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I’ve
always heard that …"You never appreciate the value of something until you
lose it." Most of the time that applies to such things as water, jobs,
spouse or whatever. I am going to use it this week to discuss various parts of
our bodies. No, don’t stop reading, this isn’t going to turn out weird or
something, I just want to make a point. Years ago, I had to have knee surgery.
The doctor suggested that we operate on both knees at the same time, but I opted
to just do one. Wise person, me.
After the surgery, I was in a hip cast for about
12 weeks. Then came therapy for several months before I was fully recovered.
During those months, it became very clear to me just how much I use my knees on
a daily basis. I found it very difficult to get out of bed, get into the shower,
go downstairs, and get in or out of a car. Driving was out of the question for
several months and I had to rely on the kindness of others to get me from place
to place. Sure made me glad I decided not to have both knees operated on at the
same time.
Last year I was attending a funeral and the door
to the church slammed shut on one of my elbows when I was leaving. Doesn’t
seem too bad does it? However, it ended up being badly bruised and has taken
almost a year to heal. I am about a half way hypochondriac and was certain I had
some type of rare bone disease or something. This thing hurt. Of course, it
ended up being nothing and has eventually gotten better. In the mean time I’ve
had to change my sleeping positions to accommodate not being able to stretch my
left arm.
When you’ve gotten used to sleeping in certain
positions for as long as I have, it’s really hard to teach an old dog new
tricks. I tried pillows, blankets, you name it and nothing worked. Made for many
miserable nights. This past week I was cutting something up and sliced the end
of my thumb really bad. You never know how many things you use your thumb for
until you start to feel it. You can’t button a shirt or your pants. You
can’t dial a cell phone; not that this is all bad. It’s just amazing the
number of times a day that you start to do some ordinary activity and pain
rushes in to remind you of this seemly small injury. The other thing I’ve
noticed, is how clumsy I am. Whatever I’ve hurt or injured manages to get hit
against a door, bed or chair at least 25 times each and every day. I know I hit
my elbow going through every door in the house for about 6 months or so. Same
with this thumb. Seems like nearly each and every minute I was managing to smash
it into a table or hit it with something or another. Yesterday, I was drinking a
cup of coffee and managed to drop the cup on my bad thumb. What’s with this
stuff?
Fortunately all of this stuff goes away sooner or
later and I heal up and go on with my life. Some folks who lose a limb or some
part of their body have to readapt all over again to get through their daily
routine. My heart goes out to them. Straying for the story line, I also would
like to add that I believe we’re all spoiled when it comes to modern
conveniences. This past weekend, I was working on some project here in the
house, when a huge rainstorm came up and the electricity got knocked out for 4
or 5 hours. The temperature before the storm was around 100 degrees so naturally
the old air-conditioning was running full blast. After some thirty minutes or
so, it became apparent that the juice wasn’t going to come back on line
anytime soon, and we started getting out the candles so we could read. Then we
started trying to get the windows unstuck, the painters having forgotten what we
told them about not painting them shut. We managed to get several open and
create a cross breeze through the house, but not enough to be anywhere
comfortable. This is turning out to be a nightmare and is ceasing to be
fun.
You begin to realize how dependent we are on our
creature comforts in just a short period of time. While I managed to get a spot
in front of a window, and enough light to read my book, I jump up and think
I’d like some popcorn. Wrong, no microwave. Ok, then we’ll call for a
pizza…..Nope, no phone. Even the trusty old light in the refrigerator was out
and I had to use a flashlight to find the mustard. Did solve that mystery
though, the light does go off sometime. Later on that evening, the lights came
back on, the fans worked, the icemaker made ice, the coffeepot perked and made
fresh coffee. The rain had cooled everything down and we sat out on the porch
under the stars and had a chance to reflect on just how lucky we were to be
alive. My thumb had quit throbbing, I hardly noticed my elbow, the dog was
asleep and all was right with my world. Lots of things to give thanks for
aren’t there? This next week ask yourself this question….."Why is lemon
juice made with artificial flavoring and dishwashing liquid made with real
lemons?" Send your answers and comments to me at www.pearyperry.com.
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