Update on Broken Bones

My son had surgery yesterday and it went well. It took hours, though - significantly longer than anyone thought it would. But at the end, the surgeon was pleased with it and our son's recovery will consist of one week with an immobilizer brace to prevent him from bending his knee ... and a lot of ice. My wife bought a special knee cuff that connects to a motor-driven pressurized water cooler. This cuff gets ice water pumped through it to routinely cool the knee to prevent painful swelling. Much more comfortable for the boy and easier to remember to keep applying the ice because the motor does it for us. This fun little toy wasn't covered by insurance, but thankfully we've been saving money for medical expenses for a few years using a Health Savings Account, so we felt free to buy the luxury item believing it would make our son more comfortable. It seems to be working.

He'll go back to the doctor in a week where he'll get a fun new cast for about three more weeks. If things are going well, I think we'll be just about done and he'll be able to get back to a semi-normal life. I'm not really sure what a normal life is; hence the qualifier. It wasn't a complicated procedure and the surgery was orthoscopic, so there is less risk of infection and other complications and should make for an easier recovery. I'm really thankful for modern medicine; however, I'm sure our medical costs are going to be out of this world in the first month of the new year. Medical expertise is very expensive and there was a lot of it brought to bear on my son. With the materials and medicines used, I'm guessing we've passed our deductible already.

Then there's my ankle. I went to the doctor today and he gave me a choice. There is a gap in my bone where it was fractured, which means it will take longer to heal if we don't do surgery. That may mean I end up in a cast for closer to 8 weeks instead of 6. It could be even longer, I suppose. However, surgery has risks associated with it that a cast doesn't. With the ankle as it currently stands (sort of), he's confident it will heal well, but will take longer to fill in the gap with bone tissue. The crack is in my fibula and the X-ray shows a nice clear break near where the talus and the tibia join. I always learn a little more about my body each time I injure myself.

I opted for the longer route to health without the surgery. Hopefully it will heal in a reasonable amount of time, but even if it doesn't, I'm getting used to getting around on crutches; colleagues have been very solicitous and flexible, and I hope this gives me more excuses to spend time with my family. :) It looks like our family continues to be blessed and I'm grateful for bodies that heal themselves and for medical experts who help us out when the body just can't seem to repair itself alone. My son and I will be on crutches for several weeks more and I think we'll get a lot of good laughs out of watching peoples' reactions as we hobble around.

The Aged

I've been reading Charles Dickens' book 'Great Expectations' and really enjoying it. I read a section last night that I thought was so funny and so well written, I'd better document it here for posterity ... and for you, dear Reader, whoever you are. :)

The main character of the story, Pip, is visiting a friend in his home named John Wemmick. This Wemmick has an aged father who lives with him. What initially struck me as funny was the name he uses to refer to his father. As I've been reading Dickens, his wit and wisdom are hard to capture in brief quotations, so this one might be kind of long, but walk with me into Wemmick's house/castle as he says to Pip:

"You wouldn't mind being at once introduced to the Aged, would you? It wouldn't put you out?"

I expressed the readiness I felt, and we went into the castle. There we found, sitting by a fire, a very old man in a flannel coat: clean, cheerful, comfortable, and well cared for, but intensely deaf.

 "Well aged parent," said Wemmick, shaking hands with him in a cordial and jocose way, "how am you?" [Note: Wemmick is not prone to bad grammar.]

"All right, John; all right!" replied the old man.

"Here's Mr Pip, aged parent," said Wemmick, "and I wish you could hear his name. Nod away at him, Mr. Pip; that's what he likes. Nod away at him, if you please, like winking!"

"This is a fine place of my son's, sir," cried the old man, while I nodded as hard as I possibly could. "This is a pretty pleasure-ground, sir. This spot and these beautiful works upon it ought to be kept together by the Nation, after my son's time, for the people's enjoyment."

"You're as proud of it as Punch; ain't you, Aged?" said Wemmick, contemplating the old man, with his hard face really softened; "there's a nod for you;" giving him a tremendous one; "there's another for you;" giving him a still more tremendous one; "you like that, don't you? If you're not tired, Mr. Pip - though I know it's tiring to strangers - will you tip him one more? You can't think how it pleases him."

 I tipped him several more, and he was in great spirits.

The way Wemmick treated his father "the Aged" with humor, but also with tenderness and concern for his happiness really made me smile. I find myself smiling and laughing quite a bit as I read Dickens, but it's hard to share those smiles with others without sharing a lot. His humor is sometimes subtle and seems to weave its way through the narrative so that he revisits his jokes in different ways at various points in the text. The sum of it all is delightful and I have so enjoyed reading his works. I will definitely read more of Dickens after this book.

Shortly after this encounter with the Aged, Pip is expecting a visitor named Joe. Joe is a friend, a good honest hard working man, but a little coarse and the impending visit gives Pip some anxiety, which he concedes to be a weakness. His anxiety arises chiefly from the possibility that a certain man whom Pip despises might meet Joe and have a lower opinion of Pip because of the meeting. Pip then comments, "So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise."

Profound and funny. I would like to have known the man Charles Dickens. He was, in my opinion, a genius. Luckily, he left enough of himself behind that I can get to know him pretty well through his writings.

Tibial Spine Fracture

About a week after I fractured my ankle, my son slammed his knee on the floor of the basketball court as he was practicing with his team. My wife, with images of bone fractures fresh in her mind, took him to the emergency room where they told her that he had sprained his knee. They gave him some crutches and he has been hobbling around ever since, waiting for the sprain to heal and the swelling to go down. Neither seemed to be happening, so my wife took him to the orthopedist today and apparently he fractured his tibial spine. There's a piece of the bone that refuses to get back in place and they're going to have to do orthoscopic surgery to tack it down. How many broken bones do we need in this family? Apparently at least two right now.

His surgery will be this Thursday and I'll find out on Friday whether my ankle needs surgery. This is surreal. When our family walked/limped into church on Sunday, we made a pretty big impression with two of us being on crutches. We thought at the time that the smaller pair was supporting a sprain, but now it looks like we'll both be on crutches for several more weeks. My poor boy has his whole leg cast, but it sounds like he's handling it well so far. He's disappointed he won't be able to play basketball for the rest of the season. That really stinks because he was just starting to get the game figured out and he has been their top scorer so far. He was planning to play soccer this spring and now it looks like that isn't going to happen either. I'm glad he has a good attitude about it, though. He's a great kid! I just feel bad for him and hope his attitude stays healthy through the next few weeks.

Fractured Ankle

Last week, my kids and I were sledding down our driveway and I made a bad move. I was skating down the driveway, picking up speed, planted my foot in a patch where the ice was thin on top, and toppled over with my foot stuck in the position in which it was planted. I was pretty sure I had sprained it ... until Sunday afternoon. It had swollen and bruised pretty much like I expected it would with a sprain, but Sunday I noticed a bruise creeping up the side of my leg. That didn't seem like a sprain. So I went to the doctor yesterday, pretty confident I had fractured it. Turns out, I REALLY fractured it. There were three cracks, all connected, but in different directions. To me, the X-ray looks like the crack had the shape of a 'U' and I think the doctor said the fracture was in the talus, but I'm a stranger to anatomy, so ... whatever. I know I fractured a bone.

I was surprised to find out the fracture was serious enough that he thought it was likely I would need surgery. Oh well. He said we could try to cast it and see if it healed properly, but if it didn't work, surgery would be inevitable. So, he cast it for me yesterday, caused me quite a bit of pain, for which I thanked him ... did another X-ray and said it looks good so far, and then sent me home with instructions to elevate it, prescription for an anti-inflammatory, etc. I should know in about two weeks whether the bone is healing properly. If it's not, I'll be getting a plate in my ankle, which might make those airport scans more fun. I'll have to ask him if he thinks it'll be enough to trigger those stupid metal detectors.

So my life has slowed down a little bit, which could be a good thing. I'm enjoying a little more rest than I'm used to, but I still have to keep up with work and I'm going to attempt to get in to work tomorrow to teach my first class of the semester. I'm excited for that! I just hope I can make this work with my newfound disability.

Zoroaster and the Wise Men

I was reading a book called "The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ" - officially a pseudepegraphical work (not accepted in either the Catholic or Protestant canons), in which the claim is made that "the wise men came from the East to Jerusalem, according to the prophecy of Zoradascht [Zoroaster]" to pay homage to the Christ child. That was a really new and weird idea to me, so I decided to learn a little about Zoroastrianism. Very interesting stuff.

Image of Zoroaster

Apparently Zoroaster lived several centuries before Christ. He founded a new monotheistic religion in the area of Persia (modern day Iran) in which he taught of the existence of one supreme Creator God named Ahura Mazda. This God is all good and represents order and truth. One site I read said that from this God came forth spirit twins, one of whom chose good, the other evil. Led by these spirits (or in some traditions, Ahura Mazda vs. the evil spirit), there is now a conflict between order and chaos in which humanity takes part. The outcome will eventually be decided in favor of order, after which time will end. At this point, creation will undergo some sort of renewal and the souls of the dead will be reunited with Ahura Mazda, returning to life. Quoting from Wikipedia, "At the end of time, a savior-like figure ... will bring about a final renovation of the world ... in which the dead will be revived."

Hmm ... very interesting. I further learned that Zoroastrianism was related to astrology, the Zodiac, etc. and that its adherents have sometimes been called "magi", which is somehow related to the ability to "read the stars". Is it possible that Zoroaster was inspired by God to teach certain truths and even prophesy the advent of a Savior whose birth would be attended by a new star? If Zoroaster's followers were star watchers, they may have been among the first to notice the advent of a new star (nowhere in the Bible am I aware of a place that claims that this star was unusually bright - it may have just been a new star). If so, they may have come to see this Savior whose birth the founder of their religion had prophesied.

The Bible does say the wise men came from the east (Matt 2:1). Persia is almost directly east of Jerusalem. Interesting, huh?

Update (1/18/11): Through this post, I made a connection with a Zoroastrian, who shares some insights about his religion in the comments section. If you're reading this post and you want the inside scoop on Zoroastrianism, you may want to check out his comments.

The Authentic Life

Do you ever feel like your life is a bit meaningless? Sometimes I get to feeling like that. Like the daily activities of my life are so far removed from what nature would have me do that I fail to accomplish life's real objectives. I think it's funny, for example, that I shut myself up in an office for a large amount of time each week, accomplishing interesting and useful things perhaps, but without any physical activity. Then I pay money to go to another fancy building to work out and get the physical activity that I denied myself by spending so much time in the office. We build large structures of wood, stone, metal, and concrete to shield ourselves from nature and gives ourselves a life of ease ... and then we pay homage to nature by building more of those buildings to shield ourselves from her elements so we can work those muscles she gave us ... in comfort. Doesn't all of this seem strange to you?

Leo Tolstoy was born a count and had a life of ease, dissipation, and pleasure. As he examined his life, however, he came to see it as meaningless and he wished to live a more simple, natural life. He was the count who wanted to be a peasant, but was unable to make the transition and died quite unhappily. He is one of my heroes ... for a lot of reasons. He became convinced that agriculture was the only valid profession and that it was our natural duty to provide for our needs with our own hands. I may be overstating his position slightly, but that's ok. It's my blog and he can argue with me later.

I don't think I see things quite that starkly, but I am convinced that agriculture is one of the noblest professions. By digging in the dirt, caring for plants, and harvesting food, we're taking elements that are relatively useless to man and providing products that are of the most basic necessity. Without food, we all die. Who cares if you just invented the coolest electronic gadget in the world? If the world has no food, we're all going to die in a few weeks. Philosophically, I would love to be a farmer. It's too bad I stink at it.

But I do have a hope that someday I'll be able to live a more natural, simple life. Perhaps after I've run the rat race for a few more years, I'll be able to buy a place where I can dig in the dirt and provide food for my family by my own sweat and strain. Something about that idea is really appealing to me. But I'd better get some practice in raising crops because I haven't been very successful with gardens in recent years. That means I need to find some time in the spring and summer to take care of my plants instead of letting them go to weeds because I spend all that time in the office. This year isn't looking too good. Maybe next year? :)

The Joy of Puzzles

My family has put a few puzzles together in the last few weeks. I didn't know my children were so good at this, but they all seem to be really talented at finding those patterns and making the pieces come together. It has been a lot of fun. The craziest one we did was a thousand piece puzzle of a bunch of sea-life. There was enough ocean in there (plenty of blue pieces) that it was pretty challenging to put it all together. We actually gave up on a smaller puzzle because the pieces were so similar that it was difficult to know whether you had connected pieces correctly. Some of them seemed to fit, but you'd find out later that they couldn't go together. That combined with a bunch of blue sky pieces of the same shade and we had had enough.

I don't know exactly why I get a kick out of putting those puzzles together, but the best part of it has been doing them as a family. It's fun to see a bunch of meaningless puzzle pieces eventually come together to create a beautiful picture. The seemingly disjointed parts somehow form a coherent whole and, although it takes a lot of work, it's very satisfying when you see it all come together.

I think truth is sort of like a puzzle. We're thrown into this life without an instruction manual. All we have to start with is our sensory inputs and somehow, we combine those over time into some coherent understanding of the world around us. As we grow, our rational capabilities begin to develop and we seem to be capable of understanding things on a different level than is available only through senses. Truth seems to be one big ugly, nasty puzzle, but as you start to put the pieces together and the picture begins to emerge, it becomes a fascinating project to see if you can piece it all together and find out what that final picture looks like.

I believe that all truth is interconnected. Truth that is found by studying the field of psychology may be related to truth discovered by studying history or religion or philosophy or science or masonry or carpentry or any number of other worthwhile fields. The connection may not be immediately obvious, but if we study it out, those connections can provide as much utility as understanding the individual truths themselves. I think if we could just capture a mental model of the whole truth (I picture it as a crystal with a complicated lattice structure), I think we would perceive a remarkably beautiful gem that would serve as a measure for us when we experience new things or conceive new ideas.

I've started to catch a glimpse of this beautiful thing called truth and it gives me a lot of joy to discover new truths and find how they're connected to the truths I already perceive. I'm also careful to constantly re-examine the truths I've uncovered to see if I may have misunderstood them in some way and come up with a more pure mental model of this precious gem. Someday, I think I'll perceive it, but I don't think I'll get there before I die. But the joy is in the journey and this puzzle offers the greatest challenge and the greatest reward. Thankfully, like the puzzles on my dining room table, my family and I are trying to assemble this one together.

iPod Touch

I got a cool new toy for Christmas this year. I really never thought I would succumb to the siren song of this kind of technology, but thanks to a visit with my sister and her husband, I caught a glimpse of the power of a device like the iPod Touch and I decided it would be worth the risk of getting sucked in. So far, it has been great. It has all the functionality of an iPhone without the phone - no cellular connection, just WiFi, and a cheaper microphone. Here's what I love about it.

It allows me to keep track of appointments and share calendars with my wife in a much more accessible form factor than my laptop. I can take it with me to meetings, church, anywhere, and keep myself a little more organized. I love that I can keep hundreds of songs on a single device and create playlists from multiple albums and play those songs in random order. I love music and my CDs have never been so accessible to me. I spent about three days ripping CDs to MP3s, but at least they're accessible.

My only concern with technology like this is that it can become consuming. It can make zombies out of otherwise friendly people and isolate us. I may be an introvert by nature, but I still love human contact and I'll try to avoid getting sucked in too much. So far, I think I've made a good bargain. It's pretty amazing what this thing can do!

I don't know whether I'll use this feature much, but I just figured out how to make free VoIP calls over WiFi, I've synched my calendars, contacts, email, etc from work and non-work. I have a pretty cool alarm clock that will wake me up to any songs I want. I can access various radio stations, watch movies, and probably do about a hundred other relatively useful things that I haven't figured out yet. I can access most of my accounts online, scriptures and a bunch of other documents published by my church, my Kindle books, connect to a stereo at home and play my songs with a little more volume ... I'm really impressed.

Thanks sis. I wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for you. Merry Christmas to me! :)