30. April 2011 by Fortunato Velasquez.

I will be going under the knife again on May 18th.  The orthopod doing the surgery is the premier ‘locked elbow guy’ in the Pacific Northwest.  He tells me I’ll be home in Honduras in four months: August.  I believe him.  To stay in contact with my friends and colleagues in La Paz I call home frequently; I am still after all a member of the Health Project team there and merely on medical convalescence leave.  Improvements continue at the Hogar San Jose.  Sor Edith tells me a new roof on a large room designated as a classroom is being constructed by the soldiers from Palmerola Air Base who occasionally come to build things, like our chicken coop.  The quest for the personeria juridica continues to be just that, a quest.  Edith told me our lawyers are still mired in bureaucratic negotiations with the government.  The children are well but a few are coming down with the sniffles; the rainy season has started.  I am fortunate to be recuperating in Seattle surrounded by family whom I love dearly.  We are preparing a gift box with clothing and toys for the children, everyone contributing something.  My next post will most likely be after my surgery and three-day hospital stay.  Wish me luck.

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9. April 2011 by Fortunato Velasquez.

I really have no photos of my frenetic two-week journey on pain’s highway from Honduras to Seattle.  Other than those seared into my mind.  It’s best to forget most painful moments in life.  One must think positive thoughts after all.  Which I am struggling to do after seeing the orthopedist at Harborview Medical Center last Thursday.  Heterotopic Ossification, he said.  That is the complication my Occupational Therapist suspected I have when, after a month of three-times-a-week Occupational Therapy exercises, we both noted a sudden decrease in progress.  Multiple surgeries and minute pieces of bone from the comminuted fracture set the stage for the growth of boney spurs into the surrounding soft tissue causing an internal blockage.  The result is a locking of the elbow joint into a 90 degree angle that can only be relieved by another bout of surgery.  Yes, the doc said, confirming the diagnosis, adding that I would be scheduled for additional surgery after a consultation with the ‘locked elbow’ guy.  I am thinking positive: this will only delay my return to Honduras by two or three months.  I continue to be in contact with my friends and colleagues in Honduras concerning the status of my projects and I will continue to post comments.  The pictures above are from our deck overlooking Puget Sound with the Seattle ferry to Whidbey Island in the distance and three shots of the U.S. aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln making a port call at Everett Naval Station on its way to Norfolk Naval Station for a three-year refitting.

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