Well we have accomplished about everything we had talked about over the past year or so except maybe that much dreaded disaster.  We were in Savannah for a few days before two days in Hilton Head and then back home to settle in and vote.   On Sunday morning at about 11 we were leaving the visitors’ center on MLK street heading back to the truck for the camera and our walk around Savannah.  The curb where the trolley tours park was a little higher than expected and I stumbled, as I raced to regain my pace it became obvious that I was going down.  It always amazes how much goes through your mind during such times, what am I going to hit?  The concrete really looks hard.  Can I reach the grass? This is going to leave a mark!  Oh, she’s going to be mad. How much is this going to cost?  How do I want to land to minimize the damage?   The result was I went down on my hands and then my right hip, hard.  No blood but I couldn’t move my leg.  I figured as happened numerous times before, the feeling would come back and we could better determine the damage.  I dragged myself back to the curb and sat for a half an hour as the feeling came back and Alesa went to ask about care centers.  I assumed it was a deep bruise and would subside with time.  Alesa backed the truck up to me and I was able to pull myself up the tailgate.  When my right leg had a chance to hang down and didn’t hang straight and put an odd strain on my muscles, I sensed there was not going to be a good ending to this story.  I pulled myself the rest of the way into the passenger’s seat and was quite comfortable unless there was even the slightest strain on my upper leg.  Then the pain would be nearly unbearable.  Alesa drove me back to the trailer but anytime I tried to move the pain would be back like a cramp that took time to subside.  We decided it was the time to seek medical assistance.  The Urgent Care centers didn’t have X-Ray equipment large enough for me and didn’t seem interested once they heard the symptoms.  We ended up at the St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital emergency room in South Savannah.  The registration person came out and helped me out of the truck and into a wheelchair.  He was a big guy and, amazingly, the pain was minimal.  Once in the ER and registered they gave me some pain medicine which helped a little.  The original guess was a bad bruise but the X-Rays did not agree.  The ball had broken off the head of my femur.  When the Orthopedic surgeon was called in he said my right leg was 2 inches shorter than my left so he knew exactly what the problem was.  I told him I didn’t want to be running around in circles for the rest of my life so he gave me my options.  The best was a partial hip replacement which was to provide me with a Titanium-Cobalt Cromium ball.  He said everything else was in great shape.  He operated that evening and I was in my room by 10 PM.  Alesa was back at the trailer, not sleeping.  My little Angel of Mercy had a very tough day and had left after the surgery was complete and Dr. Jenkins told her everything went fine and I would be out of it all night.  The next morning I was walking around the floor with a walker and a therapist.  It is a Catholic Hospital and Fr. Jay stopped in to see me and talk.  When he was giving us communion, I was sure he was thinking, “If you had gone to church that morning, you wouldn’t have fallen”.  The doctor stopped in that evening and said everything was better than expected and if I learned how to climb stairs, I could go back to the trailer.  I hadn’t had pain medicine since the surgery so I had some to sleep better and to make therapy go better in the Morning.   Climbing stairs was a piece of cake so I was back at the trailer Tuesday afternoon.  Mike & Jeff talked and Jeff is flying down to drive us home on Friday and we should arrive home sometime early Saturday.  We are both looking forward to being home.  Thanks to everyone for their support so far.  I would highly recommend St. Joe’s hospital if you ever need a hospital in Savannah.  As always not enough thanks can go out to Alesa who was a loving trooper through it all.