Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
Learning Pain
Yikes! This gettin’ old stuff is definitely not for sissies. For most of my 50+ years I have successfully avoided serious back pain. My time is finally up. With no obvious trigger incident or activity for reference, all I can come up with for a cause of my current discomfort is the march of time. My symptoms match directly with all the descriptions Cyndie and I have read for degenerative disc disease of the lumbar region.
Gosh, this has never happened to me before. It’s stuff like this that makes me miss being that little kid I’ve seen in pictures from the early 60s. This is the point where brave people soldier on and learn pain management techniques and reclaim their previous level of activity. I’m more inclined to drop into a wheel chair and have someone push me up to the jigsaw puzzle table in the sunny corner of a room.
I’m finally able to grasp some of the effects of the experience of chronic pain. It has me thinking about all those years of naiveté where I viewed the world from my limited perspective. It wasn’t an intentional arrogance. It was a view of the world from a sheltered vantage point. I have found a new respect for those who make their way in the world under the duress of the oppressive weight of perceived pain.
I really, really loath becoming one of the people who whine about their plight of advancing age. Sure, I’d love to richly celebrate my increasing maturity with grace and aplomb. I would consider accomplishing that if it weren’t for the swelling prostate, degrading vision, diminished hearing, increasing allergies, advancing asthma, and now degenerating discs. And what the heck is the deal with eye brows suddenly bursting forth with growth in random directions?
I’ve got friends that are a decade and more ahead of me down this fateful path who are brilliant examples for me that continued living does not require whining about it all the time. They are a great inspiration. I’ve met my first situation of back pain and I am reduced to a blithering complainer. I am not proud.
The thing about suddenly prodigious eye brows… at least they’re not painful.
Bad Break
We often wonder about various parts of our bodies, for many different reasons. “My stomach hurts… what did I just eat?” How often have you ever contemplated your tibial plateau? Maybe, if you’ve suffered a bit of particularly bad luck.
A side note: Whenever Cyndie returns from a visit to the stables, I ask if she conversed with the horses. On a recent occasion, she reported that one of the horses told her that his left front foot hurt. His trainer said she had just checked his hoof and it looked fine. When the vet visited a few days later, they discovered the horse had laminitis!
Initially, Cyndie told me she “bumped” her knee. I could tell by the extreme swelling that it was not simply the result of what I know of as a ‘bump’. As more detail emerged, I learned that she was walking a horse back to the stable after having ridden it, and the horse suddenly reacted to a couple of stallions in the vicinity. This forced Cyndie in a direction which caused her to strike the base of her knee into the dressage tack trunk.
This occurred late in the day on Monday, and no one else was around at the time. She still had to remove the saddle from the horse and get him put away. Then she decided to drive her manual transmission Mustang the 20-some miles home. I expect she was able to do it because of a mighty dose of adrenalin. I asked her if she told the horse she hurt her knee. Cyndie described that when she reacted to her injury and doubled over in pain, he put his head by her knee and stood still beside her while she composed herself. She said he was Mr. Mega-Gentleman while she struggled to get the saddle off and things put away. I think he knew she was hurting.
Yesterday morning, Cyndie visited the orthopedic center where she had knee surgery last November. At that time, they had discovered arthritis symptoms, and now surmised a possibility that the bump had exacerbated that condition. The doctor aspirated the knee. If the fluid was clear of blood, they could give her a cortisone shot and see if that soothed her problem. The syringe filled with a deep maroon-red color. Marrow colored.
They sent her for an MRI. That revealed a fracture of the tibial plateau. Her knee must be immobilized. She cannot put any weight on it and will be on crutches for we don’t know how long. She is scheduled for an appointment with a surgeon on Friday to find out if it will need to be pinned (screwed). That will be the determining factor in the prognosis for recovery time to normal function.
Cyndie remains ever hopeful and blessedly optimistic. I’m going to need to work on achieving that mental state.
Peeves & Dreams
I really should count my blessings. Especially after Sunday’s storm that destroyed so many mature trees and tore rooftops off of homes in Minneapolis. My problems are petty in comparison. However, they are not insignificant. I am suffering frustration over the fact that our insurance company will not recognize the winter ice issues with our gutters and the crunched air conditioner as one incident, so our deductible expense will apply to each. The cost of each repair is pretty close to the deductible amount, so we are forced to pay for everything. It’s like not having insurance at all. Bah humbug.
I may be mentally trying to escape my issues here by traveling to Portugal in my dreams. Yesterday morning I was having one of those classic types of dreams where I found myself suddenly in Portugal but I didn’t have any memory of how I got there. I also realized I hadn’t packed a bag so all I had with me was what I was wearing at the time. What a shock that was.
Actually, it’s a good thing we are not there right now, because I seem to have done something that has upset my back muscles and Cyndie just injured her knee again. We’re a mess. I think we need to do a little research on the art of growing old gracefully.
Stormy Sunday
It brought back memories of almost 25 years ago when we had just moved into our home. It rained as hard yesterday as I remembered from the storm they called the Hundred-Year storm. We were again getting rivers of runoff appearing around the house. At least this time, it didn’t last for hours on end. Yesterday it stopped after about 20 minutes. Then it started again. That cycle repeated a few times. Each time I began to wonder if we were headed for hours of this. During one of the pauses between downpours, we heard the warning sirens wailing. Radar indicated the brunt of the danger was to the north of us at that point.
When we saw on the television broadcasts the level of damage that the storm caused, we grew concerned about our daughter who would be driving home from the lake place in Hayward, Wisconsin. Luckily, we reached her by phone before they had departed. She ended up staying up there for most of the day to wait for the worst weather to pass.
We were happy to learn that when she finally arrived home to her place in Minneapolis, everything was safe and sound. We are fine at our place. The gutters we have added and the landscaping we have done proved successful at keeping the basement dry.
The only problem I am facing is the length of the grass in the yard. It needed a trim about two days ago now, and after the last two days of rain, it has only gotten worse. It’s too bad I’m working such long days away from home lately. I’m pretty sure the project of mowing the lawn will be twice as much work as usual and I don’t think there is enough light in the day to get it all done!
I Scream
Last night, I splurged on a treat of ice cream after dinner. I garnished it with my all-time favorite topping, Grape-Nuts cereal. I must have been in a contemplative mood, because the pouring of Grape-Nuts triggered a deep sense of appreciation for how much I love that cereal on my ice cream and how much I love ice cream.
A long time ago, maybe starting back when I suffered a kidney stone, I realized I needed to be prudent about my ice cream indulgences. If I dropped my guard and let my whimsy direct my actions, I believe I would choose to have ice cream for breakfast, lunch, dinner and several snacks in between. I love the coldness of ice cream more than anything, and the texture, or range of textures, is a close second. The flavor is almost trivial, except for the fact that it provides variety, and I am all over variety. It would be a tragedy to eat so much ice cream that I become bored with it. Although, come to think of it, coffee flavor in my ice cream is one thing than can render the treat intolerable and unpalatable.
When our children were young, one skill we intended to nurture was self-control over food treats. I remember one particular incident with Julian when he asked how many cookies he could have. Our answer was in the form of a question. “How many do you think you should have?” Whether he wanted to, or not, he thought about it and made a sensible choice. From that moment on, we were able to allow him to work on managing that kind of decision himself. You don’t have to stop at just one, but there is a sensible upper limit that falls short of being excessive. There is an art to mastering the discernment and control which allows for successful functioning within that range.
For myself, regarding ice cream, I practice a strict control. There was a time in my life when I had ice cream available by the gallon in my freezer. There have also been times when I asked that it not be purchased at all for our home freezer. We have been known to substitute a frozen fruit bar to sooth my cravings. I don’t mind them, but sometimes, instead of relishing their delicacies, all I can do is notice how NOT like ice cream they are.
One thing my strict rationing of ice cream does do for me lately is it helps me really, really appreciate everything I love about the treat. Last night I allowed myself to do just that with my favorite topping and a few simple scoops of vanilla flavor in a big bowl. From the first hard bites to the latter soft mix with crunchy cereal, I wallowed in a life-time of fondness for this favorite treat.
As satisfying as that was, it also triggered a craving to have it for breakfast this morning, for lunch today, and a snack between that and dinner. It’s back to strict control for me. I love ice cream that much.
Complex Dilemma
Imagine if you wanted to avoid a popular subject. Say, a really popular television show about a singing contest, or a show about a contest to vote people out of a competition? Consider the intention of steering clear of news broadcasts, especially the ones that include “news” features on the subject of the television programs afore-mentioned being broadcast by the related network. How about if you wanted nothing to do with the excessive attention being focused on the wedding of two people from another country? What if some guy was able to create public excitement over his opinion that the end of the world is just days away?
Actually, if what you are intending to do is keep from feeding the frenzy, it doesn’t matter what the hot item of the moment is. The trick is in the avoidance. To do nothing is hardly rewarding. It makes little difference against the maelstrom of the masses. The crucial truth is, if you want to stay out of the fray, you have no real, effective weapon to wield.
If you try to lobby a case for purposefully staying out of the brouhaha whipped up by the media and the citizen gossip/analysis, you still contribute to giving time to the subject which you are trying to avoid. The only real way to not play into the latest media attention getter is to refrain from speaking (or writing) on the subject altogether. Silence.
It drives me nuts. How do you know if what you are not doing is providing any value?
Good Neighbors
How do you thank someone for thanking you? Some things rise beyond words. You reach a level that is ethereal. Especially when it is between really special people. Even more so when those people are your next-door neighbors. Cyndie and I are lucky to enjoy the blessing of living next door to two really great families. On Easter Sunday, Elysa and Cyndie snuck next door and placed some baskets of goodies as a surprise treat for the Skattum kids. On Saturday, the kids delivered their response in the form of still-warm, fresh-baked banana bread (with chocolate chunks!), accompanied by their priceless artwork.
We cut into it immediately for a pre-dinner indulgence. Then I had some more for dessert. It was the first thing we ate the next morning for breakfast. What a treat!!
Yesterday, with all that sunshine raining down on us, we took on a number of outdoor chores. With the variety of usual tasks demanding attention, there was really no reason for us to invent a new one. But inspiration doesn’t really follow reason. Cyndie commented about a large rock that was lying mostly out of sight among some of our trees and bushes. Suddenly, I find that we have left all other projects behind to try to dig up this rock. This spontaneous endeavor was on the fringe of even being possible, but there we were, scheming away with improvised tools and methods.
About this time, in stepped our wonderful neighbor, John Lawton, to offer a hand, a plan, and a better prying tool. Without a moment’s hesitation, John joined our rudderless effort, offering his help, regardless our not knowing where we were going with this boulder. The extreme difficulty in moving it helped to determine where we would ultimately place it. As short a distance necessary to move from out of sight to a very decorative spot on the edge of the trees.
Our simple thanks seem entirely inadequate. Good neighbors are a true blessing and we have been richly blessed.
At Work
Today’s post is coming to you directly from my desk at work on a Saturday morning. This is not the place where I would like to be, yet I am grateful for the opportunity to be employed. We are busy, busy, busy with business and have been for quite some time. So much busy are we, that I must be getting to the tasks at hand and not writing blog posts. Consider this an abbreviated something today. Why, I didn’t even have time to scrounge up an image to post to at least make this visually appealing. Tomorrow looks to be my day of leisure for the week. Wonder what that will bring about for Relative Something. …?
It’s Mary’s Birthday!
I’ve often wished that this song had become the new universal birthday anthem. Just insert the proper name in place of Johnny’s. Today, insert Marebare, and sing along, loud and proud. My big sis is another year wiser today. Have a great day, Mary! Like having the wind at your back on a beautiful bike ride!
Good Bad
The good news is that the volatile spring weather calmed down enough to allow the asphalt company to seal our driveway as planned yesterday. Meanwhile, my car is in for service, and I’m using Cyndie’s, since she is out-of-town. I got home from work to find the promised ribbon across the entrance to our driveway. The asphalt looks practically brand new with that fresh coat of sealant. I parked the car in the street at the end of the drive. The bad news is that the volatile spring weather reared up and stormed hail down on Cyndie’s car about an hour later.
