Greetings to you and yours on this lovely, warm Texas evening. As you likely know, it is hotter than hot here in the Lone Star State, and many of us are trying our best to beat the heat. Among us is my grandfather, Grandpa Rex. He has lived through almost one century of southern summers and has the no-sweat routine down pat: if you need to do manual labor outside, do it in the cool of the morning.
Yesterday morning, on the eve of his 95th birthday, Grandpa Rex awoke at 5:00AM, two hours earlier than usual. He broke routine on purpose, in order to unload his latest treasure before the heat of the day set in. [Author's note: Grandpa is what is called a "picker." He likes to root around other peoples' old belongings that they no longer want and see if he might find a glimmer of something rare or useful.] Grandpa pulled up to the mini-storage lot, parked in front of his latest win from an auction bid: the trash/treasure of an abandoned storage unit. He decided to load his pickup truck with a few boxes and unload them to their final resting place in his backyard shed, his picker's shrine. After loading box number two, somehow Grandpa lost balance and ended up on the gravel, unable to move his leg.
We grandchildren have always looked up to our grandfather as our own personal Superman. And boy was he that day! Mustering his strength, Grandpa Rex scooted himself across the ground the 10-foot distance from the back of the truck to the front cab. He then hoisted himself into the driver's seat and drove through town until he could find help. All of this effort was done with a broken hip! Hours later at the hospital, he declined pain medication as he, my Supergrandpa, felt that he could tolerate the pain as long as he did not move the injured area. Admirable physical and mental strength!Oh, and of course, he never skipped a beat throughout this whole ordeal. Grandpa Rex joked about how picking got him into trouble (we all know no matter how Super a man is, at 95, he has no business lifting heavy items at any time of day or any season of the year). He also did not hesitate to let the hospital staff know that it was his 95th birthday today. In pre-op, he was serenaded "Happy Birthday" by ten nurses! Just before being operated on, still sharp as a tack, he quizzed his orthopaedic surgeon on what material composed his hip ball prosthesis. The answer: titanium. How fitting for my Supergrandpa!
Hip Ball Prosthesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_replacement
