My Motorcycle Injuries

There are times when I consider the way that I operate in life now in comparison to the way that I did before the motorcycle accident and I’m truly astonished at the differences made by a single event in time. I guess it isn’t really a single event when I couple the accident with all of the things that have been necessary to recover from all of the injuries inflicted on my body. It has required a lot of attention and effort over the years and continues to dominate in certain ways to this day. Many of the changes in the way that I do things have nothing to do with my physical condition, but rather with the way that my thinking process has changed over time. The way in which I look at our finances is one of the things that has changed to a fairly large extent. I have always been responsible with our money (both of my parents worked as accountants and served as an example of conservative personal financial management). However, I have also allowed a degree of more liberal spending within ...

In the past I have been asked concerning what it is that I do mentally with all that has happened to me as a result of the motorcycle accident. My answer, in short, is “nothing much but live with it all and move forward”. The longer answer isn’t quite so glib. The fact that I have chosen to blog about something that only took a few seconds to occur should point to the fact that it’s not just a simple event within a moment of time. Even stranger is the fact that I don’t remember the event or most of the following week and a half. However, the full story just isn’t that simple. I awoke to a different life and it took several years of dealing with doctors, physical therapists, and working alone at home for me to get past some of the more severe aftereffects of the injuries that I sustained. Through it all I’ve had to adjust to the fact that my mortal housing has been left in a permanent state of change. Perhaps the impact would seem less severe if I had been a much younger guy when the ac...

I’ve spent the better part of the day getting things ready for tonight’s church worship service. I’m taking a little break now to type this post before I get back to the more important stuff. Today has been a little different from others. I’ve been experiencing pretty severe cramps/muscle pulls in my leg for the past few months. It happens sporadically and the pain always concentrates itself on the area below my knee, sometimes at the front of the ankle region and other times more down the length of my calf. It has continued to get progressively worse over time, and it always occurs when I’m lying in bed at night. I can usually get rid of the pain by getting up and walking a little, but not the past two times that it has occurred. The pain gets to where I cannot walk very well or even touch the affected area in any way, and I had an occurrence last night. Did I say night? More like morning, as in 4 a.m. I thought that it would go away with some movement, but it has persisted all day wi...

                                So…I received a call today from someone in my cardiologist’s office informing me that everything is A-OK with the stent in my aorta. The term she used was “no significant changes”.  That phrase threw me off a little, but my wife assures me that it’s a common way to speak within the medical and scientific communities. I don’t think that you can really use terms like that in the rest of the world with any rate of success.  “Hey, did my investment pay off well?”                                                                                                                      ...

                                                                                               My Innards! Gruesome photo, yes? I took my annual CT Scan this morning to check on the stent that was placed in my aorta. It was placed there in order to fix a rupture caused by the force of the impact from the motorcycle accident. I always ask for a DVD copy of the images, not because I can actually read it with any sense of discernment, but rather because my insurance deductible for this procedure is astronomical and I want my money’s worth (Yeah, stickin’ it to the man). I’m not quite certain what the photo above means, but it’s just one of a series and I expect that within a week or so I’ll receive a call from my cardiologist’s office informing me that t...

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that 2017 is over. I experienced plenty of blessings throughout, and I hope that 2018 continues to grant a great deal of divine grace. I remember spending New Year’s Eve in the hospital rehab center when we passed from 2013 to 2014. I had a really weird and demanding roommate then, and I spent the earlier part of the night hoping that the distant noise of the fireworks outside wouldn’t waken him. He did wake up, and he made the night more challenging and less pleasant for the nurses and for me. I’ve come a long way since then, and I remain alive and well. They tell me that I almost died as a result of the accident, but God had other plans for me. People often speak of their so-called bucket lists in reference to things that they would like to do before they die. I personally don’t have one. I’m just too busy enjoying it all, whether past or present, to think that way. As we celebrate the dawning of a New Year and consider the future, I present a lis...