John's Guestbook

Dear John and Judith: Rick and I just became aware of your surgery upon arrival on a very large Fed Ex package from Judith. I search online for you both as there was no attached Fed Ex slip by the time the package reached by office. That is where I came across your Journal. I found your entries very interesting and was delighted to find the Judith remains strong, focused and determined as I recall. I have thought of you both often through the years. Rick and I hope one day we will get another chance to spend time with you perhaps on a visit to Chicago. Our love, Grayce and Rick

Well, you seem to have disappeared as quickly as you arrived at this site. Hope no news is good news. How about an update? I enjoyed following your journaling. Fran

Servant Girl and Patient, please note. I saw my cardiologist today. I remembered that you were concerned with scar therapy. He said to use a steroid cream on the scar to prevent the scar tissue from building up, pulling the torso forward, and to prevent keloids. He suggested a cortizone cream that you can buy in any drugstore. Happy healing. Terry Chase

You should stop writing your journal in capital letters - you make think it\'s a cool thing to do, but trust me, it makes your text harder to read for most people. pete

Instead of a lap dance just to perk him up, how about a vitamLuin E chest dance by a coconut smelling latina from Turrialba? I can have her bring some just roasted Cafe casi el Cielo and a hand of bananas just removed from the branch yesterday by Jon the Jungle Boy. Lady Lung has become addicted to O2. But less cough everyday and soon she will hit the beach again/ Tight lines, <

Thoughts on scar tissue. After I had the plate put in my leg, after by tibial plateau fracture, part of the physical therapy was actually kneading my 10 inch scar with oil and lots of pressure and pulling. Actually they would take their fingers and pull and push on the scar. Now I have only a hairline scar. it was really uncomfortable but helped immensely. Just a thought from another Terry (in California). T

Servant Girl: I have another theory for the forward jutting posture. I\'ll illustrate it by telling of a different surgery. 29 years ago I had a kidney removed due to a huge tumor which had attached itself to more body parts than just my kidney. Up to that time I had a perfectly straight spine, even shoulders and hips, etc. In other words, up till then I had excellent posture. A few years later I began to develop a C shape to my spine tilting my body toward the scar--left to right. An ortho explained to me that the scarring caused by a 20\" round the body scar, removal of a rib, etc., eventually pulled my body toward the incision with the healing of the scar. It\'s 29 years later, and I now have a rather seriously left-right C shaped spine, uneven shoulders, etc. I have been worried that the incision down the front of me (and all of us) pulls our bodies down from the shoulders. I saw an ortho the other day and she said that there\'s a device that can be worn which forces the body to stay straight but that, expecially in those of us who aren\'t kids anymore, whose bodies aren\'t resiliant as youngsters\' bodies, whose bodies are naturally bending in that direction, that the sternum scarring can exacerbate the pull of the shoulders forward. So, I think you\'re right. I don\'t know if it can be prevented. I\'m forcing myself to stay upright, not hunched over, in the hope that it won\'t happen, but I don\'t know if in one\'s 70s this will work. Good observation on your part. Terry C.