Cool McCool's Garage

Dateline, Delton.

Area man Brian McCool, vintage car and trailer enthusiast and new grandfather is reportedly recuperating from a hip replacement last week.  At post-day 7, this morning he was found setting in a recliner in his family room, where he’s been sleeping the last three  nights, reportedly because he can’t get up without assistance from a supine position.

Since his discharge from Bronson Battle Creek, where he is employed as a Critical Care Rn, McCool has been steadily progressing, increasing his physical activity daily.  Witnesses say he’s been seen every day at the nearby  “Gilmore Car Museum”, walking indoors in the museums barns and Heritage Center.  Yesterday marks the first day he has ventured there with only a cane (which sadly does not have a sword or rifle concealed in the shaft), having used a walker on prior outings.  Driven there by his 91 year old father, Rex, the two McCool’s successfully completed one lap of the large, interconnected but separate museums, pausing to rest in the Lincoln building.

McCool reports that his hip still hurts due to incisional pain, but it’s tolerable, due in part to some little white pills and the occasional muscle relaxer.

“My leg was pretty swollen yesterday”,  McCool says, “but it’s better this morning.  That’s probably why I had to get up every 45 minutes to pee last night, getting rid of all that fluid.”

His wife Kim reports that he’s been pretty good about the whole ordeal, citing only one instance of frustration when, immediately upon getting into bed, he attempted to take off a t-shirt, which he claims stuck like  Velcro to their flannel sheets, and he became entangled trying to take the shirt off lying on his back.  “He totally lost his shit” she states, reporting that the resultant struggle and colorful expletives were hilarious to watch, and that while she didn’t really want to laugh, it was pretty dammed funny.   McCool declined to comment on the incident at all.

McCool states that he was told he shouldn’t drive for 3-4 weeks,  although he declined to comment as to whether or not he would follow this recommendation.  He did however knowledge that for now, he’s satisfied with his progress, and hasn’t been out to his shop once.   He did mention that any of his creative and talented friends who wanted to come by and hang sheets of birch plywood up in his latest project, a 1947 Spartan Manor trailer coach, or off-load his ’34 Ford roadster project from the enclosed car trailer where it’s currently stored, into the shop,  would be welcome, and that he felt he had an ample supply of craft beer to keep the occasion festive.

“I’d do it again.”, he said, noting that X-rays of his left hip reveal it to be nearly bone-on-bone like the one just replaced, and he’d probably have to do it again whether he wanted to or not.  His orthopedic surgeon, Joe Burkhardt, agreed, adding that he would be available for additional procedures after an upcoming deep sea fishing trip in the Bahamas, as long as McCool’s insurance checks cashed.  “With all the degenerative arthritis and joint deterioration this guy’s had to have fixed already, I may be able to get an even better place on Gull Lake.”, Burkhardt noted.