Recharge & Voltz: Ramblings of Introversion "Recharge & Voltz" is about subjects on photography, videography, writing, tech gadgets, outdoors, family, and this thing we call Life. Feel free to contact me anytime. Thank you & Enjoy!

OK, so after 2 months of heavy R&D on AVN and several Doctors visits, it was time to find someone who could give me a "second - second" opinion and some clinical clear answers to what is happening to me and what I need to do. Enter Dr. Chimento, Orthopedic Surgeon at Ochsner Hospital; had a good appointment with him this morning and the good news is that I should not need THR (Total Hip Replacement), at least not now in this still early stage of my life. He is convinced that the best approach for me is a procedure called CD (Core Decompression).

CD procedure involves drilling a small hole in the diseased bone. It was developed by Arlet and Ficat in 1964. Stage-2 AVN, what I have, means that there is pressure within the diseased bone from a lack of blood flow to that region which causes the bone to die. This increase in pressure is associated with pain which in some patients becomes intolerable. CD relieves the pressure from within this rigid structure. The drill hole then fills with tissue and, in some cases, new bone forms within this area. It may increase the blood flow to the diseased area of bone and allow new blood vessels to form. The procedure appears to slow down the disease process in most cases and may even stop its progression in others. One of the features of a CD is that it does not limit further surgical treatment should the disease progress. It is a relatively simple procedure and recovery from it is fairly quick. Pain relief occurs rapidly.

So now it is a waiting game. I will see Dr. Chimento again in 3-months at which time he will order additional X-rays be done, if no change, we will proceed with making a date for Core Decompression Surgery. See illustration below of CD procedure... Fun.... NOT!

This daily dose comes to us from Independent Filmmaker Nuno Rocha who has put together an astouding set of images which invoke a wealth of emotions and it's done without the use of any dialouge whatsoever. This film, Momentos, is really done well and follows inline with the "Moments" segment I posted last; Moments in time can change your life forever..... this is one.

Enjoy.


Momentos from Fullsix Portugal on Vimeo.

A few weeks ago I started the "Daily Dose of Recharge" segment which includes short story videos from many of the sites I frequent, etc. Today's Daily Dose of Recharge comes to use from Will Hoffman a Documentary Filmmaker. The piece was shot in just 12 days and think about all things you see that he needed to wait for to actually happen! A thought provocative short film that really gets you thinking: What is a Moment in time???

Enjoy.

Many of you know of my ongoing aliment with my hips. Prognosis today indicates I have Avascular Necrosis (AVN) of the hips in which it is effecting both hip bones. AVN is the death of bone; in other words, blood is not reaching the ball socket and that bone is dying. The black areas I have outlined in the image below in my MRI show the death/necrosis. Those areas should be predominately white-ish.

What causes AVN? For some it can attributed to blood coagulation & circulatory issues, persons being exposed to high doses of steroids throughout their lives, excessive alcohol use, and for some like me...there is no answer what caused this. Here are some factoids:

AVN or Osteonecrosis (ON), a bone disease that few have heard of. Some where between 10,000 and 20,000 people are diagnosed with this disease each year in the United States alone. Yet, with the population of the United States of approximately 274 million, these people are being lost in the crowd. Osteonecrosis (ON) affects approximately 20,000 new patients per year in the United States. Although any age group may develop ON, most patients are between 20 and 50 years old, with the average age in the late 30's. The diagnosis of ON does not affect life expectancy, and for this reason several hundred thousand patients are living with this disease in the U.S. alone.

I have just learned that I will need a Free Vascularized Fibular Graft (FVFG) to cure this. FVFG is the procedure by which surgeons go into the leg and cut a piece of the leg bone out and graft it to the dead area of bone in the hip. Both blood vessels and bone are extracted then fused together so that blood flow can once again circulate throughout the area that was once dead. More on FVFG can be found here: Duke FVFG. The procedure is spearheaded by one of the countries leading AVN Researchers and Pioneer of the disease, Dr. James R. Urbaniak of Duke University. I will need to go to Durham, NC to Duke Univ. Medical Center for the procedure.... and not just once, but twice; as I cannot have both hips done at once.

Avascular Necrosis/Ostenecrosis..... I just have no words but to say to myself, "Welcome to the beginning of Old Age!"

The World Wide Web amazes me still; a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips. What would our Forefathers say about it? Perhaps the Southern Confederates could have figured out a way.... Whatever you make of it, it is truly another freedom to enjoy and not to abuse. Many of the arenas/sites I frequent include daily blogs; perhaps Daily Inspirational photos, etc. I find myself gravitating towards Vimeo, a social networking site for Film/Video Pros & Amateurs, to seek out what I think are good entries. My Colleague and good friend sent me one long ago in which I have saved and watch often. I watch it when things are not going well.... I watch it when I get impatient with my kids ...... I watch it to feel better about the human race as a whole. I would like to share with you this piece, perhaps it will "Recharge" you as it has I. I will be starting either a daily or weekly Blog Entry devoted to Recharging the Soul with the use of short films in  which may never see the light of day or be noticed by the Hollywood Hills folks; they live on through the traveling backroads of cyberspace tubes.

Enjoy.


What is that? (Τι είναι αυτό;) 2007 from MovieTeller on Vimeo.