How Lucky Am I….

I suppose that we all ask that question, some poeple would ask a lot more than others; I would be among that group.  Finding out that I have had not one, but two meningiomas (brain tumors) that have had  to be removed NOW; gone through a seven week time period of radition; spent a LOT of hospital time atUCLA , and more medical time in the facility there; periods of time where my physical being was exhausted, unbalanced, and weak….I guess that we could go on and on about this, but why. 

I have SO much to be thankful for, and every day I do give thanks for “How Lucky Am I”.  I mean, how would you like to be on the receiving end of a doctor sneezing?  Not me.  How Lucky Am I that he didn’t; or make a wrong cut; or the fact that the anesthesiologist listened to my little story; He was the same anesthesiologist who was on my first operation, but when I came out of that one, whee dogie did I get sick,  to the point where they put a big pan on my chest to , as they say, puke in.  I told him that story before going in for the second surgery, and he said he could attempt to  fix that, as he studied the medical recordings.  He did.  I was only in the ICU for about 6-7 hours, then I said that I was going to walk, and guess what?  I did.  Felt good, too.  Just so much in me felt good, you just have to believe, really believe that things will come out as you have prayed for them to, and actually feel at peace if it doesn’t.

I’m not saying all of this for the big “pat on the back”, or “you’ve been through so much” type of thing.  No, it’s really about how lucky am I?  When I think about how I recovered, and how much trust I had in  that recovery, because I did meet people who didn’t have such luck, I just thank, thank, thank.  There are a lot of people who didn’t have, let’s say, a little more optimism, also.  That goes a long way, too.  In so many areas of our lives, there’s always two ways to look at things, and boy, do I prefer the half-full!

I also understand that I was maybe a couple of steps ahead, physically, going in, due to my background in fitness.  You study this in books, you put your time in, in the gym through the years.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, can prepare you, and better educate you, than going through what I went through and then rehabilitating myself.  I hope NO one has to have their education in this manner, no one.  Trust what you read, and practice what you preach. Let me say that again, PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH. I’m SO glad that I did.  Now THAT’S what saved me, what I did BEFORE. Not waiting for rehab, or any other type of recovery after, it’s the before. What made me turn in this direction, when I had  studied for an engineering degree?  I don’t know, maybe I didn’t like that stuff.   This, fitness and athletics, was always in my background, since I was eight years old, how can I change my style now? Let’s go back to school, get my credentials, and work with people, give them all this stuff that I got!  How lucky am I, that I can do this?  Crazy, how life is.

There is one constant that will happen to each and every one of us.  We will get old.  The older we get, things WILL happen.  We sprain, we strain, we break, we fall, or, things inside our heads need to come out.  Whatever it is, you have to recover; and the older we get, we just need to have some sort of a fitness regime in our lives to make our recovery easier.  It could be just a walk, or stretching, yoga, something that makes you constantly aware of your phsically being.  It’s the after-trauma scenario that, at that point, is either easy (so to speak), or hard.  Life has it’s ups and downs, let’s take as much of the easy stuff as we can.  Keep yourself up, keep yourself moving, and always enjoy what you do. Here’s what you have to remember, you get to treat YOU.  Pick something that you know is your time, and let you indulge yourself in your time; we’re like machines, if we don’t service the machines, they( we) break down.  Let’s not break down.  Let’s treat ourselves, let’s know that what we are doing for ourselves is enhancing our lives.  Let’s treat our thoughts, too, by acknowledging “HOW LUCKY AM I” time, after time, after time…….