Category: Q&A

Rudy 3: Change Can Be Good due out in mid-October

Portsmouth-based author Diane Robbins Jones discussed the upcoming third and final book in her Rudy the Rudster children’s series, Rudy 3: Change Can Be Good, available now for pre-order and expected to be released in mid-October. Visit rudytherudster.com.

What is your Rudy the Rudster series about?

It’s about Rudy, my real-life horse. I got him about seven and a half years ago. It was my first time owning a horse. I’d always loved them since I was a kid. I was taking riding lessons at a local stable, but I had no plans to own a horse at that moment. Things weren’t going particularly well for Rudy and his owner, and they were trying to find a new owner. Meanwhile, I had already noticed him … and connected with him. … When it became clear that his situation was a little bit in flux, I ended up leasing him for a few months. From there, after three months, they wanted to know if I’d make some kind of commitment, and I decided to buy him. I bought him for $1, which tells you quite a bit about how things were going with that situation.

What drew you to Rudy?

You can’t miss him. Yes, there’s a million chestnut horses, but Rudy is big, very charismatic, and he wants to engage with humans. … Poor Rudy hadn’t really been given all the things he needed to succeed. He started acting out, being angry, kicking in the stall walls and got rude with his human handlers. I thought he must just be upset that he doesn’t have a person to give him love and attention, so I started giving him love and attention. I felt like he was going to end up someplace bad if somebody didn’t step in and try to help them.

What led you to create a children’s book series about Rudy?

Rudy changed pretty much everything in my life, and all for the better. … I was in the financial services industry. To be completely honest, I really never had a plan to write children’s books. Writing a book had been on my bucket list for years, but a children’s book was not the kind of book I had in mind. It wasn’t until I started working with Rudy that this story started flowing through me. … Rudy had certain scars from his former life that we had to work through, and I thought that’s a lot like human life. A lot of kids go through stuff like that, kids who are adopted or in foster care or go through a divorce with their parents. So I thought Rudy’s story is going to be very relatable; why don’t I have him share all of his emotions and thoughts about what he’s going through? And maybe, when kids read this book with their parents, it’ll open up a conversation about how they feel.

What lessons can kids learn from Rudy?

Rudy is like all of us, with character flaws and shortcomings, but also with many gifts. There are many teachable human lessons about commitment, perseverance and how you’re going to feel fear from time to time, but Rudy faced a lot of his fears, so how can you overcome your fears? … The other part of it is trying to raise people’s awareness about what it means to be a horse owner. A horse is a huge commitment. If people get a dog and it doesn’t work out, they can bring it to the SPCA, and the same thing happens with horses, but with more dire consequences, since not a lot of people are in a position to care for these huge animals who cost a lot and need a lot of care. … Rudy and I try to educate kids about how horses operate and what they need and all the physiological stuff that goes on. [The books] have equine terms bolded, with a glossary in the back so kids can learn what that word means. In each book I also have 20 fun horse facts. You’d think I’d run out of horse facts, but there are millions; you could go on forever. … I’ve also partnered with a woman, Susan DiFelice, who has this really awesome website called allpony.com, which has all this great horse information. She created a section in her blog on the website called “Rudy’s Corner” where Rudy educates kids about equine practitioners, from vets to saddle fitters to massage therapists.

Are there any more books in your future?

This book wraps things up in the sense that Rudy and I are settled. It’s clear that Rudy has found his forever home, and he has advanced a lot and is able to do things he wouldn’t have done before. … There’s another book I’m thinking of writing that Rudy would still be in, but it will be a whole different thing. It may not even be a children’s book; it could be an adult book. Either way, Rudy has too big of a role in my life to be left out.

Featured photo: Diane Robbins Jones. Courtesy photo.

A doctor discusses new surgical help for feet

Dr. Drew Taft, a foot and ankle specialist in Derry, has adopted a new, innovative surgical procedure to correct bunions, a painful bone deformity of the foot. Taft discussed how the procedure, called Lapiplasty, works and the advantages it has over older procedures.

What is Lapiplasty?

Lapiplasty is a procedure that is used to address and fix bunion deformity, both large and small. Generally, a bunion is something that happens as a result of faulty mechanics — people inherit a particular foot type that creates hypermobility or hyper flexibility in the midfoot. That’s what allows bones to become out of place and misaligned, and that’s what allows the bunion to form. What this procedure does is it targets that point of deformity and corrects it by fusing the joint where the deformity comes from. When you fuse the joints, you’re now removing all the instability and the hypermobility. … It’s performed as an outpatient procedure — it does not require admission to a hospital — and generally takes about 60 to 90 minutes. You go home the same day. It’s a really nice in-and-out kind of thing.

How does Lapiplasty differ from other procedures?

There are a few types of procedures. There are head procedures, where you’re correcting the bunion from almost right at the level of the bunion itself; there are midshaft procedures, where you’re correcting a bunion through the middle of the metatarsal; and then you have your base procedures, where you’re correcting the deformity more from the base of the bone where the hypermobility is, and that’s what Lapiplasty is. The problem with head procedures and midshaft procedures is that you may be able to reduce the deformity, but you’re not necessarily addressing the underlying issue and the underlying source of the deformity, and that’s why there’s a higher rate of recurrence with those methods. … The biggest attraction for Lapiplasty is that it’s really focusing on the apex of the deformity, where the deformity of the bunion comes from. That creates a nice stable correction, and it significantly lowers the risk of the deformity coming back, especially compared to the more traditional bunion corrective procedures.

Why did you decide to start offering Lapiplasty?

Even before I started doing Lapiplasty, I was doing base procedures a lot because I believed in what these procedures were doing. I was able to correct significant deformities and get good long-term outcomes. Lapiplasty is basically just an innovative way of performing the procedure. We’re using tools and guides that really make the whole corrective process more streamlined and more predictable. It just fell into what my current philosophy and treatment protocol was for fixing bunions, and it just made it easier.

What drew you to focus on this particular ailment?

A bunion is a painful deformity and a very common one to form, we’re finding. We see and deal with a lot of these. A procedure that is predictable and works well allows patients to get back to their lifestyle and return to the quality of life that they want, so that’s what led me down the path with these procedures.

What are some reasons people don’t seek treatment?

One of the biggest reasons is the recovery. Because it’s a foot procedure, it requires some downtime. Having to carve out time from our busy schedules and busy lives to recover is a challenge, especially if you’re dealing with your right foot, which is your driving side — that’s a game-changer for some people because they just can’t or don’t have the ability to rely on others for the length of time that’s required. I think people also fear the pain that comes with a bunion procedure, although that’s kind of a misnomer. You hear horror stories about painful bunion corrective procedures, but as long as patients do what they’re told and take medications as instructed, it’s a very manageable post-operative recovery.

How long have you been performing this procedure? Do you know how your patients are doing now?

I performed my first one a little over a year ago. Everyone I’ve seen post-op seems to be doing very well. I’ve had patients who had one [foot] done and signed up to get the other one done.

Featured photo: Dr. Drew Taft. Courtesy photo.