Linda Bristow (Elias)

Dennis:

Thank you and glad to hear you are doing well!

I had the first 30 year computer-assisted knee (for El Paso, TX) put in on Dec. 1, 2016.   I exercise every morning.  I have a 2-story home with 15 steps up/down that I use about a dozen times a day. I have followed my exercise routine ever since I had the surgery.

This is the 2nd time that I have seriously fallen because of it buckling.  3 times going down my stairs (thank goodness I use the hand rail because it saved me) it buckled and left me hanging by my arm.  Once outside, it buckled, and I fell with my knees and my hands on the cement.  I suppose 6 times in almost 6 years isn't bad.   But, I don't seem to bounce any more.   It's more like a S P L A T  !!!!!

Thanks for the tip!  I really appreciate it!

Love ya, Linda

David Long

AH,

Face Lifts - enjoy the video

Marv,

You're going to have to attach it- I can't figure it out!  It will be in your email.

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Linda,   I had one knee replacement done in 2013 and the other in 2014.  They have never buckled.  I fell about a month ago, for the first time.  I tripped over something.  As you know, you can't put weight on your knees so I had to call my Son to say those famous words:  "I've fallen and can't get up."   I have a lingering bruise that hasn't quite gone away yet, but nothing like what yoy did..   I don't think it should be buckling like that.  Have you talked with your surgeon?   You are right about them not being as strong as your God-given knees.  But at least you can walk without pain.  

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Sandra:

Surgeon couldn't find any reason for the buckling of the knee.  All of the xrays checked out ok.

I just never know when I'm going to face-plant!

Love ya, Linda

Marvin Theobald

The Older I Get by Alan Jackson as provided by Dave Long (refer to message #____). The only way I know of to share this on the class website is to attach the following web address. Anyone that wants to view it must copy and paste it into their website search window. It is pretty cool to watch.

https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-uZumwyve1n9M6RfIDleBcAOxupkJdbF_IbpIkzaMQlCD5BFVhGufxqp-SfuYKHodpXSQPIt7834jXjyRXCwNNg/messages/@.id==AF0KiPV2qP8KYugJDgbpiOFW_iY/content/parts/@.id==2/refresh?appid=YMailNorrin&ymreqid=fd716c34-3835-df06-1cce-aa000301cc00

James (Jim) Rookus

HaPpY BiRtHdAY M & M

hope you have a special and blessed day!

David Long

"Heeey Wally?"

"Yeah Beav?"

"Hey Wally, well, I miss you."

"I miss you too Beav."

"Was it creepy and scary?"

"Ah heck no, Beav, it was ... peaceful."

"What's it like Wally?"

"Well, it's a lot like Mayfield."

"Mom and dad are here, Lumpy, heck, even that creep Eddie Haskell is here."

"Really? Eddie got in?"

"Yeah, I guess they took pity on him."

"There's even a malt shop, me and all the guys and girls hang out after the Friday night game."

"You get to play football and basketball too?"

"Heck ya Beav and the the best part is, no one gets hurt."

"Gee Wally, I can't wait to come there."

"Well Beaver, you have time, but when you do, Mom, dad and me will be waiting."

Michael (Mike) Franks

What ever happened to Bob "Spyder" Dravis?

Chime-in, if you have information.
 

Karen Sue (Suzi) Denton (Merritt)

Linda, so sorry you are having a hard time with your knee.  Are you coming to the reunion Saturday?  I hope we get to go.

David that was beautiful about Tony Dow.  Like many other girls when we were kids I had a big crush on him.

Linda if you are going Saturday night I have an extra walker if you need it.

Suz

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Suzi:

I will not travel until covid and anything else is pretty well settled.  We have over 5,000 cases here-both vaccinated and unvaccinated.  Plus, on the border, we have a melting pot of people daily.  I am acutely aware of monkey pox.

Thank you for the offer, but, I don't use a walker.  When I do a hop, skip, and a jump, here and there, when I'm working in my yard, I need to be more conscious of my movement.  It always comes with a surprise and a splat!  

I recently ran to catch a neighbor's toddler from running in front of a car.  I could not keep myself from reacting.  Mom was in the house!

I am pretty agile, actually.  Suzi, you won't believe it but I can still do a backbend and a cartwheel!

Going SPLAT is just not very fun!  It gets old very quickly!

Love ya, Linda
 

James (Jim) Rookus

hey fellow raiders .... I'm glad to see we still have a sense of humor ... the older we get ... the more we need. ... we might as well laugh at ourselves because others sure will !  Linda I love your sense of humor... keep laughing!

On another subject ... does anyone have experience with model railroads?

I've been wondering about getting into it with a couple of grandkids.

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Linda, I would be scared to death if I had that fear of falling all the time.   I do use a walker, if I have to walk very far and may need to sit a while.   Also, my yard is very uneven so when I do weeds or pick tomatoes, I use either a cane or a walker.  My balance isn't what it used to be.  You remember Rosalie Smith from high school?  I talk to her, once in a while, and she told me she fell because she bent over to pick something up and just kept going.  So I think of her when I bend over to do weeds.  Usually, now I pay my Grandkids, or my Son does them, when he mows my grass, who I also pay.    But I think of her when I do bend over and  I take a hold of my walker to steady myself, outside.  It's not a problem in the house.   Your back bends and cartwheels reminded of Connie Singletary.  She tried to do some of those and wound up hurting her back really bad.  So be very careful.  She was a lot younger than you when she tried those.   I have a two story house, so I do steps just about every day.  But I also, kept my late husband's hospital bed downstairs, so I can sleep downstairs if I want to or need to.  My house is set up so I could live downstairs if I have to, someday.  And my Son lives up the hill and just around the corner. He is a big help to me.  

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Rookus:

Remember the little train, at Miller Park, that we sat on a car and used our hands to get around the track?

Love ya, Linda

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Sandra:

Please tell Rosalie Smith hello for me. 

You take good care of yourself too!  Enjoy everything you can!  Thank you for understanding.  My problem is that I have always been overly active.  I need to down-shift into a lower gear now!

Love ya, Linda

Karen Sue (Suzi) Denton (Merritt)

Jim I never had a train set but I drove a train when I was about 9 or 10.  My dad took me down to where one of the engines were and the engineer let me drive it a little while.

Another time I got my butt in trouble, my dad was working (he was a switchman) and I took him to work so I could drive to church.  Well some of the kids were going up to lake Bloomington and so I had to drive the car down to the yards.  Well there was several cars (train) lined up and I didn't want to go all the way around to take the keys up to the yardmaster, so I climbed over the coupling and took the keys up to him.  Well he saw what I did and give me holy hell and then told my dad.  Not a pretty picture.  And yes it was dumb... I had a dress and heals on!!!

Suz

Richard Gray

I flew an airplane over Gatlinburg TN, but I never got to drive a train except in Tim Haney's house when we were kids. The airplane belonged to a friend and he was in the pilots seat in case I did any thing stupid. He wouldn't let me land it. Probably would have ended up like Mike Kalif and his ultralight he built, his wife told me it wasn't good.

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Richard Gray:

What happened to Mike K.?  Is he ok?

Linda Elias

Richard Gray

Linda,I received a FB Request from Mike about a month ago. Haven't talked to him for years. We were in the Harley Owners Group years ago, Last I knew he was living in Las Vegas. Hope your doing well with your knee.

I've never had a knee replacement but a surgeon in Peoria showed me a 2 inch circle of my knee cap that was removed by a city of Leroy backhoe. I was riding my BMW motorcycle through Leroy he ran a stop sign. The 5 foot bucket totaled my new BMW bike,  broke my femur bone, knee and one of the two large bones in the lower leg. Three months later I met a lady in Leroy. She said you don't know me but I was the nurse in the emergency room at St. Joe. They flew me to Peoria by helicopter. The lady said she asked the surgeons in Bloomington how they were going to fix my leg. She said they were going to amputate it. Sure glad they took me to Peoria. Now I have a steel rod in my leg but I walk normal and never had any problems with it. I have a condo on the second floor and have no problems with stairs. My heart doctor said my leg surgeon must have been a genious. I did have to spend 5 weeks in the Leroy nursing home for rehabilitation. The last day the head nurse came in and said they were concerned about my 40 pound weight loss in 5 weeks. I told her it might have something to do with their cooking. She turned around and walked out. I weighed 190 and now I weigh 150. Morale of the story is if you ever want to lose weight just check into a nursing home.

That was all 5 years ago. My only problem is that it is hard getting up and down off the garage floor when working on on motorcycles and old cars and trucks. I can't crawl around on the right knee, it feels like a bunch of nerves I'm crawling on. My older brother asked if I was going to quit riding motorcycles. He is an avid golfer. I asked him if he broke his wrist golfing would he quit playing golf? He said no. So I told him I wasn't giving up the only sport I know. I've been riding dirt bikes and road bikes since I was 21. I'll ride them until I lose my since of balance or can't get my leg over one. That was my first accident on a motorcycle on the road. Avoided several accidents braking,swirving or speeding up. I blame my love for cycling on my mom. When I was around 7 years old she dated a man who owned a Harley.

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Richard Gray:

I don't know what a FB request is.

So sorry to find out that you went through that awful wreck.  But, pleased that you are ambulatory.  It is wonderful to walk.

When I have to get down on the floor it really is difficult to get up.  I always feel like a beached whale!  If only I had a fork lift!!!!!  But to compensate for that, I have to maneuver myself to be able to get my left foot under me so that I can pull myself up, so that I can stand.  Of course that puts a lot of responsibility on my arms too!  My right leg with the new knee can't do the same thing to lift me from the floor.  Putting that knee down is like having surgery without going to sleep.

However, I fell a few years ago, on cement, on both knees and both hands.  Now both knees no longer tolerate being on the ground.  It was also a time when my right knee buckled.

Maybe you can INVENT something, to be in your garage, that will enable you to pull yourself up a little easier!  If you can work on those motors, I know you can INVENT something that will work! 

Goooood luck to you!!!!

Linda

Richard Gray

Linda, FB is for Facebook. In this case it was for Facebook request or become friends on Facebook. I'm a classic example of someone who is completely computer ignorant. Know just enough about PC's to get me in trouble. 

My problem with getting up from the garage floor is the right knee doesn't want to help. The muscles in the lower and upper leg are as strong  or stronger than ever. I use both arms and the left leg to get up. There is no pain and it works well. John Goble went to look at my BMW motorcycle I was riding. He said the gas tank was cut in half by the bucket on the backhoe. He said if my leg was on the right foot peg my leg would have been cut off.

The only good part of my accident was I never felt any pain. The day of the accident I guess I was in shock since I din't feel any pain even though my right foot was behind my left ear. The lady on the ambulance asked if I could hold it there until we get to Bloomington. I told her I don't think its going anywhere. The only pain I had was therapy in the nursing home.

Good luck with your knees and I don't want to hear that you have fallen again. Take care of yourself and best wishes for a long and painless life.

Rich

Marvin Theobald

All of this knee problem discussion makes me glad I had hip replcement rather than a knee. Absolutely problem free. So far my knees are fine. Hope they stay that way. I know who to call now if I ever need advice on knee replacement does and don'ts. I'll stick with pontoon boats rather than Harley's. They seem to be a lot safer.

Marvin Theobald

Posting of the May 16 Mini-Reunion pics regretfully missed capturing two important classmates that were overlooked. Below is a photo to make sure they are not forgotten. The one with the long face and antlers was not one of our classmates just to be clear.

Mary and Madelon

Marvin Theobald

Now for a report on the Mini-Reunion at Cheek's Bar and Grill Saturday evening. While several regulars were not able to attend 16 classmates and 7 guests joined in. It is always a very fun and friendly visit. I would encourage all who can to join in these events. They are a great way to reminisce and share our lifes experiences with old friends. Can you identify everyone? Garth and Deb Golden escaped the camera, but they are always a delight to see. A few of us late owls did not leave until about 10 pm. 

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Marvin,  Thank you for posting pictures of the mini-reunion.  I enjoyed seeing them and I could tell everybody was having a good time.  I was so sorry to have to miss it. Saturday night, my thoughts were there with everybody.  Door County was not what we expected.  It's a trip that you have to plan for, months ahead of time, not spur of the moment, like we did to make reservations for boat tours and motels, etc.  But my Son and his wife and I had a safe trip and had fun, just being together.  But I hated missing the reunon. Like you said, I messed up my perfect record since I started going a few years ago.  I'm thinking that was in 2016 at Gill's.   I have Charlie Crabtree to thank for encouraging me to attend.    

David Long

Great Pictures of everyone, even when viewed from afar!  Hope to be able to join the fun in December by having a less than 7 hour drive time.  No "move" date as yet, still waiting to sell in Kansas before we move, even though now owning 2 residences.  

I just just got a new socket, #7, since the amputation almost 6 years ago.  I have a great prosthetist.  She did a custom socket for me.  Still getting used to the different fit and have to have the knee/leg programming tweaked some more. 

We see the pictures of the guys with artifical limbs running and walking up stairs and think "why can't I do that?"  Age takes its toll on the ability to adapt.  

Best to all!