Replacement Parts

Sure am enjoying this new knee!  Another busy day and lots of time on my feet.  Of course that means a lot of time on my new knee, too.  Rather than working straight through, I stopped every 45 minutes to an hour and sat with the ice machine pumping cold water into the ice mat.  That approach worked well so far.  As a matter of fact I had not even taken any pain medication since bedtime last night.  About 20 hours between doses is a real improvement from just last week.

And now all the news shows are talking about how knee, hip and even mesh implants are not tested before release to market.  Isn't that reassuring.  Each news report is talking to a different person that has had horrible experiences.  All I have to say is so far so good.

Replacement parts are not always available for older model appliances, HVAC units, automobiles and all kinds of things.  One of my sorority sisters had a TV quit working at about a year old.  The repair took forever because of a lack of replacement part availability.  My father, father in law and husband made a living by repairing home appliances, televisions, window air conditioners and all sorts of equipment.

There were numerous electronic parts supply houses here in Springfield during the 50's, 60's, 70's and into the 80's.  With the onset of "solid state" technology the need for replacement parts began diminishing.  The number of supply houses reduced in the 90's.  There are no supply houses for home electronics other than maybe a Radio Shack.  It is cheaper to buy a new appliance or electronic device than to do the repair.  So the job of small appliance repair and even television repairman has just about gone the way of the buggy whip maker.  Not a lot of call for buggy whips these days.  And we may as well just replace the bulky TV with a new flat screen.





But given the price of gasoline, who knows, we may go back to horse and buggy days.  Then there will be a need for the buggy whip maker again.  Wonder if we were to go back to that type of society if we would start having electronics that would break down more frequently.  Cause in the 50's the televisions had all kinds of tubes that broke down frequently.  My father in law noted one time that the tube replacements kept his business in the black.  Add in record players that eventually became massive console stereo units that required repair pretty often, also.  Remember how you knew the number of the needle your stereo record player needed?

I wonder if there will come a time a time when we will not need artificial parts for replacing worn out body parts.  Will there come a time we can just buy a different unit to download our electronic brain stuff into a new iPeople.  Well, until then guess I will be just as happy with the untested pieces parts fused into my body.  Any way I do hope the failures of knee and hip implants will not cause the elimination of these replacement parts.