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Saturday, July 19, 2008
829 - It feels good to feel good
There was a time not long ago when things just were not going well for me physically. I had a bad sinus infection, my gout had flared up and then a bad cold hit with the accompanying sore throat, coughing and runny nose.
My wife Nancy, who is affectionately referred to by me as Florence Nightingale’s younger sister Attila, was not so sympathetic.
You see I come from a family of spoiled kids – all 11 of us. And our mother always “babied” us when we were sick.
Thus, whenever I have a sniffle or an upset stomach, well, I expect some real sympathy. Instead my dear Attila materializes after about 24 hours.
“You still think you’re sick?” she will ask, with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice. Around my house, if an ambulance isn’t carting you off, you must be doing fine.
It must be admitted that after 42 years of marriage, it seems odd to me that when you are even remotely sick, well, a person should get babied big-time. In conversations with other husbands, it is amazing how often this odd coincidence is mentioned– we were all babied more by our mothers (in our memories, anyway) that we are by our spouses.
My cold ran its course and was soon done just as Attila had predicted.
A miracle drug called colchicine stopped the gout in its tracks, albeit with a few extra side effects that are not so pleasant. Let’s just stay I did not stray too far from a restroom.
And with the help of some antibiotics, the sinus infection disappeared too. Some chicken soup probably helped, as did a limited amount of scotch. And lots of sleep. But recovery could have been quicker with some serious babying. Oh well.
And since that time, well, it is easy to say, “it feels good to feel good.”
These thoughts on health and well being have come to mind recently as a series of bad events have been happening to friends and people in the news.
Two of the good guys in national media recently died. Tim Russert, 58, was just the best political interviewer and Tony Snow, 53, was a great radio commentator. Tim died of a heart attack and Tony died of colon cancer.
In Wyoming, the loss of Bill Paddleford in Jackson of cancer at the age of 55 is a big loss. He was a hoot. Just a great guy and he had a lot of great work ahead of him. We also lost a young Lander business leader, Joel Martens, 45, who died in this sleep this past week. A big shock.
President of the local Wyoming Catholic College, Fr. Bob Cook, is recovering from a blood clot in the lung. Another friend was recently diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. He is frantically seeing sights all over the world, just on the chance the tumor will turn aggressive.
Two coffee buddies are dealing with prostate cancer. One’s surgery went badly initially. The other one just got the verdict and is having surgery next month.
Personally, I recently had a colonoscopy at Lander Regional Hospital and it was an easy procedure. Also had one of those CT heart and body scans in Denver, which came out fine, too.
We try to go to health fairs and get blood screens to determine how we are doing.
And if gout is the worst thing you have to complain about, well, life is not treating you too badly. Yes, it truly does feel good to feel good. Good health is something that we so often take for granted.
With the above written, it now seems pretty selfish to have felt as bad as I did about my ailments. Plus gout is a malady that prompts those smug looks. Gout is known as the rich man’s disease and can be exacerbated by wine, beer, steak, etc
I was looking for a health-related joke and all I could find was this one, which pokes fun at a lawyer grilling a pathologist during a trial:
Q: Before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse? A: No.
Q: Did you check blood pressure? A: No.
Q: Did you check breathing? A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible the patient was alive when you began the autopsy? A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, doctor? A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless? A: It is possible he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.
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