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When bad luck gets worseBy Barbara Brown When Ronald Fleischhacker of Stanchfield was injured in a construction accident more than three years ago, he didnít think the accident would end up controlling his life. Now, at 36, Fleischhacker battles every day with not knowing exactly what is wrong with him. Fleischhacker was working in 1998 as a union laborer for $26 an hour on a contract from piping contractor. The crew he worked on was installing underground pipes at a construction site in Edina. His job was to hook and unhook a large crane attachment that moved dirt out of the construction area and piled it in another location. The first day of work went fine. He pulled a 12-hour shift. But, the second day, Fleischhackerís world changed forever. ìThe foreman wanted another piece of machinery to get into the area,î Fleischhacker said. So, the crane operator moved the attachment to the side of the mountain of dirt, and it was unhooked. ìWe had it wiggled in there,î Fleischhacker said. ìNo one thought anything of it.î While Fleischhacker and other workers were hooking up the new piece of equipment, the original crane attachment began to slide ñ and then roll ñ from its precarious perch. ìThe foreman screamed and the clam came rolling down the hill and slammed into my leg,î Fleischhacker said. ìIf it had been placed 10 feet away, there was no hill. It wouldnít have rolled.î Taken to an area hospital, Fleischhacker received X-rays, a splint to isolate the leg and some painkillers. He was given a clean bill of health and told he had no broken bones. ìThey said it was more like I was just shocked than I got hit.î After 10 days, Fleischhacker went to a second doctor because the leg did not seem to be healing. That doctor was concerned and ordered more X-rays, Fleischhacker said. The doctor told him he had fractures in the leg bone. The surgeon ordered no weight bearing exercise for six weeks, but did not order the leg casted. After two weeks of therapy, Fleischhacker started walking with a cane, but he still could not move like he used to, he said. Two more weeks of pool therapy seemed to help and eventually, Fleischhacker started walking on his own. But something still didnít seem right. As Fleischhacker started his requests for workers compensation payments, more problems began to arise. When he began becoming short of breath, had problems with his digestive system, chest palpitations persistent pain in the left leg and other concerns, he began to see more doctors, believing the other illnesses were somehow connected to the failure of the leg to be treated properly at the time of initial treatment. Then, vitiligo began showing up on Fleischhacker's hands, face and neck. Doctors, in medical reports, continued to believe that the leg injury and the subsequent appearance of other health problems were not related. Fleischhacker, after all, had smoked cigarettes and never denied drinking alcohol occasionally. Some of those symptoms appear in patients who have a history of smoking and drinking. After multiple visits to several hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic, and attempts to relieve his pain through natural remedies including grape seek, flaxseed and olive oil - among others - Fleischhacker still has no official diagnosis of his health problems. Union insurance funding dried up, Fleischhacker said and with no income, he was unable to pay medical bills. He nearly became desperate to figure out what was keeping him so ill. The pages of medical records Fleischhacker has accumulated indicating contradictory results - from nothing wrong to possible arterial blood clots - are too numerous to name individually. Fleischhacker took a bus to Ohio in search of answers from a holistic healer. He said conventional medicine was not helping and we had been willing to try anything that might just give him an answer as to what could be wrong. Each time he got a possible answer to his health questions, or when he ran into new information that may have led doctors to a diagnosis, Fleischhacker was inspired to continue trying to solve the riddle of what could be wrong. He was determined to find out what could have turned him from the hard worker he was in 1998, to the thin, pale man who stands today. He had been put on work restriction and did not hold a job for nearly two years. Eventually, in October 2000, Fleischhacker took a job as a security guard with work restrictions, such as how long he was allowed to be on his feet. That job ended in December 2000 when Fleischhackerís truck was rear-ended in a car accident. Now, Fleischhacker is at risk of losing his home. He had to get rid of the nice pickup truck he used to drive and buy an older model because car payments were too much. Now he is on permanent disability status. Fleischhacker is still waiting to have a case heard so that he might have a chance to receive back pay and wage loss from the time of the accident. He finally began receiving unemployment checks of about $700 a month from the state. Those checks began coming in February - more than two years after he applied for the assistance. While Fleischhackerís plight is long, tiring and challenging, he said he is not yet ready to give up trying to find out what is wrong with his body. He said he is now inspired once again. Fleischhacker recently saw a newspaper article about a Minnesota woman who had been diagnosed with slight asthma when she was young. After suddenly falling ill, and three years of testing and research, the woman finally was diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart condition. While the woman was not pleased that the diagnosis was negative, she was happy to finally know what was wrong. Fleischhacker said he would continue to strive for that day when he can have an answer to his health problems. ìMaybe there is hope,î Fleischhacker said. ìMaybe one day Iíll know what is wrong and I can move on.î ©ECM Post Review |