Not Back but On to Step One

  So, it has been a while since I have posted anything about my health. Let’s catch everybody up-to-date.


When I started talking about things, I was talking about pain. I was talking about the knee. And then, other things started popping up. I remember the time that I said what it was intended to be step one was actually going to be step three.


Well, we are finally getting to step one. The issues with my kidney, after the kidney stone and the scarring and the bypass, seem to be under control. This time a year ago, I was worrying about whether I would be permanently living with the external drain on my kidney. Blessedly, that has not been the case. The bypass that they did when they took out the nephrostomy seems to be functioning fine. My left kidney is not perfectly happy, but my urologist is happy with how things are going.


The issues with my cancer are also manageable. Since I started on my hormone therapy, I have been comfortable, and my PSA has been where it was supposed to be. My oncologist is happy. I had some issues with iron, and my iron is where it is supposed to be. I had some adjustments to make to the thought of living with cancer. I had to adjust to the idea where I am right now is that I am living with cancer, and not dying of cancer. We’ll see where that goes, but I am blessed to have everything currently stable. I have a Support Group.. I think I said something about how it is as much Bible Study as it is Support Group, but they are good guys and we do listen to each other.


And so I am finally getting back to step one. On Monday, I will be getting a new right knee. I’ve actually been preparing for it for weeks. The resistance training that I was doing because of my cancer medications has been good for it. I had time to get physical therapy, and that also has helped. My physical therapist is very positive about how this is going to go. He said something very interesting: immediately after the surgery, I won’t have the pain I’ve been living with. I will have a whole different set of pains as ligaments and tendons adjust to positions they hadn’t been in in a long time, and as I recover from a major incision. And, nicely enough, all around me are friends and neighbors telling me how they had them done years ago, and they’ve felt great about it.


That doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been difficult. I have been pushing myself to be as ready physically for this as I can be. I have support from Karen and from others to be as cared for us I can be. I have been prayed for, and I am being prayed for.


At the same time, I’m getting into a different part of the ritual. Tonight and every night until the surgery I am washing my legs with antiseptic soap. Karen has been on a tear, making sure that my room is as clean and my bathroom is sanitized as possible. All of this is people working to help me do well.


It feels kind of odd to think that my Lenten discipline was expressed more on exercise machines than in prayer. I talked to God a lot, and I watched a lot of Bible study videos on YouTube. - the ones that makes sense for an Episcopalian. I have gotten this far by God’s grace, and with God’s help. I just haven’t used a lot of the more traditional ways of working with God.


And now, I am praying and trusting for God to be with me when I go to the hospital on Monday morning. That I do believe.

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