Hip Replacement, Tenacity and Endurance

I’d been experiencing increasing pain in my right leg and decided I needed to find out what was causing it. So for most of the past month I’ve been in Billings for medical tests and consultations that resulted in the total replacement of my right hip.

On Sept. 23, Dr. Robert Schultz informed me that the only choice I had to get rid of the pain and lethargic feeling I was having was to totally replace my right hip. I was released from the hospital on Sept. 28, and returned home the following day.

I returned to Billings to have the staples removed on Oct. 9. I was told my incision is healing nicely and will have to return on Nov. 12, for the surgeon to check on the incision and hip.

Everything has gone well and I hope to be completely mobile once again by spring. I was told it takes a full year for hip replacement surgery to heal.

It truly is amazing how a surgeon can remove a badly diseased joint, replace it with an artificial one, and restore a person’s mobility.

A final note about my hip replacement - it was deemed necessary because cancer had destroyed most of the hip joint.

Recently, I attended the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Wagner family ranch. My husband’s mother was Rose Wagner Laumeyer, daughter of John Francis and Rosa Wagner, who homesteaded north of Nashua in 1915.

Looking at pictures of farming and ranching through the years evoked many memories and stories to be shared. Approximately 45 descendants of John and Rosa gathered for a supper and more visiting. It was clear that everyone was having a great time. As two first cousins visited, one remarked they thought it had been 50 years since they had been back to this area.

Thinking of the tenacity and endurance homesteaders had to have to help them face difficult times in order to establish a new home and livelihood for their family is truly amazing. Their determination to survive the storms, droughts, fires, low prices for their crops has been passed on from generation to generation. And their steadfastness to remain on the land has made it possible to celebrate this remarkable anniversary.