THE PAINS OF HURT

What's in a name? I remember my youngest son Andrew coming home from elementary school in a grumpy mood with a frown on his face wanting to know why our name was Hurt and why we couldn't change it. Other kids at school had been making fun of him because of his name. I can think of a lot worse names he could have had, but at the moment I am sure that was the worst possible name he could have been stuck with in his mind.

Youngsters won't know who I am talking about, but it used to be that every time I met someone or even called on the phone, the other party always had the same comment; "Where's your horn?" - making reference to the once famous and now deceased jazz trumpet player, Al Hirt, in New Orleans. Even though he didn't spell his name right, he was popular and well known all over the world at that time and especially down in New Orleans. Our oldest son, John Leslie, went to Tulane University in New Orleans and when I called down there they would always get excited when I announced myself as Al Hurt and then get disappointed and/or disgusted when they learned I was not the real thing.

What does the name Hurt have to do with anything. Nothing, except it is proving to be a very appropriate name for me and members of my family.

First we had my little experience with cancer and the treatment and surgery. Next we discovered my oldest son, John Leslie, had a a form of cancer - Hodgkins disease, which he is currently undgoing treatment for. Then we discovered I have two blood clots in my right leg and I am on medication to try to resolve this problem. I still need to go back down to Houston for surgery for the hernia that developed over the stomach after the surgery. I learned my mother was ill and had been taken to the hospital in Denver and went up to see her. While I was there she passed away and we subsequently went back up to Denver and then on down to Center for two funeral serices for Mom. Our daughter-in-law, Sheri, made a huge sacrifice in terms of pain and/or comfort to drive up to Denver and back with us as she has been undergoing treatment and physical therapy for a very difficult and painful back problem.

Now my good wife, Mary Marlin, who is the picture of almost perfect health, must have felt left out on the issue of pain and the responsibility she had to live up to the name "Hurt". She got on the band-wagon with the rest of us a week ago Friday with her own little episode to make sure that we continue to provide funds to members of the medical community so they can continue to send their kids to college and live in a life style far beyond on own reach.

As I said, MM is an example of almost perfect health. She has been going to jazzercise six days a week for twenty years. In fact, while she was in Houston taking care of me as I went through surgery and the recovery from that surgery, she found a place in Houston where they had jazzercise classes and would get in the car and drive out to that location in a neighboring community to attend jazzercise classes each day . Of course Jazzercise is not the only activity she is involved in. When she is home she is out in the yard working each day and we have a huge yard. She is in better physical shape than most people thirty years younger than she is.

On Friday the 11th, she called me around 7:30 in the morning and she was actually laughing as she talked to me. She said; "Hi - I am at jazzercise and I am laying on the floor and I can't get up and they have called an ambulance to come and get me." WOW!! That was not something I was expecting at any time - especially at 7:30 in the morning.

I got over to jazzercise as quickly as I could to find a half dozen firemen down on the floor with her taking vitals etc. as everyone waited for the ambulance. She was in extreme pain but was still laughing and kidding around with the fire department people.

She had been doing a routine which she had done many times before but as she moved to her right her foot caught on something on the floor which caused the floor to be a little sticky and her foot didn't slide and she went over on her right side. While they didn't know it at the time, she had broken her leg right at the point where it attaches to the ball in the hip joint. So she had nothing holding her leg to her body except muscle and tissue. When they lifted her up to put her on the stretcher for the ambulance I thought she might pass out from the pain. She would certainly do that before she would cry or scream in pain as most others would do.

This was just the beginning of a very painful day for her. I don't imagine she realized how many pot-holes and bumps there are in the streets of Albuquerque until she took that ambulance ride. When she got to the hospital they had to transfer her to a bed in the emergency room which was another experience of excruciating pain. Then they wheeled her into the x-ray room where they had to lift her up a bit to slide the x-ray board under her, lift her up again to remove it then wheel her back to her room. The doctor came in and discussed the x-ray and pointed out that the bone was broken right at the ball and a hip replacement with a new ball and socket and metal rod implanted into the leg bone would be necessary. We waited and waited in the emergency room until they found a room for her in the hospital and finally she was wheeled up to her room where once again they had to transfer her from the emergency room bed to her hospital bed. Finally about 8:00 pm Friday night they took her into surgery - where once again she was transfered - this time onto the operating table. She came back from recovery around 10:30 Friday night. I came home and finally got to bed around 1:30 am Saturday morning and was wiped out - but my day was nothing compared to hers.

Saturday morning they got her up and she was only able to take about four tiny steps and that was very painful for her. By Sunday morning she was getting clear across the room with her walker - slowly and painfully - but pushing herself to do more each time. This has to be a real frustrating experience because there are so many things you are used to doing that you can't do in her condition - some of them never again. You drop something and you bend over to pick it up. Not now - she has a little device with a clamp on the end and a magnet that she must use to pick things up. She can't bend over to put on her socks or tie her shoes. She has a device to put her socks on then she pulls this device up over her foot to get her socks on. She will not be allowed to bend her leg ninety degrees or more from now on. She is tough and she is a competitor and doesn't give up or give in easily. She is already talking about getting back to jazzercise (I can see some friendly discussions in the future on this subject), but she is upbeat and in good spirits about the whole thing and I admire her so much. As I look at her, I think she must have suffered more than I did through the cancer surgery. I know I am not as brave as she is.

Tuesday of this week she got another ambulance ride as they transfered her to Health South which is a rehabilitation facility. She has been undergoing therapy and doing a great job. Everyone is amazed at the progress she is making and we hope to have her home again around the middle of this next week. She is going to be very limited on what she can do for awhile as she will still be using a walker for some time. You can't carry anything while you are pushing a walker so she won't be able to cook or even get something out of the refrigerator. I tell people that my objective is to figure out a way she can push the lawn mover and use the walker at the same time.

Anyway - Mary Marlin has done her best to validate the use of the "Hurt" name and we all appreciate it so much.

AL

PS - My apologies to so many of you. I have wanted and needed to send so many of you a note in response to your kindness and your notes of the past. I have gotten way behind! I am kind of like the butcher in the meat department at the grocery store. He accidently sat down on the meat grinder and got fired because he got a little behind in his work. Right now I have nearly 900 messages of incoming mail and I need to respond to many of them. I just haven't had time - but I promise I will get back to all of you eventually.

God Bless - I will be back in touch soon.