In less than six months I had two unrelated surgeries, successfully fought the Angel of Death and received a bionic arm.
Some of you are wondering if this is just one of my stories or if it is truth and the answer is it is mostly factual. There were two surgeries, a trip to the ER, blood transfusions and it all happened in between October and now.
Did I mention I am grateful for insurance and in what may seem like a contradiction pretty good health overall.
But before we get into some of that let’s go back to Some Stories End So Others Can Begin.
I Am Falling
Look at the guy in the photo and you know how I feel with regularity but you don’t get the full picture.
Because I always find a way to flip over and try to land like a cat.
Yeah, I dislike cats but compared myself to them anyway…sort of. You’ll never call me catlike unless it is like a tiger or lion attacking food but even then probably not.
And even when I fall I always manage to bounce off the sides of the cliff and hit every other bush and or cactus on the way down. Age makes it harder to get up with the same ease but I still walk on my own.
There is no one else capable of picking me up or caring for me. Got to stand and walk because it is part of life. You get up and go or you die.
Can’t die yet, can’t quit.
I Need To Figure It Out
If you haven’t read about some of the aforementioned events you can click here and work on catching up, go on, we’ll wait for you.
I lost about half of my blood during that four day hospital adventure which led to that almost famous post What Does Almost Dying Teach You?
That’s the one where I cited Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
The one where I thought about how I was still anemic in spite of the blood transfusions and wondered what would happen when I went back for a follow up CBC in February.
Gave some grade A Wilner Prime blood last week and got the answer that I have iron deficiency anemia but they don’t know why.
So the GI who performed all three of my colonoscopies will perform an endoscopy on me, don’t ask me when as it isn’t scheduled.
I am going to tell him if he insists on being this intimate with me I insist on his taking me to dinner. It is time for a proper date.
****
I took the huge brace off of my left arm so I can type this and am smiling because I grew tired of having arm wrapped and secured with a sling for two weeks.
Now I look at the remains of the stitch in my left arm and think about how it looks like the fake scars we made with rubber cement during my school days.
Now I think about when my father was dying from Pancreatic Cancer and how I challenged the Angel of Death to single combat and or the cancer.
“Beat me and you can take both my father and I, but I promise you won’t beat me.”
The taunting didn’t work, cancer and the Malach Hamavet grabbed my Dad and went on their way. You may think it is crazy, but I think that angel came back and took a cheap shot at me in October.
He obviously didn’t win or I wouldn’t be typing this but I wonder if he helped encourage my tendon to pop and or nurtured this anemia.
I told that son-of-a-bitch that he’d get me some day but it wasn’t going to be any time soon. Maybe it’s just coincidence that I have had the worst run of health issues in my life during these past 5 months or maybe he is involved.
Doesn’t really matter, all I care about now is getting the endoscopy done and waiting three months so I can hit the gym with a vengeance.
There’s Steel Inside Me
Now when people ask what I am made of I’ll tell them there is steel inside these bones and it will be partially true.
There is some of metal attached to my bone and my tendon. Doc says it shouldn’t cause any issues with metal detectors which is good.
I know how many of these recent events happened and recognize I have to make a few adjustments in some areas.
Doesn’t mean I am giving up on the plans I have only that I am pivoting and adjusting. Pivoting and adjusting were the lesson of my forties and I learned them well.
Now I want to get that endoscopy done sooner than later because waiting won’t make the news any better or worse. It will only prolong whatever steps big or small need to be taken.
If you ask me what my view is on this time the answer is these medical moments are simply the universe making sure I am physically prepared for the second half of life.
It is nothing more than making sure that I set myself up so when I am 100 I can get off of the toilet on my own, sit down on the floor and stand up…on my own.
This is just prep time for what is to come and if I am wrong, well I am good at pivoting and adjusting.
Watch and see.
Remember I write this for me as much as for you.
Though nothingWill keep us togetherWe could steal timeJust for one dayWe can be heroesFor ever and everWhat d’you say?Heroes- David Bowie
If you want to read past posts click here.
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