Rockman's report/That's a rap until hard water season

[rockman]

10/28/10

We will start off this last report of the open water season, by saying that the full moon of September and October will go down as one of the warmest and calmest ever in recent memory. The numbers were very good for the slot fish and there were many fish over 25 inches caught by all of my patrons and friends that fished the September full moon and the October full moon. I know that those of you that joined me for the full moon in October did very well on the bigger fish along with plenty of slot fish to eat and take home. I would like to thank you for the great memories last week on the water, you made me feel great. It was great too be back on the water and I was able to get my uncle Greg out on Thursday night and my two sons went with me on Friday night. Joseph is not much of a fisherman like Jonathan is, but Joseph put on a fishing clinic for his brother on Friday night.

We caught over 20 fish that night and the final tally was, Dad caught 10 fish, Joe caught 10 fish and Jon came in with 3 fish. He blamed it on the fact that he was in the B**ch seat and was not in the zone. It was funny to watch the two of them go back and forth as Joe would catch another fish and Jon would have to net it for him. Joe gave him so much crap each time he would land a fish, but that Jon did make a good net man and that we needed a good net man in the boat because dads is a cripple so Jon had to pick up the slack, and on and on. I needed that; it has been a very long and hard year on me and patty with the ankle surgeries and stuff. It was so refreshing to see her smile and be excited about something other than worrying about me and my issues. It was great to give her that, and I was excited too. We got on the water around 8:00pm and I landed two fish right away, it felt like old times back on the water. We stayed out until 2:00am and my foot had enough fun for one night. It was pretty swollen, but then again, anytime I have it down for a long period of time it swells anyway.

At least I had a really fun time, for the first time in over a year with my boys and my friends for a few nights and made some really good memories. I had forgotten what it was like to laugh and have fun. Now for some bad news, I went to the doctor on Tuesday and had another cat scan of the foot to see if the bone stimulator was doing what it is designed to do which is to stimulate bone growth where there is no bone. It so far has done nothing of the sort. The joint is still not fused at all and all that remains of the last surgery is a piece of bone that was put in the space. All of the bone packing is gone and the joint remains unfused. It has been 8 months and two surgeries and I now have to make the decision on weather to keep on this path of hoping for a miracle or go another direction and save the foot itself.

With the trauma and all of the surgeries the whole leg from the tips of my toes to the top of my hip has become involved. The feet bones are very soft now from being immobilized for so many months that it looks like the bones of a 90 year old man with severe osteoporoses. The leg and calf muscles are also in a state of severe atrophy from so many months of no use. Which in turn has caused my hip socket to have pain from the muscles not holding it in the joint due to no use. So, that is what I have to deal with and I have talked it over with Patty and we are going to go in another direction. Save the leg and see what I have for joint pain once I get rid of the other pain in the leg. It is all become a bad deal and I can’t sit and watch my leg basically slowly die to save one joint. The doctors want me to be immobilized for another 4 weeks and then if there is no sign of growth, then we can start to walk on it and see what we are left with. Can’t do it, that is just way too much to ask of me at this point.

If it has not started to have fused by now after 9 months and two surgeries, I feel in my gut that it is never going to fuse at this point and I must go for the quality of my life and move beyond the House of Pain!
We will be shutting down between seasons again and we will be open for the ice fishing in Dec. Until then we will be busy working on ice houses and trucks not, too mention the foot, but I have Patty and my friends to get me through the tuff times ahead.
Be safe and think Ice!
We will see you in Dec.
The Rockman