justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

“If I knew I was going to live this long…”

While doing some yard work the other day, my right shoulder was giving me some pain, especially as I was digging holes while planting some climbing roses and raking the surrounding soil in our high desert acreage. That’s work that I really enjoy doing, a contrast to the primarily mental gymnastics in which I’ve been engaged most of my working life.

At the moment I paused and took stock of my physical condition, I was reminded of a quote by Mickey Mantle:

If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.

I’ve been in relatively good health throughout the years (now in my seventh decade), in spite of being what’s been described as hyperactive. I’ve had my fair share of accidents and incidents – often falling from heights and tripping as a youth, breaking my arm while wrestling at age 16 (which healed crooked and could have gotten me classified as “4F” in my military exam), separating my ribs from my sternum in a collegiate match during a three-year wrestling career (I still completed the match), and other assorted maladies.

While in the military in my early 20s and stationed in Japan, I had yet a third wrestling calamity while competing against a larger opponent. He got me in a hammerlock (arm up behind my back) trying to turn me over, and proceeded to take my arm up over my head in a way that my arm and shoulder were not intended to go.

Long story short: this has led to a rotator cuff injury that has gradually gotten worse over time, adding the common addition of arthritis that often comes with advancing age, which has brought me to a point where my orthopedic surgeon says the only solution to my increasing discomfort is to replace my shoulder joint. Not really interested in doing that.

Back to The Mick’s quote. I guess I could have taken care of the shoulder injury at a much earlier age, in a procedure that the doctor would have “scoped”, a relatively minor and now quite common event. But, I didn’t, and at this time I sure wish I had.

Thinking philosophically, I imagine we all experience a few of those “wish I had” events. Overall, I am really blessed that there have been few of them in my life and that I’m able to remain engaged in the first love of my life – teaching – which I can do just fine regardless of my shoulder discomfort!