Days 1 & 2 – Home After Knee Surgery

Thousands of people are opting for less pain and a better quality of life by having knee replacement surgery. I weighed my options and I too choose knee surgery. The official name of my surgery is “total knee replacement”. Actually, it is a knee prosthesis where the worn edges of the thigh bone, shinbone, and backside of the kneecap are replaced.

Coming home from the hospital after learning to use a walker and raised toilet support are allowing me to start rehabilitation safely in my home. Today, Sunday, there were three pieces of medical equipment de!ivered that the doctor ordered: a CPM machine, deluxe ice pack with pump attached, and compression devices similar to what I used in the hospital.

I am excited about getting started with my home physical therapy rehab. It has been made perfectly clear to me by former patients, doctors, and those who want to share, that the key to recovery is taking my physical therapy seriously.

Despite many people having this surgery, there are many more who need it and are refusing to get it. I look forward to sharing weekly reports on my recovery. I hope it will encourage some who need total knee replacement surgery to make their decision soon to help improve their quality of life.

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Total Knee Replacement Surgery

Just three days aha, I had total knee replacement surgery. Around 1988 and again in 2009, my left knee was “scoped”. The original injury was after a miniscus tear to the anterior ligament suffered playing tennis. In hindsight, I should have said good shot. However, my competitive nature had me chase down that tennis ball.

Now, almost 30 years later, I am finally having the total knee because doctors do not like doing knee replacements on people under 50 years old.

It is my hope that I can have a better quality of life without aching, nagging knee pain, a terrible limp, and inability to run/walk without swelling or even falling.

My surgeon and the hospital staff are excellent! My cousin, Peggy, who’s the same age had her knee done a few months ago. She says she is glad she had it done. Despite mine being a little worst than hers, I had a 20% angled deformity, I am confident of similar great results.

Recovery is all in the physical therapy. I am already taking it seriously. He therapist has been here every day with exercises to get and keep me on track. I will keep you posted on my progress😊.

GEEARS Early Learning Bus Tour

Today was the second day of a two day bus sponsored by Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, GEARS. Forty (40) educators and education advocates spent Monday and Tuesday touring Georgia’s best early education centers which included the Rockdale Career Academy in Rockdale County and the Early Learning Center in Clarke County.

We heard from a host of education leaders who advocate for and others who execute documented best practices. They included: the Economics of Early Education by Steve Do linger, GA Partnership for Education Excellence; Early Education Enterprise Zones by Laura Wagner from the Department of Early Learning; and the Importance of Early Learning to K-12 Success by Dr. Phil Lanoue, National Superintendent of the Year (Superintendent of Clarke County Schools).

One of the best programs that is making a difference in parent involvement is the Parent As Teachers (PAT) where parents are taught how to help their children learn at home, the importance of reading to their kids, to know what to expect as their children grow, how to get job ready, and how to deal with life’s challenges by advocating for themselves.

While Georgia has some extremely successful early learning programs and leaders willing to help other educators and schools with successful programs, it is clear that their help is not welcomed by organizations, even many in extreme impoverished areas simply because they do not ‘put children first’. It is sad, yet true. Research indicates that an early start with great programs helps our kids: 1) read by third grade, 2) significantly increase high school graduation rates, 3) increase their chances of getting a post secondary education,  4) increase their ability to become financially stable, and 5) takes them off the pipeline to prison.

We all left the GEEARS bus tour with high hopes of influencing education leaders in our communities to embrace and invest in these proven programs that will give kids birth to five years old the solid foundation they need regardless of their zip code to succeed in life.

For your review, and to help advocate for these programs in your community, here are three links should give you some useful early education initiatives and data:

http://geears.org/business-toolkit/about-us/

http://www.decal.ga.gov

http://www.quality rated.org

Working together, we can help ALL KIDS get access to high-quality early education programs in their neighborhoods.

Baltimore, North Charleston… Point to Poverty and Racial Injustice

The white elephant in the room in all of these ongoing killings of unarmed Black men across America from Baltimore to L.A., from Ferguson to North Charleston, from Florida to Georgia to New York; is poverty, double standards, intimidation, and racial biases. Until we talk about and fix the underlying issues, Blacks and other minorities will continue to suffer from this and other socioeconomic injustices 300 years from now.

Here are two N.Y. Times Op Ed Columnists who list credible research findings that tell us what works to close the divide in poverty and income inequality. They also tell why most of it has not been put into practice. I think it’s sad and we should change this NOW.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-inequality-is-a-choice.html

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/opinion/david-brooks-the-nature-of-poverty.html?_r=0

A plan to change policy begins with personal responsibility that results in:

– massive voter education

– massive voter turnout

– explosive participation in community based meetings, planning & policy (at the grassroot s level)

– vetting, funding and voting for candidates who are in touch and entrenched in our neighborhoods 

– more elected officials who represent their constituents vs their own self interest

– more jobs with living wages (so less people need public assistance)

– less crime…safer neighborhoods

– more effective and efficient schools for our kids to learn (school board members that we vet & hold accountable)

– more intense tutoring programs,  Saturday Programs, and summer programs to help get our kids get on track with a better quality education

 

This is not rocket scientist stuff. Instead, it is about accountability, ethics and better use of our tax dollars, along with personal responsibility from people with renewed HOPE in a system that has consistently failed them in the past.