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December 23, 2007
It has been about two and a half months, my friends, since I had ankle replacement surgery done at Duke University Medical Center by
Dr. James DeOrio.
At my six weeks post-op visit, I was told I could begin walking without my removable aircast. That worked for increasing amounts of time and now I believe I am largely finished with the aircast. As crippled as I was with post-traumatic degenerative arthritis in my ankle due to an injury years ago, I am now walking—not with a perfectly normal gait as yet and not for long distances—but without pain. It’s a miracle and I am grateful it happened to me!
Other women who have recently had ankle replacements have contacted me via the Internet, having read my last “Over Coffee” column about the experience. What fun it is to compare progress and moan about hopping around on a walker! One of the ladies actually had her ankle replaced at Duke about a month after I did and by the same orthopaedic surgeon! The Internet is such an amazing place. So, we’ve got a Blessed New Ankles communication going that is informative, comforting, and fun. I am actually planning to meet my new Blessed Ankle friend who lives in Florida because we have serendipitous follow-up appointments scheduled on the same day in January at the Duke Orthopedic Clinic in Durham, NC. What is the statistical probability of that!
The ankle replacement procedure isn’t as well established as hips or knees and is still considered a little more risky. Only time will tell how we all do with it ultimately. The doctors want to follow us up until the end of time, glad to collect as much data on the procedure as possible. May we all thrive and thank God the doctors can patch, patch, patch!
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And since this is a good time of year to speak about gratitude, I want to mention a new book I have come across titled,
“The Gratitude Attitude.” Author J. Carl Newell
lives in Loganville, GA and is one of our local writers here in Gwinnett County, the seat of much talent. Newell has produced a book that truly everyone needs to read. He describes the power of personal choice, which is a huge issue for all of us. We can choose to live in the constricting confines of negativity or we can liberate our spirit and soar with an attitude of gratitude. This little book is a great gift for young folks and a pertinent reminder for folks old enough to know better. You can check out Newell’s Web site at
www.mybestfuture.com
.
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My friend Anthony Rodriguez
, the suffused-with-talent actor and producing artistic director of the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, GA told me a rather capsulating story recently. About ten minutes into his performance of his one-man show of Charles Dickens’s
“A Christmas Carol,” he was obliged to step into the audience in the round and directly ask a young girl to cease texting on her cellphone. When another theater patron reprimanded this brain-dead young girl after the show for causing the interruption, she apparently had absolutely no understanding that she had done anything wrong. This story of Anthony’s just leaves me shaking my head. It is a good thing that young girl was not sitting next to me as I might have been tempted to very politely shut her phone for her!
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In case anybody wonders why we have noise control ordinances here in Gwinnett County, they needed to be at my house when one of my neighbors proudly launched his brand new and probably expensive Christmas sound and light show in his yard. We missed the inaugural unveiling as we were out of town, but when we got home we could hear the tinny rock and roll Christmas carols inside our house! Now, I generally have nothing against dancing lights on Christmas trees or holiday music either, but after the evening rounded 9:30 p.m. I finally called over there to see when all this joy was programmed to stop. My neighbor was accommodating and turned the thing off. After a few days of blessed silence outdoors, the sound and light show is back, but with much modulated sound. I am grateful to whichever kid showed Dad how to turn down the sound on the remote.
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Christmas Day is coming soon and so is my company. They are traveling from a far distance just to spend a few days with us and we shall welcome them warmly. I hope all of you will enjoy this festive time with your loved ones, too. Let us be grateful for one another.
Hope all is well and thanks for reading.
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