Wednesday, February 17, 2016

When life forces you to have time to think, DON'T WASTE THE OPPORTUNITY!






REPORT: Three weeks post-op.  
 

If you've seen my last two blog posts (below), then you know nature has a way of saying "Wait a minute!" I got my "Wait a minute!" about six weeks ago when my legs started to disobey me.

To me, it was pure and simple, sciatica, a nervy intruding s.o.b. that sometimes causes significant pain in the leg(s) and lower back after a long drive with foot to the pedal or other causes that help the manufacturers of ibuprofen get richer.

That however, proved to be only the wicked, killer symptom.

I had developed a cyst on my lower spine that was triggering intense pain with little relieve or way around it. Visiting children and families over the holidays was not the solution. A visit to my doctor didn't get it done. The pain and further deterioration persisted.

Then, of course, the weekend. Nothing bad ever happens during working hours, right.

Monday morning I saw a neurosurgeon who, by 8 am, had me admitted to the hospital where confirming x-rays and an MRI showed my cyst and explained how this may have already crippled me for life (really).

By 7 pm that same evening I was ready for emergency surgery (which I'm sure never happened because in the few seconds I dozed off then woke, they "claimed" it was all done. Tricky those hospitals. (Actually, isn't anesthesia blessedly amazing?)

Lots of 'give-and-take' on the recovery. The prescribed painkiller was oxycodon, an oft-used pain killer that helps 90-95% of people... but not me. My system revolted and after a killer few days and worse nights, I was back in emergency.

Thankfully, I'm on the mend with a number of PT sessions under my belt. My left leg, which registered nothing on the electrode used to monitor damage and recovery during surgery is now a reminder of what could have been. I am thankfully on my way back to an expected full strength in the leg.

Now here's the deal: Nature, (AND GOD) said "This is your minute... don't waste it."

Several observations a refocused mind came up with were not terribly startling, but revealingly easy to see if you look:
  • If social media is the next best thing to sliced bread, why can it be used to bully and abuse or spread any rumor that can never be stopped?
  • Must our political campaigns always be at least 18-plus months long, and if so, then does the next round start right after our next President is sworn in?
  • Must our office seekers win by making promises that can't be kept and demonizing their opponents?
  • Is every star couple break-up or baby bump or celebrity feud or tweet really that vital to our lives? 
  • Do most of us get our small sampling of incomplete news by what we see on television where dramatic presentation of whatever is as 'juicy' as possible for ratings... or on the internet? Then God help us.
  • And the biggie: WHY ARE WE ALWAYS SO MAD AT ONE ANOTHER?

Rumor has it that God, before he presented the Ten Commandments to Moses, made a trial presentation to a random human of the time, of one single Commandment, so simple that everyone could know and follow. 

The One Commandment read, "DON'T BE A JERK."

The man responded, "Hey, it works for me. But maybe you need to spell it out some more for all the Jerks down here."

Can't we do better than all of this or was I just still delusional from effects of the surgery?