December 5, 2019
Feats Don’t Fail Me Now
Little Feat 1976
4 Miles. Today, that was my goal and that’s what I did. 4 Miles on the Precor elliptical at the gym. Added to the last 5 days, that makes 20 miles this week, so I am taking a break from my schedule and spending the day on me.
This may seem minor to most but for me, after the summer I have put in, it is far from it. On May 2nd I had, as witnessed by the x-ray above (hey! I’m saving you from the actual photos of the wounds!) what can only be described as a bionic experience in which they essentially cut off four toes and repositioned them back onto my foot. Because the first surgery was not right (another blog for less than gratitudinal issues), on July 8th I had a second op that (again, a less than perfect outcome) forced an infection into my bone (Osteomyelitis) and led me to my savior, Dr. Jackson Crough (JC, to the initiated) and the limb salvage clinic.
Just in time. Without their massive and other-worldly efforts, I might have actually lost major portions of, if not my entire, foot. The process involved daily IV infusions into a catheter into my heart and daily “dunkings” (2 ½ hours a day) in a hyperbaric oxygen tank to supercharge my blood with pure oxygen. The process took 7 weeks. That was pretty much all of August and September. Are you counting yet? That’s 5 months.
Then the physical therapy began.
Making my body get up out of a chair and actually walk was the start. Manipulating the now frozen joints into action was the practice. I had to get all new shoes as my stance, posture, and shoe size had all changed. Walking winded me. Moving made me ache. Every challenge pointed out just how hard these recuperative ventures are when you reach my vaunted age. More energy, more time, more pain, less results. It’s a bitch-slap to the head from Mother Nature.
Two weeks ago, I hiked 4 ½ miles into the canyons. I thought I might die. I had such friends along that their will for me lifted me up and pulled me on to the finish. Maybe a tad aggressive for my first venture out but…….I did it.
Today, I ran 4 miles.
Today, I am thankful for GOOD doctors, modern medicine, an iron will, and an “iron lung”….of sorts.