Foot/Ankle Surgery Recovery – One Fine Day!

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Feb
27

Today, February 27 is one fine day! Today I am out of a cast, and into a walking boot! Today I have no blood clot, am continuing blood thinner for a couple more weeks then done with that!! WOOOHOOOO!!!

I had an ultrasound on February 26 at CVCA. The ultrasound tech, Oleg, advised me afterward that a piece was missing from the clot and things were looking up.

I had an appointment with Dr. Ayaaland at CVCA to discuss the clot this morning. He saw me immediately and advised that the clot was gone. Not there anymore. He advised me to continue with my current blood thinner medication until it was gone then just stop. I’m to return in about 3 weeks for a last ultrasound, probably to confirm it didn’t return.

From there I went to see my surgeon, Dr. Daniel Cuttica. First the obligatory x-rays. After x-rays Dr. Cuttica examinined my foot, in which the doctor pushed the foot around a bit, stretching movement up & down and right and left, he pronounced that I would not have another cast on, and I could remain in the walking boot that he put me in when I was there last and a blood clot was found. This photo is the x-ray taken February 27th. It shows my foot and the hardware inside the foot as well as the growth of my foot around the hardware: . Yes, you are correct, that is a V E R Y L O N G screw in my heel. The hardware which can be seen on the side and top of my foot were called ‘wedges’ by Dr. Cuttica to my wife & daughter following the surgery. It had something to do with reattachment to the tendons which were torn. The screw is in the heel to assist with the arch of the foot, which, pre-surgery, was not there. The foot was flat prior to the surgery. During the surgery, the Achilles tendon was unattached, pulled down, creating the arch, and reattached using that long screw in the heel. The rest of the tendon was cut off, I think.

When I first wrote about the surgery in January, I believed that the screw was integrated with the other visible hardware as a triangle on the side of the foot. On reviewing the surgery, as well as today’s x-ray, I realized that there is no triangular hardware; the wedges are separate from the screw and the screw is what I described. The screw & wedges do not touch in the foot. I know this is pretty amazing, but there is no pain now, nor has there been any. As in the last surgery, I follow the doctor’s orders and healing simply happens, without pain, and without much aching as well.

Dr. Cuttica advised me to begin putting 25 pounds of weight on my foot today. Then, every other day to put 25 more pounds. So, day of tomorrow, I put 50 pounds of weight on my foot, and etc., etc. until in about a week or so, I’ll have all my weight on the foot while in the walking boot. Here is a picture of my walking boot, so you know what I’m in. The boot is tall, and it extends side to side as well to protect the foot. At the bend of the foot, and on the right front is a little air valve. The boot can have air inserted. Air bladders inside the boot, when pumped up, hold the foot in place. This air usually has to be replaced a few times a day. Here’s the boot: . A viewer can’t see, but the boot is firmly on the foot & leg without being tight. When the boot is first placed on the foot, it is completely opened. The foot is set inside the boot. Then the top, over the foot has a foam piece on the right side of the boot that lays on top of the foot. A second piece on the left side folds over top the first piece and a 1″ wide slice of Velcro hooks onto the bottom piece from the top piece holding the foot in. Further fastening is from the two 1 1/2″ wide straps you can see over the top of the foot which fasten over top right to left, then thru a couple of plastic slots on the left side of the boot and the strap is returned back over to fasten on Velcro on the right side of the boot. After covering the foot, the same closure system with the fold over is done to the leg. A long Velcro piece runs the length of the leg foam and the two foam pieces of the leg come together. Last are the three straps which can be seen which fasten over the leg, and back by Velcro. Last, the pump is inserted and air is inserted till the boot is comfortable. Done.

Upon my return to home, I got my home scale out and attempted to put 25 pounds of weight on my booted foot. Not to be. 40 was the minimum. This was because of the weight of the boot pushing down on the scale. So I weighed the boot. It’s about 5 pounds. I tried again and finally figured out how to get the weigh in down to about 35 pounds. Actually, that’s the same weight I used in the last week since, with the walking boot, a person on crutches really can’t have zero weight on the boot. The boot is much longer on the bottom than a cast so unless the boot is swung up off the floor and forward of the rest of the body, there is going to be at least some weight on the foot. Swinging the boot forward, with the weight of the foot in it, makes one feel very, unbalanced.

The following photos are of my foot as of February 27th. Looks pretty bad to the layman: that’s me. But the surgeon thought it looked great! I thought readers would like a look at the foot after 6 weeks. The first one is of the top & right side of the left foot:. Next photo is the left side and back: . The last photo is of the back of my leg. Notice all the dead skin on the leg. That happened in the cast. I was going to remove it, but the foot and leg were too painful to attend to that. .

Overall, it was a fine day!

Foot/Ankle Surgery Recovery from Feb 20st

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Feb
22

This is a blog documenting recovery from Post Tibia Tendon surgery in my left foot. The surgery was in mid-January, 2014. Following the surgery, a splint was placed on my left leg from knee to the ball of the foot. After about 1 1/2 weeks, I received a cast in the same location. The cast was heavy, and stiff. I was scheduled to have the cast removed on February 20th. The foot was to be checked, and x-rayed and another cast placed on me for a few more weeks. Prior to the appointment I had some leg cramps which were minor and seemed to go away by simply placing the cast on the floor and staying calm.

On the day of the appointment, the cast cast was removed, and xrays were taken and I saw the doctor, Dr. Hyams. Upon questions, I informed her of the leg cramps, and she massaged my calf which hurt. She informed me she was sending me to have an ultrasound for blood clot as the cramps and hurt from massage sometimes indicated that. A walking boot was placed on my foot and I went to a location directly across from the doctor’s office named CVCA.

The ultrasound technician determined I did have a small blood-clot in my calf so I had to see the doctor. I was sent to an office to wait. Soon, Dr. Sproulings came in and advised me about the blood clot, saying blood-thinner would be administered for the next couple months. Dr. Sproulings was comforting saying that they didn’t worry about blots below the knee as they hardly ever go anywhere. She said the clot I had was tiny. She advised the blood thinner medication was taken for the purpose of allowing the blood to pass the clot and not hang on to it which would make it larger. The thinner was also to prevent other clots from forming. Dr. Sproulings also said that my own body would get rid of the clot as soon as I got some exercise in that area. She said she didn’t think the leg lifts I was doing would help much in that regard as they didn’t actually exercise the calf, but instead the quads around the knee and the thigh. So I guess I’m stuck with this thing till I get out of a cast entirely, when I get started with therapy which actually will, exercise my calf.

When I was done with the ultrasound, I returned home with my new walking boot, which was confusing to me. I received another appointment to CVCA the following Wednesday for them to check and see if the clot grew smaller in the last week. The day after that, I received an appointment to see my surgeon. But that left me with some questions – that is, what am I supposed to be doing with a walking boot? It is confusing because the cast immobilized my foot and the instructions were that the cast is non weight bearing, don’t put weight on it. But now, just prior to getting another cast, I am placed in a walking boot, except with no instructions. Walking boots, other than the bottom, are flexible on the top and sides. My foot could swell more than in a cast. So what to do about walking?

The following day, I contacted Dr. Hyams about the boot. I was advised the boot is to be treated like a cast, non-weight bearing. The only problem with this instruction is that the boot is so much larger than the cast, the non-weight bearing is near impossible. Even just getting out of a chair, the boot is much larger than the cast and one just has to have the foot flat on the floor. Plus the boot is far heavier than the cast, which helps place it on the floor whether the wearer wants it there or not. When crutching, the boot is so long and heavy that it hangs down further and scrapes if the wearer attempts to keep the boot off the ground. Suffice to say, non-weight bearing if far more difficult with the boot than the cast!

So right now, I have another appointment for another ultrasound on Wednesday Feb 26 and another appointment with my surgeon to discuss the cast. The ultrasound is to determine if the clot is the same size or smaller, and not larger. I am hoping that may mean I can get out of this walking boot and back into a cast so my foot can continue to heal properly.

So how did all this come about? Why would I get a blood-clot, when only 1% of surgeries get one? Perhaps the answer is simple. I was to take aspirin for 10 days following the surgery. I did. The someone at the doctor’s office said I could stop, and I did. Bad move. I suppose there is no definite was to say that lack of aspirin was the reason for my clot, but, the reason for taking the aspirin a day was to keep the blood clots away. I stopped taking it and next thing, I had a clot.

This was just a short post acknowledging a small setback in recovery. I look forward to the next installment.

Foot/Ankle Surgery Recovery – 19 days Onward

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Feb
12

If you are just tuning in, this is a blog on my own recovery from foot and ankle surgery of my left foot. The surgery took place on January 14th, and I am documenting the recovery. The documentary is in case someone else is considering this surgery so they will know what to expect in the days and weeks and even months following this surgery. As is commented on in this post, one thing to expect is that complete loss of the use of one leg! Until it happens, there is nothing to prepare oneself for this. It isn’t the pain as there is very little, but the problem of movement to any other location. Sitting is boring. That is quickly found out. But walking is impossible. So the compromise is to compact all the walking around duties so it is mostly done at the same time, and sit the rest of the time. Ugh.

Today is February 3rd. Yesterday was a monumental day. Yesterday was the first day I was able to negotiate my way out of my house, and down the back steps, then the brick steps to my driveway without having to sit and bump down, or back up. Once outside on my back stoop, I placed both crutches in my left hand, and grasped the stair rail with my right hand. Using my left(casted) foot as a balance point, I put the points of my crutches down to the next step down, ran my right hand forward so I was bent slightly forward. I bent my left leg slightly and quickly stepped down to the next step with my left leg, then rapidly brought my right, (uninjured) foot to that same step. I went the rest of the way down, using that method. Yes, I put weight on my casted foot, but it was only slight. Very little. So little that I could hardly feel the cast touching the step. Anyway, I got down.

Upon arrival back, getting up was the opposite. Holding onto the left rail of the brick steps, I also held a crutch in the left hand, along with a crutch in the right hand. I put the right crutch on the step up, stepped up with my right foot and quickly lifted the left foot up on the same step. This put a weight on my left foot, but if I did it rapidly, only a little weight was on that foot. I went up the rest of the steps using that method. Success!

Now, on February 6th, I find that my toes are swollen after spending some time in my basement. My foot is a little tingly as well like it is going to sleep. I think its possibly from sitting around so much. I try to get up at least once an hour just to get on my cart and ride through the house, do something, ride back and go back to sitting. Today, I went into the basement and stayed about 1 1/2 hours. I sat there, doing some work for about 40 minutes. Before I sat down there, I was up on my crutches for about 10-12 minutes looking at some things. I noticed my toes ached a little then, so I sat for about 40 minutes. The I got up again after my work was done, and simply crutched on over to the stairs to reclimb then and discovered my toes were quite swollen. I could feel the pressure of my foot pressing against the inner sides of the cast. Kind of a weird feeling. Perhaps a way to cure this swollen business to get on my cart more and ride around, or crutch around the house.

I discussed this swollen toes and tingly toes with my health insurance (CIGNA) this morning. They offer help lines toll free to contact with any issues. The nurse I discussed this with advised the usual about putting the leg up higher than my heart. She even suggested I could lay on the floor and put the leg up on a pillow. I hadn’t thought of that before but that might be the best way because, other than the immediate problem getting down to the floor, putting any pillow there makes the leg higher than my heart. Another thing we discussed was that the tingly toes may have to do with a lesser sodium intake the day before. Pretty interesting for sure! And one other thing was that the nurse said I may be sitting too much in one place. I had thought about this but wasn’t sure. So today when I sat, I sat on our couch rather than my reclining chair. So far today I’ve had no tingly toes, and they haven’t been swollen either. These little things are always good to know, even if it isn’t quite recovery. I’ll call it maintenance instead.

February 11th was another monumental day. When one doesn’t have the use of one leg to speak of, most anything involving weight or movement can be thought of as monumental, at least by the person with the one leg. I decided to return to the basement again as I had some things to do there. I like to wash my clothes I wear every few days as I am basically using nearly the same clothing everyday, so its imperative to keep these items clean. I decided to try going to the basement the same way I traversed the outside stairs on February 3rd. That is, more normal than going down the stairs on my butt. I used the method of stepping down the stair and putting some light weight on my casted foot while I brought the good foot down for the rest of the weight. I stayed in the basement just for the time to put my clothes in the wash and went back to the steps to return upstairs.

I really couldn’t stand the thought of scooting back up those stairs on my butt. It’s a slow, and not the most comfortable method of ascending stairs. I turned around backwards, figuring if I came down those stairs standing up, why couldn’t I back up the stairs facing frontwards? Now, facing frontwards, actually means looking back down the stairs! I began. I have to say, it’s quite confusing to back up a stairway. It really is against everything anyone is taught about climbing up stairs. One reason is that foot placement is confusing, ESPECIALLY when one only has a single foot at 100 percent to begin with!! The method the walking up was to hold the casted foot on the step and place the good foot back on the next step up and push my weight up to the next step while tightly gripping the stair rail on the right and pushing up on my crutches on the left. Then lift the casted foot up even with the good foot and I’m ready for the next step up again. Writing about it takes far longer than doing it. I have to say its a bit nerve racking when one is backing up stairs. When the casted foot is lifted up, most weight is on the good foot, which means leaning over the stairs to get the other foot back up. It’s similar to leaning over seats high up in a baseball stadium, like you’re going to fall if you make one slip, or inadvertent move. It took a long while to go up backwards, but not near as long, or with as much effort as going up on my butt.

The best part of walking up, sort of, was that at the top of the stairs, I didn’t have to struggle to get up off my butt and back onto my cart. While we’re right here, let me explain the business of returning to my cart once I arrive back up the steps sitting down. Once at the top of the steps, I have to continue to back out of the steps, then close the basement door. I worry about falling back down the steps. That’s the reason for shutting the door. Following that, I have to twist and place both crutches in a secure corner. Don’t want them falling on me while I’m making my way to the cart. Next, I straighten out, and find something to slide up on so I’m about halfway up to a chair that I can use to slide up on my cart. Why not just push my way up onto my cart? Well, it’s about 18 inches up, which is longer than my arms can push. About 6 inches is all my arms are good for on a backwards lift up. Once up to that 6 or so inches I can then grasp something a bit higher, plus use the door frame to pull myself up the rest of the way till I’m standing, then I can pull my cart to me and kneel on it. Its hard work for a little while. Now you see why I like walking up, even backwards.

February 12th was another great day. Today was the first day I went outside, with my cart, and by myself. No wife around to lift my cart around for me. It is supposed to snow on the 13th. We have some ice melt stuff in the garage. It’s too heavy for my wife to lift. Nobody else in the house to order to do it. That would mean I get it. I Can’t carry my crutches AND the cart, so it’s going to be a cart only day. Upon riding the cart out of the door, an exercise in fear in itself whether going in or out. The cart going out is fronted out and the front end drops off the small step out of the kitchen door. It feels like you’re falling off. But, I didn’t. Now, out of the back door, and down the steps on my behind again. I pull the cart behind me, then lift it over my head and set it down on the patio. Then slide my self over the patio to the brick steps, still on my butt. Now lift the cart down onto the asphalt, position it so I can get my kneeling position quick and easy and set the brake. Now stand up and quickly get down on the left knee so little weight arrives on my knee. Undo the brake and easily ride on over to the garage. I lift up the garage door. Now, leaning down and getting this 20 bag of ice melt is going to be tricky. Can’t use the little basket on the front of the cart, might break it. Have to lay the icemelt down outside the garage, back the cart out and re-close the garage door. Now turn the cart around, pick up the ice melt in my left hand (right hand has the brake), and proceed for a few feet till the bag gets too heavy to carry while rolling along. Have to put it down. It isn’t really the weight, it’s the getting off balance from not being able to hold the bag in a tight place, but instead having to carry it out and away from my body. Finally, get back to the patio and toss the bag onto the patio. Now, back the cart up to the steps again, sit down, lift the cart back to the patio. Now get the icemelt back, slide myself back to the porch steps, bringing the cart with me. Lift the cart over my head and up onto the stoop, then back up the steps and lift the icemelt bag one step at a time. At the next to the top step, get to my feet, then get my knee up on the cart and I’m up! WHEW!! Lift the icemelt bag up and toss it on the porch. Whew, Whew!! Ride on back into the house and I feel like I’ve just done a full day’s work at hard labor.

I just had to write about that outdoors ordeal. To a person with two working legs, that would have been equal to about a 3 minute walk in the park. With one leg, it is an enduring exercise in perseverance.

Now is a good time to stop. I’ll get back again when there is something to report.

And More on the Florida Theater Shooting

Posted by DetectiveEstes in Uncategorized      No comments

Feb
10

The following is in addition to the shooting in the Florida theater. Foxnews.com presented a surveillance video that was shown in the courtroom during a two-day bond hearing. It is ongoing as this post is written. Attached is this video, fox theater shoot video. (If you cannot get this by clicking on the link, just copy and paste this web address -http://video.foxnews.com/v/3167274807001/surveillance-video-shown-during-fla-theater-shooting-case/#sp=show-clips). Now, when anyone watches this, you’ll have to listen to the reporter discussing the case. Then you see the video. Finally, Fox has a defense attorney come and analyze the video for viewers.

Anyone who read the first post knows the incident as well as the analyses. I’ll quickly go through the incident to bring readers up to speed for this post. The suspect and the victim were attending an afternoon showing of “Lone Survivor”. Both were males, both had their wives in attendance. The suspect was bothered by the victim’s texting on his (victim’s) cellphone. The suspect and victim had some words over this texting. Subsequently, the suspect reported the victim and his texting to the management. There is nothing in the news that management did anything about that. When the suspect returned from the report to management, he and the victim got into more words over the texting. The victim then throws a bag of popcorn on the suspect. The suspect sits down, and subsequently feels something hit him in the face. Feeling that he is being attacked, the suspect shoots the victim. The victim dies. The bullet that strikes the victim also strikes the victim’s wife in the finger. The suspect remains and is arrested inside the theater.

My analyses of the incident is that the suspect, Mr. Reeves reacted as a police officer would when under attack. Mr. Reeves is a male, 71 years old, and a retired police officer, retiring at captain’s rank. Mr. Reeves did everything in this incident lawfully and followed the use of force standard department regulations throughout this incident even though he is retired. A lifetime of law enforcement bring with it a great deal of restraint and following the law of the land as well as the rules of the department the officer was employed at.

Today I discovered that Foxnews was showing a video surveillance of the entire incident. I went to Foxnews and found the video. From news reporting, the video is not the entire incident, but did show the attack on Mr. Reeves. The video begins with the return of Mr. Reeves from reporting Oulson to the theater management and then Reeves sits down in his seat. This video was portrayed as being a surveillance video of the theater shooting involving Mr. Reeves & Mr. Oulson. Foxnews reported that the video had been shown at the bond hearing of Mr. Reeves which had been ongoing for the past two days. Foxnews also reported that some part of the statement that Mr. Reeves had given to the police had been shown at the bond hearing. Also, Foxnews reported that Mr. Oulson’s wife had testified at this same bond hearing. I observed her photo in which her hand had a bandage on it.

I watched the surveillance video. I found a few things out that I had not known before. I was under the impression that Mr. Oulson was behind Mr. Reeves. Not so, he was in front of him, in the next row of seats down. This means that his texting had to be so loud that Mr. Reeves was able to hear it even with Mr. Oulson’s body between he and Mr. Reeves. The video was dark, but human forms are able to be seen with a little more detail than just a form. I observed what Mr. Reeves said, and the victim’s wife testified was a bag of popcorn. Except that it wasn’t a bag at all, it was the definite hard shape of the box of popcorn sold at theaters. I saw no popcorn come out of the box. I also saw that Mr. Oulson did not throw the box at all, he delivered it, right to Mr. Reeves’ face! That means Oulson actually struck Mr. Reeves’ face with his (Oulson’s) hand. Not sure which one as it was under the box and it was too dark to see the hand being pulled back. It was also too dark to see the second strike that Mr. Reeves felt to his face. Subsequently, Mr. Reeves drew his handgun and fired.

I also listened to the testimony that Ms. Oulson gave at the bond hearing that was shown by Foxnews in this report. Ms. Oulson stated that she put her left hand on his chest and she said to her husband, “Don’t do it, it’s not worth it.”

I think, based on the surveillance video, as well as Ms. Oulson’s statement to her husband, that this proves that Mr. Reeves was following the law and the rules of the use of deadly force in this incident. Ms. Oulson told her husband not to do it, it isn’t worth it. She placed her hand on him to hold him back. We’ll never know what he was going to do since he was shot right after that. But this should indicate that Mr. Oulson was definitely intent on following up his attacks on Mr. Reeves, already, and his wife was trying to stop him. This also proves that Mr. Oulson had lost his temper, had attacked Mr. Reeves and was intent on following that attack up yet again. Mr. Oulson’s position at the time of the shooting was that he was facing Mr. Reeves. Ms. Oulson’s finger was shot because her hand was on her husband’s chest when Mr. Reeves shot him in the chest. All of this shows that Oulson is the primary aggressor in this incident and Mr. Reeves being much older than Mr. Oulson was acting on the reasonable belief that he was about to be further attacked. Mr. Oulson’s position when he was shot helps to prove that.

Analyses of the Tampa Officer’s Theater Shooting

Posted by DetectiveEstes in Detective Estes' Corner, Uncategorized      No comments

Feb
5

In January, Curtis Reeves a white male, 71 years old and a retired Tampa Florida police officer, shot Chad Oulson, white male, 43 years old and a finance manager for a motorcyle and powersports business. The article can be seen here from Foxnews on January 15, 2014. theater shooting .The incident occurred inside a movie theater in Pasco County, Florida. Pasco County is centered on the west bank of the state of Florida.

I thought, as a retired police officer, with 37 years of service, I could provide some light onto this incident and Mr. Oulson’s killing. This post is an analyzing of the incident from another retired police officer’s view. This post is not to say that Reeves was anything other than completely wrong in his actions. Of course one cannot shoot someone after an argument if you aren’t fearful for your life. What this article is arguing is that perhaps Mr. Oulson would be alive today if he had been more tolerant of Mr. Reeves request for him to stop texting in the theater.

In the Washington D.C. area that I reside in, local theaters show specific reminders on screen for movie watchers to turn their phone to vibrate, no calls, no texts etc., prior to a movie. One would believe that this is the usual theaters in other areas. Even if the theater didn’t do that, is texting ever so important that it can’t be foregone for a couple hours? Nothing has been noted in any news articles, on this subject, that Mr. Oulson had a personal emergency and was texting to solve the problem.

Essentially the way this incident went as follows:Mr. Reeves asked Mr. Oulson to stop texting in the theater during the movie. The men had some words back and forth. Mr. Reeves got up and informed the management. Upon Reeves return to his seat more words between the two of them because Mr. Oulson has not stopped texting and he doesn’t like it that Mr. Reeves told the management about him. Mr. Oulson, in a very childish move, throws his bag of popcorn at Mr. Reeves. More words between them. Mr. Reeves feels something hit him in the face. He feels he is being attacked and is fearful. Mr. Reeves draws his pistol and shoots Mr. Oulson who subsequently dies. Mr. Reeves also shoots Mrs. Oulson in the hand. Mr. Reeves is arrested onscene.

Let’s examine the actions of the participants in this debacle. Mr. Reeves hears texting behind him and doesn’t like it. In the Foxnews article, above, Mr. Reeves is purported to have asked a women in another movie he attended to stop texting as well. So we know texting bothers Mr. Reeves. Would it bother you if you were in the theater, and someone was texting behind you? Well, if the noises were turned down on the phone, no one would know that texting was in progress. So when Mr. Reeves said something to Mr. Oulson about stopping the texting, he had to have known from the noise, of the texting on the phone; perhaps the phone made a noise every time a text was sent either way. When Mr. Reeves asked Mr. Oulson to stop the texting, could Mr. Oulson have simply turned the noise off? Yes he could have. But he didn’t. We know that because Mr. Reeves and Mr. Oulson had some more words and then Mr. Reeves left and went to the management about the noise. Maybe Mr. Reeves told Mr. Oulson he was going to do that. The fact that Mr. Reeves went to the management indicates to me that Mr. Oulson did not apologize for the noise nor did he agree to turn it down or off so as not to further disturb Mr. Reeves.

Mr. Reeves returned from telling the management about the texting of Mr. Oulson. There is no indication in the article that the management took up Mr. Reeves problem and did something about it. Why would they? They aren’t the police. They have no enforcement power. The theater just can’t walk up to a paying customer and tell them they’re outta there, thereby taking another paying customer’s word as to a violation. So the theater most likely did nothing. Probably, since they already had words, Mr. Reeves began another conversation with Mr. Oulson to the effect that he had informed the management and they would be around to talk to Mr. Oulson directly.

Now we began to see what kind of a person Mr. Oulson is here. He is continually texting, even after several conversations with Mr. Reeves asking him to stop as it’s bothering him. Mr. Oulson is not the slightest bit respectful of Mr. Reeves age and the fact that at age 73, Mr. Reeves hearing has been damaged over the years. This hearing damage and errant little dings and other noises emanating from other locations causes Mr. Reeves to have real problems hearing the movie he has paid to see. Mr Oulson doesn’t care about any of this. In fact, when Mr. Reeves returns from his visit to management, he and Mr. Oulson have yet another conversation, and This time Mr. Oulson finalizes his disrespect to Mr. Reeves by throwing his bag of popcorn onto Mr. Reeves!

Up to then, this had been a verbal confrontation. Nothing further, just words. But when Mr. Oulson, in a fit of maximum testosterone output, decided to throw something onto Mr. Reeves, this racheted that little incident up to a criminal assault & battery. Yes, it’s a criminal incident to touch someone with your body in anger, or cause something else to touch that person. If you are into a confrontation with someone and deliberately touch that person with anything, it is a crime. Mr. Oulson committed the crime of assault and battery to Mr. Reeves when he threw the popcorn bag at him.

Now, consider this. So far, Mr. Reeves had held himself in. He began a conversation with a request, and due to Mr. Oulson’s refusal to stop doing something which was clearly bothersome to Mr. Reeves, Mr. Reeves went and informed the management. Mr. Reeves never made a threat, never put his hand on Mr. Oulson, in fact, all Mr. Reeves did up till now was talk to Mr. Oulson. It was Mr. Oulson who acting the fool, brought the conversation up to a confrontation and indeed, attacked Mr. Reeves!

So far, this talking and taking conversation to the next higher authority is exactly what Mr. Reeves as a police officer had been trained to do. The police are trained to talk first if possible. If that doesn’t work, then they go to a higher authority, perhaps a magistrate for a warrant. In this case, the theater management. Mr Reeves was the police for over 20 years. He has seen more, and done more real things, with real people, in excitement and calm than Mr. Oulson was likely to do if he lived to be a hundred years old. And in most of those 20 years, Mr. Reeves got things done through the by calmly talking to miscreants, of which, in this case, Mr. Oulson was one of. The Fox article states that Mr. Reeves had done this before, with asking someone else to stop texting. That was by talking and that worked out fine. The texting was stopped without further development. Mr. Reeves did nothing more than his training and career taught him to do all those years. He is not the person in this incident that did anything in violation of his training.

Following the throwing of the popcorn bag, according to the Foxnews article, Mr. Reeves sat back down in his seat. As a police officer, Mr. Reeves would know he had been criminally assaulted. He also knew that Mr. Oulson had upped this conversation to a confrontation and that, since he had, a possible further attack may be coming. Mr. Oulson has now shown his propensity to attack when there is no reason to attack. This makes me wonder how many other times he had done this? How many times how Mr. Oulson thrown his weight around in his business? How many times had he made fun of someone he considered less than him? How was his marriage….really? In this incident Mr. Oulson also showed zero amount of respect for Mr. Reeves age. This also makes me wonder what kind of a man this is, who would show no respect for an obviously elder person, so much so that he threw his whole bag of popcorn on him. This makes me believe that Mr. Oulson chooses his confrontations to his advantage. For example, would he have done the same thing with a large young man that asked him to stop texting? Probably not because if that had happened Mr. Oulson may have been struck by the large young man. This means Mr. Oulson did all of this deliberately so he could look good in his own eyes, or in his wife’s eyes. The name for this kind of person is – coward.

Now Mr. Reeves is sitting in his seat, covered in popcorn, knowing Mr. Oulson has upped this issue to a criminal attack. And the next thing that happens is that Mr. Reeves feels something strike his face. Now, he has already been attacked for no reason by Mr. Oulson, and now Mr. Oulson has thrown something at Mr. Reeves head. This is a sign to Mr. Reeves that Mr. Oulson has upped the assault to something far more deadly, and Mr. Reeves reacts exactly as his long learned training has taught him. Mr. Reeves draws his .380auto pistol and fires off two rounds in the protection of what he believes to be a deadly attack on his life. One shot is a center shot on Mr. Oulson, striking him in the chest. The other shot is off a little but removes any attack by the woman sitting beside Mr. Oulson, striking her in the hand.

So, who is really at fault here? Is it Mr. Reeves who reacts, at age 71 to an attack on his person that he cannot possibly stop by physical force alone? Or is it Mr. Oulson who decided one day to go from being a vague problem in a theater with the texting, just to bother some old man in front of him, to a cowardly attacker which costs him his life? Keep in mind that Mr. Oulson, at anytime could simply have stopped texting. Not only did he not stop texting, he increased the problem by having these continuing conversations with Mr. Reeves and continuing to text. Then, Mr. Oulson actually attacks Mr. Reeves person with the popcorn bag! And finally, in typical cowardly fashion, Mr. Oulson, throws something at the back of Mr. Reeves head which causes a long time police officer to believe he is being attacked in a deadly fashion and to react with deadly force.

Why would Mr. Reeves react that way? Because police officers are always taught to strike in places other than a person’s head as the person could be accidentally hurt badly. So officers are trained to strike the limbs or the torso with their defensive instruments, never the head. But the officer is also trained that if someone attacks the officer’s head, this is indeed a possible deadly attack and they should respond in kind to protect themselves from being killed.

This post is simply an analyses to those who read about this incident. Perhaps Mr. Reeves wasn’t justified in shooting Mr. Oulson, but ultimately, he reacted exactly as all his police training taught him. If this had remained a talking matter everybody would have gone home mad, but would have also gone home alive. But Mr. Oulson, as a disrespectful coward, had to turn it into an attack on Mr. Reeves and now Mr. Oulson is dead. I wonder if Mr. Oulson ever considered that youth does not necessarily make him right, or mightier. Probably not. Folks like Mr. Oulson only see themselves as winners, not dead.

Foot Ankle Surgery – past 10 days and Continuing

Posted by DetectiveEstes in Uncategorized      No comments

Feb
1

Colace, Colace, Colace…….for those of you who have had surgery, you already know what Colace is. For you that haven’t had surgery, and since these are ‘G’ rated comments, Colace is to overcome the constipation of taking prescription medication, which stops patients up following surgery. The main reason I write about this today is that Colace has far reaching times. I stopped taking Colace about 4 days ago and it is Still going strong in me! I now am bathroom ridden at least 3, sometimes 4 times a day. I don’t eat much different than I was prior to surgery, just a good bit less as I am sitting a good bit more. But one would tend to think – less in, less out. Not true, and I lay that to the power of Colace! These posts are designed to give knowledge to all about recovery from surgery, so I thought I would include Colace as well since it is a part of most recoveries now.

Last night I had to go out and do something in the car. Upon arrival back home, the weather was super cold (10 degrees), and snow was on the ground. My method of getting from the car to the house is a little convoluted. I can’t use my cart to get up the steps. What’s done is I get up the first set of brick steps on my butt, then slide from the brick steps to the wood steps, a distance of about 5 feet. Then go up the steps on my butt to near the top, then turn around and get on the cart and roll on into the house. The problem last night was the cold. I discovered that my toes in my cast were cold enough to nearly develop frostbite in that short time I was out there. 10 degrees is very cold, and with a little wind, the chill factor was much colder. My toes stick out of my cast and the wind of course nips at them on the way by. I was outside, between the car and the house, about 15 minutes. Now, when Constance put my cast on, she covered my toes with a little toe cover. I still have it. A problem is that it comes right off. Indeed, last night, I left it in the car when I got out to go in the house. But, even if I had had it, the covering is very light weight, so my toes would still have near frozen. So I think electric sox may be the solution, or those ‘hot hands’ things that go inside your sox, or something else close.

Maybe an electric covering should be designed. Like, “Lectra Sox”, usually sold to hunters and those in the high North jobs. A problem with these particular sox is they have batteries attached at the top. That wouldn’t work, unless the batteries could be the flat, watch type battery. Regular batteries are too heavy. Now, “Hot Hands” or toe warmers wouldn’t work, because they would still be outside the cast. Can’t put anything inside, and why would you want to? The cold is on the outside of the cast! Still, some ingenuity here could probably get something to cover certain parts of the body for just this purpose, not just toes, and do without bulk or much additional weight. Since so many folks have this problem what with war veterans, and older people have joint replacements, I feel this could be a viable solution. Last problem would be how to attach the warmer, and I think the best way would be velcro strips. Just have to be careful in removal that the strips weren’t unattached from the cast on removal of the warmer. Now to get manufacturers to take an interest in doing it. It’s amazing what a fertile mind, when inactive, can come up with to have an interest in and to display in writing; isn’t it?

It is now January 30th. My wife and I had to get some gas. I decided to make do with crutches instead of taking my cart. It’s heavy and my wife has difficulty lifting it into the back of the SUV. I figured I could get out to the car using crutches only, even though I was a little fearful in using crutches going down, and back up the back stairs of my house. Truly, the hardest part of this adventure was getting out of the back storm door. there is a slight step, about four inches high that has to be negotiated to exit the kitchen. When one is motivating on crutches, every little bump in the road might as well be a cliff. At least it’s only a small cliff. I edged right up to my little cliff and opened the storm door. The drop-off is right in front of me. Well, only one way to do it. I put one crutch down, held a tiny bit of weight on my injured foot and dropped my ok foot down onto the porch. Forgot I had a shoe on, so it wasn’t as bad a drop-off as I had thought. Only had a small ache in my foot while transitioning to the uninjured foot. I quickly put my other crutch on the porch and was done with the drop. Whew!

Ok, now for the steps. I again got right to the edge of the top step. My thought was that I could use the crutches to swing myself forward and simply dip down to the first step down….so I lifted myself up, swung out, and attempted to do the drop. Nuh-uh!! I quickly found I couldn’t dip below the top of the crutch. I swung my feet back to the stoop and stood again. Next, I put both crutches together. I grasped the rightside rail by the steps, and again swung myself up, and out over the step. This put a little weight, again, on my injured (left) foot. But again not much. Bending my left knee, I dropped down onto the step, and then brought my injured foot along as well. Again, Whew!! Now I sat down, and bumped on down the steps on my butt, across the paved brick patio and threw my legs over to the asphalt of our driveway. I leaned on the end of the iron rail beside me, stood up and reclaimed my crutches. I crutched on over to the car and got in.

We went to the gas station…another minor problem to get the crutches out, get on them and on out to the gas filler, and filled’er up. Ok, got that done, then on back home. The real problem with doing this crutch thing is going outdoors when it’s 15 degrees and less. Bad to enough to worry about slipping and falling; but the slightest ding against a hard surface with a knuckle is a painful bark. Unlike hot weather, where you might not even notice the hit. When I shut the gas pump off and pushed the nozzle back into its proper location, I struck one of my knuckles on the back of my hand against the pump. Now, I’ve done this numerous times in hot weather and it’s hardly noticeable. Do that in the very cold, and it feels like you’ve maimed your hand!

We’re back home now; time to go back into the house. My wife suggested I should try going up the steps using the crutches. This is extremely frightening to me. It’s the thought of losing balance and falling either onto the brick, or down steps. But….the crutch way IS faster than the butt-bump up way. I used a warrior mentality learned from my relaxation teachings. Leaning against the iron rail at the brick steps, I placed my right crutch and right leg onto the first step up and pushed up with my right leg. It worked! I did it again and again and then I was up on the patio. Without being the slightest off-balance. Next, the four stairs to the stoop. Not quite so easy this time; Somehow I bent too far forward while placing my good foot up on the step and felt myself began to fall. To stop the fall, I stepped quickly forward with the good foot, leaving more weight on the injured foot than it should have it. I recovered from that very quickly due to the quick, sharp ache of the ankle. Even with the stiff cast on, additional weight is very quickly felt. Recovering from that step, I didn’t lean quite so far forward on the next three steps to the stoop. Even so, I left more weight on the injured foot than I wanted to, so I had that same ache every step. I believe the flex of the step, since it was wood, may have thrown off my equilibrium, causing me to try to bolster a perfectly qualified right foot with the injured foot, which of course caused the ache due to too much weight on the foot. But, finally got to the stoop on top of the steps. I brought both crutches up, and got on them. Getting back inside the back door was no problem at all. Going up a small step is nothing, only going down.

Stay tuned, the saga will continue.