Monday, January 20, 2014

Limbs, Hands and Feet

 

easter holiday, ballet girl, 5th bday, sonja visit 395

How grateful we need to be for the use of limbs…they allow us to move, dance, swim, write, walk, balance, and loads more and in doing so provide us with so many joyful memories, swimming in the sea, mountain biking down a pass, slicing the most delicious cheese for a sunset picnic, gardening, kneading clay, mosaicing…

A few months ago a friend of ours bone cancer returned in his right leg after 8 years remission, the Dr's at the time had recommended he amputate to below the knee, but being a surfer he opted for a metal plate fusion of sorts in his ankle instead.

After feeling a lump again that wasn’t quite right he was reviewed and found to have a recurrence.  This time he chose to have the below the knee amputation – he is our age and has 2 kids and lives a life now that is giving him a lot of joy and realised he just can’t muck around with the responsibilities he has by not making such a difficult choice.

We visited him 2 days post his op and I was humbled at his positive attitude…he was upbeat and accepting of what had been done – he is an inspiration..

He has come to mind right now as while I am typing this I am having difficulty with my left hand, its nowhere near as nimble as it used to be, it  feels thick and sluggish on the keyboard and shakes a lot more– I think I would be absolutely devastated if I ever had to lose function in any limb or part of my body…I guess if it ever happened to any of us the only thing we could do is to accept it and continue to live positively and joyously.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, your friend is an inspiration, just like you are. I am sure nobody thinks about their health until it is compromised, it must be the one single thing that we take for granted. Routing for you and sending you lots of love. You are such an inspiration to me (and not only because you have been through so much).

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