Ludi Toedter:  

s felt better having 4 wheels under me than only 2. On the street in a car, I'd race anything and anyone if I had a competitive car. In 1973, I bought a 1971 Datsun (Nissan, now) 240Z. First thing I did was take out the A/C because it had a negative affect on the performance of the car. Basically, I left it stock except for 3 things ... put dual exhaust on it so it would breath easier, had a vapor injection system installed (similar to aircraft engines) which helped that hot OHV/OHC in-line 6 cylinder engine run cool and fast and modified the throttle linkage so my husband would quit running into the freezer in the garage. The stock Z had very complex throttle linkage that made it just about impossible to ease down on the accelerator. The car had "stop" and "go" and it was very hard to get used to driving! I loved that car ... had two Z specialists work on it during the 11 years I owned it, and they both said it was the fastest stock Z car they'd ever driven. And I put it to the test many times! I got into hundreds of play races on the street, but also got into at least 3 dozen (probably more)very serious street races (and that doesn't count the times I went fast all by myself..lol). The 240Z was more of a road car than a drag racer, but I was only beaten twice in drag races. I knew the two guys who beat me, and both their cars were highly modified so it wasn't even a fair race. But they both said they were pretty impressed that a girl could throw such a mean speed shift! They told me no else had ever made it that close to them at the finish line in a street race, even a fair one! The fastest I ever drove the car was about 120 mph. We lived next to Alton Avenue in Santa Ana in the early 70's, and at that time, Alton was a long, straight, 2-lane road. It still had the quarter mile markers painted on it from when we drag raced there in high school. Back then, it was in the middle of lima bean fields! In the 70's, there were beans growing on one side of the road and houses on the other, but they were set back a couple hundred feet from the edge of the road. Alton was about a mile long between Main St. and Greenville Ave. and a great place to see what your car was made of! There was a Santa Ana policeman who would stop to chat (when patrolling our neighborhood) when he saw me outside working on my car, and he let me in on the safest time to race out there without getting caught! So I took my car out there at sunrise one morning and ran it through the mile a few times. On my last run, I got it up to 120 mph, but I was approaching the Greenville/Alton intersection too fast. There weren't any other cars on the road, but it takes a lot of road to slow down when you're going that fast. I kind of got a little sideways through the intersection from braking a little too hard, but still had control! What a ride! Loved every second! My husband still tells me to slow down, and he wishes I didn't have such nerves of steel when I get behind the wheel of a car. My Mom passed away in 2002, and I never did confess to her why she needed to replace tires on our 1961 Corvair every 6 months when I started driving at 16. Probably better she didn't know! lol I always love to hear from old friends so if you feel like it, drop me an email on this website. I'd love to hear from you! FOOTNOTE ABOUT MY KNEE SURGERY: My surgeon, who I also called My Hero, turned out not to be worthy of that title! Several weeks after he did my 2nd knee surgery for the staph infection (surgery #2 was on 10/31/07), I noticed my "new" knee was bowing out to the side slightly. That was in January 2008. At first, I thought nothing of it, but then it got worse visually and of course, my pain was greatly exacerbated. Toward the end of February 2008, he started giving me cortisone injections again, and this time he was careful to wait until the minimum 12-weeks post-op period had passed. And over that period, my knee destabilized causing severe joint pain in my hips. Even when my side-effects were glaringly obvious, he continued with the injections. He convinced me they were safe, and I believed him. I'll skip the details right now, but suffice it to say, he was feeding me toxic levels of cortisone. I ultimately had 19 cortisone injections in 16 months! In January of 2009, I hit the end of my rope with him! He refused to answer my questions regarding the lateral bowing of my new knee which by now had become startlingly extreme and still wanted to pump more cortisone into me. On 1/28/2009, I was in the ER at Saddleback Memorial Hospital thinking I was having a heart attack! But instead of heart failure, I was suffering the effects of blood clots! I had 1 in my left leg and one in my lung ... this was life-threatening event #2! Fortunately, they were caught early and it sppears I've dodged yet another bullet! At this writing, it's now January 2010, and I've had no recurrences at all. When I was discharged from the hospital 3 days later, I set about researching cortisone. What I found was mind-blowing, and I hadn't had a clue about any of it! I learned that during the period of 16 months when I had 19 cortisone injections, I should not have been given any more than 4 injections!! Why didn't I know this before?? Believe me, I've beaten myself up time and time again for that, but the truth is, I really did not know how much was okay. Personally, I've suffered with constant, intractable pain, worry, fear and the list goes on and on. Worse than that though, my family has suffered through 2 very real life-threatening events, and my health challenges have changed the course of their lives as well as my own. It took several months to find a new orthopaedic surgeon. The practices I visited took one look at my x-rays and told me to go back to the surgeon who did the work if I was still having problems! No one wanted to take my case, and it wasn't until I found someone that would take it, that I realized why. You see, this doctor who I called My Hero, had done at least 1 bad surgery and probably 2!!! I was stunned, but everything that had been confusing to me during the previous months of trying to find a new doctor who could help me with my deteriorating knee because crystal clear! Those other doctors took one look at my x-rays and saw "LAWSUIT" written all over my case! My new doctor explained that 1 and possible both bones in my leg had been cut at the wrong angle. In addition to that, he said he suspected that the replacement spacer surgeon #1 put in my knee during the 2nd surgery was too small. All of that added up to an extremely unstable knee that he said was a "ticking time bomb!" It would be inevitable that this knee would deteriorate to the point where I wouldn't be able to walk anymore. The only way to stop the cycle cycle would be to do the surgery a 3rd time!!! Shocking news to say the least! Because of the potential for a lawsuit, I decided to get a 2nd opinion .... that doctor said exactly the same thing my new doctor said. It was imperative that I have another surgery to fix this knee. So on 8/05/09 (exactly 2 years after the first surgery), I underwent a knee surgery that lasted over 2 1/2 hours .... a very long time considering knee replacement can be totally completed in 40-45 minutes! I spent 10 days in the hospital, also a very, very long time for a knee surgery!! At this writing (1/28/2010), I'm going through a very difficult healing process which will be ongoing for 12-24 months. All things considered, I'm doing very well. I still have considerable pain, but my knee is straight as an arrow and I regain a little strength everyday. I expect to be in much better shape a year from now. The bad news is that all this trauma (4 major surgeries in 2 yrs-there was another emergency surgery caused scar tissue from other surgeries I'd had in previous years) has triggered an accelerated arthritic response. I'm looking at probable surgeries on both hands and possibly back surgery at some point in the future. After seeing a Spine Specialist, we've decided to begin a conservative range of treatment to put off surgery as long as possible. So on the one hand, I'm very lucky to be alive after 2 bad knee surgeries and gross, negligent misuse of cortisone by my first surgeon. In spite of everything he did wrong, he was able to stop the progression of the lethal staph infection I had .... an infection that was more likely caused by the multiple cortisone injections he gave me too soon after my first surgery...and he subsequently called in an amazing Infectious Diseases Specialist whom I credit for keeping me alive during those crucial weeks just after the 2nd surgery. I'm very thankful for that ... I'm still alive and I still have 2 legs to stand on! But the rest of his treatment was clearly negligent .. hard to believe it because he's a very prominent, highly respected and likable doctor who enjoys a successful practice in Newport Beach and Hoag Hospital. I won't post his name here, but if anyone is interested in knowing more about this story and who the doctor is, please don't hesitate to ask. I sincerely would hate to see anyone go through the misery I've expoerienced during the past 2 1/2 years and it's not over yet! So if you'd like more information on this, just send me a PRIVATE message on this website and I'll respond as soon as I read it. And I can highly recommend a surgeon who is well-known and the surgeon of choice to fix other doctor's screw-ups! During my 10-day hospital stay after he fixed my totally messed up knee, literally dozens of medical professionals said this to me. He has patients who come from all over California and a few that even travel from out-of-state to have him do their surgeries! It is my blessing and exteme good fortune (thanks to my sister-in-law, Diane Shoffner Toedter) to have found my way to this awesome doctor! In closing, my advice to all of you ... OMG, take good care of your knees!!! lolol Be Happy, Ludi Weeks (Toedter) :)