Some People Have All Kinds Of Excuses

You know the type.  Maybe you're one.  I certainly am a person who can come up with all kinds of excuses to avoid doing things I really don't want to do.  Procrastination is probably one of the Seven Deadly Sins.  If not, it should be.  I can procrastinate about all kinds of things.  Highest on the list is housework.  I have 100, fresh, ready excuses for you to explain why the beds remain unmade and the stacks of stuff continue to decorate every room in the house.  In my house, if you put down a stack of something, it's likely to be there 5 years later and its new name is a decorative element.  Too bad if you don't share my sense of decor(um).  LOL.

So, back to the excuses.  Do you have excuses for not walking?  Let me guilt you for a moment.

I recently had a fairly simple, quick, same-day procedure for carpal tunnel release.  In the operating room for a few minutes, in the recovery room for an hour, then home with a bandage on the small wound and do whatever you want the next day.  That part about doing what you want the next day is a direct quote from the mouth of my delightful and very accomplished hand surgeon.  I was fine for 5 days.  On day 6, I had a stitch abscess.  My dear husband called the nurse practitioner (cuz the doc was on vacation and we knew that).  The N.P. said, hey, dude, you're (my husband) a doctor.  If it looks infected to you, start her on this antibiotic.  So, start we did.  The next day and two doses of oral antibiotic later, there were gooey piles of pus (sorry if you're eating your Hershey bar)  oozing from my hand.  My husband call the N.P again and she told me to come to the office.  Her official opinion was, "Oh, gross."  She called in a junior partner (Orthopedist MD), who said, "Oh, gross."  Do you see a pattern here??  Six hours later, I was back in the O.R. with my original hand surgeon having my wound dredged, probed, cleared, and dried out.  And, a PIC line inserted so I could receive intravenous antibiotics at home.

What!!!  I actually almost yelled at the Infectious Disease specialist who decided I needed to be on IV's.  I actually said to him, stridently, "I can't be on IV's.  I have to walk 3 miles every day."  To be fair, the very nice ID doc did not laugh at me or chide me.  He said, 'You can do anything you want.  You can carry your IV pole down the street if you want."  Yes, he actually said that!  I swear.  Then, he cleverly left the room.

Fortunately for me, after I was tossed around between home health companies til they found one that fit my insurance (and missing two doses of antibiotics in the process), my dear husband - who had not done an infusion in over 30 years - hooked me and the IV up for about an hour twice a day.  No, I did not carry the IV pole down the street.  But, I did walk between those sessions.  I did not stop walking.  For me, especially when I'm ailing, I am unable to sleep unless I get my walk in.

So thanks to Dr Tim and Dr Matt, I'm all healed, Dr Tim says I can take up boxing if I want (I think I do) and Dr.  Matt wants me to stay out of his line of sight.  No, that's not fair.  He's a great guy with a bad patient (me) and he did just the right thing.  And, lucky for me he's got both a thick skin and a great sense of humor.

So, when you think you have an excuse to remain slumped on the sofa, think of me with my PIC line in, walking on the trails through my favorite park.  If I can do that, you're excuse for not walking today is simply, well, lame.




*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.