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10/08/25 05:27 PM #16308    

 

Monica Haban (Brown)

 

 

 

Jim did great!  Already standing with back brace at walker!

Thank you for all the prayers!

The above message from Jim's sister in law, my friend Vicky Macklin, shared with Jim's permission.

Continue prayers for healing and successful PT.  We all know PT is defined as pain and torture though we all also know they're the key to recovery. Full disclosure: PT's and OT's in my family. 😀   We try to age gracefully, in good health.


10/08/25 06:52 PM #16309    

Joseph Gentilini

Great news on Jim H!!!  Yes, as one who had a similar back surgery, I know PT can be painful, but once it heals after several months, it is well worth it!  Been prayiing for Jim all day.  Thanks for letting us know hie good news.

 

Joe


10/08/25 10:29 PM #16310    

 

David Mitchell

I have been a "Downton Abbey" fan since the very first episode. And before tonight, I had seen the two follow up full-length feature movies. But tonight I took three neighbor ladies to see the third (and final)  movie - we thoroughly enjoyed it.

But for more reasons than usual. The movie deals heavily in family realtionships and the value of family love. I was on the edge of tears at times in the theater as I compared those movie themes to the three neighbor ladies that I took with me. 

During (and ever since) my wreck and slow recovery, they have been a constant help and comfort to me - driving me to the store or church before I could drive again - bringing food - inviting me next door for fun gatherings - and just general neighborly support.

I hope those of you who would enjoy it will see the film. But even more so, I wish you all had a cast of "Angels" to brighten your lives.

(P.s. Beth (far left) and her husband raise I chickens. I no longer have to buy eggs at Kroger.)


10/09/25 02:02 PM #16311    

 

Michael McLeod

Jim: still looking for an appropriate card for you. Was hoping I could find one that said" "Hey, physician! Go ahead and heal thyself!" 

Anyway here is, in all sincerity, wishing you a smooth recovery.


10/09/25 02:44 PM #16312    

Joseph Gentilini

Hi Jim H - don't have an address to send you a card so I will just let you know I am still praying for a speedy recovery.  Joe

David M. - I have been hooked on Downton Abbey since the very first show and have watched it all the way through several times. We saw the 3rd and last movie and I felt sad that I will no longer be part of their lives (silly, I suppose) and can't wait until the 3rd movie comes out on DVD.  

 

 


10/09/25 04:48 PM #16313    

 

David Mitchell

Joe,

I loved the movie but I was a bit confused by some of it. I thought the prior movie left us with the impression that young Tom - (not Thomas) - former driver and married to youngest daughter before she died during childbirth - was emerging as the new head of household with his new (second) bride - the daughter of a distant cousin. This final flm brought Tom in, but I could not even recognize that young lady he was with, and hey did nothing to bring her into the story.

As for those ending scenes - WOW - seeing Mary dance with Mathew again gave me quite a jolt! His death in the original series nearly broke my heart.

I have, and still do, enjoy several PBS series, but  think it will be quite some time before another series grabs me by the heart as this one did. I felt like a member of the families - both upstairs and downstairs.


10/09/25 06:49 PM #16314    

Joseph Gentilini

Hi David, yes I agree with you about Tom and his new wife - didn't develop her so I figured they just wanted us to know he had someone in his life. I need to see the movie again to figure it out. I thought it was touching at the end of the movie when they brought back all of the main characters who were there from the beginning. I read that they only person they did not bring back was the man who was with Mary - can't remember his name -- who ran cars and got into an accident once, but lived. There was some reference, I think, that he had gotten in trouble with the law.  Anyway, i loved this show and felt like a family member of the family, including the upstairs and the downstairs. I will miss them all.

 


10/10/25 05:58 AM #16315    

 

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Monica, thanks a lot for bringing us an update on Jim´s progresss!

Jim, you can´t keep a good IC/WHS guy down for long.  Of course you will follow your Dr´s orders so here´s hoping you have a quick, steady recovery.  Big hugs from Bcn. 


10/10/25 12:33 PM #16316    

 

Michael McLeod

Dave: envious, I am, when I see you in such lovely company.

 


10/10/25 01:03 PM #16317    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

My Hospital Room

Not a bad way to acutely recuperate from surgery! 

Jim


10/10/25 04:22 PM #16318    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Home, Sweet Home!

Was discharged about 1PM today and made it back home wearing my tight fitting "corset" (lumbar support) and using my walker. Probably will need those assist devices for a few weeks to insure good healing of the fusion and spinal manipulations.

I want to thank all who have offered prayers (please continue them) and good wishes as they definitely kept up my spirits during this operative journey.

Hopefully, I will heal as quick as can be expected for our age group without any complications or infections. 

Thanks also for this Forum which helped pass the time and kept me in contact with so many of you.

Jim

 


10/10/25 05:24 PM #16319    

Joseph Gentilini

Hi Jim H - I have been praying for you and will continue. I know what the recovery is like. I got through it and you will also.  Joe G

 

I am also thankful for the Forum!!!!


10/10/25 06:41 PM #16320    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Joe G.,

Thanks, Joe G.,

I know I will get through it but, as you and many others know, it's a slow and frustrating process. With God's and Janet's help we will make it! 

Jim


10/10/25 09:40 PM #16321    

Theresa Zeyen (Kucsma)

Jim, please  know that a lot of us lurkers are also out here praying for you and all the others on the Forum needing support. I know I don't post much, but I read the Forum every day and I enjoy the different perspectives and experiences you regulars share.  Keep it up, ladies and gents! You are providing connections and entertainment to a good many more than you realize. 


10/10/25 09:42 PM #16322    

Theresa Zeyen (Kucsma)

Jim- I am totally envious of your view but glad you only had it for a few days. 


10/10/25 10:26 PM #16323    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Theresa and all Lurkers,

Your prayers and support are good as gold for me and I can't tell you how they encourage me and truly - yes truly - help me.

Thanks,

Jim 


10/11/25 11:02 AM #16324    

 

Michael McLeod

Ok how about starting your day off with a poem?

This is one of my all time faves.

I read it as a young man and there is a couplet in it that helped to inspire me to take on a career as a writer. See if you can pick it out.

I know the poem is flowery and complicated in places but it has a very basic, down to earth, words-to-live-by message at its heart. Find your love! Find your mission in life and embrace it!

I am pulling together a packet of a few stories I wrote over dang near half a century of writing, most of it for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Orlando Sentinel. I'm doing so for the benefit of my two children, Michelle and Taylor, so they'll have something to remember me by.

And I'm leading it off with this poem. If you read the poem you'll understand my gratitude for this wonderful, gentle, inspiring man.

 

(And good on ya Jim, take it easy and continue to recoop and enjoy life!)

 

Two Tramps in Mud Time

by Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Out of the mud two strangers came
And caught me splitting wood in the yard,
And one of them put me off my aim
By hailing cheerily “Hit them hard!”
I knew pretty well why he dropped behind
And let the other go on a way.
I knew pretty well what he had in mind:
He wanted to take my job for pay.

Good blocks of beech it was I split,
As large around as the chopping block;
And every piece I squarely hit
Fell splinterless as a cloven rock.
The blows that a life of self-control
Spares to strike for the common good
That day, giving a loose to my soul,
I spent on the unimportant wood.

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you’re two months back in the middle of March.

A bluebird comes tenderly up to alight
And fronts the wind to unruffle a plume
His song so pitched as not to excite
A single flower as yet to bloom.
It is snowing a flake: and he half knew
Winter was only playing possum.
Except in color he isn’t blue,
But he wouldn’t advise a thing to blossom.

The water for which we may have to look
In summertime with a witching wand,
In every wheel rut’s now a brook,
In every print of a hoof a pond.
Be glad of water, but don’t forget
The lurking frost in the earth beneath
That will steal forth after the sun is set
And show on the water its crystal teeth.

The time when most I loved my task
These two must make me love it more
By coming with what they came to ask.
You’d think I never had felt before
The weight of an axhead poised aloft,
The grip on earth of outspread feet.
The life of muscles rocking soft
And smooth and moist in vernal heat.

Out of the woods two hulking tramps
(From sleeping God knows where last night,
But not long since in the lumber camps.)
They thought all chopping was theirs of right.
Men of the woods and lumberjacks,
They judged me by their appropriate tool.
Except as a fellow handled an ax,
They had no way of knowing a fool.

Nothing on either side was said.
They knew they had but to stay their stay
And all their logic would fill my head:
As that I had no right to play
With what was another man’s work for gain.
My right might be love but theirs was need.
And where the two exist in twain
Theirs was the better right — agreed.

But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For heaven and the future’s sakes.

 

 

 


10/11/25 05:31 PM #16325    

 

Sheila McCarthy (Gardner)

Dr. Jim: Very happy to see you are on the mend. My grandfather was a very old-timey GP, who liked to advance the theory that "doctors make the worst patients." I am glad to see you proving him wrong. Continued blessings on your recovery .... 


10/11/25 06:28 PM #16326    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Sheila, 

Thanks for the message and yes, docs can sometimes be the worst of patients.

I have been trying hard to recognize that I am the patient in this scenario which actually isn't too hard since this type of modern ortho-neuro surgery is out of my realm of medical expertise 🤔.

Anyway, I was discharged yesterday and am trying to become accustomed to new ways of moving and doing activities of daily living as I heal. Not easy at our age by any means!

Jim

P.S.

And a big thanks to Dan, Mark and any others I may have missed who posted or otherwise gave me their support and prayers on this Forum.

Phase One is past but recovery is just starting and is just as important so, keep those prayers and good thoughts going!

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


10/11/25 07:45 PM #16327    

Joseph Gentilini

Sheila, I had two doctors in my uncles.  The one was morbidly obese with lots of problems. He once said to me, "Joe, I am a good doctor, but a lousy patient."  I got it!

 

Jim H - follow the doctor's directions - ha!


10/11/25 10:32 PM #16328    

 

Michael McLeod

Joe: as a journalist I loved getting a good quote for a story. And that one from your uncle is a good one indeed.


10/12/25 02:35 PM #16329    

 

David Mitchell

Timing coincidence.

I have always been a fan of great movies. I have seen many of the great films and always enjoy reading those "Top 10" or "Top 100" lists. 

One of the films often rated No.1 all-time is "The Godfather". Until a few nights ago I had never  seen "The Godfather". Now that I am stuck with "streaming" TV, I have differend choices to make. I had a lot of time on my hands and decided to fill three+ hours watching "The Godfather".

I thought it was good, but maybe not great. It's looooong, and pondering ,, and oh so violent. I think I might have liked it better when I was young. And I thought I was aware of who all the famous cast members were.

The very next day I see the headline that Diane Keaton had died. As I read the obit, I saw her listed in the cast of  "The Godfather". I was sort of stunned. I had no idea which part she played as I read the list of cast members.

As I sorted through a web page about the cast I relaized she played a part that looked anything but her recognizable straight dark hair and glasses. She was "Kay", that blonde with a perm (and no glasses) that was Al Pacino's American (second) wife. She looked nothing like any other roll I had ever seen her play. 

 

P.s. (I'm not "Citizen Kane" guy - I'm a "Lawrence of Arabia" guy)


10/12/25 05:16 PM #16330    

 

Janie Albright (Blank)

Jim, so glad the surgery went well. Now for the part you must do yourself! I'm sure you will be very religious in doing your therapy and will mend quickly. Good luck and lots of prayers. 


10/12/25 05:17 PM #16331    

 

Michael McLeod

You take care of thyself, Jim!

Keep yourself occupied - reward yourself for all that hard work you've done tending to others.See if you can explore things you've set aside, books or movies you'd like to revisit, or new things to explore, or friends you'd like to see.


10/12/25 06:52 PM #16332    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Janie,

Thanks, and I do think it did go well as far as I can tell.

I shall do my best to play the role of the patient and follow instructions that my surgical staff advises. Of course, my Janet will see to it that I do!

And Janie, a big thanks again for setting up this website and the Forum as it has brought me, and many, a lot of comfort and encouragement as well as it has provided many reconnections with so many old and new friends over the last 14 years or so!

Mike,

Yes, occupying myself will be more of a challenge due to the things I enjoy the most are outdoors activities. I certainly won't be able to do much yardwork and forget shoveling snow! Photography will definitely suffer. I'm more of a newspaper and magazine guy than books and, fortunately, those come daily or frequently. Plus the fact that I'm already behind in those two areas😯!

So, keep your old writings and articles from your journalism years coming especially about people, as I, and others, enjoy them.

Thanks to both of you for your thoughts and concerns. I'll strive to live up to them. 

Jim 


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