You know, I’ve been a writer now for over 60 years. My first article was sports coverage for Dishman-McGinnis Elementary where I went to grade school. The school paper back then came out once a month and was printed on a mimeograph machine. You older folks will remember it as something that smelled really good… younger readers – Google it!
One of the hardest things young writers have to learn is not knowing. You pour your effort, skill, talent… sometimes even your heart into an article and then… crickets. Did anybody see it? Did they take the time to read it? Did it inform, entertain… touch them at all?
I don’t know for sure, but over the years I would estimate I’ve written thousands of articles and scripts and not had a response from many of them. Hopefully it wasn’t because I am a crappy writer and more because unless you annoy or offend, people just don’t go to the trouble to respond.
I say all that to say that last month’s column… “What’s so exciting about pooping and peeing?” generated numerous comments and responses. And, while that is a great feeling for me the writer, what is more important to me is most of those comments have been aimed at my amazing partner and wife, Twila.
If you missed the column, it was about Twila’s recent surgery for hip replacement and how the medical establishment seems to feel you don’t deserve to be released from the hospital until you are at least ranked #3 by going Number 1 and Number 2!
To all of you who have checked in on Twila and written her notes and emails wishing her a speedy and successful recovery… thank you. And, to the one lady who took me to task for calling Twila’s amazing surgeon “Kid Doc” because at 72 he seemed really young to me… thank you for your comments as well.
After six weeks of non-weight bearing, mostly wheelchair, staying-home life, we met with Twila’s surgical team and the report was, in my opinion, great. Twila was unhappy because there is six more weeks of the same in her future and she is not one to enjoy being waited on or stuck in the house. But, for the most part, she has been great at following the rules that, God and Kid Doc willing, will lead to a release to start rehab in 1.5 more months.
With the patient’s kind permission I am including a photo of her most recent X-ray. The brighter white areas are metal and you can see that if she decides to leave her body to science one of these days, they will have to include a scrap dealer with the medical team as she contains a significant amount of metal. On the other hand, she has been blessed to be cared for by two of the top ortho surgeons in the world. First when they flew her to Vandy over 22 years ago, not expecting her to survive the flight and the rather cocky, slightly obnoxious guy spent hours putting the pieces of her shattered pelvis back together with mesh, screws and baling wire. Cocky? Yes! On the other hand, as a surgeon friend of mine once quoted… “If you can do it… it ain’t bragging!” Then, after that repair job finally began to fail after 20 years, the wonderful surgeon and team that took some of that previous work out and replaced Twila’s hip and repaired her abductor muscle with hope and expectations of a full recovery in a few months.
Yeah, Twila is not thrilled with the restrictions but understands that everything in life has a cost and following the rules for a few months is a small price to pay to be able to walk mostly normal with little or no pain. So, thanks to our amazing new and incredibly talented medical friends and thanks to you for the feedback which has made Twila’s recovery more tolerable.
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