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Now for a tortured segue between my last post—from February 10—and today’s. Last time out I reported completing the final seven miles of my fourteen mile hike a là Napoleon, hand tucked in my shirt trying to minimize the jostles that sent a shock of pain through my shoulder. I left that prior post at the Tucson VA emergency room. All I got out of that experience was an X-ray and a suggestion I come back in a week or
so for a follow-up. I wasn’t able to get a much-needed MRI until March 7, nearly a month later probably because I was away from the Des Moines VA and my primary care doc. What they discovered on the MRI was not pretty, an inoperable rotator cuff, with four torn tendons, two massively and retracted beyond their respective bones, and the word abnormal as a final descriptor.
After I returned to DesMoines mid-March, the VA helped me get seen by Iowa Ortho and a doctor I requested. Seemed the only way forward was to have a procedure called a reverse total shoulder replacement; the injury from the fall was so bad there was absolutely no other choice.
My surgery, performed by a Dr. Khoriaty from Michigan State University happened on May 5. I was under the knife by 6:30 in the am, and out by 9:00 am. I felt no pain until midnight, when the nerve block wore off; I never caught a single Z that first night the pain was so intense.
But now, back home and beginning recovery, I thought, what to do for the next six months? This procedure requires being in an immobilizer sling 24/7 for six weeks and six months to a year of rehab. So what to do to occupy my time? For some reason I thought of Jimmy Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic 1954 film Rear Window. Stewart plays a famous photojournalist injured while on assignment who finds himself apartment bound for several months. Jimmy’s character props himself in front of the rear window of his flat to engage in a little snooping on his back courtyard. I similarly built myself a comfy little nest on our front porch, to engage in a little voyeurism a là Jimmy Stewart. Short of manifesting a possible murder, to fret about like Gladys Kravitz, I decided to resurrect the Ministry of Silly Walks I set up during the pandemic in 2020. Everyone in the neighborhood was home with their kids at the onset, and I had read of someone on the East Coast who set up silly walk signs in front of their home to the delight of neighbors and the local press. So I set about making my own Ministry. That attempt involved a sign printed on 8”x11” paper, stuffed inside a Ziplock bag, and stapled to a 2”x2” post and pounded into the ground. I placed a sign on either end of the front sidewalk and before the end of the day, the signs became a destination, for parents and their fidgety kids, and even just for antsy adults needing a fun little distraction.
In 2022, we did some serious landscaping of our front yard involving retaining walls and gardening terraces. After the dust settled, I was queried by passersby almost daily as to when I was going to put my Ministry of Silly Walks signs back up. Then I got it in my mind to have some professional metal signs made up and installed on serious metal posts. It was easier than I thought after I discovered Smart Sign out of Brooklyn NY. I had my custom sign made up on heavy aluminum stocks, with 3M reflective lettering, made up and shipped for free in three short days. Ordered a couple of posts and had my signs put up within a week, finishing on quatro de Mayo, one day before my surgery. All I needed to do was set up my motion detecting camera and voilà, just like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, I was able to monitor the perambulations right outside my front window. And lest you think this a little creepy, know that the resolution of the cameras is low enough to allay any privacy concerns as is evident from the short clips below.
Ministry of Silly Walks Clips (newest first)
(New)
This whole family gets into it, with mom recording the silliness.
These two older gents (probably my age, who am I kidding) seem to like this stretch of sidewalk, and make this a weekly event.
Mother coaxing her daughter to be even sillier.
A couple of millennials on a midday lark.
This guy has it going on coming and going.