# 10% crippled



## sinbad (Oct 27, 2009)

I have some medical condition in my left hand thump. Don't care for what it is called but it has to be bandaged for MONTHS. 

Effect of such bandage was almost immediate. Some one called me and I had a hard time pulling my cell phone from left pocket. Grrr. 

It is about two months now and it sucks to be less than healthy. Doing chores is a pain, doing work is a pain... bandage gets dirty and has to be changed ASAP. You cannot go to a meeting with dirty hands, so you wash them. You cannot go to meetings with dirty bandages, so you have to change them ... And changing them is no fun especially if you are in a hurry. 

I wonder what happens if SHTF and our physical isn't 100%


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## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

I feel your pain. I've been battling a back injury for 2 years. I'm 2 surgeries, 1/2 dozen epidural injects, months of PT and a few other procedures into it and I don't feel any better. The mental effects of being knocked out of the game are just as bad as the leg pain. I'm a very active person who hates to pay to have someone else do things I can do myself. I handle car repairs, leaky pipes or roof, lawn care etc. Now I make much less money and have to pay for everything or call in favors with friends. Some days just doing a load of laundry is a "hard" day. 
If weren't so frugal we would have lost our home last year. I like to hope for the best and plan for the worst. Just because there's money in my pocket doesn't mean I have to spend it. My wife buts heads with me for being such a cheap a$$, but now I get to say, I told you so. I bought a handyman special house for a song and a our cars are paid off. Lucky my wife has a pretty good job and my disability checks help. I've been selling off junk from the basement and garage to help. I'm not getting rid of things I may need, just things I'll probably never use again or spare parts for jeeps that I don't even own any more. 
I don't mean to whine about it, I'm just adding my 2 cents. If things were bad and we needed to cut wood for heat, hunt food and work the land My family would have a hard time. I guess we could take in a "ranch hand" like the old days to help out for room and board. Maybe pool resources with able body family or friends who need a roof over their heads.


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## Aemilia (May 27, 2010)

Yeah, my husband has an"official" number from a back injury (called an impairment rating). He can do a lot, but it has to be on his terms. So sure, he can do a few hours of home repairs, but he'll never go back to construction, because he can't do that everyday. Even part time.

But we work together. So what if he doesn't stack the wood or mow the lawn just because he is a guy? I don't mind, and the kids will probably be doing all the wood stacking next year :congrat: . He is a great cook and an excellent fisherman. He has a lot of construction knowledge, even if he can't do everything, he can tell us how. He is very calm / skilled when someone needs first aid (I get nervous). And he is much nicer than I am :ignore:.

So improve your strengths. Learn some new skills that aren't physical (crafting, nutrition, first aid). You probably both have more than average knowledge about medicine and the human body from your experiences - learn even more. Medical knowledge is going to be invaluable, especially if you know local 'natural' remedies. I don't know if you are alone sinbad, but if you can find a group/family to work with, that helps.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

Old injuries usually haunt anybody over 40, I have to pace myself and pay attemtion to the early pain signals, but with age comes wisdom , if I could just remember.....:scratch


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## sinbad (Oct 27, 2009)

> I don't know if you are alone sinbad, but if you can find a group/family to work with, that helps.


I do have a family and DW is loving and caring but like nj_m715, I am not the type that sits and ask others to do things. I am like a gung ho guy that will fix everything yesterday. So, asking for help has been a fact to be swallowed slowly and gardually .

Last year, I had a back injury that lasted for 3 months. Thank Goodness it didn't occure with this hand injury at the same time. Anyway, I was putting on my socks when I just got stuck in the middle . I couldn't bend enogh to completely wear them on. Reluctantly I called my youngest son and asked him to doo it. You cannot imagine I was almost in tears seeing him unrolling the sock up my leg.  ... I have sometimes asked his 'help' in handy jobs, but that was a way of teaching him not really needing his support. This was different. I could NOT wear my socks by myself.

Now, my back is better but I am out of shape and it can happen again. However, this hand problem is really giving me rough time whenever I had to act quickly. In rush hours for example you need to steer of that jerk who think he owns the road. And by turning the steering wheel so suddenly, the thump aches, and there goes doctor's advice of "keeping the thump immobile" for sometime.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

sinbad said:


> Now, my back is better but I am out of shape and it can happen again. However, this hand problem is really giving me rough time whenever I had to act quickly. In rush hours for example you need to steer of that jerk who think he owns the road. And by turning the steering wheel so suddenly, the thump aches, and there goes doctor's advice of "keeping the thump immobile" for sometime.


I had something similar happen, but, to my left wrist on the weekend. I was riding my motorbike and came to an intersection where it was sloping fairly steep to my left-side. As I put my left-foot down the whole bike shifted (the suspension unloaded) and flipped me up into a bad position. The whole weight of the bike was being held-up by my left hand and I as I pulled the bike back upright, something snapped (tendon maybe) in my left wrist ...

The pain became intense, and, even today (4 days later) I am having troubles controlling the steering-wheel on my Jeep with my left-hand only. So, I am two-handing the steering-wheel and being as careful as possible when shifting the six-speed standard transmission.


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## sinbad (Oct 27, 2009)

@ Naekid
So let's hope Mr. Murphy remains asleep till our hands recover. 

@ Aemilia


> So improve your strengths. Learn some new skills that aren't physical (crafting, nutrition, first aid). You probably both have more than average knowledge about medicine and the human body from your experiences - learn even more. Medical knowledge is going to be invaluable, especially if you know local 'natural' remedies. I don't know if you are alone sinbad, but if you can find a group/family to work with, that helps.


Family and friends are great but no one takes preparedness seriously. However, you have a great advice and I really should get a bit more physical to be a fit as I can while I can.

We have actually started walking sometime ago. But then we bought home-gym exercise equipment and the girls just stayed home using them and I was left alone. Not good for someone looking for excuses NOT to walk. LOL

Medical and first aid too. I have been asking my daughter (in medical college) to get more interested in 'natural' remedies as well as 'modern' medicines. Time will tell if she is interested enough. Good thing is that mom is into that already. A few hours ago DW called and asked me about my cough and flu, and then adviced me to drink thyme tea.

We have some "green pharmacy" type books in our home library as well as some first aid books.

But again, this sore thump is not good. 
Between it and the flu, I have wasted a few days vacation that I wanted to utilize to fix a few things around the house and surprioze my DW when she returns. Now, she will just see more work on her hands than before. Grrrr


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