Healthy Attitudes

Spoke to John and Maureen over the weekend. It was great, and I don't use that word lightly, to hear my sister sounding so well, especially considering what a mess she was just one year ago. Unfortunately John isn't faring quite so well. He's just had an operation on his neck which has gone well, relieving the sense of weakness he was feelings in his arms. But the operation he really yearns for is the one that will solve the problem of the trapped nerve in his lower back, and the doc is reluctant to go in there, from what I can gather.

Now I know a bit about this kind of pain, and I'm glad it's only a bit. At the time I had a problem with chronic pain, whenever I sat or lay down flat the result was almost instant relief. John's condition isn't quite the same and the difference means everything. When he lies down to sleep he wakes two hours later in intense discomfort and has to get up to seek some relief. This is not good at all. Of course, there's still hope. I still have no real explanation as to why my own problem simply and suddenly disappeared. I assume the nerve became untrapped, as it were, by sheer good fortune. And John is clearly hoping for a similar result.

In the meantime I'm trying to bear two things in mind. The first is that my reprieve is most likely only temporary and it makes good sense to be grateful while it lasts. The second is the tired old, true old cliche that basically it's your health that matters, with all else a very distant second.

Also in the meantime, John and Maureen are popping over to Blackpool next week to get away from it all for a few days of just good old-fashioned fun. A wise move.