A Little Rain Must Fall

For most of my life I have enjoyed excellent health, and I still do.  However, one morning in mid-December I woke up with what was diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands.  Bummer.  All of my fingers tingle and have lost some sensitivity.  This makes both typing and buttoning my shirt more difficult.  As the song goes, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”

With this moment-to-moment reminder that my hands are working less than perfectly, I have designated the months of January, February, and March as Alan Body Appreciation Months.  I appreciate when my hands were working properly.  I fully realize, of course, that like every other human being my appreciation is likely to be transformed into “taking-for granted” once the problem is solved.

As it turns out, the issue with my hands is caused by spinal stenosis in my upper neck, where a bundle of nerves are being squeezed by growth of bone in my spinal tunnel.  The solution is neck surgery to relieve the nerves by opening the tunnel a little wider and putting in spacers.  This is one of the few times in my life that I wish I knew more than I do about the human body, but the next best thing is that my son and his wife are both doctors, and they have offered me the benefit of their advice.

I know two contemporaries who have had successful spinal surgery during the past six months, so why should mine be different? I‘m younger than they are and have a less serious problem.  I also follow the adage, “Expect the best but plan for the worst.”

So in a day or two I’ll be scheduling surgery for early next month.  Before then I’ll make sure my estate plan is entirely up to date, and I’ll write a few extra blogs to continue posting every Tuesday morning as I have for more than five years.

In a few weeks, I’ll let you know how it went.  I have no doubt that everything will work out well.

Alan