Getting back on the big road.

[Gramps2u]

Sorry to hear about your back issues. Lord knows, I have degenerative disease myself & it has interrupted my career along with my A-Fib issues. No company will touch me now. So hang in there my friend, We are all a root'n for ya you aint alone in that class brother! You are in good company hanging out here.

Rode hard & put away wet they tell me...

Edited July 12, 2013 by Gramps2u

[Guest Johnny]

One of the most common reasons for ex-truck drivers. Myself included. Even if I would have recovered with no pain the doctor said I was through driving after my fusion. Said the bouncing around alone would cause all his pretty work to fall apart in a short time.

[Gramps2u]

Truck'n is hard on the body that's for sure. Thank goodness for Air ride, but those darned old Hendrickson walk'n beams can beat the tar out of ya!

[highway]

Well, I went on a short ride with my brother Friday, and the back seemed to handle it pretty well, even helping him strap down the load of pipe he was taking to a gas well here in WV. The trip was a couple hundred miles total and it didn't do bad. It did start hurting after I was on my feet for a while at the gas well as we waited for the pipeline company to unload 22 pieces of pipe and them reload 17 of them back on the trailer after they rejected them. After spending 5 hours on the well site waiting for someone to make up their minds whether they would accept the already reloaded rejects or deliver them back to the shipper, we finally headed home. The back was bugging me a little when we got back home, and on top of the long day we both had, a 6 pack each helped both of us forget the day! When I finished my 6 pack, I wasn't feeling any pain either!

[Custom Hearse]

Sorry to hear about the troubles you're having. I just hope that maybe someday everything will get back to normal for you. I know what it's like to lose a career that was fun, and made good money, and to lose someone that you thought would stand by you. My best wishes to you for health and happiness.

[highway]

Thanks Marshall.

[59 Impala]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Matthew. I hope you can recover fully from the back problems. I know what that's like also. I'll say yo to Mike when I see him fer ya. If you ever get back to Columbus be sure and stop by the hobby store again. You're welcome to come and visit anytime. Take care. Dan

[highway]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Matthew. I hope you can recover fully from the back problems. I know what that's like also. I'll say yo to Mike when I see him fer ya. If you ever get back to Columbus be sure and stop by the hobby store again. You're welcome to come and visit anytime. Take care. Dan

Thanks Dan, and maybe next time if I'm not in a big truck again, I'll even bring something along!

[59 Impala]

That would be great Matthew. Take care. Dan

[Gramps2u]

With the new Fed Regs out I couldn't care if I ever get back on the super slab ever again. Take care of your self Highway lets let the young'ns take over.

[highway]

With the new Fed Regs out I couldn't care if I ever get back on the super slab ever again. Take care of your self Highway lets let the young'ns take over.

The sad part of it is Bob, I am one of the young'ns!! I'm olny 37 years old!

[Guest Johnny]

With the new Fed Regs out I couldn't care if I ever get back on the super slab ever again. Take care of your self Highway lets let the young'ns take over.

I hear that Gramps! Been following this for some time and they are going to put all but a hand full of BIG companies out of business before they are done and I believe that is exactly what it is all about.

[Gramps2u]

The sad part of it is Bob, I am one of the young'ns!! I'm olny 37 years old!

Mercy you must have had some hard work in you early years.

[Gramps2u]

It used to be a good living, not any more.

[highway]

Mercy you must have had some hard work in you early years.

No, not really, taking a tumble down the stairs was what started the back problems, I had a compression fracture to my L1 vertebrae. Even though I did put in my fair share of hard miles and long days, but don't tell the DOT!!

[Gramps2u]

Oh dang! That wasn't good on the old back you best be real easy on it from now on ! A buddy of mine missed the first step out of his cab it broke his tibia, fibula & his pelvic bone all from missing the first step. He has more screws in him then trailer house front porch. He recovered but its taken its toll. Trucking isn't as easy as most people think.

[highway]

Oh dang! That wasn't good on the old back you best be real easy on it from now on ! A buddy of mine missed the first step out of his cab it broke his tibia, fibula & his pelvic bone all from missing the first step. He has more screws in him then trailer house front porch. He recovered but its taken its toll. Trucking isn't as easy as most people think.

That's for dang sure! That's like me, the doc says everything is fine but it has taken it's toll. I don't have any screws or anything, but just on and off pain.

[1320wayne]

Hey Matt, sorry to hear about the back issues knocking you back out of the truck. I was really hoping to run into you (not literally) out on the road as I have moved back to my original OTR account and have spent the better part of the past 2 1/2 weeks in and around the Penn., Ohio, Indiana area. I even spent an overnight at the Springfield term. getting more maint. done on the Pete. I'm actually online right now at the TA in Seymour, IN on 65.

I hope you get to feeling better soon and maybe, just maybe your trucking career will be able to continue. With the condition of so many highway roads today that may be a tall order though. Even a good healthy back can take a lot of abuse being out here day after day.

[highway]

Thanks Wayne. You aren't kidding about the roads these days, even riding around in a four wheeler, there are some bumps that jar my back.

I have been going out with my "brother" the past few days in his Intertrashanal pulling a skateboard since he has been mostly running local picking up and delivering pipe for the gas pipelines they are doing for all the natural gas drilling they are doing around here, and did that Friday, Monday, and yesterday, and today it has caught up to me again. I haven't been doing to bad as a seatcover in his rig, and have been even helping him strap down the loads trying to get some strength back in my back and it has been helping, but today I'm back in pain. The riding and loading has been helping, because I'm not feeling as bad as before, but I still don't feel like doing anything today but sitting here in the easy chair on the laptop and watching TV.

[clayton]

once the back goes every thing else goes.Mine too.

[Gramps2u]

once the back goes every thing else goes.Mine too.

How true. sadly enough.

[Guest Johnny]

once the back goes every thing else goes.Mine too.

Goes with inactivity due to limitations caused by the back problems.

It starts the arthritis going and pretty soon all your past ignored injuries of your lifetime start to show up!

After my back injury and surgery I developed arthritis in both hips. had the right one replaced in 2010 and the other will need it real soon. But now I have a shoulder that gives me fits and a knee that is going bad. The worse thing though is I am seeing it in my hands. My index fingers on both hands are starting an inward twist and the ever present cramps and aches in the thumbs down into the heel of the hand.

Everything from my years playing football to jumping and other war related issues to truck driving and all it entailed over the years and working with my hands doing mechanic work. It all comes into play.

[highway]

once the back goes every thing else goes.Mine too.

How true. sadly enough.

Yeah, I'm finding that out.

[highway]

Hey everyone, I figured I'd better let everyone know I hadn't fallen off in the ditch somewhere! I've been spending the past month working on getting my back strong enough to try the ole big road out again, and I'm trying to do it again! I just finished an application for a small local company here at home that both my "brother" I'm staying with and his dad both drove for and I will probably be the next in the "family" to work there.

Other than that since the last update, I went with my friend Jon (which is my little "brother's dad, and like a dad to me) to Birmingham and finally rode in a nice chicken Inertrashional and then to Gary, IN with my little brother Garry in his not so nice Intertrashional and didn't do too bad on either run. I didn't drive any, but did most of the work strapping and tarping the loads and missed my swinging barn doors! If there's anyone who says flatbedders don't work hard, I'll gladly call you a liar! I'll take a van and swing the doors shut any day before I would drive a skateboard, and I did do a little skateboarding with the warehouse I used to work for, even though that was just throwing a couple straps over 12' long skids of cardboard and driving it 20 miles to the customer and back. Steel hauling is a lot of work compared to that!

Anyway, I'll probably know more later this week and I'm going to spend the Labor Day weekend with the family, then maybe next week I'll be getting ready to hit the big road once again! Catch y'all on the flip flop!

[Gramps2u]

Wish'n you the best highway. LMAO I yanked a flat bed for 14.5 years in rain, ice, snow, sleet & heat and wind. Still in the arm chair myself nothing out there worth the time anymore with the hours of service garbage they shoved down our throats. Hang in there brother! Were pull'n for ya!