Those of you following this blog will know the story about my friend T who works for a friend/client of mine. At Christmas time he scraped his foot while swimming and by March his foot had been amputated. He is still getting around on crutches while he awaits a prosthetic foot.
I was upset once again yesterday when I was told that T was admitted to hospital last Thursday with deep vein thrombosis in the remaining ‘good’ leg. He remains hospitalised at this time and I will contact his son later this morning to get the latest update. The grave danger and possible consequences in this situation do not have to be spelled out.
What really, really gets to me is that this whole unfolding crisis could quite probably have been avoided completely. It need never have happened.
T really needs to supplement his pension income, his employer wants to accommodate this but also has to deal with T’s lengthy absences from work. It has placed my client in a difficult situation which will have to resolved one way or another.
When we blithely ignore the warning signs that our lifestyle is causing our bodies to deteriorate, we are literally toying with our lives. There are thousands of medical conditions that can befall us over which we have no control whatsoever. Surely it makes sense to take charge of what we can control and influence? But we just don’t do it.
I am relentlessly driven by a number of things to continue on my odyssey back to optimal (optimum?!) wellness. I cannot just let it go. I cannot just let things slide – much as I am so often tempted to do. I deviate from the path – badly sometimes – and yet I cannot throw in the towel.
- I value my financial independence and the lifestyle that this affords me.
- I dread the day my children have to step up to the plate and provide for me financially.
- I fear being dependant on others to care for me physically. I cared for my dying mom-in-law for over a year before she died and it was a harrowing experience for both of us. Well do I remember the two of us crying bitterly in each other’s arms as I changed her filthy disposable nappy yet again. The anguish she suffered from the pain and loss of dignity is something that still lives with me 26 years later.
- I am angry at myself for the stupidity I exhibited over many years in not looking after my health and lifestyle. I still exhibit this same stupidity ; work and stressful deadlines still predominate in my life.
One small consolation is that sanity has now prevailed long enough for me to appoint a temporary office assistant. After only 3 mornings with us, the ‘advent of Nicky’ is changing my office landscape and I will talk more about this in a later post.
Eileen's Odyssey 