Jan-May last year was my roughest, stuck on my back in bed pretty much 24/7. Next 5-6 months sucked bad, too, from walker to crutches to cane, to finally going it alone with the aid of pain narcotics and lotsa beer. Getting the titanium plates and screws outta my lower leg before xmas sucked, too, but glad later when I didn’t feel that shit bolted into my tibia-fibia anymore. Now just eventually gotta get that damn achy titanium rod out from inside the whole length of my femur, plus the damn bracket bolted on the outside with a big assed auger looking thing screwed through the neck and up into the the ball going in my hip socket. Then, artificial knee in a few years when I can no longer put it off. Finally, 15-20 years after that wears out and the bones are too brittle for another one, either gotta fuse the joint or off with the leg! I’m thinking there’s gonna be a hydraulic or computer controlled prosthetic later in my future. I guess the point of revealing all this is to let you know you too can research the hell outta your condition and keep it reasonably at bay for the rest of your life. I’m sure glad Al Gore invented the internet so we can do this ourselves. Just remember to stick to credible the .edu and med journal sites, then you’ll soon figure out what consensus regarding prognosis and long term care is. I did this again recently for a couple of dullards at work when that old hard living but now pushing 40 heart issues started catching up. You seem damn smart, so don’t let that lupus bite you in the ass later on.

Danny, I didn’t know him, but I read a little on the memorial site and saw some pics, so I got to know a little about him. Given that he was an Irish boy AND a biker, he’s a damn righteous dude in my book! Plus, you know what they say about “only the good….”. Me, I’ll probably live 108 years!