Bicycling and hip replacement

In 1990, I thought I had a bad groin pull. Several months later with no relief, I consulted a doctor and learned that I no longer had any cartilage in my left hip. The doctor said I was too young at 41-years old to get a hip replacement. “You’ll get to the point,” he explained, “when you will know it is time.” For the next dozen years or so, I took glucosamine and chondroitin supplements, which I was told could rebuild the cartridge. I really don’t think that worked. I took Celebrex for several months, and that did ease the pain, but I didn’t want to mask the pain because then I would be unable to accurately know what the situation was.


For anyone who’s experienced a similar situation, the pain is pretty intense. I learned to live with it. Finally in 2003, I came home from the soccer fields one evening and barely made it into the house. It was time. I had the hip replacement in 2003. Again, for anyone who’s done it: instant pain relief. I know the procedure has progressed significantly in the last seven years.

While I was pleased with the pain relief, I was not satisfied with the result. Maybe I just didn’t understand it, but I thought I would be able to play soccer, tennis, basketball, etc like I used to. I was very disappointed when I couldn’t. I did all of the therapy, but I still walked with a limp. While I would get out on the tennis court and even the basketball court, I was as limping player who couldn’t cover the court or play defense. All I did was hobble. If the ball was hit to me, I could strike it, but I just couldn’t run it down. The change occurred in 2009, and the change is the point of this story …

My son Brad and daughter-in-law Stephanie gave me an old bicycle that was gathering dust in their garage. I was still living in Missouri at the time. Once my butt got used to the seat, I started riding five miles about four days each week. I thought it was a big deal. Other than the fact that the old mountain bike wasn’t sized right, it worked fine. In October, Marie and I moved back to Arizona, and I started to get more serious about the bike riding. I received great inspiration from 1981 Academy grad John Mooney who finished 81st in the 105-mile Tour de Tucson in 2009.

In short order, I was riding 6 miles a day, five days a week. Then I started stretching out to 10 miles …. Today, I routinely ride 8 miles a day Monday through Friday and 25 miles each Saturday and Sunday. The result has been startling …

I’m playing tennis and covering the court without limping, without pain and without problems. Then I started going down to the basketball court. After a few weeks of half-court games, I got into some full-court games with players 30 and 40 years my junior. I could actually run the court and contribute to a 5v5 game on both sides of the ball. I’m told I don’t limp anymore. Maybe …

The final point is this: if someone asked me how to recuperate from a hip replacement, I would say there is no better alternative than bicycling. The results for me have been unbelievable. I only wish someone had told me five years earlier! The side benefits speak for themselves.

Prayer for the Grace to Age Well

We are all engaged in the process of aging regardless of the count of our years.  This afternoon, I came across this wonderful prayer by Jesuit priest and French Philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.  If memory serves me, the good father also made the well known statement, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.  We are spiritual beings having a human experience."  I want to share with you his "Prayer for the Grace to Age Well."  As Sister Joan Chittister wisely says, you have to begin to prepare now how you want to be when you are 80.

Prayer for the Grace to Age Well

"When the signs of age begin to make my body
(and still more when they touch my mind);

"when the ill that is to diminish me or carry me off
strikes from without or is born within me;

"when the painful moment comes
in which I suddenly awaken
to the fact that I am ill or growing old;

"and above all at the last moment
when I feel I am losing hold of myself
and am absolutely passive within the hands
of the great unknown forces that have formed me;

"in all those dark moments, O God,
grant that I may understand that it is you
(provided only my faith is strong enough)
who are painfully parting the fibres of my being
in order to penetrate to the very marrow
of my substance and bear me away within myself."

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S..J. (1881-1955)

An Old Spanish Saying ...

"When I am on my horse, only God is taller than I am."

Worry

"There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever."

Mahatma Gandhi

as quoted in Father Tom Santa's book Desert Graces

The Road

Three years ago, I read Cormac McCarthy's book The Road.  Last night, I watched the film.  Both are dark works in literature and film; our challenge as readers and viewers is to see the light in the darkness.  Here is what I wrote three years ago in my book review:

"On the one hand, a very simple book. Easy to read. Another example of Mr. McCarthy's penchant for word efficiency. A nameless father and his nameless son walk a nameless road headed south to escape the cold and 'the bad guys' that are characteristic of McCarthy's stark, post-apocalyptic world. More significantly, I could not put the book down and it is difficult to explain why. This is a story of the human heart and its ability to love and survive against all odds when it has been stripped of everything save the very object of its love. My heart wept when I read the final page, put the book on my nightstand and turned off the light."

I stand by that review of the book, and I credit the film makers for capturing the same message of love that poured from the pages of the book.  To say The Road is an enjoyable film is to say Mel Gibson's Passion is an enjoyable film.  Neither is, but each packs a powerful message that is important to everyone.  Last week, I watched Jeff Bridges' Academy Award performance in Crazy Heart.  I thought the film was okay, and I did appreciate Mr. Bridges' performance.  Still, I found Viggo Mortensen's portrayal of the unamed father in The Road far more compelling.

To BE ..

Started doing research on Native Americans and picked up several books at the library yesterday, two by Sioux Chief Ohiyesa.  I found this rather profound by Ohiyesa.

"Generous to the last mouthful of food, fearless of hunger, suffering, and death, the Indian was surely something of a hero.  Not 'to have,' but 'to be,' was his national motto."

Ohiyesa

Time

Yesterday, I asked my dog what time it was.  He said he doesn't know what 'time' is.

I asked a bird to wait a minute and I would refill the feeder for him.  The bird asked, "What's a 'minute?'"