Yesterday, I underwent a routine medical procedure. This morning I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Oh, nothing all that serious. Just the common aches and pains that tend to bubble up whenever my "fat, dumb, and happy" existence is interrupted albeit temporary. Regardless, pain hurts. Funny....what we'll do in the name of longevity.
Now, I say "routine" because one of my nurses told me that I was number 10 of 13 procedures that their team would be performing that day. But the number 13 is really quite remarkable when one considers that these 13 mini-surgeries were performed in a very average size American hospital in a very average size American city. It's hard to imagine how many of our fellow countrymen shared my "preventive-maintenance" experience yesterday. Hopefully, their bodies have adjusted to the minor trauma better than mine.
Apart from the numbers, the procedure itself, while commonplace today, would have been considered a true medical miracle not long ago. The breadth and scope of the technologies coming together for the sake of the prolonging of life is profound. Someday I need to study up on Darwinism. Specifically, his theories related to the survival of the fittest. Will those of us with the better and most resources continue to prosper although each one individually may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer? Is there a line to be drawn - morally, ethically, and religiously - in terms of technology and its impact on "life"? Those questions and so many more stare each of us in the face, regardless of where we fall on the spectrum of religion.
My discharge paperwork suggested that I refrain from making any important decisions until any and all side effects had disappeared. No driving. No divorce decrees. No online shopping....truly. Perhaps the authors of those instructions would be well advised to include blog postings in the list for future reference. Yes....I fear this post is lacking in thought-through. Yet, there is this.
Life is precious. God is good. Healing ultimately abides in His hands. As does life itself. Soon the discomfort will be forgotten and replaced with a refreshed appreciation for the everyday blessings of life that all too often go overlooked in the complacency of the fat, the dumb, and the happy. Easy for me to say now that I've been given a clean bill of health.
Let me share a few images that were taken recently within our everyday comings and goings. Sights impressive enough to warrant a photograph in the moment but touched my soul anew this day as the sun rose:
