Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Wednesday (3/18/2015)

Update:

Lyrica has brought my pain level down considerably.  It is less frequent, of shorter duration, and of a lower intensity.  Not gone; but better.  HOWEVER, my lightheadedness and dizziness has remained.    

I had planned to go to the gym for a swim; but I decided that I should not drive today.  My wife told me at dinner, “Even in your painful times, you were yourself and able to go out and do things; right now, you are not yourself.”  Oh yeah baby!  I am feeling exactly what you are saying!  

So I am hoping that this side effect of the medication will subside.  If it doesn't; I’d rather have the pain and be clearheaded.  At least then I can go about life.  If I choose to discontinue Lyrica, I might try another medication but I would guess that I would be headed to surgery.  There are no guarantees that surgery would work either but I would need to try.  I’d rather be in a wheelchair, have pain occasionally and not walking than being a bit out of it all of the time.

Thought for the Day:

Recently someone commented on the fact that my attitude is so good all of the time.  I responded:

“I decide right at the beginning that I didn't want to be miserable and whinny.  I truly trust in God and rely upon Him.  I spend a lot of time in bible and devotional reading to keep my mind in the right place. So far, I've only had a couple of days where I was in the dumps, actually none of them lasted a full day.   I quickly refocused on all the good things that have happened and thought about how I could have it so much, much worse.” 

“Thanks for bringing this all to mind--I just spent some time praising God for it all.  I know He is using all this for my good.  Hard as it may be, I am a better man for it all.”

Have you ever noticed that most of the things people get mad and upset about are rather minor?  It is also true that normally when it is a major event that is the focus of our bad attitude there is usually absolutely nothing (or very little) we can do about the situation.  We are stuck with the cards that we have been dealt.  We can complain about them.  We can call it quits and fold.  Or we can play the best we can with the hand we’ve been dealt.  I’ll have to admit that most times we aren’t dealt a very good hand; but there is no “Mulligan” in stud poker like there is in golf.  And we usually don’t get to travel back in time and undo a major event in our life that we wish we could change.  We are usually stuck with what we’ve got.

So are you going to let circumstances control your attitude or are you going to choose your own attitude?  You can’t normally control circumstances.  All you can do is control how you let them affect you.  Don’t just complain.  Don’t call it quits and fold.  Play the hand you’ve been dealt, and win or lose—enjoy the game!




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