Broken Bone

[Tom Niebuhr]

Many of you know that Jan 2 I missed a step at work and snapped my femur at a right angled and landed with the foot facing the wrong way under my left leg. The pain was so bad that I wanted to die. The femur is the main supporting bone in the leg. The surgeon installed a rod inside the femur.

3 weeks in rehab got me to use a walker. I am now home about 2 weeks. It could be a year before it is back to normal.  Therapists come to my house several times a week with increasing more exercises'. I hope to be able to get rid of the walker soon and walk with a cane.   

The stunt guys have been great. I welcome any phone calls because I am bored.  469.450.7093

[gene poremba]

 Tom, glad to hear you are up and moving around. Well since you are bored, you need to design another model like the "Hobo". I built one this past summer and learned the beginner pattern with it. Its a quick and easy build plane that I enjoyed building and flying. Soooo, that should keep you from getting bored! Hope you get well soon....Gene Poremba

[dennis choate]

Tom I can feel your pain as I had total knee replacement surgery December 20,2017 and this past Monday a manipulation under anesthesia to break free the scar tissue and adhesions.  The Physical Therapy is very important and it's not fun.  I will be calling you. Dennis

[john e. holliday]

Well Tom glad you are still with us.  Follow the therapists orders and take care of your self.   As soon as weather breaks hope to get more flights on the Hobo and Vagabond.  Al most had the Vagabond hanging last time out but would you believe not enough wind.   So take care.

[Tim Wescott]

Make sure your therapist knows you want to fly CL, and what it looks like.  It'd be worth showing them a video or two on YouTube if you can't explain it.

I'm going through a far far milder version of this with my shoulder, and my physical therapist has customized my sessions specifically for stunt.

[Randy Cuberly]

Make sure your therapist knows you want to fly CL, and what it looks like.  It'd be worth showing them a video or two on YouTube if you can't explain it.

I'm going through a far far milder version of this with my shoulder, and my physical therapist has customized my sessions specifically for stunt.

Wow Tim, that's really interesting!  Your therapist must be a person who is really interested in helping you.  When I broke my shoulder many years ago I was a Pro Flat Track Racer and had to go to a Sports Medicine Guy to find any interest in actually tailoring the therapy to shorten the recovery time and specialize the strength of the arm for actually continuing to race!  I was on the Track again in only 4 months making money again and the typical Ortho Guys and therapists said it would be more than 18 months before I could hope to use the shoulder for anything requiring strength and full motion!  Yes it was very painful during the recovery but when your livelihood depends on it there are ways!  One Orthopedic surgeon actually said to me..."Why on earth would you want to do something like that again?"  I said Money!  Oh and I happen to love it!  He just shook his head and said "No I don't want to be involved in your fantasy!"   Go figure!

I hope this situation works out well for you!  I don't remember the name of the Guy who actually did the work and designed the therapy for me but He was the head Sports Medicine guy for the Oakland Raiders at the time!  Lucky Me!

Randy Cuberly

[Randy Cuberly]

Tom, Sorry to hear about your problems and that sounds like a very painful break!  Hope things get better for you and I'll try to give you a call soon...

Several Doctor's appointments for me in the next couple of days.  Nothing serious just routine stuff but it takes a lot of time for testing crap!

Get better My friend!

Randy Cuberly

[Peter Nevai]

Trying to figure out how one breaks the femoral bone by missing a step. Took a 400 lb motorcycle to land on top me for mine to break. The femur is the largest bone in the body and takes quite a force to break. The pain is mainly from the soft tissue damage the trauma inflicts by the bone breaking and the force required to break it. I was in the hospital for a month. The Orthopod cut me from hip to knee to insert the pin. Unfortunately I broke the opposite elbow at the same time so I was wholly screwed. Screws in the elbow and pin  or as they called it a zickle nail in the femur.

But I was up and around within 2 months and back on the bike. Of course I was all of 26 years old at the time. Physical therapy was torture, hint take a pain med 20-30 minutes before the session, it makes it a whole lot easier to deal with.
While lying on the ground I saw that my right leg was crossed over the left but just south of the hip, at a right angle. The only thing I could think of was that in a matter of minutes there will be a crowd of people standing around me and I cannot have them seeing my leg that way. So I grabbed my pants leg with my good right hand and lifted my right leg up and dropped it next to the left one so that they were both pointing in the same direction.

I remember getting to the hospital relatively pain free, the the doc drilled a hole through my right tibia and inserted a traction rod and loop. He then went into a ranting, raving fit because no one could find any traction cord, whence it opened a utility closet and came out with about 8 feet of electrical cord. I thin he ripped it off a vacuum cleaner...... tied one end round a sand bag the other end around the traction loop attached to my tibia. I watch all this in a mild state of  interest, and they wheeled me upstairs to my room. I was lifted into bed and the doc looped the electrical cord over a trapeze with a pulley and lowered the sand bag at which point I screamed so loud that hey heard me out in the parking lot and promptly passed out.

The biggest pain in the ass was that the traction sandbag would drag me down to the foot of the bed constantly and I would have to haul myself back up using only my right arm. The left one was broke and in a cast. So I feel your pain Tom.

[B Norton]

Glad to hear your doing better . I feel for ya! and know about that rehab. Jan. 11th had knee replacement just got rid of the cane last Wednesday just twelve more PT visits  and maybe ill be back to normal??!!! After the first eight visit I could see improvement every day. So good luck with it If you need any info give me call or i.m. me.  Sometime misery loves company!

[RknRusty]

Tom, while loading the car to go to the October 20th contest in Huntersville, I fractured my femur, just beneath the ball. I think yours sounds like a much worse break, but for ridiculous reasons I didn't have surgery till Dec. 5th. Pinned and screwed with a compression plate, I was on a walker until Christmas day, when I graduated to a cane.

Home PT was wonderful, and she even wanted to see my shop and fleet. I am diligent with the PT Homework, and now I can do short stints with no cane. I'm healing much faster than I expected and am hoping to be able to fly when the May contests come around. Maybe over-ambitious, but that's better than whining. I flew in a chair for the first time this weekend when Will Davis sat me in a bar-stool and turned it for me.

My bones are soft from 33 years of kidney dialysis, so there's no guarantee, but I'm hoping for the best. And I wish you the best of luck. I know how bad Orth surgery can hurt... I thought I was tough, but Damn! When they drill, hack and screw on your bones, you know you've been bit. But you have the worst of it behind you, so hang in there.
Take care of yourself, hope you're back in action soon.
Rusty

[Chad Hill]

Broke a femur many moons ago while riding a motorcycle; the other guy never looked and pulled his van out in front of me. My foot wound up behind my shoulder. Spent 11 weeks in traction before being released from the hospital, and then went home in a body cast. The good news is someone at the hospital later introduced me to my future wife. Something positive almost always comes from bad experiences. Hang in there, bud!

[Fredvon4]

Tom... pain is pain...many of us get that.. fortunately not life threatening

I know this is redundant but... my MC accident destroyed my whole left leg from hip down at 60 years old

Good surgeons rebuilt it with a lot of metal ... the recovery was not that brutal and I followed the PT gals insisted exercises ---and then had a chat about some of the unique life style needs.... starting a airplane, pivoting or walking a circle... she got it and incorporated routines to promote that activity

Baby steps, low repetition count, increasing weekly....

Broken back is now my nemesis...but the leg ---three ears later is as good as the one I was born with

[Tom Niebuhr]

Thanks guys. We have all had our hard knocks for sure.

Gene, I already designed the Vagabond biplane that can be built with flaps or the flaps can be made stationary, Doc Holiday has one flying and likes it. The Vagabond will do anything the Slob will do but has an inverted engine, has more wing span and looks more like a real bipe. With a .46 and normal engine offset it will be a fine sport or intermediate airplane. The pdf is on this forum if you search for it, or I can send a pdf to you is you can't find it here. To to Doc about it, he is always glad to talk to people and is a genuine good guy.

I am also working on a new expert ship for myself that will be different from the norm. So there is no problem keeping busy

[gene poremba]

 Hey Tom, I looked up the Vagabond. I like the looks of it, and I like biplanes too, so i will definitely put that on my bucket list to build one day. I have the Slob, but like you said the Vagabond looks more realistic, and with a few minor cosmetic changes can be made even closer if I wanted it to. Looking forward to your future designs....Gene