My Motorcycle Injuries

I mentioned a while back that I’ve volunteered to help take care of my new niece. I had her for about a month a while back ago, and within another week I’ll have her on a more permanent basis. She’ll be with me for eight or nine hours a day, Monday thru Friday. I’ve had roughly two months off from taking care of her, but soon it all goes into overdrive. I try not to worry about things a whole lot, but I have to admit that I am concerned about this. I want to help with this baby (she’s now 6 months old), but I’m a little concerned about my health and strength as I prepare to take on what I know to be a huge responsibility. It’s currently 6:30 in the afternoon, and I feel somewhere between sleep deprived and drugged. The problem is that I slept OK last night and I’m drug-free. This goes on most days since the accident, and it often starts in the late morning. I fear that I won’t have the physical energy and stamina to take on the responsibility of doing right by this kid. I guess that in...

Tired. That’s what I am today... I’ve been dealing with some things related to diabetes lately that involve appointments, procedures, and the personal impact of it all. It has been ongoing, and I won’t be done with these things for another three or four weeks. It’s mostly inconvenient, but I do grow tired of having to deal with the effects of this disease while knowing that it was caused by damage done to my pancreas in the accident. Today this disease has left me feeling physically spent. Not as in “sleepy”, but rather as in “drained”. I don’t partake of energy drinks so…too bad for me. My leg has also been a bigger source of trouble these days. It hurts more whenever I’ve been sitting for too long and it seems to be getting a little weaker. I know that I don’t want to even consider surgery any time soon. When I think of everything together, the diabetes and “my bones”, I’m left to consider the fact that it’s all just a part of the process. Consequently, by nature of that statement, I...

I believe that time can either be a useful friend or a subtle enemy. This past week I saw a news story about a teenage girl in North Carolina that lost a leg along with some fingers in a shark attack. During the interview she displayed a truly brave and uplifting spirit when talking about the attack and consequent injuries to her body. She stated, in essence, that she didn’t want to be pitied or viewed as a defeated victim. I thought to myself “good for her!” with a sense of assurance that she was going to successfully move past the initial trauma of the shark attack. I truly wish her well and hope that her spirit will endure in the coming years. Although I do not feel that my injuries could possibly compare to hers, I do wish that I could warn her concerning the issue of time. I sincerely hope that time does not wear down her spirit and her sense of inner strength. If I could warn her, I would let her know that time can be a harsh opponent that relentlessly causes subtle challenges as...

I went for my two week post-op appointment today with the surgeon. He said that everything is fine and that I will be able to function normally after another two weeks. He said that he removed a small tumor during the surgery, and I must have looked a little shocked as he spoke because he immediately told me not to worry because it was a common thing with this type of surgery, and said that the tests came back as benign. Whew! The weird thing is that when I told my wife about this later today she said that the surgeon told her about it immediately after the surgery and she told me later that day at home. I don’t remember the conversation at all, but I’ve always been a little goofy with the process of recovering from anesthesia. Good thing there wasn’t a swampland salesman at the surgical center. I really hope that this is my last accident related surgery for, I don’t know; let’s say the next thirty years or so. I’m feeling much better now with only a hint of discomfort, and the pain is...

I’ve made a lot of progress in healing from my latest surgery. Things are nowhere near 100%, but I am much better. I’ve been told that I’ll be free to resume normal living after another three weeks.  I noticed something unusual last week about my accident injuries. The thing is that I couldn’t feel them. All day. The pain from this latest surgery was so pronounced that it eclipsed the “normal” pain that I feel daily. It’s all back now, but it was pretty much gone for a few days. I still feel a degree of pain from the surgery now, but not enough to make the other pains seem nonexistent. I guess the lesson to be learned is that things could always be worse and that I should be in no hurry when reacting to pain. It’s just there, and it doesn’t mean all that much. If my mind is stronger than my body, I really don’t need to consider the need for further surgery on my leg or arm quite so much. I think that the same lesson guides me to relax a little, live life, and endure the annoyance o...

I finally had the surgery this past Wednesday. It was performed early in the morning and I was home before noon. The surgeon told my wife that everything went well. I expected to be past the worst of any pain or discomfort within a couple of days, but that hasn’t been the case. I was in some fairly debilitating pain for the first two days, and I’ve experienced really annoying pain since then. I didn’t attend church services yesterday, and I’m trying to lay low today. My wife and daughter were home all last week, but they are both back to work today. I promised that I would behave while they’re gone today, so here I am behaving. It frustrates me to some extent that I have to go through all of this. I honestly believed that my recovery would be simpler and quicker (recovery was far simpler the last time that I had an incisional hernia). The last one was higher on my waist, but I thought that this one would be the same nonetheless. I was wrong. The pain has been severe at times, but not s...

                                                             I went to a clinic this past Saturday morning in order to have all of the tests done that are needed for my upcoming surgery. These things are usually done at the hospital in which the surgery takes place, but I went to a walk-in clinic that was suggested by the surgeon’s office because the surgery won’t actually be performed in a hospital and I don’t have a primary care physician. The surgery will be performed at an outparcel building of a hospital that’s used exclusively for surgery and called a “center” . The above x-ray was taken at the clinic as part of my pre-op requirements. It clearly shows the stent in my aorta to the right of my spine. I always envisioned the aorta to be pencil thin, but it’s actually quite wide in diameter. Consequently, the stent looks huge to me...