Reflections Before Surgery

Without going into a bunch of detail, I found out today that I will be having spine surgery on September 22.  It will take 5-6 hours and 3 months for rehabilitation.  How did I get to this point? Some of the answer is saltily simple.  Life happens.  I’m 76, and when I think about it, my family’s longevity has been around 65 years.  My brother and sister have exceeded that, and I am delighted to have done the same.  But when I think back of all the surgeries that I have had, such as my most recent emergency bypass, my double knee replacement, the non-malignant tumor on my ankle removed, my body has gone through it, and I have been the culprit.  But the medical profession is due a great deal of credit for saving my life and working with God to extend my life to this point. But let me think through this a little more.  

• Decisions that I made early in life do affect the body later.  In life, I had a broken spinal bone I did not even know I had until the diagnosis of the pain running up and down my legs. Of course, that has made it difficult to walk and even balance.  Evidently, that broken bone occurred many years ago, and I did not know about it or I was too stubborn to do anything about it.
• The decision to move into this retirement community was made independently of anything such as a foreseeable health issue.  My heart was taken care of in September of 2024, and we moved in April of 2025.  I was ‘fixed’, but as time has moved on, my legs and my back began to hurt.  Then I decided to go to our primary physician, and she ordered x-rays and an MRI.  She took the radiologist’s interpretation and simplified it by saying: “Your back is a mess”. So being in a place that will provide physical therapy, rehabilitation, and nursing care if I need it is a blessing we thought/hoped we might never need. And a big plus, for rehabilitation and physical therapy, I do not have to leave RL.  It’s all right here. Bec does not have far to walk from our home, has a host of friends, as you can imagine, that will be on the lookout for her.
• Last evening I was in the RL’s version of Planet Fitness on the EFX machine and watched an elderly lady bring her elderly husband into the weight and exercise room in a wheelchair.  She watched over him like a hawk, but made him use his arms to wheel around the room.  He was slow, and was exhausted after two times around.  Then she got him, handed him his cap, hugged him, and they went back to their room.  I admired her, and him for that matter, but it has motivated me more to get this surgery done while it can be done, so that Bec hopefully and prayerfully will not have to do that later for me.  But who knows? But I do know that if she or I will have to do that for the other, we will do it without complaint because our love runs so very deep. 
• Theologically, it made me reflect on sin, repentance, and forgiveness. It is a stretch to compare it to health and sin. But I do know that what you do in the past affects the future moments you live. For example, my body has been through the ringer.  With polio at age 3 (healed yet age 6), a double knee replacement, a tumor (non-malignant) removed from my ankle, my bypass heart surgery, etc., etc., my body has had a tough go of it.  Then I think about sports.  Playing football beginning with Tom-Thum Football in the fifth grade and playing through high school, wearing football cleats that never fit for all my high school years, a broken ankle in a wrestling match at UK, a little UK rugby (without injury but did not use common sense), injuring my knee when playing on a city-wide flag football team with my church (we won the championship), jogging on concrete and asphalt for 30 years (and without stretching)…..is there any reason why I should not be having a 5-6 hour surgery on my back?  Is there any reason why my primary care doctor and my spinal surgeon told me in one way or another that my back was a mess? Folks, I did not intend to hurt my body, I just did not think it through. I‘m paying a costly price. And, that is what sin does as well.
• But there is mercy here.  It dawned upon me that though I abused the body that God gave me, He has allowed me to sufficiently function in spite of my injury, and I am so very thankful. No, He did not correct the injuries that I caused myself, nor has He eliminated the pain that I have at the moment, but He is making away for me to continue to live with a level of functionality so that I can continue to work through His purpose for my life. If surgery goes well, then the pain that I let rob me of my joy, comfort, and sleep will dissipate, and I can smile and be joyful as I have every reason to be. And after all of my surgery, I do wonder how much more my body can take. Will I’ll make it through this? I believe so. But, I am not afraid of death, and my near-death experience almost a year ago confirmed what I know: God is with me, will use me, and one day sooner or later, I’ll be with Him and all other believers in His Kingdom. 

Thanks for reading,  Today, you are much like my confessor. Your ‘listening’ means so much to me. You are a gift of God.

Grace and Peace,

Quentin

Sharecropper’s Inheritance

Pentecost