Alive Day

Wow, surprisingly this is the first I've seen this. Although I was just a little to young for Vietnam, and out of the service long before Iraq, I've seen my share of suffering and death in service to this country. As you've said, better alive than dead, so Happy Alive Day Rick!

Thanks Rich. I'm too young for Vietnam too but joined when the military was recovering from the effects of it. Anyone who has served for more than 6 months IMO has seen someone injuried or killed as it is just part of the risks involved with what service members do.

Thank you for your service sir. And YES I'm very glad to still be here today.
 
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Wow. That’s an incredible story. Sounds like the medics at the gate with you saved your life! They should be on your Christmas card list! I’m a retired AF medic and went to Desert Shield/Desert Storm but thankfully was not anywhere near any combat. In fact, we never saw any battle casualties In Oman. Thanks for your service!

Maybe I missed it but what ever became of the prosthetic study you were involved in?
 
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Wow. That’s an incredible story. Sounds like the medics at the gate with you saved your life! They should be on your Christmas card list! I’m a retired AF medic and went to Desert Shield/Desert Storm but thankfully was not anywhere near any combat. In fact, we never saw any battle casualties In Oman. Thanks for your service!

Maybe I missed it but what ever became of the prosthetic study you were involved in?

I have been in a few different studies. All of them are in the trials stages so nothing is released yet.

Yes I most likely would not be here if there hadn't been medics at the gate.
 
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That is an extraordinary story of coming back strong from a no-fault-of-your-own life threatening injury. Thanks for your service and sacrifice, sir.
 
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Today 17 years ago I started physical theraphy for my leg. I had 6 months of no weight bearing so the PT had to figure out ways to allow me to move my leg but NOT put weight onto it. At the time I also had to wear a brace that limited how much I could flex my leg. This was my first visit and the PT was checking out my leg and all the paperwork with my restrictions.

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And my daughter had come to visit me for Thanksgiving. Really hard to believe she's 19 years old now.

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This is a phrase coined by HBO from what I know or them using it the first time I ever heard it used. It's meaning is that this can be a day of celebration like you celebrate your birthday. But your Alive Day is the day you were involved in a serious accident or something where you all most died. And since you survived if you choose you celebrate that day however you want.

So onto my story:


I know I have posted about this before but each year sometimes seems different. This year has had added challenges not becasue 16 years is a special number but becasue I have become an empty nester. My little girl (not so little anymore) left for college on 10 Sept. Just like many other things in my life I was a little shocked as to how much this affected me. Can't rightly say it has anything to do with it being my Alive Day or just that I'm now alone.

So as many know 16 years ago today at around 0630 my whole life changed for me in was I couldn't imagine. While conducting operations at the East Entry Control Point on LSA Anaconda I was wounded in what the military calls a Negligent Discharge. In civilian speak that means that someone accidently fired a weapon. I was 30-40 feet in front of a building that we had a M240B (replaced the M60) machine gun on to provide covering fire if the gate was ever attacked. The M240B fires a NATO 7.62mm round (.308) that is belt fed and is used on many different configurations in our military. A soldier who wasn't trained on this weapon was trying to load it when the weapon fired 9 rounds with one striking me in the right leg approximately 1.5-2" above my knee in my thigh. The round hit my femur which shattered, severed my femoral artery & damaged my perineal nerve to my lower leg. After being transported to the CSH medical facility to try and save my leg they did a saphenous vein graft off my leg & placed a external fixature to stabilize my femur.

I was medially retired from the military on 10 June 2006 wish was just 10 days shy of me having served 28 years in the military. I faired fairly well for about the first 6 years after my discharge but then my lower right leg started to have chronic pain that was a constant thing no matter if I was standing, sitting, laying down or walking. The pain became so great that around the 8 year mark I was more or less chair bound. I fought with the VA during this time trying to get them to consider amputating my right leg. Finally in 2016 my family doctor sent me to Harbor View in Seattle. In June of 2017 I met with a doctor at the Foot and Ankle clinic who agreed to amputate my lower right leg. IMHO him doing this saved my life as my health had been on a decline and I was over weight along with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low testosterone & taking WAY too many pain medications.

On 14 May 2018 my lower right leg was removed and within 90 days of my amputation I was off all my pain medications. I got my first prosthetic on 7 July 2018 and was walking without crutches or a cane by the end of Aug. Just from finally being active again I lost weight and all my other health issues returned to normal.

I hit some other milestones after my amputation. 2 days short of 1 year post op I got my motorcycle endorsement back, I took a motorcycle trip to SD and on the return trip came thru Cody, WY and rode Bear Tooth Pass then headed north to Glacier National Park and rode the Going to the Sun road.

This year I have been working on my Jeep doing a rebuild of it since I had built it back in 2006 but then had to park it in 2010 due to some engine issues. I hadn't been able to work on it after parking it because of my pain levels. So I'm now 16 years since my parents got that phone call at 6 AM telling them that their son had been injuried but that he was going to be okay.

This is the M240B that I was shot with

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The 9 rounds laying under it.

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The building that the machine gun was mounted on.

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The cement barrier that I was standing next to that was suppose to help protect me from incoming fire. Doesn't help any when it's coming from behind you.

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The middle divot is the round that went thru my leg.

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At Madigan Army Hospital on Ft Lewis (Now Now JBLM which mean Joint Base Lewis McChord)

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This is where the bullet came in the back of my leg.

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The front of my leg & the exit wound is where the stitches are at.

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My left leg where they took the vein out to repair the severed artery.

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The inside of my right leg. The upper incision is where they repaired the artery and the lower is where they cut it to help relieve the pressure from swelling.

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This is where they put a plate in my leg with 12 screws to hold my femur back together

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And then the outer lower part of my right leg where they cut to help with the swelling same as the inside.
From Wikipedia: Fasciotomy or fasciectomy is a surgical procedure where the fascia is cut to relieve tension or pressure commonly to treat the resulting loss of circulation to an area of tissue or muscle. Fasciotomy is a limb-saving procedure when used to treat acute compartment syndrome.

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This is a x-ray of my femur.

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I've posted pictures of my motorcycle before so I won't post them again and you can see my Jeep in my build thread.

Talking about this helps deal with everything so I hope none of you mind my sharing.

Back when this happened to me I was a active member on Jeepunlimted forum, Pirate and a local forum. Within 1 day of my being wounded a friend told someone else about what had happened and that person was a member of the local forum. They posted about me being wounded and the news traveled to Jeepsunlimted and Pirate. The out pouring of well wishes and concern was amazing and when I was finally able to get online it was a great spirit booster.

Later on when I could drive my Jeep again I bought a used Currie steering that had a bad TRE. Little did I know I couldn't replace it at the time.
@mrblaine say my post on Pirate asking about this and organized a group of people to buy me a new currectlync. This is me saying Thank You again.

I had 6 months of no weight bearing on my right leg but I didn't let that stop me from driving my TJ nor from working on it.

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I know this was a long post.
What a journey. You are something amazing friend. I'll be sharing your story with some of my patients if that's cool with you
 
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What a journey. You are something amazing friend. I'll be sharing your story with some of my patients if that's cool with you

No problem. If you don't mind what do you do?

You just have to try and keep a positive attitude. Which I'll admit I didn't for a few years but I'm back on track now.
 
No problem. If you don't mind what do you do?

You just have to try and keep a positive attitude. Which I'll admit I didn't for a few years but I'm back on track now.
I'm a physical therapist assistant. Have worked with pretty much everything over my 15 years. This might sound trite but I have always really enjoyed working with people with amputations. Being able to work with them from the beginning to literally getting back on their feet and into the lives they enjoy is beyond fantastic. Like you said attitude is everything. Like one of my patients said: "I can be pissed and sad but that's not gonna change what happened." Words to live by 😊
 
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Can I ask do you work at the VA?

My days I dislike the MOST are the ones where I can't get my socket to fit right now matter how many times I add a sock or try other things to get it fitting right. TODAY is one of those days.......

I tell everyone that asks what I dislike the most about being an amputee. And I tell them my morning coffee. You can jump out of bed in however you went to bed and run out and start the coffee pot or hit the start button on the Keurig and then grab a cub and sit and enjoy it. I have to get dressed more or less because I have to get my leg on before I can enjoy my first cup.
 
Can I ask do you work at the VA?

My days I dislike the MOST are the ones where I can't get my socket to fit right now matter how many times I add a sock or try other things to get it fitting right. TODAY is one of those days.......

I tell everyone that asks what I dislike the most about being an amputee. And I tell them my morning coffee. You can jump out of bed in however you went to bed and run out and start the coffee pot or hit the start button on the Keurig and then grab a cub and sit and enjoy it. I have to get dressed more or less because I have to get my leg on before I can enjoy my first cup.
Nope I don't work for the VA.
Is the poor fit due ro residual limb shrinkage or swelling? How long have you had your current socket and on average what ply socks are you using each day?
 
Nope I don't work for the VA.
Is the poor fit due ro residual limb shrinkage or swelling? How long have you had your current socket and on average what ply socks are you using each day?

I'm 3 year 8 months post op. This socket I've had since Aug 2019. I'd been holding at wearing 2-3 ply of socks with a 6 ply liner until about 6 weeks ago. I'm involved in some studies at the Climb center at the VA so have also been wearing other sockets.
But here about 6 weeks ago I start shrinking again. I'm wearing 6-9 ply of socks now. I'm going to try my 9 ply liner and see how it fits.
I'm pretty good at figuring out how to make it fit comfortable but there are just days were nothing works.
 
I'm 3 year 8 months post op. This socket I've had since Aug 2019. I'd been holding at wearing 2-3 ply of socks with a 6 ply liner until about 6 weeks ago. I'm involved in some studies at the Climb center at the VA so have also been wearing other sockets.
But here about 6 weeks ago I start shrinking again. I'm wearing 6-9 ply of socks now. I'm going to try my 9 ply liner and see how it fits.
I'm pretty good at figuring out how to make it fit comfortable but there are just days were nothing works.
Unfortunately yes those days do happen. So if you are trialing other sockets at the VA, have any others fit a bit better? Maybe they could add some molding to the inside of your current socket?
 
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Unfortunately yes those days do happen. So if you are trialing other sockets at the VA, have any others fit a bit better? Maybe they could add some molding to the inside of your current socket?

No none of them fit better. Honestly my current socket fits GREAT 90% of the time. It's just those rare days where I can't get comfortable.

I've thought about OI also but worry about the tibia not being strong enough for my activity levels. An example is picking up my transfer case. It weighs 150lbs.
Or if I dropped my Harley on my right side and it's 900lbs.
But as you know you deal with those bad days as best you can.
 
No none of them fit better. Honestly my current socket fits GREAT 90% of the time. It's just those rare days where I can't get comfortable.

I've thought about OI also but worry about the tibia not being strong enough for my activity levels. An example is picking up my transfer case. It weighs 150lbs.
Or if I dropped my Harley on my right side and it's 900lbs.
But as you know you deal with those bad days as best you can.
Yes OI might not be a great option. If you were some cubicle monkey that would be different 😄
 
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