If you were pressed, and had to make just one new friend in a new city/state/country/culture, who would that be? Think its hard? Nope. Its slam dunk easy. Ken Sabbag. Six years ago we met Ken. He was new in LA.So were we. We moved into apartments side by side. Cool guy.

Then, actually,  four weeks ago, Ken became not just the most important person in America but the world. My elbow was broken into four pieces. Ken had the job of surgically putting it back together. He used several pieces of surgical wire to thread through the bones. He put a 'rubber band' around the outside of the elbow and wired up bones, tendons, ligaments et al. He made sure that 21 stitches went in the right way. And a tonne of other doctor/medical/surgical/pain stuff, but you get the nasty picture. Did I mention Ken's an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hands, wrists, elbows and arms? Perhaps, a lucky break for me knowing him, eh?

Well, get this. Four years ago my wife had the grand slam of traumatic elbow breaks. Fifty broken pieces of bone,  ligaments severed from the bone, bones dislocated, multiple incisions etc, etc. Very. Very. Very. Ugly. Ken did the job. Reconstructed a usable elbow with big titanium screws and lots of skill. Then two years ago, went back and and changed around elbow ligaments to restore more mobility and functionality to a fixed stiff elbow.(which he knew he'd have to do on day one in 2002)

So, Ken's been working on our elbows every two years. And elbows are tricky. Painful. Except he loves them. Loves the surgery. The precision of the hunt for a perfect and workable solution. Gets a charge out of fitting  bits of bone together.

Ken's living proof about medicine today . You need a specialist. In your exact operation. You need the guy who does hundreds of operations every month on this exact problem. Who does thousands a year. So, you need to be assertive. To ask the tough questions. Like? When was the last time you did this exact one thing? No, not bone surgery. This. Reconstructing elbows. Because the stats bear it out. You get better results. Much much better results. In every field of medicine.

We've had plenty of time to think about this over the last four years and three major elbow surgeries. But also to wonder. Can there  be anyone else in LA with his and her new elbows?  And know. Ken's the man.