Double Duty Knee Surgery

I wrote a couple of days ago about my memories of Hillcrest Hospital. Not only have I had memories of living by the hospital, but I also have had my own experiences with the care from Hillcrest.

You see, when I was going to Baylor University I had to have arthroscopic knee surgery. The surgery was at Hillcrest Hospital in 1978. I hurt my right knee playing football when I was in junior high. When I was in the 7th grade I played each play of each game on the offensive and defensive line until the last game of the season. In the last quarter of the game I was illegally blocked and tore the cartilage in my right knee. I sat out the rest of the game and didn't get to play much in the 8th grade due to knee problems. By the 9th grade I acted as football manager. For whatever reasons I lived with the knee problems and it eventually seemed to get better.

Actually, what happened is I began to favor my right leg and place more pressure on the left leg. Also, whenever I stood I was place most of my weight on the left leg. This eventually led to even more problems.

When I finally visited my orthopaedic surgeon he told me that I had torn cartilage in the right knee and an extremely bad left knee. You see, all the years of pressure on the left knee caused it the cartilage to wear thin and in some spots the bone began to rub against bone. Ouch!

I went to Hillcrest during the summer and had the surgery on both knees at the same time. OUCH!

I was special. I had one surgeon on the right knee and another surgeon doing the left knee. That was on a Monday morning. By Tuesday morning they were getting me into rehab. Unfortunately, my knees and stomach had different plans. They did get me up there that afternoon. By then I was better. I then got to enjoy the run of the hospital in my wheelchair. By Thursday, I had to learn to get around on crutches. Fun, fun, fun. On Friday I was on my way home and had to learn how to cope with stairs and other obstacles. By the time summer was over I was ready for Baylor and getting around campus on better knees.

Was the surgery worth it? Sure. But now that it has been 30 years since the surgery the old knees hurt now and again and are a little creaky, but are still much better than that summer Monday morning at Hillcrest Hospital before the surgery began.© 2008 Barry T Horst


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A Few Memories From Hillcrest

This may seem like a funny thing to say but, I have a lot of memories of Hillcrest Hospital, A.K.A. Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, in Waco, TX. The first thing I want to share is not a memory though. It is a statement from some very reliable sources, "Barry, you were born at Hillcrest Hospital!" Now I don't remember this because I was much too young at the time of my birth, but as I said, many people that should know have told me this many times in the past.

My first memories of the hospital do not really occur until I was in the 7th grade at North Junior. My family had just moved 2 blocks away from the hospital. Often times ambulances would fly by our house heading north on 30th Street with sirens wailing. Boy, for a 12 year old guy in the 60's that was really neat. I would run out of the house when I heard them just so I could see them race by, not really realizing that there may be a battle between life and death taking place inside the ambulance. After it went by I went back to my own little world not thinking of what may be taking place in the nearby Emergency Room.

Then one day I rode my bike to a nearby convenience store. The store was just across the street from our local A&P Grocery. At the time the store was named Milky Way Food Stores, then it changed to Zippy Foods. It later changed again and eventually closed. In order to go to the store I generally rode my bike in front of the hospital and down the street to the corner where the store was located. I can't remember what I bought anymore because the trip home was much more memorable. While on my bike riding home I was zig-zagging in front of the hospital. Now I know why they told us kids not to zig-zag on our bikes. I fell and smashed my chin on the pavement. An elderly man was in his yard and asked if I was OK. I told him I was and started home. I didn't realize I had sliced my chin open when I hit the ground until I got to the end of the block. I then held my hand under my chin to catch the blood and would then sling to the side to get rid of it. When I got home my brother took me to the hospital emergency room. At the time it was upstairs. We had to ride the elevator up to the waiting room and wait for my stitches.

When I was a little older I got a little bolder. I would occasionally ride my bike to the hospital and watch them unload the ambulances. I did this one day and watched as they took one of my cousins out of the ambulance. He had been in a wreck but soon recovered. I didn't go to the hospital to watch this anymore.

I went to the hospital to visit people a lot. The younger brother of a friend of my sister was involved in a motorcycle wreck. He was headed back to The University of Texas when someone pulled out in front of him. He was not doing well and was in the hospital for many months. I remember going to visit him often. His room had a stereo in it and I thought it was great. I would sneak in one of the back stairways to visit him after visiting hours. This was before better security and more lenient visiting schedules.

I even visited my brother in the hospital once. He had to have a hernia operation. He was in junior college at the time but the only room they had was in the children's ward. It was funny to see him there.

My mother told me that many of the injured and dying from the failed raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco were brought to Hillcrest Hospital. She said there were ambulances and helicopters coming and going at the time. I remember that Chris and I came to Waco shortly after this had occurred and we saw helicopters circling the hospital. I can only assume that they were police helicopters that were running security for the hospital due to the nature of the emergency. If we only knew all that went on I am sure we would be amazed.

While some of the memories are, well memorable; there are some that are much less so but still a part of me. This is the hospital where I saw my father fight cancer. It is also the hospital where I was with my father in the last moments of his struggle to overcome. He lost the fight but won the war when he went home to be with the Lord on that particular day. This is also the hospital where my mother fought many of her battles with cancer. She too lost the fight but overcame the war when she went home to be with the Lord.

In the past for various reasons I have had to visit Chris' parents. These were not good times either. I have been to the hospital to visit newborns. Now that is always an enjoyable visit. And, I have even been there to visit students from my pre-kindergarten class that had to be hospitalized for one reason or another.

Why all the memories? Hillcrest Hospital is building and will be moving to a new location sometime next year. They are leaving their north Waco location that gave them there name some 80+ years ago. You see, they were located on a hill, the highest in the area. They are relocating to IH 35 and State Hwy. 6 in Legend's Crossing. They will keep this location open and use it for more long term care and other needs.

Visit My blog Visions of My World for a few pictures of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center.© 2008 Barry T Horst


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A Few Random Memories of New Years Past

Happy New Year to all.

This is truly the beginning of a great new year. The new year can be a new beginning for all of us. We can leave all the baggage behind that we picked up through 2007 and start anew.

I think we all start a new year with big expectations, looking forward to making changes for the better. This is a grand goal. I hope that all of us can do this. However, it takes more than a few simple ticks of the clock, or a ball falling in Times Square to do this. All of us have to want to change in our heart. then practice this change until it is now longer practice but "old hat". Unfortunately, many that started with grand intentions will slowly, imperceptibly slip back into old habits because for many of us, our situations have not changed. WOW!~This is getting to be deep. Let's move onto another subject.

I had to go to Hillcrest Hospital yesterday to make a payment. I drove by the house where I lived while in junior high and high school. Since it was New Year's Eve, it brought back a lot of memories. My parent's would always have a get together (Polite word for party) with a lot of the friends from church and work. My parents spent most of the day preparing, cleaning, cooking, and cleaning some more. For the most part I stayed out of the way. [Side note to something that is coming up--My mother loved to do crafts. She decided one day she would make some candle holders that looked like tiki torches for the yard. She used these for years. She still had them when she passed away 12 years ago. I don't have them now.] While I generally stayed out of the way, it was my responsibility to place these "tiki torches" at intervals along the sidewalk. Later, just before the festivities got under way, I was in the yard trying to light all of these.

Then people would start arriving. When I was in my early teens I stayed in my room during most of the party until on of the football games came on. Then I went to the den where the men were playing dominoes and watching the game. It seems that the game was the Bluebonnet Bowl from Houston. As I got older I spent less time at the house for the party because I had to spend more time with my friends. Regardless of my age my mother still expected me to place the "torches" in the ground and light them. By the time I was in Baylor I worked on New Year's Eve and Day, but I still put the "torches" in until my father passed away, which is when the parties stopped. Every New Years Eve I think of those parties and the good times that were had by all at them.

A year or two later, still at Baylor, we had one of our New Year's Eve ice storms. We had freezing rain, sleet, and snow until the entire city was shut down. I couldn't go to work because no one would be out shopping. I was trapped in my apartment. Just me and my cat. My roommate had gone home for the holidays. Thank goodness I had cable TV. Not cable TV like we have now. This cable TV from the 70's in Waco, TX. It was 12 channels. One channel was a "Weather" channel. It had a camera that panned across a thermometer, anemometer, and wind direction indicator. High tech stuff for Waco, TX in the 70's I guess. Another channel was a "Movie" channel. It showed a variety of 8 or 9 movies daily and changed the times for each movie daily for one week. After a week the movies would be changed. High tech stuff for Waco, TX in the 70's I guess. After that our channel choices were Channel 6 (NBC) and Channel 10 (CBS), both from Waco-Temple. The other available channels were 4 (CBS), 5 (NBC), 8 (ABC), 11(Independent), and 13 (PBS). The movie channel I mentioned earlier was on 12. I really can't remember where the weather dials were; I think maybe they were on 9. That leaves 3 channels that I believe were random scrolling messages and advertising for Cablevision, the provider at the time. Can you imagine being trapped in your house for a couple of days now and that is all you had to watch; no computer, no DVD's, no VCR's, no 200+ cable channels, no cellphones. And we thought we were civilized and living in the lap of luxury then? (If you are from Waco and remember the cable "from the day" write me and I'll add to the post.)

Better go now! It is late or early-Depends upon your perspective on this New Year's Day.

Once again, I would like to wish all of you a Wonderful and Blessed New Year!

© 2008 Barry T Horst



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