Joint replacement reflections.

In the 13 months since my second total knee replacement, I have had many revelations.  My mobility is 100% better than before, even after I had lost a lot of weight.  My knees are not 100%, even after more than a year.  I can't kneel now, nor do I believe I will be able to again.  I can stand, though, for unlimited amounts of time, when 15 minutes was my top limit before.  Would I do it again? Yes, if I had proper personal support, like I did last summer when Nathan was at my beck and call.  Would I recommend it to someone older than 80 or 90?  Never.  

I hear so many difficult stories of elderly people being encouraged to have joint replacement surgery, and I cannot believe it is in most of their best interests.  I feel that in some cases, it is a blatant abuse of Medicare funding.  I know that people of all ages get their joints replaced, and some people even felt I was too young at 57.  But the truth is, it is a physically demanding surgery and rehab, that I don't feel most elderly people, especially frail individuals, are up to.

I'm still going day by day, and I am so thankful that my own individual experience with joint replacement surgery has been positive so far.  I want to be able to get around easily for many more years. I'm also thankful that I didn't wait until I was older.

Stop, or I'll shoot!

In an article that I read yesterday, a school district in Arkansas is arming teachers with concealed weapons.  I watched the video attached, and the superintendent explained that the teachers had been given 53 hours of handgun training in order to prepare them to operate the weapons safely.  Parents and the school board are mostly supportive of the plan, but the teachers' union is not.( Arkansas gun laws )

Some parents decided to pull their children from the school district in protest, but many parents, staff and students are supportive.  In Arkansas, private gun ownership is common, and the law permitting armed guards in schools has been in effect for years. Much concern and discussion has followed the tragic school shooting most recently in Newtown, Connecticut, last year.

 

As an educator, I would have to side with the Arkansas Education Association, which said, 'educators should be in the business of educating students, not carrying a weapon'.  However, my feelings go much deeper than that.

 

I grew up in a hunting and fishing culture where rifles and shotguns were a common fixture in most households.  I have fired a gun myself.  I do NOT own a gun now, nor will I ever purchase one.  I think this issue of teachers carrying guns is so divisive.  Teachers should be gaining the trust of their students, teaching them to make responsible decisions, not to greet violence with more violence, all of which I believe guns negate.  I won't even get into accidental shootings or mental instability of staff members and students.

 

School shootings have inflamed our country.  I'm not sure what the solution is, but I know it's not MORE guns.