My Motorcycle Injuries

My life has been going really well. I admit that fact with a great degree of appreciation and joy. But…it’s my body that’s just kind of chugging along. Some days are fairly ordinary, according to the post-accident definition of ordinary, but other days bring about problems with body parts that require a more concentrated effort. It all comes and goes with time, and every day is seemingly quite different from the previous. I’ve grown very much accustomed to having a problem with a body part that exhibits itself one day and fades away the next. I remember a time in my life when having a certain pain or injury within any given day really meant something. It was almost like a grand event to be proclaimed in the ears of anyone who would listen. Now, not so much. Pain, discomfort, and physical hindrance have just become the norm. A slice of life served up daily without planning or provocation. Yeah, drudgery.

Odd thoughts today. First, I had someone picking my brain at length concerning diabetes. He also shared some of his thoughts on it all. I have to be honest in saying that I grow tired of conversing about diabetes. I write about it here because this blog allows me the opportunity to talk about things related to my accident injuries on my terms. I can say what I want to say and then be done with it. Conversations with others, however, grow tiresome. I get sick of having my life be about being sick. Does that make sense? Second, I had someone at church who is an RN tell me that he had a conversation with another medical professional about my ruptured aorta. Apparently the two of them discussed it to some length and concluded that I should be dead. He spoke about it very passionately, as though he wanted to make certain that I understood the severity of it all. He went on to describe to me exactly what happens inside of someone’s body when they suffer a ruptured aorta near the heart. In es...

  The Good So…I had an appointment with my endocrinologist yesterday morning. I had a blood test done last week and I received the results yesterday. All of my numbers are good. A1C, cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.; it’s all good. My current A1C is 5.7, which is a pretty snazzy number for a diabetic. I’ve worked really hard over the past couple of years with the whole diet and exercise thing, so yeah, felicitations are in order. My doctor said that he is switching me to a six month appointment plan instead of the four month schedule that I’ve been following for the past couple of years. His office involves a half hour drive one-way, so I’m really glad to have the appointment schedule changed. I’ll be saving on time, endless blood samples, gas money, and insurance deductibles…uh huh, celebration time. I really hate being diabetic, and it’s a drag that I got this disease because of damage done to my body in the accident. Still, good news is good news, right? The Bad I have very rece...

Years ago my wife and I took a short cruise that made a stop in Nassau, Bahamas. We were there for about half the day and spent the time meandering and checking out the sights. At one point we walked along the beach and enjoyed the beauty of the ocean and the waves beating along the shore. There was this man and his wife on the beach and he was in the process of renting a personal water craft (you know, Wave Runner/Jet Ski). He had a fairly serious physical disability with his arms that made it more difficult to operate the machine, but he hopped on and started to maneuver the thing in circles at an unsafe speed while shouting with excitement. His wife stood at the water’s edge attempting to get him to stop being careless. She looked as though she was very nervous and scared, but I also got the feeling that she had been through this type of thing before. I got the distinct impression that her husband spent a great deal of time attempting to prove to himself and the world around him tha...

I spent the earlier part of the day at the office. I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish, and I was able to cross everything off the list by the time that I left. I even did a few things that weren’t on the list, so kudos to me. I wanted to stay later and do a few more things, but today was one of those days where my body decided to act weird. By midday I started to feel really lightheaded and weak. You know how sometimes people say that they feel lightheaded and you don’t know exactly what they mean? I’m not even certain what I was actually feeling. These things hit me without provocation of any kind and I wind up not so certain as to what I’m experiencing. It’s been going on since the accident and nobody has been able to explain to me why. Wacky stuff. I went home, ate lunch, and sat for a while as I studied for a sermon outline. Next up was my phone. Yesterday I joked with a couple of people who asked about my recent CT Scan. I said that I would know if something was wr...

Early appointments grant quicker exits! I went to have my annual CT Scan today. I need to have one done every year because of the potential for movement or leakage with the stent in my aorta. It was placed there because of a rupture caused by the forced impact of the accident. My heart is quite healthy, but the stent needs to be monitored in order to ensure that there isn’t a leak. I set the appointment for early in the morning because they wanted me to fast for three hours before the appointment and I figured that it would be easiest to go before breakfast and eat something afterward. Also, I didn’t think that the wait would be as long if I scheduled the procedure for the earliest possible time. I set the appointment for their opening hour and I was right about the wait. Everything went as well as I think it could have with my visit to the imaging center today. In a sense it all started a few days ago when I had a blood sample taken for the sake of today’s scan. The...

I spent most of the day yesterday with a bunch of family members, helping my sister-in-law in getting things ready within her home for a baby that is due in just four weeks. She lives in a two story place nearby with her husband and daughter, and I consequently needed to go up and down a two-tiered staircase several times throughout the day. The work involved was relatively simple, but the staircase was a little bit of a challenge. It really wasn’t any single trip that mattered, but rather the combined trips up and down throughout the day. I was both worn out and impressed with the whole thing. The day wore me out because the staircase took its toll on my leg in a bad way by the end of the day. I had a church service last night and things were a little rougher for me in handling all of the walking and standing involved. The day was impressive, however, because I did everything needed of me without any kind of physical failure. I was able to get everything done and worked as though ther...