As many of you may know, Luskie tore his Achilles tendon a few days back. He's going under the knife today, and has a substantial recovery period ahead.

Let's keep him in our thoughts today for a successful surgery, and going forward for a full recovery.

Here's wishing Bob the best. Achilles tears are no fun, and will require a long rehab.

Hope you heal up soon:)

Hope you heel up soon, also.

Yep, he's in my thoughts and prayers. We'll see him scooting around at the conference.

Seen a pic of them taking him back on facebook. Looked like he was in good spirits.
Praying for a quik recovery.

Good luck Bob

Best wishes and good luck!!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!!!

I talked to Debbie a few minutes ago. He is out of surgery and he did well. Can you believe that after that surgery they sent him home!!! He is a fighter and will come through this with flying colors (and a slight limp).

Bing, thanks for the update.

Bing, my wife is a pre-op/post-op nurse, and you can't believe all the procedures that are day surgery's now. Shoulders, hip replacements, knees, etc., they all recover for an hour or two and are sent home.

Glad Bob's surgery went well.

I think they are trying to prevent the spread of infection to surgery patients.

Hey guys! Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes. It's been interesting. For more than 20 years, that heel has been deteriorating. Early visits to a podiatrist was, "live with it...surgery is too risky." Well, it started hurting around 1996 and has slowly continued that low grade, throbbing hurt. Had to have inserts and that mitigated. But, over time, it continued to degrade. Last Monday, ironically during a great visit with Highflyer, it was time for the heel and Achilles' tendon to part company. All I did was stand up, take a step and "POP!!" I felt it snap, like when you get a serious ankle sprain. I went down on the living room floor and thought about it and knew what it was. Brian helped me up, I tried to stand and that foot didn't work. I was done. Add ice pack immediately, call my registered nurse daughter to come get me and off to the hospital. ER doc said, "Yep, ruptured Achilles. Call your orthopedic surgeon and go see him." Daughter Lindsay knows the ropes and fought through many obstacles to get this done as quickly as possible. I went home, she went to work. Got Dr. appointment with a great orthopedic doctor for Wednesday, x-rays didn't show enough. MRI people were booked for a week. She got me in at 1:00 that same day. Dr. Wilson, the ortho, called me Wednesday night to confirm what the MRI showed. Pulled loose from the heel bone, large bone spur on the back of the heel. He was worried about calcium deposits in the distal end of the loose tendon. My daughter had already looked his surgery schedule for Thursday and Friday (She works at that hospital). She told him he had openings for Friday...he smiled. We scheduled for Friday at noon-30 and got it done. Afterward, he said there was more damage than he could see on the MRI, so he sawed off the big bone spur, sanded down several calcium deposits on the heel bone, cut off a small portion of the tendon, drilled holes in the heel bone, pushed in some steel anchors from the bottom and attached the tendon to that. He thought it would be a 45 minute operation. Took two hours. The fascinating thing to me, is that this procedure was done, they kept in recovery until I could get into a wheelchair and then sent me home. So thankful for that! Surrounded by people who want to help and now I'm home, alert and happy. Pain is minimal at the moment because of a nerve block before surgery.
I'm actually happy and see this as an opportunity to stop balancing so many balls and spinning plates. I expect to be able to write a lot and do some neglected things...such as spend time on the forum.
Many thanks to each and everyone of you for your kindness and sincere thoughts.

Ever heard of a paragraph, you big Lug??!!!!

Geeze Bob! What a way to slow down and enjoy life! But,it gives you a new perspective on what is important.

My brother was having a minor heart attack while at work a number of years ago. They took him to the local hospital. While they were working on him, he had a major heart attack in the cardiac ward. A few days later I found myself in the cardiac ward.

That was when both my brother and I decided it was time to slow down. A cousin who is two months younger than me, went through something similar. A few instances later, leading to retirement for all of us, we are all healthier that we have been in decades. We are enjoying life like it never before existed.

Take it as a major wakeup call. Take the time to recover and restructure your life so you can slow down a little bit. You won't regret it.

You are in our thoughts and prayers,
Lynda and Ken

Glad to hear the surgery went well and that the doc found the extra issues! Also a good thing Brian knows how to handle cargo! Take things easy Bob, you don't need to bust a screw loose!

Outstanding!!!

Well, I'll tell you all.

I have mixed emotions about that day. I was not happy that Bob got hurt while we was there talking Tilapia, but I was glad to help Bob get the medical attention he needed. His daughter being a nurse, was one of the best possible thing for him. She came over already having talked to the docs and had a plan in place to get Bob the treatment he needed asap. I was able to find the icepacks and I did help transport him to the car, but besides that, the real heavy lifting was all her.

It sucks watching a friend head off to a hospital knowing you can't do anything else to help, it is a hollow feeling indeed.

I'm glad for three things in this: Bob gets to focus on the important things in his life. I look forward to reading his work. And it is amazing what the docs can do these days.

Get well soon Bob, then lets go fishing.

Single spaced, Times New Roman, single space after a period and 5 space indent.

Sunil, he types like he talks - only stopping to take a breath. Maybe this down time will make him realize that running 100 mph and not having a balance in life isn't the best for ya health wise, like Ken alluded to.

Bob, glad to hear that you're home and everything went well. 40 minute procedure that takes 2 hrs just means that you waited too long, but I'm afraid that I'm no smarter than you.

Take some time to relax, play with the kids and get some things that you've been putting on the back burner done.

Here is wishing you a speedy recovery Bob.

Many years ago as a farmer in the prime of his career I was down in the back during planting time. Not a good time for a farmer to be down. I had surgery, followed by two more similar surgeries in the next four years. Doctor told me to find a new profession.

What a weak back did for me was force me to better utilize my weak mind and become more of a farm manager rather than mostly a farm laborer.

We never invite nor welcome adversities and rarely is the timing good, but sometimes the dark clouds have silver linings in that they force us to go down a path we might not have chosen willingly. In retrospect my bad back led me to be a better farm manager and likely caused our farming operation to reach levels of success it never would have if I had been allowed to continue down the path originally chosen.

I hope this adversity leads you on a path to even better things Bob.

No truer words were ever spoken, snrub...

Godspeed, on your recovery Bob!

Best wishes, Bob. Keep your never-ending positive outlook.
Good reading by Ken and snrub

Still trying to wrap my head around the idea of Bob slowing down. It'll come to me but I'm having a mental block.

The more physical activity you can muster the faster the healing process (within reason given the injury). Best wishes on a quick recovery!

Any updates on the situation. These usually take a while to recover. Take it easy and listen to your daughter and the Doc !!!!

Bob - Turns out your only Achilles heel is...well...your Achilles heel. While exercise is important to rehab, I would avoid kickball and break dancing for a week or two but I am no doctor. I have this picture of you sitting outside with your foot propped up and the Princess delivering lemonade every hour on the hour. Hopefully it is at least partly true. Hope to see you up and around soon!