Mom In Limbo, Women In Space.

I took Mom to her neurologist last Monday. Her hands have gotten a lot worse since we were last their two years ago. Surgery on her right hand was recommended by Dr. Zorba (our nickname for him because he looks like the doctor from the old Ben Casey series on TV). Mom really doesn't want to have the surgery because she is worried about the rehab and whether or not she will be able to grab her walker and walk. I think if it improves her lifestyle she should have it and between sister, myself, the caregiver, and if necessary additional health we all can survive the rehab period. The next step is to meet with the surgeon on the 28th of October. The deal is that the same neurologist suggested that mom have the surgery two years ago, the surgery was scheduled, and then Mom canceled it. I can't help but wonder if Mom had went through the surgery then if her hands wouldn't be better now. I would lover your input in how to handle Mom. Should I encourage her to have the surgery? Should I back off and let her make her own decision? I would also appreciate your prayers, good thoughts, good vibes, and anything you can muster up to send my direction!

On to an interesting news article. Had a secret program not been canceled women might have been the first Americans to be in Space. Maybe that would have led to a woman being the first American to take a step on the moon. Here is a link to an article about the subject.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2009-10-14-astronauts-women_N.htm

A more in depth article written by Brandon Keim can be found here:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/mercury-13/

The question for the day. How do you think history would have changed had the secret program not been canceled and instead of Neil Armstrong being the first person to walk on the moon it had been a woman? Would that have led to more equality for women not only in aeronautics but in other industries and occupations?

TODAY'S TRIVIA;

Yesterday's answer: Margaret Brent

Born in 1802 I was an abolitionist, women's rights activist, opponent of American expansionism, Indian rights activist, novelist, and journalist. My writings in journals and about anti-slavery fiction reached wide audiences from the 1830s through the 1850s. I shocked my audiences by taking on issues of male dominance and white supremacy. Despite my efforts I am most remembered for a Thanksgiving poem. I was born in Medford. I received my education at a local dame school and later at a women’s seminary. When Mom died I went to live with my older sister where I studied to be a teacher. I married a lawyer whose political activism and involvement in reform introduced me to the social reforms of Indian rights and Garrisonian Abolitionism. I was a women's rights activist that did not believe significant progress for women could be made until after the abolition of slavery. I believed that white women and slaves were similar in that white men held both groups in subjugation and treated them as property instead of human beings. However, I did not care for all-female societies. I believed that women would be able to achieve more by working alongside men. I am sometimes said to have been the first white person to have written a book in support the freeing of slaves. I was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and became editor of the society's National Anti-Slavery Standard. I left the paper I because I refused to promote violence as an acceptable weapon for battling slavery. Later after the beating of a good friend I changed my mind about the use of violence to protect the antislavery emigrants in Kansas. I sympathized with the radical abolitionist John Brown but did not condone his zealous violence, I deeply admired his courage and conviction. My first novel was about an interracial relationship between a white woman and a Native American man, who was the father of her son. They divorced and the heroine remarried, reintegrating her and her child into Puritan society. This issue of miscegenation, or mixed relationships, was a theme I used in later anti-slavery fiction. During the 1860s I wrote pamphlets on Indian rights. I died at age 78. Who Am I?