The end of modesty as some would want it | Life in Ludlow

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Now, when I get together with friends, I can join with the sub-group of folks who have one of those new turbo-powered titanium hips. 

Many now have the ceramic-lined socket into which the hip ball fits and rotates. Those are the Indy Car version. 

It has been 10 days so far and the hip still needs some tuning which has given me another opportunity to spend large amounts of time with Michael Haberpointer and his minions of physical fitness improvement down at Active Life Physical Therapy. The good news is that I get to see many of my friends from here in Port Ludlow who are embarked on their own mission of pain reduction. 

The bad news is that Michael does not offer a “frequent user pass.” I don’t know what Michael has in mind for me but if it includes the letters GT and RS I am in. (GT is Grand Tourismo. RS is Sport Racer.)

During this process I have been the welcome and thankful recipient of help and best wishes from family and friends from next door to Nantucket. I have new books to read. I have talked with old friends. Local friends have loaned me walkers. One neighbor supplied us with roses, chocolate and wine. 

BJ has already taken care of the wine, the roses are almost dead and the chocolates are currently off-limits according to my doctor or BJ, I can’t remember which. 

As you may know, many of today’s workers actually have the freedom and ability to execute their duties remotely via computer or phone. 

Our son and daughter both have that option. As a result, our son joined BJ and me for the first few days after I got home from the hospital. 

His proximity provided needed physical abilities for me enabling me to get a shower and move around from the “Hipster,” my new recliner chair, to the bathroom, bed, etc. Our daughter then arrived providing more attention for me and help for BJ. She thinks the “Hipster” needs a feature raising me fast enough to propel me across the room. 

I cannot tell you how happy I was to leave the hospital. 

Apparently hip surgery is outpatient optional. 

Not true for old Ned. I had an infection flare up on me so I needed to stay a couple of nights as various folks tried to settle it down and give me some medication to foster some sleep. Not fun. 

However, in the recovery room after surgery I was feeling no pain and was having a nice conversation with the nurse. She had clearly been around and did not appear to have too many hang-ups. The situation prompted me to tell her an off-color joke from which she was unable to constrain her laughter. She invited a co-worker over and had me tell it again prompting even more laughter. I was then assured that every nurse on that shift on that floor would hear the joke before the end of the day. 

I am glad I was able to leave a small part of me plus my old hip at the hospital. Do you suppose the nurses are trained to patronize the patients by laughing at their jokes? Nah. 

In addition, as noted in the headline, forget any modesty you might want to exercise. At least I don’t think they took pictures. I mean I am in the union!

Love a curmudgeon and have a great week.

(Nearly bionic Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive and Port Ludlow resident. Email him at ned@ptleader.com.