I'm sorry I haven't written in so long. There's been a lot going on, and I haven't felt much like writing.

When I was off work for my surgery in February and March, the company I worked for had to get someone else to do my job. So when I came back, I came back to a completely different job-- one that I was not very well suited for. After a while, they moved me into something else that I thought I would be better at, but that didn't work out as well as I had hoped either. My employers weren't happy with me, and I was so stressed I wasn't eating or sleeping well. Finally, I decided to resign. The 19th was my last day.

I want to point out that there are no hard feelings between me and my former employers. I am grateful to them for keeping a job open for me when I came back; and I kept working right up to the end after I gave notice. If I had kept going on like I was, they would have probably have fired me eventually, and that would have been bad.

Even though I believe I did what was best, sometimes I still think "What have I done"?  But I am trusting God to take care of me. I am getting my voice-over business off the ground, and I will probably have to get a part-time job in the meantime.

I could really use your prayers and encouragement.

On Thursday, June 12th I had my last physical therapy session, and on Friday the 13th I had my last appointment with my podiatrist. So my foot surgery adventure is finally pretty much over. I still can't put my full weight on my toes on the right side, but that will come with time and excercise. They also tell me that I'll probably always have a slight limp, but that's okay. I can walk anywhere I want to without a cane and pretty much pain free; and I'm still gaetting stronger.

If anyone is interested, here are some X-rays that were taken right after the surgery, and a brief explanation of what was done.

Four thin screws were used to secure the plate to the right side of my heel. Then the surgeon cut through my heel bone and adjusted the plate to realign the heel in a way that gives more support to the instep (The cut shows up as a dark line in this picture.) Finally, the big screw was used to secure the bone in its new position. If you've ever had to drive screws into a piece of wood at right angles to each other, you'll understand how difficult it can be to make sure they don't run into each other.

This is a top-view of my foot. The light-shaded line at the center of the picture is where the surgeon cut one of the bones in my mid-foot and inserted a thin wedge-shaped synthetic bone graft. This altered the shape of my foot, bending the toe-end slightly to the left. Two tendons were sutured together and anchored to the screw at the top left.

The point of all of this is to give more support to the inside edge of my foot. Although my foot is still flat, it lines up with my leg and rests on the floor morelike a normal foot would. Simple orthotic arch supports do the rest.

That was probably more than you needed to know, but I thought you might find it interesting.

We also got to go to the Opera two more times. On the 1st, we saw Of Mice and Men. This was a more modern opera, sung in English. It was staged and performed well, but it just wasn't our cup of tea. The next week we saw Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. It was everything one expects from an opera. Lovely music and lots of coloratura soprano.

~Tim †