Greetings,
I hope everyone’s year is off to a great start. I know we are all anxiously awaiting spring, and it will be here soon. My winter has been pretty long. I’ve had a pressure sore since before the marathon and the doctor wasn’t quite sure why it wasn’t healing. So I had an MRI, which indicated that I had an infection in my pelvic bone region. So a port was put in my arm and I administered an IV drip nightly. I was told that I needed surgery to clean out the infection, and that staying off my backside is the only way these sores (I now have another sore on my left side) will heal. So a week before Christmas I started bed rest. The couch in my living room has a pull out bed, so this is where I spend all of my time, except to sleep. My surgery was January 15th, and I have been pretty much laying here since.
The first couple of days on bed rest weren’t too bad because I’m actually pretty lazy at heart, and laying around reading the paper wasn’t such a bad gig. But it soon became a very depressing deal, unable to work out and only leaving the house to go to the wound clinic. There were a lot of lonely nights, especially since Steph and I have taken a break from each other. Instead of reaching out to people, I crawled into this deep, dark hole. That’s pretty much where I have been these last two months. I’m ashamed to admit that my faith in God, or in anything else, was lost. My self-pity and depression were the worst since my accident.
It took an unfortunate incident for me to gain perspective on things. A couple of weeks ago, our cousin Diane Sheedy passed away after a three week stay at the hospital. It was quite shocking to all of my relatives on my moms side of the family, as Diane was usually in good health. My aunts and cousins came in from Minnesota and Chicago to join the Columbus contingency. I could see the loss on everyone’s face, as Diane was such a sweetheart to all of us. She will be sadly missed. I also received reports about another cousin, Anita, who was also in the ICU. She has such a positive attitude and enough faith for all of us and is such and inspiration to me. She is back home again to continue her fight against a debilitating disease.
Sometimes it takes events such as these for me to gain proper perspective on my life and my situation and where it all fits in the grand scheme of things. I have stopped taking painkillers for the first time since my accident and I feel I am gaining clarity again. I know how very blessed I am to have such a large, loving family and so many cool, supportive friends. It is all of you that keep me going even when I want to give up. Thank you! And I know the most important thing is faith, because without it, I’m empty and lost.
I have three or four more months of bed rest before I hopefully heal, but it is just one day at a time, because that’s all any of us have anyway. I know at some point I will be outside this summer, hopefully kayaking and riding my hand-crank bike again.
The 2nd Annual Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament was a huge success once again! We had more players and raised more money than last year. Many thanks to Kevin and Cathy Walsh and Geoff and Linda Bevins for making it all happen. Also thanks to our many sponsors and to Cameron Mitchell for donating the wonderful food and Matt Robinson for donating the drinks! If you missed it this year, plan to join us next year and bring a friend.
Now that I’m feeling better, I will blog again real soon! I would love to hear from you, so keep in touch.
Love you all,
Phil
