In fact,
things are going so well that Steve is considering heading
back to Madison a few days early.
The next step is tomorrowŠa nurse will be coming in to do
another blood check and remove the staples (there are 26
of them in the incision). I might have to take a photo of
the incision before and after, but if I post the photos,
I¹ll be sure to link them first with a warning not to
click on them unless you¹re sure you¹re preparedŠit ain¹t
for the squeamish, let me tell you. But as I said,
considering the trauma, it¹s really quite amazing that I¹m
so far along so quickly.
So if anyone tells you ³the human race was a lot better off
a thousand years ago when we didn¹t have all this soul-
stealing modern technology,² you can tell them from me that
they¹re full of [censored]!
M A R T I N K R I E G : "Awake Again" Author
bikeroute.comAwakeAgainOpen ↗ Bent Since '83, Car
Free Since '89, Attacking with Love Coma, Paralysis,
Clinical Death Survivor '79 & '86 TransAm Vet N A T I O N
A L B I C Y C L E G R E E N W A Y