I’ve got that same poem in my guest bathroom, located in the same position LOL.
Footprints in the sand is a poem with a powerful message if you think about it. It is easy to get down and feel sorry for yourself when hardships come along. There were many nights in the hospital when I was all alone that I broke down and sobbed. I honestly didn’t know if I could endure everything that I was going through. The boring days in the hospital with very little to do to take your mind off of everything that I was going through. At those times I always thought of that poem and asked for the Lords help. The other thing that helped me was reading through the stack of get well and thinking of you cards. I literally brought home a couple of big shopping bags of cards.
I just wanted to check on your best friend to see how he was doing. My dad had Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer. Parkinson’s disease is
something that is hard to watch. Seeing your loved one deteriorate over time is hard to deal with. I pray that he has continued to improve. 
Well guys I was finally able to have a medical review for the Railroad Retirement Board last week. It went very well. The doctor was an independent doctor contracted thru OTC Medical Services. He was overwhelmed with all of my medical issues from the last two years that covid and long covid has brought me. He couldn’t understand why I wasn’t approved a year ago. He did reassure my wife and I that the way he was going to write the medical report to the RRB that there would be no way for them to turn down my medical disability. I had my lawyer to contact the RRB, my Congressman and a Union Officer all last month to finally get them to get off of their asses and do the job that they are paid to do. I am really praying that after a one year of getting half of what I normally would have made for 2022 and no pay at all for all of 2023 that I will finally get some money coming in to pay my off some medical bills.
I am going back to my plastic surgeon this afternoon for another follow up visit. I am hoping that he will go ahead and decide to do surgery again to open it back up and give it a chance to fully heal on the inside. If it closes up externally and there are still tunnels and a void deep inside the bedsore I want to go ahead and be proactive with it as opposed to just keep waiting on it to fully heal. My wife usually get around 7cc of fluid out of it when she changes the bsndage. 7cc is just what was still inside the wound not counting the amount of Serosanguineous discharge that was absorbed by the bandage. It shouldn’t have anywhere near this amount of discharge if it was healed deep inside the wound. I really don’t want to go for the 4th surgery but I also don’t want to keep waiting around for something that is not going to happen.
I am soooo very tired of dealing with this decubitus bedsore. Two years of bandage changes either once or twice a day on top of all my other issues. Guys please say a little prayer today that I get good news today. If I don’t get good news pray that I will have the patience to deal with this bedsore for a few more months. We were so hoping that my Christmas present was going to be to only have one hole in my butt again and the other hole to be healed. That isn’t going to happen unfortunately.
Thank you guys again for being so supportive of me and all of the prayers. I do believe in the power of prayer. After all it really is a miracle that I am alive and writing this post. I don’t believe that me surviving a 98% chance of me not making it off of the ventilator alive as just pure luck. There is a reason that I am still here if for nothing else but to aggravate all of you. Thanks again 
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Same back to you buddy. I appreciate everything that you have done for me. You are on my list every night, @Rufus
Thank you Greg, I think of you and pray for you often. Things haven’t changed much for my friend, except he had a Grandson. He was so happy to get to see him after he was born. I have found some data that might would help, as a matter fact I know it would, for both of us, There are restrictions standing in the way, not to mention doctors. Start calling it a decubitus “ulcer”, which is what it is at this point.
The one thing the doctor should write up is that “You are uncapable of gainful employment”
Two years is a long time, with all the evidence they have now about Covid treatment. They just don’t want to admit it, because they treated it wrong Nationally. Only a handful of doctors treated this as an active disease instead of a “Let’s wait and see treatment, as prescribed by the CDC, and their restrictive use of therapy”
I know very well what is is like to be fully functional one day, and have your life turned upside down in 24 hours. I pray for your relief and hope the doctor actually follows through with his diagnosis.
PM me if you want to talk, if you don’t still have my number, I will give it to you. October was 9 years of going through this with the medical profession. MAYO is in my near future, the sooner the better, I am still hoping for answers, because the doctors here are baffled. I found out recently, that I also have a tumor on my pituitary gland, which my doctor never told me about and had known about since 08/2010.
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Good to see you back, Gregg.
Been out of touch lately- just got this notification.
Hope you and all have a very Merry Christmas!
Philippians 4:8
King James Version
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Hey, Jim it is so good to hear from you too. I thought about all of you guys so much when I was in the hospital. I didn’t have anything to do but think about things. I still can’t say it enough that I so appreciate everything you guys did for me. Just me knowing literally thousands of people had me on their prayer list lifted my spirits. I lost count of how many churchs that had me on their prayer list. I literally had a couple of hundred cards. Many were from people that I didn’t know but they had heard about me.
Yes the Lord is great. The way things have worked since I got covid is remarkable. It seems like when I really needed something the Lord came through. I don’t mind saying that I only have $1,500 left in the bank. I have still been paying my normal bills all along. I was really starting to feel the stress from it. I was going to have to start selling some of my collection that I really didn’t want to do. If this works out the way that I think that it is going to I will get my back pay for the last two years just in time before I run out of money. I don’t think that is just simple luck. I know that many people don’t believe in the power of prayer. I am here and writing this because of the power of prayer.
I will PM you after my doctors appointment if that is good for you. Thanks again and it is really good to hear from you.
I didn’t want to do full disability at first. I did occupational disability. That way I kept my seniority at work. If there was any chance of me being able to go back to work I didn’t want to loose 23 years of seniority. My wife filed for my occupational disability on 02/28/22. At that point in time we didn’t know how all this was going to work out. After my occupational disability is approved then the RRB is supposed to review my case again for full disability. I will keep the fire lit underneath them to get the permanent disability.
I will PM you also after my appointment to catch up. Thank you so much for the bible verse. One song that I got some inspiration from is the song “Ships of Heaven” by Blackhawk. I was on that ship and just about to disembark several times when things turned around.
Well guys I guess that you can say that my doctors appointment was good and bad news. I guess the good news is that the surgeon wants to wait another 3 weeks to see if the deep tracks will come up some more. At this point he really doesn’t want to open everything back up if at all possible. He is a little scared to be cutting around the skin flap that he had to do. The flap only has one good blood vessel supplying the blood to it. I guess that is good news for right now. The bad news is another 3 weeks of doing more debridement and bandage changes. I guess that at this point I just have to be patient to see how things are going to work themselves out.
I got tied up today with my mom today. She took me to the doctors appointment. I will PM you again tomorrow. Have a good night.
you know the prayers from me are always being lifted up too brother… sorry to hear about the doc, but i guess i can understand his reasoning with the one blood vessel feeding that flap. More prayer incoming for further healing.
Steve, I really appreciate how much you have already done for me. You know that you are on my permanent list every day.
ah greg you know i have you on mine as well… sometimes i like to say it though! 
i still say i havent done nothin yet though thank you though i appreciate it.
I want to thank everyone for checking up on me. It makes you feel really good when you get texts, PM and calls just wanting to check to see if you are alright. I am glad to know that I was missed a little bit again.
The last few weeks I have been dealing with a good bit of personal stuff that I need to get done and also chronic fatigue from long covid. I have been really tired and not much energy. I have been forcing myself out of bed in the morning and trying to work on some of the things that I have to. I have a few of my own guns to work on. I also have two lemon squeezers from my plastic surgeon to go through, clean up, replace any worn parts and do some light restoration work on them.
As life usually does at times you find yourself with a lot of stuff to do but not a whole lot of either time, money or energy to get things done. I have got into the routine of trying to work for a few hours and then lay back down when I get really fatigued. I go through cycles where I feel “normal” or at aleast normal to me for a couple of weeks then the fatigue hits again and I am down for a few days or at times a few weeks. I will get through this like I have everything else, one step at a time.
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1911, you’re welcome bud. we just wanted to make sure you’re still ok man, when you go quiet for a time we start worrying. Sorry about you having to deal with the personal stuff. but sometimes that shirt happens and we just gotta handle our business regardless of how much we try. I hate chronic fatigue… i get that from the chemo/cancer and it sucks. resting is cool and all, but i never feel like im fully rested if that makes sense. Forcing yourself out of bed is a good thing, and while it sucks doing it, the fact you are doing it is a good thing. It’s awesome you’re working on some of your guns. Hopefully that takes your mind off of the sickness, and puts it into gun mode. i know working on things i enjoy working on does it for me some from time to time. When you gonna share some photos of the lemon squeezers before and during and after? i’d be interested in seeing them thats for sure. its cool your plastic surgeon is a gun guy too. that’s just too cool.
i never have enough money to do things, and sure dont have enough time ever. but somehow i make it all work and things get done. thankfully… im sure you’ll be able to carve out enough time to get things done… but like me you’ll never carve out enough money that is one thing that is always fleeting is money. well energy in our shape is missing too, but not much we can do about it except grin and bear it. good you got a routine in place. I’ve never been able to operate on a routine like that. if i go to sleep during the day, i’ll wanna stay sleeping and not get up again in the middle of the day… its a flaw of mine. i’ve noticed with my illness everything is cyclic. so it comes and goes in cycles, all the time… and just when you’re getting used to a certain cycle, then something happens and it changes the whole cycle again. then you have to spend the next however long getting used to the new cycle, just for it to change again once you get your pattern down… Ugg… frustrating.
anyways, just remember we’re here for you if you ever wanna talk about things, or just need an ear to vent, we’re here too for that! glad to see you posting agian! get well!!!
Just about all of my doctors are gun guys. I have built several of them guns and worked on a few of their own guns.
As usual I jump right into a project and don’t think about taking pictures beforehand. I don’t know why I always do that then regret it afterwards. The two lemon squeezers right now are in pieces soaking in mineral spirits to help loosen and remove the decades of accumulated fouling and grime.