The Steel Guitar Forum

Please read my thread about my accident November 8 2010, if you have not yet.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... be9202cd14

Though I am making progress with my therapy, I am a long way from doing all but the simplest things with my parts /refurbish buisness, or for that matter normal everyday living. My wife is my ANGEL, as she is picking up the slack the best she can with normal living, and trying to polish parts. We are seriously sleep deprived because of the pain of getting through the heeling proccess.

I can now touch my fingertips to my thumb's joint closest to the thumb tip, so we are making progress. We have a looong way to go yet, though. I can now slide a bar on the strings and play my steel, thankfully. A week ago, I put the bar on my strings with my right hand. At least I can now pick my bar up carefully and put it on the strings with my left hand--I couldn't do that last week. I am facing another month to 6 weeks of therapy.

So, We are delayed in fullfilling our parts orders and refurb obligations, so please be patient, we will get all our orders serviced--though not on the time frame we could have without my accident happening. We thank everybody in their patience about this delay caused by this accident. Thankyou for your understanding.

We are TEMPORARILY not taking any new orders(unless you have the time to wait). We will announce when we are back in full swing again. Again, thanx for your patience.

Wow James the original post slipped right by me. Glad you are doing better. You are one tough customer. Have a great holiday day season and take care of yourself.

James, good to hear that you are making positive progress. Hopefully you'll be back to normal sooner
than you think. I believe everyone will give you the support you need to get through this. Please try to get some sleep and get better soon.

Glad to hear your doing better,James.
your original post slipped by me as well. I dont mind waiting...from all I have seen and by popular opinion, your parts are well worth waiting for!
Keep your spirits up and better do something really nice for that Angel of yours! Happy Holidays to you both!

Glad to hear your making progress, James. Those of us waiting on orders know that good things come to those who wait.

Best,

Dan

Hello James,
how could I have missed the first thread about your accident?
Great to hear that your healing process is doing OK so far.
I´m sure you'll get all the patience and understanding for the time delay from your customers, and as Dan said: Your fine part are well worth waiting...

I send you a whole sleighload full of good recovery energy from waaaay across the big pond!
Get well soon !!

Have a merry Christmas and a healthy new year.....

pit

Good news your gettin better James, I'm still nursing my broken wrist joint ,so I know how f'n frustrating and painful it is, I'm just gettin where I can close my hand .Get feelin better man and keep up the good work.....Stormy

All the best to you, James.
We need artists of yer caliber...!
Wishing you the speediest recovery.
rd

James ,sorry about your injury.I would like to offer some words of encouragement.A few years back I lost all the feeling in my middle finger on my right hand.With thearpy and time and b vitamins I was able to get the feeling back.It took a lot of patience.

Get better well, James

A slow recovery is sometimes the best recovery

all the best for 2011

J

Take your time recovering, James. That's the most important thing. A few Sho~Buds can wait for their parts, and so can their owners.

Dear James,

Take good care of yourself. Take your time getting better.

Folks just have to to accept what happened.

I'm sorry I took so long to find out about your accident, because I would have liked to express my support right away.

Be good to yourself, brother, and have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Sincerely,

Andrew Roblin
International Sho-Bud Brotherhood
Member #79

James,
I hate to hear about your accident and I hope you have a full recovery and are able to KEEP ON PICK'N! I know recovery can be a slow process and a seriously frustrating experience and just had shoulder surgery and can't play or even drive myself in a car.BE CAREFUL IN THOSE TREES!! P.S I love the Waylon Jennings tribute stuff...You should post a link on the Forum for us new guys who are still learning what musical projects people on the Forum are currently doing...Get Well!

James, you hang in there, and I mean that figuratively not with a rope. Take your lovely wife Teresa out for a nice dinner, and have a very Merry Christmas.

Dale

Thanx for all the kind words fellas, and the understanding.

You know we'll miss you at our jam on the 2nd, but we certainly understand your setback. I wish there was an easy way to help you get everything done. Hope you both keep your strength and don't overdo it.

Your Friends
Jerry and Carol

James & Tree wish I lived close enough to try and help you out my friend I know what you are going through and it's not pleasant.
Maybe you'll wake up one morning and wow you are back to your normal self and ready to go that's what we'll be praying for.

James my friend..... Apologies for not getting in touch before..I've not been on site for quite a few months due to my own problems....Five stents put in etc...
All the best for a speedy recovery, the spirit will carry you through. Go for it.
Barry

Jerry, Bill, and Barry, Thanx for the kind words. A little more time and I'll come around. I see a little more progress each day.

Looks like I'm in line for another 6 weeks of therapy. Making progress, but very slowly.

I hear ya James , I got a month left of therapy (all my HMO pays for) but I detoxed from all the meds and am gaining weight finally. Hang in there home boy you'll be back in the saddle pronto....,.Stormy.

Hang in there, yourself, Storm. It's a tough road we are going down right now, huh?

Yeah it's been tough 3 months, and as u know I managed to make a a'hole outta myself along the pain pill road and again I apologize to you, get well bro we need those shiny ,excellent, new parts ....Stormy

James your Chain saw story is scary. I can relate to it somewhat because of a couple of chain saw events that have touched me.
I hired a guy a couple of months ago to remove a couple of trees for me that had been damaged by lightening, He had not been on the job 30 minutes when he had an accident similar to yours. Fortunally it appears he will recover with little or no permanant impairment even though he had 42 stitches.

In the 70's I was helping a friend remove a large elm tree with several large limbs hanging over the house. He yelled down to me",I've got a bad cut."

His back was at first toward me ,not seeing what happened I asked "do you need a rope"? As you well know you can turn a limb on a green elm tree almost 90 degrees,so I thought he just missed his cut angle and need me to send him a rope, so I could turn the limb from over the house.

By then he turned to face me,I saw he was cut under the neck almost from ear to ear. I yelled, throw that chain saw down,I am coming after you. His reply was get out of the way,I am going jump which he did jumping about 15 feet. I immediately pulled my shirt off and pressed it under his neck and against the cut.

By the the time we got to my van on the street,I car approached us driven by a stranger. I stopped him and told " him to drive my van and I had to get this man to the hospital in a hurry. Without guestion he immediatly complied. Because the customer wasn't at home we had no immediate phone access...no mobile phones in the 70,s. I didnt figure we had time to wait for an ambulance anyway.

This was in Dallas,even though I knew where the major hospitals were we were'nt close to one.
I told the driver to take off north ,I knew there was a small hospital within 3 or 4 miles but not sure of the cross street or whether to go east or west when we got there. We passed the first major cross street about twenty blocks away,Thank God, one block away to the right was the hospital I hoped to find. My next game plan, had we not immediatly found the hospital,was to head for Baylor which another five or six miles away as I knew right where it was.

After about 60 stitches and a short stay in the hospital my buddy was able to get back home to a wife and five kids.

When he tells the story even today,he tells about the doctor saying, " if it had not been for that the guy who stuck that shirt under you neck, you would not be here today."

Praise God he fully recovered. I don.t know if this was a wake call for him or for me,but I dont ever use a Chain saw without thinking about it.

Saying all that James,I am so glad you are progressing as well as you are. I have such respect for your positive attitude during all this event. Be Careful good buddy.My guess, that even today,you more than likely realize you had a PREVENTABLE ACCIDENT.

I spent 35 years of my carrer with a major electrical utility, almost 15 years in safety . The last 15 years before retirement, I worked for 4 or 5 large powerline and contractors life in the safety field.

I am aware of or have helped investigate at least 50, if not more, fatal accidents.Seven in one year,four in one month,none related to the other. Many electrical,some drownings,auto accidents, suffocations, I have yet to see a non preventable accident. I don't believe getting struck by lightening while out in the middle of the lake in a thunderstorm is an act of God. I think it is a poor decision.

I wish I could preach this message to every one of our forum members and maybe help them have long and happy lives accident free lives. Unfortunatly safety professionals will always have jobs.

I hope you do not think my comments harsh,I mean it as no reflection toward you or anyone else..

Love you bro.

Louie, Thanx for the kind words, brother. In my line of work, when we get hurt, we get hurt bad. Could have been much worse. I got off ease, with a little "tough love". Preventable is a concept not many embrace, but you are right. It all boils down to good judgement and good decisions, hopefully. Staying ahead of the game--the fine line of safe and unsafe--that's arborculture(tree work). It takes just a moment and it can catch your guard down. Mine was a real bad gust of wind that threw me off balance while 60' up in a giant elm. Stay out of the trees and wait for calm days? You won't work much in Oklahoma then. So we deal with it the best we can. That's why it's called a high risk occupation.(And not because we are always 80' high all the time, either.LOL!!)