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Over Coffee
by Gay Wiley Shook
gayshook(at)bellsouth.net
April 26, 2008
Dear friends, I have happily been able
to work in my garden this Spring, thanks to my brand
new ankle.
Last
Fall when I was contemplating this total ankle
replacement, a huge motivator for me to risk this
important surgery was being able to get back to my
yard work, which I was sorely missing. Now I am a
driven woman, checking off the little changes in the
garden that I’ve been planning for such a long
time. It is immensely satisfying. I spend hours
covered with dirt and have my first case of poison
ivy coming on for the season.
The
Salto Talaris™ total ankle replacement seems to be
working pretty good at six months out from surgery.
My brilliant orthopaedic surgeon at Duke, Dr.
James K. DeOrio,
is pleased with my progress and tells me that I
really won’t see optimum results until about two
years out from surgery. Since I am already mostly
back to my old pre-crippled life, I cannot wait to
see just how good this is going to get!
One
of the nicest things that has evolved from this
experience is the online coming together of others
who have either had total ankle replacements or who
are thinking about having this surgery done. The
search engines have pumped out some old “Over
Coffee” columns and folks have contacted me. We
have grouped together as the Blessed Ankles and I
believe we have all appreciated the encouragement
and support of others who have walked the path that
we ourselves are on. As Mary Poppins says, “A
little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down!”
As
Dr. DeOrio has performed over 400 of these ankle
surgeries and only used parts that the FDA has
approved, I would not say that this total ankle
replacement is experimental surgery any more. Other
doctors around the country are doing this work as
well. Yet, some insurance companies are still
refusing to cover such surgery, even in the most
serious of cases. This I
cannot understand.
Insurance
is always a matter of dollars and cents, but not
always a matter of dollars and sense.
Surely
there are not waves of people who are crippled at
the ankle, who would collapse the insurance system
if they all had the corrective surgery. So, why are
some folks denied coverage for that procedure and
some other folks are not?
I
cannot understand how a medical director of an
insurance company can justify the harm he does when
he issues a denial to people who are paying for
their health insurance coverage in the belief that
if an expensive procedure is necessary, it will be
provided. Believe me, nobody schedules total ankle
replacement surgery on a whim. We’re all desperate
to regain mobility and escape the ghastly pain of
bone on bone.
***
This
presidential election year has numbed us all. How
long does it take for us Americans to
get the word?
The
politicians have hammered us for too long already!
Hillary and Obama have taken the august calling of
legislators and reshaped the candidacy contest to
about the level of a dogfight. Enough already! I
guess they will keep slogging until the Democratic
convention, which has all the promise of a train
wreck. And, if Hillary keeps eating all those
campaign pizzas, she will turn into Porky Rotund.
Some of her photos are showing evidence of this
already.
The
national contest has gagged people to such a degree
that the local candidates are in danger of being
largely overlooked. It is the local races, such as
the Board of Commissioners here in
Gwinnett County
,
Georgia
, that impact us all to a huge degree. There is a
candidates’ forum scheduled at Meadowcreek High
School on May 7th at 7:30 pm. that I
encourage y’all to attend. Candidates for Gwinnett
County Board of Commissioners will be on the agenda
and we’ll be able to compare them and make a
choice.
***
Hope
all is well and thanks for reading.
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