Sept. 3, 2021

There is one other special event that I forgot to mention. One of our Mariannnhill priests, who was recently made a bishop, was appointed as the new archbishop of Durban. Wow. Cardinal Napier finally gets to retire and Bishop Siegfried Jwara takes over. You ask how did a Zulu child get a name like Siegfried. His parents gave him the name of the priest who baptized him. It was a great honor not only for him but for the Mariannhill community as well. He is a local person having grown up in the Mariannhill diocese which is 98% Zulu. We are neighbors to Durban. It is an honor that has a huge responsibility going along with it. But we are all convinced that he is the right man for the task. I and many others promised to support him with our prayers and any other way we can as it is a daunting task to be in charge of a huge Archdiocese like Durban with all its many and varied problems.

 

Also, yesterday was my last or next to last session with the physiotherapist. I got to know and like him and will miss him. There may be one session left before he is taken off the payroll. But the exercises will continue, with Br. Albert coming faithfully every day. The object of the exercises is to stretch the hamstring muscle so that it makes it easier to straighten the leg out. Right now, after 3 yrs., the hamstring muscle has shortened so that its default position is up close to the knee in the 90% position. It is also amazing with what force the spasm unleashes itself, like a coiled spring. There are times when the spasm is a bit quiet, but there are other times when it reminds you that it still wants to be in charge. Br. Albert has to push down hard when the spasm tries to pop up so that it gets used to not being wanted now. We shall see how it works out. I can keep going for another 2 months with my exercises and with the help of Br. Albert, hoping that at the end of all these exercises we succeed in getting the leg straight (at least as straight as it is ever going to be) and getting the spasms at least a bit more under control.

 

  

 

 Aug. 28, 2021

I have been seeing my physiotsherapist usually twice a week. We hit it off. He is young and dedicate to his chosen profession. In the meantime, he had some health problems and we missed several sessions, but he is back in full form now. Of course , the success or failure of the therapy is if you are able to continue yourself and with some people who are willing to do the things in the exercises that you can’t do, in my case, having the knee between two raised points and the other pushing down on the knee to try to stretch the muscles, especially the hamstring, which has shortened over the last 3 yrs. and makes it easy for it to snap into its 90% position. The idea is to stretch it and them so that you can straighten your knee. But it is a painful and tedious process, and not sure that it will do the trick in the end. An added complication is my spasms, which try to keep popping up as he is trying to push down and ger the leg as straight as possible. The spasm is like a coiled spring and pops up with force, so that aside from pushing down one has to use force to overcome the power of the spasm as well. Anyway,, Br. Albert has agreed to come every day at 2pm and do those exercises that I can’t do myself. And he is very faithful. We may have to keep it up for several months. (Will I survive?)

 

But the big occasion that I had been waiting for  was the marriage of a dear friend and his finacee on Saturday, the 14^th of August. I had hoped to be able to move around  easily but we had to go to plan B because, as it turned out, I could hardly walk and was using the 4 LEGGED walker by now. I was invited to join with the family and friends at a venue on The Friday before and stay till Sunday after lunch. However, for many reasons which I will not go into now, I asked to be allowed to come up for the wedding service on Saturday morning and leave again after the service to get home on the same day. No one was really happy with that decision but in the end it worked out. Fr. Proud agreed to get me up there by 10am on the day (the actual wedding mass would be at 12 noon) and I used a wheel chair and a friend of the groom agreed to be my wheelchair chauffeur for the day. Where there were a few stairs, it was easy enough for two guys just to pick up the wheelchair and put me on the area above the stairs.

   On the program, I was to give a homily (along with the main celebrant) and bless the rings and concelebrate with Fr. Steven, the main celebrant and a marriage officer. Bronwyn’s uncle, Rob, a Presbyterian pastor in Cape Town, was to read the gospel and put the rings on the fingers of the married couple. However, we were all saddened to hear that as they were about to board the plane to come up he and his wife were found to be Covid positive and had to go into isolation and miss the wedding. The best man also was found to be positive and a last minute stand in had to be found. And it was freezing cold. But The couple, Alain and Bronwyn are now happily married and all went without a hitch.

(I am going to take a break here and hopefully continue after supper…..I am getting lazier and lazier.)

It is long after supper and almost bed-time so I had better send this off now or risk another long delay.

Peace be with you.

 

Aug. 20, 2021

Lots of water over the dam. But I am tired now and will start getting ready for bed. Hopefully will see you tomorrow.

 

 

 

Aug. 9, 2021

This is kind of continued. Although its true that things got back to the way they were before the attempted insurrection, South Africa has the largest gap between the have and the have nots in the world (the gini something or other) and if the government doesn’t do something about it very very soon, there may be another outbreak of violence from just pure frustration. You can’t just go back to the way things were and think that all is now well.

 

     Dr. Ter heer….legs collapsing….lost wallet and credit cards…..canceled them..then Alain….Estie dies july 24 funeral

Starting with physiotherapist…Warren…still trouble with constipation…haircut…suddenly natural…Aug. 7, consecration of jwara…looking forward to wedding on the 14^th.

 

Aug. 7, 2021

I came out of hospital on Monday, 11^th July, the day the nonsense (violence and looting started). We weren’t sure if we would make it home because of possible roadblocks, but we did.

It must be understood that it was not the whole of South Africa that was on fire but on those two parts, Durban and Joburg, where there are many Zulus. The rest of South Africa went on as normal. The supporters of the former president, Jacob Zuma, (much like Trump) had organized an insurrection (Like Jan. 7^th) hoping to unseat Cyril Ramaphosa, the president who took over from Zuma who was given a 15 month jail sentence for contempt of Constitutional court. His supporters were angry that the Ramaphosa government actually put him in jail. There was a group of dissidents who carefully planned this insurrection, targetting  certain main malls and other places, hoping that it would catch on and bring the country to its needs under Ramaphosa’s watch which would be his demise. In some places people defended their malls and their turf with sticks and brooms and whatever saying no looters a re going to loot our places. The A2 , the arterial road between Joburg and Durban was blocked off and many trucks were torched and looted so that drivers, when things calmed down a bit, were still frightened to return to their trucks again. Most goods come from the port city of Durban, including petrol, so for some days there was a lack of goods like bread, milk, mealie meal, etc. including medicines (pharmacies had also been looted), supply chains had been broken and had to be restored. This was amazingly done very quickly, and in a few days things were more or less operating well. There is a hunt on for the planners and instigators. I hope they get a very severe penalty. It was, as usual, the poor people who suffered the most as they don’t have friends who have friends to help..Enough of that.

One of the after effects of the op was a difficulty in swallowing, so that although I was hungry, I could only eat a very little, as much as the esophagus would allow. Even water had to be swallowed in sips which added to my constipation problems. The surgeon said that the retractors that kept the esophagus from getting in the way (He went in through the lower neck) while he worked on the spinal column and cord.

I ran out of steam…will try to continue tomorrow.

 

July 19, 2021

After a visit with the doctor today, it was clear that  if I don’t try to get my left leg straight, it will wind up with a 90% knee. So we had to get a physiologist to come, starting tomorrow, to start working on that leg and preventing it from getting any more un-straight,. That is the latest. It is going to be bloody expensive, and I didn’t have a chance to run it by our bursar, Br. Tendai. I will have to do that now. Trying to get the leg straight is very painful. So will see how long I can last.

 

July 13, 2021

The operation took place but the outcome, immediately, showed no improvement. I am accompanied by my spasms still 24/7. We knew that that could be the case but it was worth a try. But the final reshosults will only be known and felt 6 weeks from now.

     I am sure that you have been watching the chaos on International TV here is SA. What a shame. I almost didn’t make it out of the hospital when I was released on Monday the 12^th. Roads were being blocked and we managed to get through before that happened.

    Institutions like ours has enough food for maybe 4 days, orphanages, hospitals, stores all of whose stocks have been stolen, and people who need to get their medicine. I would announce on TV and the radio that this is very very serious and from a certain time on a certain day, looters will be shot dead on site, with no one else to blame but themselves. We had to get some order back in our society to make life possible for all those I mentioned above. This is super serious. Heavy jail sentences for those caught looting. And this while still having to deal with the pandemic.

More later.

 

July 7, 2021

Finally the good news came. The operation on the cervical spine will be on Friday the 9^th of June.  The idea is to remove the disc that is leaning on the spinal cord and causing (hopefully this is the problem) the spasms . When I      wake up I don’t want to feel any spasms. Just to keep you in the picture. Talk to you after the op. prayer is in order,please.