New Wheels for Tim

On Saturday Tim traded in his pick-up and became the proud owner of a shiny new Honda Civic. He came by this evening to take his mom for a spin. What fun! That new-car smell always gives me a little "high."

Congratulations, Tim! May you travel many happy miles in this little blue beauty.

A Pain by Any Other Name

Remember Juliet's famous lines, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

Last week, as my doctor was pushing that needle deep into my knee joint, he told me, "You're going to feel some pressure now." Afterward (though not at that very moment) I had to laugh at his reluctance to use the word "pain."

It reminded me of our Lamaze instructor, back in the '70s, who told us there would be "periods of discomfort" during the latter stages of labor.

And then there's my very kind and capable dentist, who is always careful to prepare me, as he's about to inject Novocaine into my gums, with these words: "Okay, you're going to feel a little pinch now."

"Pressure"? "Discomfort"? "Pinch"? Ha! I wonder if old Will will mind if I take some liberties with his beautiful and famous lines:

What's in a word? that which we call a pain
By any other word would feel as sharp;

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for rescuing this fool.

Thank you, Lord, that my computer, which died at work yesterday, only had a bad power supply rather than a crashed/trashed hard drive.

Thank you, Lord, for our Technician, Gary, who was able to move my hard drive into a new tower.

Thank you, Lord, that my database revisions, which represent approximately 100 hours of labor and were not backed up, were not lost.

Thank you, Lord, for a wake-up call. My revisions are no longer on my desktop, but on the shared drive which is backed up on a regular basis.

Amen

Ouch!

I saw the orthopedic surgeon today, to discuss the prospects of knee surgery. Dan went with me, and I was happy to have him there.

The doctor said that the arthritis in that knee is pretty severe, and that there are some "spurs" forming. But he feels like we should try a few things before jumping (pun intended) into surgery. Today he gave me a cortisone injection (and Dan, who was holding my hand, says he still has nail marks!). The hope is that this injection will give temporary relief from the pain, so that I can do some physical therapy and strengthen the muscles surrounding the knee. He says that stronger muscles might actually reduce the swelling and the pain, but if not, stronger muscles will certainly make recovery from a future surgery easier.

I'll see him again in a month or so, after starting physical therapy. What he said made sense. No need to rush into major surgery without trying other options or without making sensible physical preparations.

But OUCH! That injection wasn't fun.