It was quite the week. The last seven days we put over 2,000 miles on the car, traveled through seven states, hiked many miles of mountain trails, rented a VRBO with a pool that we shared with some of our grown kids, rented a side by side ATV and did some serious off roading, had dual surgeries in a brand new robotic operating room on its opening day and returned home last night with all my parts in their proper location for the first time in months.
As this was the fourth surgical procedure for me in less than a year I’m very happy to still be among the living and looking forward to getting back on the tennis and pickleball courts in a few weeks. This week I’ll do very little besides some light walking but after four weeks I’ll be able to ease back into the active lifestyle I prefer. It’s crazy hot right now, which is perfectly normal for the southern swampy area we live in. If I had to pick a time to be under house arrest I couldn’t have scheduled it better.
I guess because I’m an engineer I’m always planning for the worst outcomes. I’m generally an optimistic guy and expect the best but we are taught to plan for all contingencies. In fact we are legally required to subject the things we design to a very elaborate system of worst case scenario planning. That carries over to everyday life as well because it is so ingrained into us by our training. Since there is always the chance that surgery might not go well I tried to pack as much fun into the days before as possible.
Since I knew I’d be unable to hike after the operation for weeks we planned as much of that as we could. We also ate out at nice restaurants and enjoyed all our favorite foods. We drove over a thousand miles to see my super high tech surgeon in Denver rather than fly there because the surgery was on July 5th and the airports were predicted to be a major disaster over the holiday weekend. From all the news accounts that was a brilliant decision! Plus it allowed us to split up the trip and detour to some beautiful country in Buena Vista and Salida Colorado.
It was not nearly as hot out West as it is here at home so the off roading and hiking were a lot of fun. And, oddly, we saw few other people when we were out on the trails. I guess Colorado is so vast and the areas we picked to explore were not the most popular ones, so even in peak tourist season we had things to ourselves. My wife and I abhor crowds so this was just the way we prefer it.
All in all it was a great seven days. There is nothing fun about surgery or recovery but I had been tolerating a lot of pain and it will be so nice having that gone from my life. It was to the point that tennis and pickleball had stopped being much fun, but that’s over now thankfully. Seeing our kids was awesome, seeing the adults they’ve become is mind bending. When you can remember changing their diapers, dropping them off for their first day of school, telling them bed time stories, seeing them now as adults wrestling with the same challenges we faced at their age. It’s just pretty cool.
So right now if I had to pick a word to describe how I feel it would have to be thankful. Thankful I’m here and healthy. Thankful my spouse of over forty years of marriage had my back all week and will continue to put up with my whining. Thankful for the doctors, nurses and other medical professionals that did their thing to perfection. And thankful for my friends, family and readers who were hoping things went well, which they did.
What about you, did you have an eventful week?
Did anyone try to fly over the holiday weekend, and if so was it the nightmare that the news made it out to be?
As usual if you can’t find the comment box then click on the title at the top of the post, now why does that work I wonder?
hey steve. i’m glad to here you’re on the mend….again. we also abhor crowds especially in the woods. you see tv news footage of the popular parks and it reminds me of not wanting to go to disney for the same reasons.
i just wrote a post about the merits of driving vs. flying in 2022. if i remember correctly you just visited norfolk/tidewater area of virginia recently? even though that part if horrific for car travel it still beats getting on a plane for me.
I agree Freddy. We did visit Virginia, two of our grown kids live there. For us the trip is half the fun, we always end up seeing new things and eating new places. Thanks for the kind thoughts!
Good call to drive, seems any trip that requires being airborne is a high risk venture these days (I have to fly to a Board meeting later this month, dreading my first flight in over a year). Great call to get in some activities before you were laid up, time to get some R&R and recover! Like you, it’s brutally hot here in GA, too. We hunkered down over the 4th, but are planning our traditional August month back up North in our RV. Nice chance to escape the heat, see some family, and visit some new State Parks along the way. Best of luck with your recover!
Thanks Fritz! And yes, especially now but actually any time I much prefer driving to flying. Georgia is legendary for summer heat so I bet it’s every bit as bad or worse there. Today is forecast 114 heat index. I may go say high to the outdoor pickleballers but I’m not likely to hang around for more than a couple of hugs cause it’s just too hot! Sounds like a fun road trip. We visited the newest national park recently, the New River Gorge National Park, in West VA. It was pretty cool.
Hey Steve,
You’re on the other side! Now your body can start healing and before you know it, the 4 weeks will be over.
Packing in a week of activity pre-surgery is exactly what I would do too. And driving vs. flying is always my preferred method if time permits.
July is a great time to sit in the AC and write blog posts. Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery.
I didn’t have any great planning foresight, I just injured myself early in the summer and that set the surgery for now, but if I could have planned it this would be the best time. Fishing is pretty bad in the peak heat, tennis and pickle ball start feeling like an endurance contest and not sports. Thanks for checking in Steve!
Glad the surgery went well for you!
Sounds like your wife is a real trouper to fit all that activity in before your surgery, and then helping to care for you afterward. She deserves a hearty thank-you!
Yeah Froogal, I got very lucky 44 years ago when we got married!
Warning. This will sound totally crazy. Think about adding an indoor activity to your hobbies, one that gets you moving but not as physically demanding as pickle ball or hiking. One that you can do sooner post-op. One that you and your wife do together. One that is mentally challenging, while you are moving about. And that activity is…square dancing! Crazy, right?!
Stick with me for a minute. My wife and I dipped our toes in the water of square dancing right after our 35th anniversary. A couple of friends encourage us to try it. Go to one lesson, they said. I was resistant (I can’t dance), but what the heck. Fast forward ten years. My wife and I are passionate square dancers, enjoying local dancing once or twice a week as well as traveling (by car) to festivals and workshops. It turns out to be a classic Flow activity. As challenging as you can handle, balancing competence with a bit of anxiety (result, adrenaline).
Before you say “ridiculous”, check out MIT Tech Squares, their website and YouTube. We are surrounded by engineers when we dance. That’s because high-level square dancing is puzzle-solving and appeals to engineering minds.
Anyway, I’ll say just one more thing. I too was a CEO before retiring at age 61. Square dancing was one activity during the week where I had to be in the moment, focused. A form of mindfulness. You can’t be thinking about strategic planning or your town hall meeting with employees or the Board Finance Committee tomorrow. Staying in the moment, listening, essentially a rapid-fire OODA loop.
OK, I’ll take a breath from what may seem like crazy cultish advocacy. (I know, you’re thinking about how to politely respond to this crazy dude. Look at the MIT stuff first.) Indoor physical activity, with wife (and other nice people who will become friends), challenging mentally (can become very challenging…you will never totally master everything a great caller can throw at you), surrounded by engineering minds, can do post-op sooner than hiking. Checks a lot of boxes. What’s not to like?
That’s a clever idea Dave, but my web search shows the state organization is defunct and the only adult club is five hours away from here. My wife and I did country and western dancing back in the day and I was definitely an engineer that added weight to the stereotype that we are bad dancers. Fortunately I’m only a couple of weeks away from resuming outdoor activities and one of those we will spend on a road trip to Michigan so I should be able to retain my remaining sanity for that long.
Glad your recovery is coming along. Too bad you don’t live near a square dance club. Anyway, be sure and explore MIT Tech Squares, just for expanding your education. I guarantee it’s not what you think. Wife and I just returned from a fun and challenging weekend travel to “dance-by-definition” workshops and dance. Minds are blown. Its mental puzzle solving.
Could you tell us the name of the excellent facility/ medical group that handled your surgery?
Denver Esophogeal and Stomach Center.
Happy to hear your surgery went well.
I really enjoyed your comment about seeing your kids all grown up and remembering changing their diapers. That must be a weird moment- I can’t imagine myself thinking those thoughts since I’m in the thick of it.
I hate to tell you Gym, that life passed by like a bullet train when you look back on it from my age!