Back in 1972 we were Kearny Street Workshop

Doris and Jimmy Yee hosted the 50th Kearny Street Workshop originals reunion. Of course there were a lot more people but many didn’t make it. Yes and a bunch are no longer alive.

I was only nineteen years old when KSW started. I was in my second year at San Francisco State College at the time as an art major. KSW was started by Jim Dong and Michael Chin. It was a Chinatown/Manilatown community arts organization.

In the beginning stages I kept my distance from KSW. I was busy with SFSU and with a lot of other things. Besides Mike said it was going to be my hangout. As much as I tried not to, I naturally gravitated towards the organization being already an artist in the Chinatown community.

I guess it was the time and energy that goes towards organizing a grassroots community arts organization that I didn’t want to devote so much time to. Besides the average person was four years older than me which at that age was quite a gap. I just let them worry about it.

Today I had a appointment at Kaiser for a second opinion regarding my arthritic hip. It has been painful living with it and has really limited my mobility and causing me to become very depressed. The things that I used to enjoy doing I can no longer do so. This did not happen or in a sudden. It has been gradual for the past years. I noticed my left knee beginning to be stiff about twenty years ago. I lived with it. After being on my feet me knee would become very stiff and the bottom would feel tingly.

At the beginning of this year it began getting more and more painful when I walked. I even went to New York for Jennifer and Chris' wedding limping about.

An x ray showed I had arthritis of the hip. The condition got more painful as time went on.

I know a handful of people who have had hip replacement surgery and were able to resume normal lives again. I looked up a lot of information on the internet and seemed modern Western medicine's miracle. It sounds too good and I wanted hip replacement too.

My doctor arranged for me to see an orthopedic doctor and he said I was not a good candidate for this surgery. He said I was entitled to a second opinion though.

I had my primary doctor arrange another appointment with another orthopedic doctor.

I let him look at my leg this time. He said I had a condition called Venous stasis which could bring about complications after surgery such as infection. He said it was like playing around with kerosene and matches.

He shook my hands and as he left the room I cried.

Chronic venous insufficiency, or CVI, is a condition in which veins have problems moving blood back to the heart. It's also known as chronic venous stasis, phlebitis or post-thrombotic syndrome. It most often affects veins in the legs, although it sometimes occurs in the arms.