UNBROKEN CYCLE FROM HEARTS TO HIPS

I’ve been on an unbroken cycle of excellent Iowa-connected people in Oregon, which is not a comparison.

The last guy helped heal a broken heart; the latest was the orthopedic surgeon who replaced my hip yesterday.

I like to break the new guys in with a little camaraderie, you know, ‘one of the guys’ stuff.

Maybe the radiation oncologist a few years ago got a laugh when I asked him if he’d actually read the huge radiation bible in his office?

“I wrote the study guide.”

“Fair enough.”

I started with sports on the new guy. He knew sports. He’d done sports.

We were all on the same team now.

I wanted him to know I was on his team, with his team, that I was a good teammate.

It mattered more to me when I’m told I’ll be getting an hour and a half hip replacement.

I didn’t ask for a jack rabbit hip for speed, or a kangaroo hip for hops, but I did ask how bad it was afterward.

What I asked was, “Would you say a normal man would have been in a wheel chair with my hip?”

This was after we’d talked about Wrestling Dads and Iowa. He had a wrestling dad who went to an open tournament to watch and instead entered and won matches.

In his fifties.

It was the best wrestling talk since my North Bend Bulldog days.

He was my guy.

That’s how the day went. All the nurses were my girls, the anesthesiologist my other guy.

Unbroken Cycle Of Hope

What was I really doing before the operating room? Establishing an unbroken cycle of remorse if someone screwed up and I didn’t wake up.

Doesn’t everyone do that?

After the ‘advanced directives’ talk I wanted to install that ‘go the extra mile for David’ idea.

I had my eye on things from the gown hooked up to a heater hose, to the leg pumps, to the mark to make sure I got the right hip replaced. Where’s my Sharpie?

That my doc was an Iowa Med guy wouldn’t mean much to others, but that’s where some of my favorite people come from.

It feels like good karma to have a heart guy and hip guy from Iowa. It makes me want to try harder.

“It’s my observation that former wrestlers tend to do better in recovery.”

Would anyone else have been in a wheelchair with my hip?

“It was time. Past time.”

That’s all I needed to hear from an Iowa guy. I was set.