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Show CI EDITOR: RANA LEHR VALUE 3 THE DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, JULY 7. 1999 SPEAK 21. Joseph Walker Now's the time to live the day that really counts I don't know about you, but I'm tired today. No, I take that back I'm exhausted. I blame it on the needle. You know, the one on our record player. A couple of years ago our old needle wore out. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a phonograph needle these days? We didn't find one until yesterday. So last night I put on the headphones and kicked back for some tuneful R&R (rock and relaxation). I stayed with it until about 3 a.m., working my way through the musical soundtrack of my life, with vinyl-ize- d performances by the Association, the Beach Boys, the BeeGees, the Carpenters and Chicago. The music took me back through time to people, places and feelings I had almost forgotten. For example, "Cherish" by the Association took me back to 7th grade and a summer party in Jan Davis' backyard. All of a sudden, I'm standing there like an idiot again helplessly watching Alan Burningham steal Gayle Hayes out from under my adolescent nose again because he has sideburns, an Adam's apple and long hair, and he knows how to slow dance (and it doesn't hurt that he's an 8th grader you know how women love older men). Then I heard 'The Warmth of the Sun" by the Beach Boys and found myself in a darkened gym at Millcreek Junior High. My hands are sweaty. My stomach is in knots. My knees are trembling. Slowly, I start walking toward Heidi Van Ert. I'm going to ask her. I'm going to do it. I'm going to walk right up and ask her . . . ask iier . . . ask her . . . "So, Heidi . . . uh . . . how did you do on Mr. Toone's math test?" OK, so even after all these years I still couldn't bring myself to ask the most popular girl in the 9th grade to dance. It's still a fun memory. At least, I think it is. I mean, life was simpler then, wasn't it? There was less stress. Less frustration. We were carefree. Weren't we? Until I took my musical journey back through time I'd forgotten how hard it was to be young. While it's true that adolescent angst seems trivial and inconsequential from the perspective of adulthood, when you're a kid, childhood trauma is still, well, traumatic. Remember bullies? Remember pop quizzes? Remember pouring out your feelings in a caredeepest heart-fel- t fully worded note, and then waiting anxiously for the response? Such things may be fun to remember, but they weren't especially fun to live. When it comes right down to it, the good old days weren't all that great. For every joyful memory to which we nostalgically cling, there is pain tucked away that we tend to forget. And that's OK, I guess, as long as we don't diminish our attention to "today" by giving "yesterday" more credit than it deserves. The way I see it, "today" is the only day that really counts, because it's the only day we can do anything about. "Yesterday" is gone; "tomorrow" hasn't arrived. But today is here and it's clean and fresh and full of possibility. Live it. Love it. Seize it. With or without a musical soundtrack. Joseph Walker is a nationally dicated columnist who lives in American Fork. J syn- BRIAN FITZGERALDTTic Daily Herald You are getting sleepy: Karen Hoag is anesthetized while Orthopedic Surgeon Curtis Johnson, left, prepares for the estimated surgery. Boo ECu Metal pins help fractures heal with fewer risks By KAREN HOAG The Daily Herald TAH VALLEY To pin or not to pin that is the question. But Dr. Curtis 11 f TUU Valley pins on a weekly basis. S Johnson's a hand surgeon; many wrist fractures are sent to him. He usually pins the bones rather than casting them, because of a study made a few years ago by a team at Massachusetts Harvard General Hospital. They reviewed the results of wrist fractures from years before. Usually wrist fractures in a cast did great but some patients complained of arthritis after seven years, to the according researchers. "Those who did not do well had a fracture that went into the joint space," explains Dr. Johnson. "If the gap was two millimeters or more the patients weren't doing so well." Johnson said doctors now at the joint surface. It needs to be smooth with no certainly gap at the joint not two millimeters. "The results," says Johnson, "are if we can restore the joint surface the outcome is less pain and betlook ter motion." When a broken bone is put into a cast it takes six weeks to heal. How long does it take to heal with pins? "Six Johnson weeks," answers, "regardless of pins or cast." This reporter faced the above decision last week after Curtis C. Johnson, M.D. Surgery of the Hand and ) Shop around: Many patients scope out their choices for a doctor when it comes to the best option for their health. C2 Upper Extremity in Orem, Provo, Springville and Payson offices Robert T. Jackson, M.D. Sports Medicine Arthroscopic Surgery Total Joint Surgery General Orthopedics I! fracturing my wrist while hiking. As I was sliding on loose dirt I put out my left hand to catch myself; I heard the "crack" of the bone on impact. Dr. Johnson showed me and gave two the cast or pins. I chose options: the route aggressive because arthritis in seven years didn't sound like fun to me. surDuring the same-dagery, Johnson made an incision and used an arthroscope to go (like a inside my wrist to see what needed to be done. DeVon A. Nelson, M.D. Sports Medicine Arthroscopic Surgery Total Joint Surgery General Orthopedics Richard T. Jackson, M.D. Sports Medicine Arthroscopic Surgery Total Joint Surgery General Orthopedics y Scott T. Jackson, M.D. Sports Medicine Arthoscopic Surgery Total Joint Surgery General Orthopedics mini-camer- Klrt M. Kimball, M.D. Sports Medicine Arthoscopic Surgery Total Joint Surgery General Orthopedics , Secure bones first Even before he made the incision, the doctor put in two sets of pins to prepare for what was coming later. The first set he put on the second in the hand metacarpal; the second set of pins he put through the radius. Why doesn't it hurt? "The bone doesn't like to be broken but it does accommodate screws nicely," says Johnson. "Everything went perfectly" Beside putting in pins the doctor put finger traps on the fingers to spread the wrist apart to get the camera into the joint. "The camera went in nicely," Johnson says. "Through the camera space we put water to clean out the dried blood." Handiwork: Dr. Curtis Johnson drills into Hoag's hand, installing four metal pins that will form part of a metal brace for her broken wrist. The fracture in the joint space looked like the "Grand Canyon" says the surgeon. Dr. Johnson jiggled the arthroscopic camera around to show views up on a monitor. Surprises in store He was in for some sur- prises. the unexpected," says Johnson. The broken radius had knocked some bone off so it was floating around your wrist." Thus he spent a few minutes removing the fragment "We found C. William Bacon, M.D. Surgery of the Spine ' ' Scoliosis and cleaning up the area. "Had we not had the camera we would not have known about the fragment," the surgeon says. "You would have said after it healed, 'It still Alan L Colledge, M.D. Conservative Spine. Care OccupationariMedicine Jeffrey M. Wattentlnt, M.D. Sports Medicine Arthoscopic Surgery Total Joint Surgery General Orthopedic hurts!'" The surgeon also found a piece of tissue called a triangular fibro cartilage complex TFCC. That piece of tissue helps keep the ulna' appro- priately secured If a cast had been used on the; the fracture none of the sur- to radius. as well as the radius, "The TFCC was also torn prises, would have been repaired. we repaired it through; "That's the nice thing the scope using small' about seeing inside" Johnson - instruments," explains. Johnson ; , See SURGERY, C2 |