Knee Surgery and Other Things

Our summer break is winding down. Two weeks from now the boys and I will be back in class. All our big summer activities are over now, but we've been pretty busy since I wrote last.

KNEE SURGERY
I usually try to take things in chronological order, but Jenna's knee surgery of last Monday needs to headline this edition. One day when she was a senior in high school a few years ago she was participating in an activity in PE class when another student ran into her. This collision injured her left knee by popping the knee cap out of place. She came home limping, but it wasn't severe enough at the time to visit the doctor. (It seems odd that I'm talking about an old high school injury for Jenna.)

More recently, that injury began to affect Jenna's walking and how she felt after standing for long periods of time, which she does when working at the coffee shop. Her knee cap would also pop out of place regularly. A trip to the doctor revealed that the ligament on the inside of the knee (that is, closest to the other leg) that holds the knee cap in place was torn.

Physical therapy and a brace were prescribed at first. This helped, but after a couple of months it was obvious this treatment wasn't enough, so surgery was scheduled. Two procedures were done in the operation, the ligament was repaired and the tibia was raised 8 mm to keep the knee cap more firmly in place.

Presently Jenna is wearing a brace which keeps her knee straight. She can put full weight on it with the brace on, though it is still painful to do so. She has also begun therapy. She will be on crutches for a total of six weeks with a six month recovery time until she's back to normal. This has certainly parked our busy girl on the couch for the last several weeks of her summer break.

ENGINEERING CAMP
Backing up to just after my last installment, Ben got to go to an engineering camp the week of July 8. We stumbled upon a pamphlet about this camp when visiting Tennessee Tech with him back in March. When we asked about it we learned it was an all expenses paid experience for rising high school seniors so he applied. Ben was one of 27 kids chosen to come to the camp (3 kids had to bail out at the last minute so only 24 attended).

We dropped Ben off in Cookeville that Sunday (the 8th) and picked him up on Saturday (the 14th). I will be honest and admit to my envy here. I wish I'd had an opportunity like this when I was in high school. The purpose of this camp was to expose students to several different fields of engineering and computing. Ben participated in activities like building a marshmallow tower, constructing and testing a balsa wood bridge, building robots, computer programming, casting metal, and the cardboard canoe challenge. He was full of all sorts of tales from the week on the ride home until sleep overtook him in Lebanon. It sounded like a good week. Hopefully this will help clarify a field of study for college. If he winds up attending Tennessee Tech this camp experience has earned him a small scholarship.

THE BIG FIVE-OH
Last weekend Vicki and the kids were in Hartwell, Georgia. Will had rented a lake house for the weekend there and invited us to meet them to celebrate Darice's 50th birthday. I was unable to go due to work.

The entire weekend was a big surprise for Darice. She was simply told to pack for a weekend trip, including a swimsuit, and that they would not be flying. They, like my family, headed out last Friday. At first she thought this was a quiet getaway for their family, then they went out to get pizza for supper where they "just happened to run into" the Swanns.

Last Saturday I got a lot of pictures of fun times on the lake. Darice's older sister also flew in from Utah. The fun continued last Sunday with a surprise party that afternoon. In addition to all the family there, Will had invited several of Darice's friends from Athens, where they used to live, to come for the party. She was totally blown away.

Vicki and the kids left after the party. I met them in Murfreesboro since Jenna's surgery was the next day in Franklin. This allowed Vicki and Jenna to find a nearby motel and avoid an hour drive early in that morning. The boys came home with me.

SURPRISE VISIT
Mom got a surprise last Friday. She was expecting Vicki and the kids to stop by to say goodbye as they got on the road when Dianna Cotter appeared at her door. Jim and Dianna had been shopping online for a fourth car and found an incredible deal in Chicago. So, she flew up there, bought the car, and was driving it home. As she was driving down I-65 she decided to take a brief stop and visit Mom.

DISTANT COUSINS
While Vicki and the kids were driving to Georgia last Friday I was able to get away from work a little early and meet some distant cousins, Bud and John Swann. They are a father and son.

My great great grandfather, John Swann, was born in Caswell Country, North Carolina, and migrated here as an adult. All 11 of his children were born here in Cross Plains and he is buried nearby. As I understand it, his oldest son, Elcanah, received an inheritance back in Caswell County and moved back. Bud and John are descendants of Elcanah. Bud is a blacksmith by hobby and several years ago had a booth at an arts and crafts show near Washington, DC. There he met another Swann from Robertson County and they struck up a conversation.

Back in the spring Bud and John visited Cross Plains on separate trips (Bud was traveling through on business, John was in Nashville for a wedding). I met John when he was here then. From that conversation John decided to take his dad on a delayed Father's Day road trip to see the Threshermen's Show and then drive up to Dearborn, Michigan, to visit the Henry Ford Museum.

After spending most of the day in Adams, where they connected with Jackie, they swung by my house. We visited for well over an hour. It was quite an interesting conversation as we got acquainted and shared family stories. We tried to visit our ancestor's grave, but the cemetery was way too overgrown for that.

THRESHERMEN'S SHOW
Speaking of the Threshermen's Show, I went last Saturday. It was one of the more pleasant days for that show that I remember in a long time. It was good to see everyone on that branch of the family that I don't get to see too often. On top of that, all the equipment ran well. You can’t ask for much more than that.

Joe