T+116 Not ready for Churchill Downs

BOX SCORE	8/30/24
Element	Current	Std. Range	Trend
Hemoglobin	11.8	13-17	v
Platelets	161	140-375	v
ANC	3470	1800-8300	v

In the course of seventy-eight years of tramping around on this pale blue ball we call earth, I have managed to accumulate a certain amount of wisdom. That is not to say, however, that I have a corner on that market. One thing I have learned is that for every action there is an equally stupid reaction available. As an example, let's just consider, oh, I don't know, let's say me. 

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about changing gears (see A Shifty Proposition). That was day T+97. We were three days away from departing our cozy Hobbit Hole in Portland to return to our cozy Dallas bungalow. I made the point that the change of venue would represent a paradigm shift, because we would be home. We would have reached a milestone by completing my treatment phase at OHSU. And life would take on some more normalcy than we had known for the previous 107 days. (Remember that word "normalcy" for a moment.)

Fast forward to last Thursday. Tom is feeling much better, almost normal; he and Jill are strutting around the neighborhood at breakneck speed doing our daily two mile constitutional. You already know that we found ourselves nursing a dying car and that we have replaced her with a newer, better one. The new car is the same length as the old one, but being a different model, it is a different shape. Hence, the way it fits in the garage created some new problems with garage items interfering with opening car doors. 

Now the simple way of doing things would be to solve that problem, pat yourself on the back, sit down and rest, and bask in the glow of your wife's grateful admiration. That would be the smart way of doing things, but remember that word "normalcy?" Well, I am feeling so much better than I have in years that I forgot that I am still, as Jill likes to remind me, "in early recovery" from my bone marrow transplant. I am not back to normal yet. After we moved a portable cabinet in the garage that serves as an extension of our pantry, thus allowing us to relocate the offending items vis a vis the car door opening, wisdom would dictate calling it a day and enjoying the aforementioned basking. 

Well, as I referenced earlier, there is that old law of masculinity that says for every action there is an equally stupid reaction available. Rather than ending my action of having solved the car door interference problem with that warm feeling of self-satisfaction that we all enjoy after a job well-done, I moved right on to the equally stupid reaction. To wit: having finished that job, I looked at the dark corner of the garage that is enclosed on one side by a refrigerator and on the adjacent wall by my gun safe. Above are some wall cabinets, so the corner is surrounded on three sides and quite dark. It has become a catchall for junk. I have been wanting to rearrange it for years. 

So, I pulled all of the junk out of the corner, threw some away and relocated some. Then I began taking the cabinets off the wall. I haven’t done many DIY projects in the past 3 years, so I am a bit rusty. I got the first cabinet down just fine. With the second one I made a tactical blunder and took out the top screws first. When I removed the bottom screws, the cabinet dropped down on my right arm and took off a patch of skin about the size of a quarter. After an upbraiding from Jill, and with her help, I got a bandage on it. 

Friday, I had an appointment at nurse treatment for a pneumovax shot. I asked the nurse to take a look at the wound. Next thing I knew, I had Jill and two nurses chewing me out for using such poor judgment. Jill called it the 3 wife solution. Apparently, the husbands of the two nurses have been known to make similar blunders. I of course, considered that adequate exoneration of my position, but none of these ladies were buying it.

I am now on hiatus from DIY projects until further notice. Life is full of two-edged swords. You have a nice life and boom, the other edge of the sword is you get leukemia. You go through three years of treatment for the leukemia and come out the other end apparently healthy and definitely feeling like your old self again and boom, the other edge of the sword is you start doing stupid things because, well, "I'm well, and there are things to do." 

Scripture makes numerous references to two-edged swords. Among those references, my favorite is Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

A two-edged sword cuts both ways. The word of God is full of passages that teach us about God's goodness and His abounding and steadfast love for us. But the other edge of the sword is that Scripture also teaches us of the evil that awaits those who spurn God's love and the boundaries He provides to protect His children from that evil. 

In a lesser way, I suppose, I am learning that just because I am feeling my oats doesn't mean I am ready to take on the run for the roses at Churchill Downs.