10/18/10

Is it time for one of those annoying 'perspective' posts where I try to sound as if I've figured out some deeper meaning in the world?  Yes, I suppose it is time. 

While I've been fighting some injury issues lately, I have no doubt that I'll get to the point where things are somewhat normal again.  Years and years of injuries have left me in a state where my 'normal' probably involves a little more pain than most people's 'normal' but, you know, close enough.  Maybe I'll have to give in and have a doctor fix something before much longer here, but I'll be okay in the end.  To be perfectly honest, quite a bit of this situation is probably an offshoot of my own curiosity to see if I can prevail without any help.  Some of you have meaningful goals in life.  I don't.  So I end up with stupid shit like this as motivation.

In contrast, my buddy Mr. Pedro had a fall at home yesterday and wound up in the hospital.  The testing that the doctors are doing hasn't turned up any problems that they can see, but for whatever reason he hasn't been able to muster the strength to move himself around and such.  Given his ongoing struggle against dementia, I suspect that he's slowly losing the motivation to care for himself.  Each successive problem that he encounters seems to be one more step toward the day when he just might not be okay in the end.  Heart trouble earlier in the year, the loss of his wife in the spring, a bump on the head a couple of weeks ago, and now this latest incident.  I saw him tonight and he's still got some fight left in him, to be sure, but when you're 97 years old you might not keep winning the battles forever.  And so my leg pain wasn't much of a concern today.

I'm not sure what time I finally got out of bed today, but it was after noon.  After unwinding from last night's workout and doing some reading, I must have gone to bed today at 7am or so.  Not exactly a productive way to start a day off.  I hadn't intended to leave home at all, given that I only have one day to rest before I'm back to work and dealing with whatever symptoms my crazy leg decides to throw at me.  Then my roommate and the reverand showed up and told me about the old man.  They had gone up to the hospital this morning and visited for a while.  They told me that Mr. Pedro was still a little shaky but improving.  (In the absence of human cloning, I recommend getting an unemployed friend to stay in your extra bedroom for a while.  They have all the free time in the world, allowing them to act as stand-ins when you're too tired or busy to do much socializing.)

Later, after the three of us had gone out to dinner, we swung by the hospital to see how the rev's father was doing.  It probably doesn't surprise you that my conversational style, even with the elderly (perhaps especially so), isn't quite the same as that of most people.  It may surprise you though that my style seems to bring the old fella to life a little bit.  Of course the others would have their say of the blah blah blah stuff - "Do you need anything?  How are you feeling?  What did the nurses say?...  ZZZzzzzzzzzzz..."  Not me though.  Mr. Pedro and I talk about things like attractive nurses, trucking (he used to be a fleet mechanic), and Detroit politics.  Apparently we're also going turkey hunting once he gets a little stronger, so I have that going for me... which is nice.

I'm pretty sure that my old buddy's spirits were lifted at least a little bit by the time we left the hospital. If nothing more, at least his eyes seemed to have brightened a bit.  The rehab people are gonna have a go at him tomorrow and see if they can get him to start walking a little more.

As for me, I'll be spending tomorrow pretending to be a real trucker again.  As long as my crazy leg doesn't change symptoms on me, this is good news.  The present situation is such that walking is bad and sitting is good, so a run to Eighty Four, Pennsylvania should be just what the doctor ordered.  I spent most of today off my feet and I'll spend most of tomorrow off my feet as well.  Maybe we can turn the corner on this sucker after all.  I don't think I've had consecutive days yet in which I avoided aggravating the situation.  Tomorrow could be an important day.  Or maybe not.  I don't know.  It's another one over $300 though.  I do know that much.  And that, as we say here at Tales from the Road, is better than a kick in the balls.