There is only so much control anyone can have over their personal health. For the past two weeks I have been focused on my new Weight Watcher’s plan and exploring all the foods I haven’t thought about eating to avoid missing those I’ve limited in my diet. And, I am happy to report that two weeks into my journey I am down a total of nine pounds from where I began, although to be fair, my starting weight was with clothes and my subsequent weigh-ins have been in my birthday suit. All in all, I am pleased with the results, happy about the ease of the new plan structure and optimistic that these changes will be reflected in my next blood work in a couple of months.
This feeling of taking control of myself has had a positive effect on other areas of my life as well. I’m finding that I’m more proactive about all the stuff I have going on in my life and the plates are spinning pretty well. (For younger readers, I am referring to acts shown on TV variety shows from decades ago where performers would balance a number of plates and sticks atop their heads, hands feet, etc., and keep them all spinning at the same time.) Instead of letting my tasks and errands pile up in the “to do” list and feeling anxious about it, I am prioritizing better and shedding all negative feelings about what I haven’t accomplished.
Sounds great doesn’t it? Well, it is. Being in control of our own lives is what we all hope for. There is one small hitch to the deal though, we can never be in total control. No matter how much we may feel we are in charge, the smallest thing can have an incredible impact on our well being, something as small and seemingly insignificant as an insect.
This past Saturday, Dave and I had our reality check when he noticed the inside of his lower left leg was hot, swollen and red and clear red lines were making their way from his knee to the lymph nodes in his groin. Surprise! The truly bizarre part of this story was that we were headed to the ER that morning anyway because Dave had had a fever, chills and abdominal pain the evening and night before.
The ER doc was stumped. She had blood drawn from both sides of his body, got a urine sample and even ordered a cat-scan. His white blood count was two and a half higher than normal but there was no sign of a UTI.
In the end, she concluded we were dealing with two separate infections, probably prostatitis and cellulitis. Dave was hooked up to an IV and given some antibiotics and then prescribed mega doses of two other antibiotics to take for another couple of weeks. Three hours later, we were home.
As a 60 something year old man, prostatitis is not uncommon and given how quickly men tend to respond to illness, (they seem to lack the innate triage ability women seem to possess) it was not all that surprising it had become an issue. The cellulitis was altogether different. It seemed to suddenly appear without any warning. Where did it come from? Without the evidence of a point of origin, the doctor assumed the cause of the cellulitis was an insect bite. Dave loves to work in the yard and we do have bugs of all kinds, many of whom do bite. Most likely he was bitten and some kind of bacteria took advantage of the site.
So what does all this mean? Should I abandon my diet and eat like “tomorrow we die”? Nope. I’m going to keep working the Plan, doing my best to maintain my health, and keep Dave in tow as well. I guess it all comes down to the well-worn words of the Serenity Prayer;
“God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.”
I can only control so much in my own life and even less in Dave’s, and keep the Faith that the One who is in control is looking after us both.