More on the Knees and Surgery - Part 3

Typing this real quick from a rehab facility computer, I'm doing pretty good. I had the bandages changed earlier and the nurse I measured things.

It was also during this time that we made some headway in the interpreter issue, having had none since I arrived. Apparently they didn't quite take us seriously or didn't believe us til Jamie showed them proof. Then the business office authorized payment. As it turns out, I'll get limited service starting about Monday when I have physical and occupational therapy and am talking with the doctor, one after another.

For some strange reason, I thought I had a 22 inch incision til later I checked with the nurse again. She thought it was pretty funny. "22 centimeters, not inches." We used a paper tape to check on things and I did a little measuring myself. 22 cm is about 8.5 inches. I've got *32* staples. I should have those removed about Friday.

Fortunately, the facility is near the local metro stop, just a few stops away from our home stop, also right off a major highway.

Rehab's going good, just recently I was doing some knee exercises and it looked together with the therapist that I had about a 5-10 degree range of movement. That could double when the staples come off. I'm currently using a knee immobilizer for a bit of time. The CPM (Continuous Passive Motion) machine will come later.

Someone mentioned that I'm giving myself a Christmas gift. Definitely sounds like it.

More on the Knees and Surgery - Part 2

I had the surgery Friday morning. From my meeting with the surgeon, he's told me that my knee was in pretty bad shape. Remember I said it didn't have cartilage? Lemme put it this way...

Surgery time was 4 hours. The attendants in the operating room was shocked at how bad it was. He asked how I got into his office, and I told him I used the cane. It seems I should not have been able to walk like this, since my muscles weren't keeping up with things, meaning they were going downhill some the worse my knee got. The way he says it, within maybe 3 years, due to the scar tissue from the cartilage breakdown, it would cause the entire knee to become frozen.

I'm moving to a rehab facility real soon, and am cleared by another doctor to go.

It took Jamie Berke's help together with a little MishkaZena's in dealing with some interpreter issues as well as some other things. I'll let them tell more.

Total time for recovery from this knee will all be dependent on me. Apparently I got a number of people behind me who will prod me along to make sure I'm doing good. This most likely puts my classes and other things in limbo for a bit, but I will return.

Somehow...

Sorenson Slammed by Congress

Sherlock Steve forwarded me an email related to Sorenson being slammed by Congress amid their refusal to be audited. The PDF file below is a long read.

Deception and Distrust (PDF file)

Some things hop out at me after a bit of reading the entire file.

"In addition to the issue of overcompensation, there are questions as to whether all of the minutes that TRS providers submit for compensation have actually been incurred by people with hearing or speech disabilities, and whether provider costs are accurate."

No kidding.

The Nigerian scams for one. Then there's the teens who abuse the system.

Didn't the operators just get the power or ability to cancel these kinds of calls without harm to their jobs? Just spend a day with a relay operator and they'll see the kind of calls they get, which are not always from those with "hearing or speech disabilities" as it puts it. Just talk with my interpreter coordinator friend at a local college who works on the side with Sorenson as operator. He's complained about teens who spend hours and hours just talking.

This report, if you can call it one, doesn't even begin to address these issues. But of course, it's just the beginning.

Then there's this memo on page 42, exhibit 3. There's this interesting part... Page 44, Part D(1) under 'Other issues that affect the size an integrity of the fund.' Read also D(2).

"Consumer advocates are strongly opposed to permitting the CAs to terminate suspected fraudulent calls because it would require them to step out of their role as an invisible conduit."

That's something here... Consumer advocates? Just who the hell are they kidding? Are they advocating their own pockets! Sometimes a CA has to step out of their role. In fact, I welcome that when the need arises.

But there may be some CAs who claim these illegitimate calls as legitimate. How is their pay system set up?

Exhibit 5, page 49. ooh... Classic frustration memo writing here. Check the final paragraph on page 53.

Exhibit 6, page 55. "Sorenson did not permit us access to their staff and the relevant systems to document and test the controls associated with accumulating and reporting the minutes." ouch... Next exhibit... Now how are they doing the billing?

Once they answer these basic questions, I'm sure they can find ways to improve the TRS services.

More on the Knees and Surgery

Those of you wondering about what went on after the snafu in my Doctors and the Relay posts back in June need not wonder any more of what's going on.

Friday December 12, 7:30am, I will be having total knee replacement on the left knee. I had a physical, CBC (blood cell count), BMP (Basic Metabolic Panel), EKG (heart rhythm test), and presurgery history. I had a class of sorts with a nurse and other patients who were going through knee or hip replacement to talk about what to expect.

Just tonight, I got the message that my surgery is a GO! Showtime!

I know it's going to be a bit of work on recovery from my research. I had an arthroscopy on both knees 15 years ago and only needed to use crutches. I have a walker someone gave me. I used a cheap plastic chair for showering back then, and found an adjustable height shower chair reduced price of $10! I can easily put one of our other plastic chairs downstairs in the shower stall.

I'll be in the hospital for 3-4 days. I'll post more. Interestingly enough, later in the day after surgery, I'll be able to stand on the new knee and walk around some. Then over the coming days, I'll be attempting to walk more and longer distances and have physical therapy.

For the steps, it seems I may climb them butt-wise, and then normal stepping up and down. Right now, I'm going down them backwards or sidestepping.

Let's see... I got a walker, wheelchair, crutches, two canes, and a shower chair... It's a rest home here, wouldn't you say?

ASL Expo, Funny Stuff

Earlier Saturday, I went with Jamie out to the ASL Expo at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, MD. We arrived just before noon due to a previous engagement.

I thought it was interesting that it was in arena near a horse stable. Usually, most expos like this are crowded, but this one wasn't as crowded. It looked more like a demo and social sort of event, more social than sales/demo. I managed to pick out Deaf Sherlock out of a small group in the arena seating what with his shiny head and text him. It took him a minute or two to find us. Maybe he should have worn that Sherlock or PSU hat of his?

The vendor tables were fewer than before, with T-Mobile, Viable, Sorenson, and a few other well-known places as well as other smaller vendors selling various things. The place could easily have held at least twice the crowd we had for the stage shows. Interestingly enough, facing the stage was an area for kids entertainment, making stuff or just plain playing some.

For the $10 admission, things could probably have been better even though we left a bit early.

There's bound to be days when someone pops out a oneliner to a lecturer's serious question and causes the entire audience to fall over laughing. We've heard of the biology instructor who answers the question of why semen tastes salty in Snopes' Salt of the Mirth.

But in this case, Jeff Carlson posts something called Funny Thing Happened in College. Ah, total hilarity. Just something I did awhile ago that killed my entire class in my Bringing Down The House post.

Nigerian Scam Targets Deaf Youngsters

I just returned tonight from having to deal with someone's teenager who was about to get scammed. I got a copy of the chat log and knew just what was going on. I fired off a response email to all involved including the teen's teachers.

This is what I sent;


I've seen this conversation and this is EXACTLY the thing I have been seeing and hearing about all over the place.

To begin, the screen names they hit/contact can be found in two places.

The first would be from DeafVP, as it has been a major source of live AIM screen names. They would hit you with invites to a website to enter your phone number or similar info. If not DeafVP, it would be found in other places like Facebook.

The second is what I have been seeing more and more often, what you saw with the teen.

What they would do is get the AIM SN owner's password somehow. The first would be either through force or through telling them false stories. If they got it through force, they would have you visit a "poisoned" website which would install something to capture your passwords or other information. This last option I've rarely seen.

When they try to get the person's password, they would tell them that they've won money and tell them other stories. They will say they need your AIM password "to open the briefcase" or to help them in getting their money better.

Once they get the password, they take over the account by changing the password and then abuse it. How exactly they abuse it, I don't know. First, they use one of their own accounts, known as Account A, to make first contact using the "taken" account's buddy list. Then the "taken" account, known as Account B, is used to help fool other people if needed.

Account A has been known to refer to Account B, to gain the trust of the person they're talking with, making it seem like they are talking with their friend on their buddy list. Now and then this is used, but I don't see this often.

If they don't go for the password, like you saw with the teen, they would tell the person stories as to how they need to pay a fee to FedEx on delivery of the "money cash" or winnings. They will ALWAYS ask for your name and address, and to send the fee somewhere or wait for the FedEx or other delivery company.

If you try to tell them that they can take the "fee" out of the money you've "won," they will always tell you that's not how it works. It MUST be cash or something made out to the delivery company. They will not stop, just harassing you. Putting them on ignore is only a temporary measure til they get another IM name.

I received something similar some time ago, but in this case, they said they were a police officer in another state and gave me a URL. When I contacted the real person's office, they were VERY interested in getting the chat log. Another one tried to have me send an employment application to a place in the United Kingdom. When I checked the place of business out, I found they were only located here in the United States.

I have blogged about this before, and you can read it here;

Give Out Your Password? NOT! NEVER!

NEVER Give Out Your Password! (Part two)

For the second posting, there is a link to another article of interest.

Internet scammers target deaf community

If you pass all this around, it would help in reducing the number of people being scammed by these idiots.

My Duty as Potential Juror

Micah Brown's post, My Civic Duty, is a little different from my experience when I was called up some months ago for jury duty. Then again, it varies from locality to locality and state to state.

When I got the summons, I checked to see if it was a legal requirement, and it was. A little under two weeks before I was to show up, I called them to say I would need an interpreter. Unfortunately, they weren't able to get one in time, so they gave me an extension. Then they called me and said I had two interpreters.

I arrive on time that day at 7:45am as requested. I made the mistake of not calling the hotline the night before to see if my group was to show up. As it turns out, my group wasn't needed that day, but the front desk people told me I had to be there since I had interpreters and they were on the way.

I sat down with laptop and connected to the wireless access point. Not long afterwards, both interpreters arrived. Then about 8:30am, one of the people start a video telling about the jury selection process.

Within the time of 3 hours, they called two groups. A little later, a bailiff comes out to thank us for coming and that we are excused from jury duty for 3 years.

One of the interpreters mentions that they don't want to pay twice, that is, for me to come in, then return the next day, as it's so expensive. As it turns out, I was to be there for two mornings, but they excused us.

Has anyone had this kind of experience?

I Have Selective Hearing?

The post by The Rebuttal, Bullying and the Deaf, reminds me of a lot of this stuff that happened to me long ago, especially around middle school up til mid high school. I posted about teasing and mistreatment here on the blog back in October 2007, Growing Up Deaf, parts 18 to 21.

I'd nearly forgotten about a few quotes until it was mentioned in the article. More specifically, halfway down, "you can hear well when you want to," "you have selective hearing," and "you're not deaf, you can hear" would sometimes be directed my way if I had a hard time understanding someone. Just because I heard someone say something or talk doesn't mean I understood them.

Jeez, accuse a deaf guy of having a hearing loss and attempting to communicate, willya?! Hey, hearie, can I accuse you of having such an insensitive attitude?

Gally Homecoming game rout

Saturday the 18th I was with Jamie at the Gallaudet Homecoming game against Southern Virginia. Sherlock Steve was there as well. Within the first quarter, the score was 0-20.

But whoa... Is it me or are the student groups improving their food offerings? Though they may be a little overpriced, there's still some gastronomic delights being served, including the ice cream table. Sorenson was there, as well as NVAD and a few other groups. Jamie was pulled aside by someone who mentioned the new Gallaudet Museum.

As the game progressed, more people started to leave the game, either to talk for awhile or just to leave campus. The bookstore is always a great place to go within the student center. The street area between the SLCC and stadium were loaded with people all through the game, and you can count on that for future games.

Gallaudet Loses Homecoming Game to Southern Virginia 44-9

In the fourth quarter, Gally managed to redeem themselves by way of a safety and a touchdown. Then the final buzzer had the score at 44-9. Tough team, that Southern Virginia, but I think we can do better next time.

Long Drives To See Subtitled Movies

When Sherlock Steve posted "Anything Screws Up Day", it reminded me of something similar that happened to me sometime around 1997.

When the subtitled movie Titanic was being shown in Cincinnati, Ohio, and I was living in Louisville, Kentucky, I made plans to go. My main mistake was not calling the theatre for when it was showing.

So, I drove two hours, arriving about 15 minutes before noon. I go in and right before I buy my ticket when I mentioned the captioned movie, the ticket lady tells me it'll be at 6pm.

Now what do I do for the next 6 hours?

So, I purchased a ticket for that 6pm showtime and did a little touring of the area, not going too far lest I get lost. An hour before showtime, I drive back into the parking lot with a sandwich and read the local newspaper. Then about 30 minutes before showtime, it started getting a bit crowded, and I went in.

It was nearly a full house with a bus from a local deaf school being there as well as a number of other deaf arriving from various locations in and around Cincinnati. After the movie 3 hours later, a lot of us started talking on the way out to our vehicles.

I didn't get home til a bit after midnight. It was worth it what with the long drive, wait, and movie time.

About a year later, I left home at 4am to drive to Detroit, MI, to be with someone to watch a captioned showing of Schindler's List.

Today, we just wait for the captioned show to come to the theatre near us, though some people from small towns may have to drive some distance.