17 May 2007

Email from my mom...

"Just wanted to let you know I took my hand to the doctor yesterday. He examined me and said that the tendon WASN'T ruptured - just the sheath (the little membrane) surrounding it. He put me in a splint and I am going to do some physical therapy to strengthen it. (I hurt it on Monday)

Now, here's the exciting news - This doctor is the guy who takes care of the Falcons players - my regular Ortho doctor got me in to see him because this doctor specializes in hand injuries and reconstruction. His name is Dr. Wilkes. Anyway, Dr. Wilkes was fascinated by the state my hands are in. I guess he saw them as a good challenge and he started to ask me a lot of questions about how limited the use of my hands had become. In the end he told me that he can reconstruct my hands and make them more efficient and functional!!!!! There have been amazing advances in finger joint replacement since the last time a doctor worked on my hands and apparently there is a new plastic knuckle joint that works miraculously! He says I am a good condidate because there is still a lot of good muscle around my joints and that he can give me straighter, more natural looking hands that work more like they used to. Now, they won't look like they did 25 years ago, but it should restore my ability to do some of the things I have had to give up due to the limitations."


There was more about how difficult the decision is, etc. but the meat of this post is that my mom has had another miracle, or as she says, "God took this chicken shit and made chicken salad!!"

Thanks for all your prayers!

15 May 2007

This is why politics is stupid and everyone should shut up and vote, or not vote but SHUT UP

A gay man I know posted this bulletin on myspace:

"I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quite, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now lets see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties. Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder."

I am not trying to say that all homosexuals should be you know, pro-immigrant or anything, but this is the same kind of passive agressiveness he rebels against daily. We all want for ourselves in this country, even if it means screwing the other guy. I dont have the answer. I cant tell you the way to solve either the insanely complex immigration issue or the morally hypocritical condemning of those in the "other" catagory. I just wish we would all start putting a check mark in that box and see how the system handled THAT!

I dont want the governement telling me what to do in my house either... I just want this all to stop being a screaming match.