Class, Mama follow up

I taught class yesterday. It was a good class. Very diverse in expertise, experience and geography. We had clients from California, Oregon, Michigan, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. We had some local folks as well, but I do not remember such a widespread or far flung group attending in a single class before. The whole atmosphere of the class was great throughout the day. One of those rare pleasures of teaching in this industry. One particular gentleman was a Polish immigrant who had come to the US for college and decided to stay here. He was at or close to my age. His accent was so thick that I was required to restate the questions he asked – and he asked quite a few – so some in the class could follow the thought as I answered his question. He appeared to be used to the required English to English translation.

It reminded me of a time when I was working R&D in West Virginia. We had a delegation of Japanese engineers come to the plant for a series of trial runs for a catalyst they had developed. There were six in the party and they always entered the control room in the same order – most senior to most junior. It was the most junior engineer who was responsible to ask the questions of whoever was operating the reactor for them. It was our set of four days and the person we had on the console was the epitome of a West Virginia redneck. On Monday morning, the operator was asked a question by the speaker of the group and he very unabashedly said to the speaker, “I can’t understand a word you are saying.” That retort thoroughly embarrassed and confused the translator. So, I restated the question to the operator. “Oh”, he said, and proceeded to answer the question. We repeated the process for the next half hour only the question would be asked of me, I would repeat the same words (English to English) to the operator who would then answer the question. Clearly it was frustrating the entire delegation. They came back for reports on the operation several times that day and we repeated the process. When I reported to work on Tuesday morning, I was reassigned to the reactor the Japanese delegation was interested in. It came as no surprise to me, but the delegation was very obviously relieved to see me at the console when they entered that morning – especially the interpreter for the group. Oddly enough, the question and answer sessions lasted considerably longer.

Tuesday Mama and I went to McAlester, OK to see a surgeon there that specializes in knee replacements. He came highly recommended by Kim Cantrell’s dad – who had his knee replaced by this surgeon. We were warned that he was a very direct individual. Mama had been able to make the appointment unexpectedly soon – as far as scheduling a doctor’s appointment is concerned. She had planned to make the trip with Kim Cantrell to the appointment but that did not work out. So, I volunteered to take her. McAlester is three hours away, so it was an all-day trip including the visit with the doctor.

The surgeon had x-rays taken that afternoon so that he could get the views of the knee he required. We brought the MRI disks with us and he reviewed those as we talked. His opinion was that the replacement parts are in the right spots. The surgery looks like it was successful. Thought some doctors like to put the joint in tightly – which can affect movement – it did not appear to him that that was the case. However, assessing the external scar on Mama’s leg was a clear to him that she may be very heavily scarred internally. The surgery our doctor is suggesting, in this surgeon’s opinion, is a reasonable approach at this point in her recovery process. However, he cautioned her to quit allowing herself to avoid the pain – significant at times – or she would lose even the 80° of bend she now has. His expression was “blood, sweat and tears”. If she does not make herself endure the pain required to bend the joint on at least an hourly basis, she will not get the range of motion she wants. It is going to hurt. It is going to hurt badly. It is going to hurt for a long time. Enduring the pain is the key to succeeding in manipulating the joint. Mama is not fully on board with that prognosis. Hopefully, she will enlist in that self-determined program soon. Otherwise, we will see very poor results which will follow her the rest of her life.

Please pray for her.