The road to seventy is full of potholes
You're driving down a Chicago street in the winter. Your goal is to avoid the slick icy spots and keep from spinning out of control. If you manage that, there are still plenty of potholes that try to pull you down and bend your frame.
Winter turns into summer. Those damaged roads of six months earlier are filled with workers doing repairs.
The drive is never easy. While you wish you could take a peaceful, mellow cruise towards your destination, you know in your heart that it's unlikely.
Life, as you head towards age seventy is similar to driving on those Chicago streets. Most likely you'll get there, but there will probably be some life potholes and repairs on the way.
January 2022. A little less than six months until seventy. One hundred sixty-two days to be exact. The first road bump came on the twentieth. Stomach surgery. A four-night hospital stay. Damn! I drove directly into the pothole. The tires were blown out and the frame was bent. The good news is it was fixable. The street workers came and did their job. In fact, two months later, they're still here, but spending less time each day. They're working part-time now.
But, when you recovering from one pothole doesn't mean you're all clear. There's always another one just down the road.
A few years ago I started having issues with my shoulder. We thought it was a rotator cuff injury, but an MRI showed that was fine. Phew. It was like a spin on an icy spot, but I turned into the spin and recovered. But as I continued the drive, apparently I ran into an unseen pothole. My bicep was shredding from its socket on my shoulder. Surgery wasn't needed for this. It can be handled with a cortisone shot. Yep, those part-time street workers did their job. The relief from the injection lasted for six months. When the pain returned, we repeated the shot. It worked again. There have now been six cortisone shots over the last three years.
The plan was to keep doing this until it didn't take. Earlier this month it didn't take. Six months of being pain-free turned into two months.
This led to another MRI. The good news is the rotator cuff still is fine. The bad news is the bicep is worse. It's just barely hanging on. How does this get resolved? SURGERY!!
Damn! Another pothole!
Those damn street repair workers are coming back and they're going to be working harder and staying longer this time. That's because the recovery time for this is estimated at close to three months. Hmmm...doing the math that puts it almost at the exact time I hit that magic number of SEVENTY!!
Sigh! I knew the road to this destination wasn't going to be a breeze, but I had no idea it was going to be all winter driving. Ice and potholes!
Where the Hell is Spring?
Related Post: The year of being seventy
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