My Motorcycle Injuries

 A friend of mine at church approached me a few days ago in order to gain some perspective concerning her son. He is an adult, married with children, who has been through a major physical trauma that almost cost him his life. His recovery process has been lengthy and challenging, but he continues to make progress and regain the use of his body. The circumstances of his trauma are quite different than mine (illness rather than accident), but the process of surgery and recovery is similar. This friend of mine asked me if I was more "emotional" after the motorcycle accident as I faced the long period of recovery. I have never spoken to anyone about this, so I hesitated for a slight moment and then answered her honestly with a "yes". I knew that I couldn't withhold this aspect of my recovery from her because she was very much worried about her son's condition. He had told her about the things that he is experiencing with his emotions, and she was quite worried a...

Over time I have griped on this blog about the subtle but steady decline of my various motorcycle injury aftereffects. The various issues that I face daily aren't a huge deal when compared to the things that other people face in this life, but they are often a source of physical annoyance. They often leave me wondering what these things will be like in the coming years as I continue to age.  I've been busy with things these past couple of weeks, and they are the type of tests that help me to assess where it is that things stand within my body. I've been cutting and trimming trees, moving Christmas supplies (don't ask), and doing general maintenance things around my house and the church. I haven't had a problem with any of the labor, and I feel pretty good when I finish each chore. Tired, but good. I've felt fine with all of the busy work over the past weeks, and I'm convinced that the best way to see where things stand is to get busy living. These are the ty...

Eight months ago I took a nasty spill in my kitchen. Not with milk, but rather with my body. I wrote about it in this blog that same day. The fall occurred when my foot hit a small, yea, miniscule blotch of water on the tile floor. My "accident leg" isn't really strong enough to remain stable when something like that happens, and I went down hard. I thought that I had broken my hip, but things got better daily and in time I thought that it was nothing. I now believe that it's something. The hip in question hurts from time to time as I function throughout the day, and I often feel pain that causes me to have to roll over to the other side when I lay on it in bed. The real drag about this is that the other side involves the hip that was broken in the accident and repaired surgically with metal screws. That side has been painful for years. What's that you're thinking, gentle reader?  "Hey bonehead, just lay flat on your back instead of on your side when in b...

It is said that time marches on. It feels as though it actually runs along as I grow older. A week seems like a day, and I feel as though things are constantly rushing forward. I continue to experience changes within my body, but at this stage those changes are all pretty much negative. I feel more pain because of the old injuries from the motortcycle accident, more aging because of calenders, and seemingly less time to keep up with a great deal of things in life. My leg and my hips are hurting more as time progresses, and my hand gets worse despite the fact that an orthopedic hand specialist and a neurologist have both told me that there's nothing seriously wrong and that nothing can actually be fixed. I function pretty well physically with everything that I do, but I feel "uncomfortable" all of the time. I have discovered recently that the two orthopedic surgeons that I had considered for any future surgery are now both irrelevent to my cause. One of them left his forme...

Sometimes I feel that I have far too much time on my hands. For what, you ask? Philosophical thinking, self reflection, and generally useless ponderings. I was thinking a few days ago about my life. Not in a big picture way, but rather in an "accident that occurred years ago" way. My thinking centered on the subject of "purpose". I sometimes feel that this accident of mine was more of a directed blessing, as opposed to a random and tragic event.  To explain...there are some positive things that would not have occurred without the accident. One of them involves heart health. I lost fifty pounds as a result of the accident's aftermath. I have a lot of heart related issues in my family history such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides levels, mini strokes, etc. I feel that I would be in fairly bad shape with my heart at this stage in life if I had not lost the weight and started to monitor my heart health years ago after the accident. My blood...

 I knew a lady years ago who described herself as someone who would not accept a lot of attention or help when she was sick. She would say that she was comparable to a dog that would crawl under a porch when it was injured and growl at anyone who would come close in order to help it. I've honestly never been one to need or desire much when I'm sick or injured either, so please bear that in mind while reading this post. I sometimes think back to the time when I was at home attempting to get through the worst of times with my motorcycle accident injuries. I was alone during the day throughout the workweek, and I was for a time unable to do much physically beyond standing up in front of my wheelchair with the aid of a walker for the sake of a short break from sitting in the same position for too long a period of time. The thing is that I sometimes think back to that time period with a subtle sense of fondness. Weird, right? One of the strange things that seems sentimental to me is...