All things seen and unseen in this wonderful universe
ARE WORTH CONSIDERING
in their structure and their workings
When I was born,
my parents named me DONNA JOY.
My brother had died just after he was born ...
my mother had been told she could never have another child.
I was ...
"unexpected"
For many years I
did not use JOY
as part of my name.
It can be an embarrassment...
if one is NOT joyful.
THEN several years ago, there were several turns in the road I was traveling
and at each turn - a wise and gracious guide.
and ... there it was JOY
When I recognized it
for what it was, I knew how to find it again.
And I knew I had to
RECLAIM
it in my name
SO - for the first time
since I was
a VERY little child
on THIS web site
I become Donna Joy
Part of our human responsibility is to be willing to THINK ... and to learn how to "think about our thinking." It is also being willing to SEE and HEAR and, more than that, to learn how to "be aware of our 5+ senses" and to pay attention to everything they are telling us.
Discourse with others who think and are aware helps us to fine tune our thoughts and to
broaden our awareness and to refine our skills. There is no substitute for discourse.
Do you know that - 100 years ago - scientists did not know there was more than ONE galaxy?
Today we know that there are BILLIONS or more -
each of the blue blurs on this picture is another distant galaxy or perhaps a cluster of galaxies. text.
The GRANDMA gene
I was not a woman who "loved" babies. I had no overwhelming need to hold someone else's diapered progeny. Babies were cute - I admitted - to THOSE related to them.
And then it happened - my "son-in-law the pilot" called to say that their first child had arrived and I flew to the other side of the continent to visit. I almost missed my flight at a connection because I saw a stuffed teddy bear in the gift shop - wearing an aviator's leather jacket, scarf and goggles, and I had to have that bear. It sat on my lap the rest of the trip. Later my new grandson sat on my lap, wearing the aviator jacket, which was just his size. I still have that picture on the wall. I flew home expecting to get on with my life.
It did not happen. NORMAL had changed. BAM -- babies seemed to appear everywhere I went. My husband would catch me grinning and follow my gaze until he found the baby I was looking at. He even started elbowing me and saying - "baby at 6 o'clock" or "don't miss the baby." I suddenly seemed to get a connection to the great well of creation every time I saw a baby. Gray skies when sun was expected - FIXED by a baby. Project not going well - that's OK , see - there's a baby. It was as if, in the eyes of every baby, there was another chance. Another chance for humans to get it right. Another chance for something NEW to explode upon the world.
When teased about my new found fascination by friends who had seen my previous minimal interest in tiny new people ... I started saying that there was a Grandmother Gene that got turned on when I took that flight across the country just to meet someone new. Someone not yet jaded or bored or "above it all."
On a subsequent visit to meet another new person - I caught my "son-in-law the pilot" walking his newest son around the front yard of their home. He stopped in the dappled shade of a tree - held his son up a little so that the layers of green were in front of those tiny blue eyes and said "Look son, this is a tree. Trees are our friends."
A new life, a new chance to define our friends, a new chance to be aware of the friends already here. Seeing the world through the eyes of a baby is sometimes seeing the world - the real important world - for the very first time. Now when I find myself entranced by a little face or feet or hands -- I thank the parent holding the child. THANK YOU for sharing your baby with the world - for helping us be reminded of the wonders and friends around us. Of the possibilities. Of the fact that, indeed, tomorrow is another day and who knows what this child will do with that day.
The type of fixator being used for my Grandson's leg lengthening was developed by Dr.Charles Taylor of North Carolina and was chosen in 2003 for a special national award. This system uses a triangular placement of connecting struts
and a special on-line software program, which uses uploaded X-ray data to calculate the adjustments
to be to made to the connecting
struts on any given day.
This allows the orthopedic surgeon
to prevent damage to soft tissues, ligaments and tendons and prevent entrapment of nerves during the movement of the bones.
MORE ABOUT THE FIXATOR
The top ring is pinned into both lower leg bones ABOVE THE CUTS ON THE BONES - and it is shaped on the back so he can bend that knee.
The bottom ring is pinned BELOW THE CUTS ON THE BONES - into the other end of the two leg bones. PLUS, the bones are screwed together just above the ankle.
The rings are connected by struts which can be lengthened or shortened depending on the bone movement which is desired. In my Grandson's case, each day for 40+ days, the cut ends of the two leg bones are moved a single millimeter APART, to cause new bone to grow and lengthen that leg. All 6 of the calibrated strut connectors are lengthened .
The lengthening of the struts is actually done to two connectors at a time -
one pair in the AM, one pair in the early afternoon, and the final pair in the evening.
My grandson was born with HEMIHYPERTROPHY - the right side of his body from the chest down grows faster and therefore larger than his left side. His right leg grows longer and larger around; sometimes he has to wear a larger shoe on his right foot; sometimes he has had to wear lifts in the left shoe.
By age, 10 his left leg was 2.5 inches shorter than his right leg - causing limping and back and hip pain. He wore a left shoe with a split lift (part inside and part outside of the shoe) but it was awkward - and not all shoes can get lifts in them. Much taller lifts can become dangerous because they make the person more clumsy. Walking and running with very uneven legs and hips cause back pain, eventual spinal curvature and eventually serious internal problems.
One solution to uneven leg length is to lengthen the short leg. He chose to have that done and
in early March 2007, in a 3 hour operation....
this apparatus was attached to do that lengthening. Both lower leg bones were cut so that new bone can be forced to grow in the gap.
Sometime in his teens my Grandson probably will have a procedure on his right leg to stop its growth ...
so that the left leg can catch up.
After that, any inequality will be handled with interior and exterior lifts built into the shoe
he will wear on which ever leg ends up being the shorter leg!
MARCH 2007 --
home from the hospital.
Do you think he might still have
some pain meds in his system?
GOOFY GRIN = YES
But he was to wear the fixator
from March to late summer.
Most of those days, daily tension
adjustments meant some pain was
often there, as tendons, muscles and ligaments were pulled
and the bones kept separated
to stimulate new bone to grow.
As long as the lengthening process is occurring,
the leg can not be walked on......
Crutch skills are learned quickly. Others want to "try."
Anything physically difficult becomes a competition
to friends and brothers
After the bones are lengthened, there is a waiting period of a month or so while the new bone strengthens - during this time the frame is still on the leg to support the bones, but the leg can be walked on. After that, for a short time after the frame is
removed, he goes back on the crutches .... but he WILL have a new longer leg - just in time for basketball!
But, of course, the unequal growth is still happening and it will eventually make the legs unequal again - no one knows by how much. There will be more decisions to be made as time goes on.
PLEASE NOTE PICTURES AND WORDS HERE MAY BE TOUGH FOR SOME PEOPLE TO SEE AND READ.
AMAZING how adaptable young humans
are to new and difficult circumstances!
When this procedure is finished in late summer, the left leg will NOT be
"as strong as" the right leg ...
the LEFT leg will actually be
STRONGER than the right leg!
HERE he is -
no more frames,
no more crutches,
no more limp ...
even after
a LONG day a SeaWorld
MOM DADtext.
older brother
younger
brother
....... JOY is not always EASY STARTED IN 2007 - an ongoing story
THE STORY OF GROWING A LEG,
found below,
is just one story of one brave child dealing with the choices presented by a growth variation called HEMIHYPERTROPHY.
THE fixator described below and the techniques and timing used are ONE approach of MANY
that have been developed to deal with these physical growth issues.
As my daughter says - this is an ART - the talented and visionary doctors who help are ARTISTS.
No two children, no two works of art are the same; we do not expect them to be.
All carry with them the harvest of yesterday's science and the seeds of tomorrow's joy.
Someone sent me this WONDERFUL picture.
Unfortunately, its "provenance" was stripped - or I do not know how to get at it - and I do not believe in stealing ...
so if someone can tell me WHO did this picture, I would
love to legitimately have it here or at least a link to the
site of this gifted photographer. JUST CLICK HERE
This picture was taken of a road somewhere in France during the 2009 Tour de France bicycle race.
Each year,
solicits phrases of affirmation and memorial ... to support those with cancer and their families.
Then somewhere along
the route of the race -
a rotbotic chalk painter prints
your message on the road
for all to read.
I once saw a book titled... Surprised by Joy.
Instead of waiting to be surprised by JOY
we can choose to actively seek it.
The world is FILLED with JOY.
STAKE your CLAIM on JOY.
Once you know to how to notice it -
you will find it everywhere!
SHARE IT WITH OTHERS ... if they do not understand ... just smile.
SOMEDAY
they will.
AFTER THE FIXATOR
JOY
joy joy
JOY
JOY
joy joy
joy
joy JOY
joy JOY
joy JOY JOY JOY
joy JOY
JOY
thoughts on JOY
foster JOY
For we are in a state of "becoming" .... exploring our world and ourselves in it
IT SHALL BE OUR GREAT JOY TO POLISH ALL THE FACETS OF OUR EXISTANCE.
2008
2011
FIRST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL brings with it MARCHING BAND.
The last few weeks of summer included long 6 hour days learning how to march. Our temperatures were in the high 90s up to 110 F. The marching surface is black macadam. They go inside for the mid day hottest times - and practice the music.
NO LIMPING NO BACK PAIN
Prior to getting marching shoes fitted,
a visit to the specialist shows - leg lengths are in the normal range of variation and so - for now - no new procedures need to be considered.
He is now 5 foot 10 and still growing.
