NELSON'S NOTES #65

Fun N Sun, San Benito, Texas, Jan. 10, 2007

NEW BOOK

Go to amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com and search for the Valley Byliners latest book, Tales Told at Midnight Along the Rio Grande. This 224-page trade, soft cover book contains ghost stories, unsolved mysteries, and creative non-fiction about intriguing Valley happenings. All the stories are set in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico. Mr. Walker, a story I wrote about my friends' real life experiences, is one of the 34 tales collected and created by the Valley Byliners in this book.

The Byliners have been meeting in the Valley since 1944. They have published three other books all of which received critical acclaim and sold out their editions: Gift of the Rio, Roots by the River and Rio Grande Roundup.

The new book, in addition to being available online, will be featured at Valley locations and events, including autograph parties, starting in late January. In addition, I will have books to sell and sign.

If you belong to a group in the Valley that's looking for speakers, contact me by e-mail or call me at 956-399-8505. I will arrange to have the Byliners in your Valley location talk at your meeting and sign books for purchase at $14.95 each.

BACK SURGERY

Born in England and raised in Tanzania, East Africa, Dr. Eric Six has lived in the U.S. for a long time. He has been practicing neurosurgery for 30 years.

Starting in June, 2005, I had leg pain caused by spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis. Two months ago, Dr. Six did laminectomies between L3 and L5 to clean out the bone that was impinging on the nerves, and he implanted a dynamic spinal stabilization system called a Dynesys. It will keep an out-of-line lumbar vertebra from slipping further.

Even though the surgery took almost five hours, by 7 p.m. I was up walking, and the next day I was discharged from the hospital. Dr. Six's instructions were to walk five minutes of every waking hour. So with Bruce's help, that's what I did. Because he was afraid I might fall, Bruce insisted on walking with me, especially during the first month. It seemed like once I got finished with one walk, it was time to think about going out again.

In between each walk, I spent a lot of time on our couch. Dr. Six's other instructions were not to twist or bend my back. Because our couch is very low, Bruce devised a way for me to get up by using my leg muscles while keeping my back straight. In this photo taken by Hoagie Vaher, it looks like Bruce is pulling me up but actually he's bracing his body while I'm pulling myself up.

Early during the recovery period, Hoagie Vaher, our next-door neighbor, came over to serenade me. He plays what I call a "banjo-lele," part banjo and part ukulele, an instrument he bought on E-bay.

Because Dr. Six said my spine is "very soft," I am now under the care of an endocrinologist who is prescribing a drug called Forteo that builds bone. I give myself the subcutaneous injections once daily, a regimen I'll continue for two years. Unbeknownst to me, osteoporosis of the spine had developed even though I'd been taking 35 mgm. of Fosamax weekly for seven years and had had four bone density studies. The osteoporosis probably went unrecognized because I also have degenerative joint disease (DJD). In DJD, the body puts out more bone (but of poor quality) and the added bone can be misleading when bone density studies are interpreted. So, had it not been for the surgery, I wouldn't have known about the osteoporosis until my spine fractured.

TERI AND KEN'S ROMANIAN TRIP

In October, our daughter and son-in-law visited Romanian orphanages, group homes and a baby hospital as part of a mission to bring much needed medicines and shoes, as well as extra attention, to the children.

While preparing for the trip, each participant was asked to buy medical and hygiene supplies by filling an extra suitcase with Pediacare drops for diarrhea and tussin liquid for coughs. They filled the extra suitcases up to the maximum allowable weight of 50 lbs. The photo shows how Ken and Teri's bedroom looked the night before they left for Romania; the medicines and supplies are in the foreground.

TERI AND KEN IN TEXAS

After Christmas, Teri and Ken spent six days at Fun N Sun. They're from South Florida so citrus groves are not new to them but we took them to Granny Clare's anyway, just because it's a fun place to visit.

The next day we spent the afternoon at South Padre Island and saw injured turtles at Sea Turtles, Inc. On New Year's Day we went to Neuvo Progreso. In the photo, Bruce, Ken, and Teri make their way along the main drag in Neuvo Progreso. Anyone who comes this far south should see what a Mexican border town is like.

RV PARK: THE MOVIE

Bruce has put an edited and serialized version of RV Park:The Movie on youtube.com. To see it, click here: The Movie

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Marianna