Personal Note: The Debilitants

I like the word, “debilitant.”  One who is debilitated.  Maybe I should have called a word of interest.  But it’s wrapped in a personal note post given that we are two debilitants here.

We have a house headed with the disabled.  A week and a half ago my wife severely sprained her ankle.  Actually the Emergency Room at the hospital thought it was fractured.  As it turned out, when she went to an orthopedist for a follow up, it turned out that what the ER saw on the x-ray was a previous hair line event that left a mark.  If anyone remembers, I had a similar experience a year and a half ago where the initial assessment on my foot was fracture but upon follow up with an orthopedist determined to be only a sprain.  I had posted here on it.  

My wife’s ankle was more severely sprained than mine.  Her ankle was swollen to almost twice the size and she’s had to wear a boot.  And it was her driving foot, which made driving impossible.  In time the swelling has come down, enough to fit her shoe on and do the necessary car excursions, such as take Matthew to school.  Special thanks to one of Matthew’s schoolmate’s mom, who picked up and drove Matthew to school for a week.

How did this sprain occur?  Well, you remember our dog Rosie? 

She is probably the most hyperactive, annoying dog we’ve ever had.  I can’t even begin to list what she’s done.  I’ll reserve her own post for that.  And to be fair, she is a sweet and affectionate dog.  It’s just that she’s so darn persistent at whatever she sets her mind on.  What happened was that after a morning walk, my wife was stopped in front of the house facing in a particular direction.  Rosie was facing roughly ninety degrees in another direction.  She saw some critter.  Could have been a squirrel or a cat, not sure what.  My wife was not expecting Rosie to pull.  When Rosie saw another animal, her desire is to run to greet it.  She pulled and my wife being off directional was twisted around and down.  She didn’t fall to the ground but I think she said she caught herself on Rosie’s back.  By mid-day her ankle had swelled and was in such pain she needed to go to the ER.  It’s finally at a point where she can walk for a little ore than a few minutes.

What’s my disability?  Well, I have a hernia.  Hernia specialist called it a “left inguinal hernia.”  How did I get it?  I’ll tell you how I think I got, but doctor didn’t think it caused it.  It was last August.  I was walking down the stairs from our upstairs while carrying Tiger’s litter box.  I couldn’t exactly see each step since it’s a little bulky.  But I’ve come down those steps millions of times in the 20-something years of living here.  What I didn’t count on was my son had left some of his notebooks on the steps.  Like a perfect cartoon sketch, my foot slid with the book and I went bouncing down the steps.  I landed on my behind and bounced down about six steps, my behind smacking each step.  With each bounce on a step, I could feel my belly jiggle like a rubber band.  The next day my behind was sore, but three days later I felt a pain in my belly.  And the pain spread to my groin, and it wouldn’t go away. 

It wasn’t excruciating pain, just a nagging ache.  Six months later I went for a physical and doctor thought I had hernia.  He sent me to a hernia specialist, and he confirmed it.  He said it was mild to moderate.  Doctor thought it was more a genetic predisposition.  One of my grandfathers did have a hernia.  Perhaps both are true, a predisposition and the bouncing on my tush which activated it.  Who knows?

Well, on Monday the 23^rd I’ll be going in for a repair surgery.  It’s supposed to be less than an hour procedure: three incisions and placing a mesh that reinforces the abdominal muscles.  I think I’ll be in good hands.  The doctor preforming the procedure is actually quoted in the WebMD article on it.  Look on the second page, my hernia specialist is that Dr. Michael Costellano.

Still no one ever knows when one goes in for an operation.  Look at what happened to Joan Rivers.  So while I don’t usually ask for prayers for me, I could use a few on Monday.